Alton Towers Trip Report | 3-4th August 2020
We head to Alton Towers for our first UK theme park of the year
Welcome back to our first trip report of 2020 this time to Alton Towers in Staffordshire, UK, for our first Theme Park since being back in England. It’s been a while since our last trip report and we are excited to share our thoughts on two UK parks.
This would be the first of a two park road trip with two days at Alton Towers and a day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Look out for the Blackpool trip report coming next week. These reports will include our views on how Alton Towers and Blackpool perform in their regulations to operate safely during Covid-19.
Alton Towers was first up and we were lucky to have two days to experience the park, which was perfect for the 10-6pm park opening hours.
If you have not heard of Alton Towers before check out our playlist for a background on some of the rides the Merlin operated park has. The park has had a variety of world first and brilliant roller coasters of the years, check out some of the history of them below:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/embed?listType=playlist&list=PLsCgdeyVqY0K1k4K8SXoqNkZYf7hl9_dE[/embedyt]
Trip Report
We were joined by Jackie of Super Enthused for the trip, which meant we had two Americans with us who had never been to Alton Towers before. It also means you can check out her thoughts of Alton Towers below:
Entry Experience and Arrival
Having two days to experience the park meant we did not have to arrive too early on the first day. We arrived just past midday and parked in the regular car park. The monorail is not currently operating so be prepared for the walk from the car park to the main entrance.
There was no queue in the main entrance area, so we had our temperature checked, bags manually searched and showed our pre-booked tickets and then we were in. Below is the current guidelines that Alton Towers are operating in regards to Covid-19. In addition to that, while we were at the park, masks are only required to be worn in indoor areas and on rides and it was not enforced while walking throughout the park.
These guidelines have changed and from this weekend masks will need to be worn indoors anywhere throughout the park and the hotel, including toilets.
There are no physical maps for this year so you have to rely on the signs dotted around the park.
At the end of Towers Street is the 40th birthday cake for Alton Towers. The park opened on April 4th 1980.
Park guidelines and Operations
The last time myself and Sam had visited was before Wicker man was built, so we were eager to see the new area.
The ride had a 120 posted wait time so we would not ride it yet but instead head over to Gloomy Wood via Haunted Hollow.
It’s worth noting that even though the park does have a reduced capacity, the wait times for rides are still high. With some rides operating at 50% capacity and queue lines spread 1-2 meters apart they often go out the front of the actual entrance for the ride. This was especially apparent for Wicker man and the Smiler.
Every 2 hours the rides would cycle empty trains for extended cleaning, so keep this in mind if you are planning to get everything done in one day. An announcement was made regularly to remind guests to social distance and stand on the chevrons with your party. Sanitizer is also placed before and after each ride and you are encouraged to use it.
Posted wait times for most of the rides, including the river rapids was 45 minutes to 120 minutes. The exception to these were Duel and Nemesis which was 5 and 35 minutes respectively at around 12:30pm.
Shooting the Spooks
Duel was the first ride up of the day. This classic ghost train ride meets laser tag in a battle against the dead to get the highest score. The ride had a 5 minute wait time.
The official story of the ride is:
A legion of zombies have been drawn to the home of the controversial genetic surgeon, Dr Nicholas Roodyn. His scientific experiments have woken the dead, and now they’re ready to seek their revenge…
In reality it is who can shoot the most green and yellow dots to get a high score in its 6 minute duration. The ride has been there in its current shooter format since 2003 and though still a fun time it is showing its age. It operated as a regular haunted house from 1992 and was the largest dark ride in Europe at the time of its opening.
We were encouraged to sanitize our hands before jumping on and after exiting and had to wear our masks for the duration.
Each queue line has chevrons to stand on with your party though a little harder to see in the inside portion of Duel. Throughout the day most guests stuck to their own chevrons bar a few exceptions.
Forbidden Valley
After getting in our first dark ride of the day it was time to head to a classic coaster. Nemesis. The inverted, Bolliger & Mabillard coaster turned 26 years old this year and still packs a punch. The four inversion coaster was the first B&M to be installed outside of the USA and the first in Europe.
Costing 10 million pounds the ride was designed by John Wardley. He rode Batman: The Ride at Six Flags Great America before it opened in 1992 and wanted Alton Towers to have something similar. Themed after an alien that was excavated from the ground, the ride is still one of my favorites in the UK. With Alton Towers being restricted by height limits the ride stays low to the ground and underground providing a thrilling and intense experience.
The wait time was posted at 35 minutes and used the full extended queue line which I have only seen used during Scarefest.
The wait time was about accurate and we rode second row from the back for an intense experience. It is still one of my favorites in the UK and probably my favorite inverted B&M that I’ve ridden.
Time for lunch
After our first couple of rides it was time for lunch. We attempted to eat at the Rollercoaster Restaurant in Forbidden Valley but the line was too long. Before 4 pm it only takes walk up guests with reservations available after that time. We did manage to eat here on the second day though.
Instead we headed over to Woodcutters Grill near to Hex and the Dark Forest for lunch. The Sky ride queue was long at this time so we took a stroll through the famous gardens to get there.
You ordered and paid through your phone at this sit down restaurant and the food came out nice and quick. It was a surprisingly good pit stop for lunch and none of us had eaten there before.
I ordered the steak sandwich, Sam, the burger and Jackie the Posh Hot Dog, all left satisfied and full.
What the Hex?
As we were inside the restaurant, Hex which had been showing as closed on the app all day opened. Hex: The legend of the Towers is one of my favorite dark rides in the UK mainly because of it’s fun legend story and mind boggling Vekoma mad house concept.
If you don’t know anything about the ride, it plays to the real legend of an old oak tree that was chained up. It’s said that it was chained up to stop a curse that was put on the Earl of Shrewsbury’s family in that for every branch that fell one member of his family would die. In the ride an excavation team had found secret vault in the towers featuring a branch that the Earl was doing experiments on.
Hex opened in the year 2000 and features two preshow walk throughs before getting on the ride.
No more Hex….
I won’t spoil the ride here but check out our video on it if you want to know more about the story line and how it works.
The ride’s capacity has been reduced in half to ensure social distancing and some of the inside areas have doors open to increase airflow. We waited around 30-45 minutes to enter the building with all the queue being held outside. I still personally enjoyed Hex but the two new guests to Alton Towers in our party did not.
Some of the choice quotes on the ride were: “That was not what I expected at all”….”I felt so motion sick” and “I never ever want to do that again”.
Take that with a pinch of salt though as me and Sam still enjoy Hex!
The Dark Forest
With time running out in the day and wait times still listed as over an hour for most rides, there was time for one more ride.
With a posted wait time of 60 minutes it was over to Th13teen (or Thirteen) for the last ride of the first day. The Intamin coaster opened in 2010 in the place of the Corkscrew and was the world’s first vertical free fall drop coaster in which the track falls about 5 meters.
The marketing for the ride was absolutely bonkers with suggestions it would be the scariest ride in the world and would even need a waiver to be signed to ride. It is definitely not the scariest ride in the world but it sure is a tonne of fun. The track weaves smoothly through the forest before heading back into the station building for the drop track. You can barely seen any of the coaster from the Dark Forest apart from the lift hill.
I actually forgot how fun the ride was. It received glowing reviews from the first timers to Alton Towers and was a great way to end the first day. The hour wait time was more like 5 minutes of walking the queue line and 10 minutes waiting.
End of Day One
We only managed to do 4 rides in 6 hours but we did have an hour long lunch thrown in there too.
It was a good first day and there was just time to look in the Towers Street shop for merch before we left for the day. Some 40th anniversary merchandise was purchased as well as a couple of Wicker Man tee’s.
Sam and Jackie would be staying at the Alton Towers Hotel in an Arctic Explorer room so keep an eye out for Jackie’s vlog on that stay.
Alton Towers Trip Report | Day 2
With Sam and Jackie staying at the Alton towers hotel it meant that we could use the entrance to the park next to Galactica and Nemesis in Forbidden Valley. This entrance is reserved only for hotel guests. Here temperature checks are performed if you do not have the wristband that you acquire in the hotel upon entry. We joined the queue at around 9:30 am.
We thought this entrance would be quicker so we could rush on over to Wicker man. It ended up backing up all the way towards the mini-golf near the hotel with regular day guests joining it as well, confused as to what it the queue was for.
We got in to the park at around 10:15 am and headed straight for Wicker Man via Gloomy Wood and the service road behind the River Rapids.
The posted wait time was already 70 minutes with the queue extended out towards the ride shop. We hopped in hoping to get our most anticipated ride completed at the start of the day.
Wicker Man
Wicker Man manufactured by Great Coasters International opened in 2018 and was the first wooden coaster to be built in the UK for 22 years. The park had wanted a wooden coaster for a long time and it was nice to finally see it get its wish.
Before we even entered the main queue entrance we had queued for 30 minutes. The posted wait time was now 105 minutes.
The pre-show was not operating for the ride with guests putting on their masks before entering the station. The bag check was open though.
A long wait for a wooden coaster…
We were assigned the back few rows and were ready to enjoy our first wooden coaster of the trip. The ride was fast and featured thrills but I was expecting a little more from it. The pass throughs the Wicker Man were excellent and the feel of speed during the ride was great. It was over very quickly and could of used another ‘trick’ in the final dark tunnel back to the load and possibly at the start before the lift hill. That is just me nitpicking though and Alton have done an excellent job with the former flume location.
Look out for an Expedition on Wicker Man coming very soon…..
The themeing is great and the entire area looks like it is built to be seen at night. It’s a shame that it is not often possible to visit the park during darkness. We waited around 75 minutes for the ride.
The shop also features a very cool miniature Wicker Man and some ride wood that can be purchased.
Sky ride to Galactica
With the day approaching 12 pm it was time to jump on the Sky Ride over to Forbidden Valley to join in the queue for Air… I mean Galactica.
Each Skyride cabin would be assigned to individual parties only so don’t be surprised if the wait time is a little longer than usual.
This Skyride route offers great views of Mutiny bay and takes you over the Wicker Man area.
Galactic..air
At the Forbidden Valley exit we headed over to Galactica. The wait time was currently 30 minutes but they were cycling empty trains for extended cleaning when we joined.
The ride opened back in 2002 as Air and was the first flying coaster manufactured by B&M. Costing 12 million pounds the ride signed a 5 year sponsorship with Cadbury Heroes a chocolate brand. The ride was converted to Galactica in 2016 and featured virtual reality headsets which were removed due to guest feedback in 2019.
I had ridden it with the VR headset and it was painful and nauseating. The VR headset containers are still on the back three rows of some of the trains but they are just locked down with zip ties.
We waited in line for about 45 minutes for the ride with both sides of the station operating. It was noticeable that many guests did not keep their masks on for this ride.
The ride is still smooth and fun (unlike Manta at SeaWorld…) and though we had to ask some guests behind us stand on their chevron repeatedly, we enjoyed Galactica.
The Rollercoaster Restaurant
It was approaching 1:30 pm by the time we decided to try the Rollercoaster Restaurant for lunch. With walk ins only accepted before 3:30 pm we waited around 30 minutes for a table. Here your food and bottled drinks are slid down from the kitchen on rails for you to grab. A fun concept where each table is themed to a Rollercoaster that was or is in the park currently.
Your food is ordered on tablets and sent down the rails to your table, with two of the tables even featuring a loop on the way down.
We had a great meal and all left full. As one of only two ‘sit down’ restaurants in the park that is not a buffet it’s definitely worth trying to go and see. There is also a very neat projection moment on the walls, going through the old ride adverts for the park.
X Sector
With our bellies full it was time to make the trek over to X Sector from Forbidden Valley as the Sky Ride queue was even longer than the day before. Time was approaching 3.45 pm when we left the restaurant so we had some time to hopefully squeeze in two more rides. Oblivion and The Smiler.
Oblivion
First up was the worlds first vertical drop coaster. Oblivion. The B&M ride opened in 1998 and features a vertical drop of 180 ft into a tunnel before a banked turn back towards the station. It’s short but sweet.
The wait time was listed at around 40 minutes but it ended up being about 15. The queue moved quickly and they left only one seat between parties to keep throughput high.
Oblivion is still a great ride even if it is short. It doesn’t pack the same punch as say Shiekra at Busch Gardens Tampa but for a 22 year old ride, it still has it’s scare factor. The drop still takes your breath away though it is a shame you don’t hang over the edge for anywhere near as long anymore. That count down at the top is something i’ll always remember.
After Oblivion it was time for one more ride. Posted at a 90 minute wait it was the 14 inversion infamous coaster.
The Smiler
From the outside it looks like a tangled mess of track that fits beautifully in a small area. Manufactured by Gerstlauer and opening in 2013 the ride has had an unfortunate short history. The ride still holds the world record for the most inversions in a roller coaster.
When we joined the queue, it extended out of the ride entrance and up towards the entrance to X Sector. The ride is still as popular as ever and with good reason.
The queue was long but it did move in big jumps due to social distancing. The majority of the queue is small switchbacks in what feels like cages underneath the track that was spaced appropriately. The inside of the queue with projections was on but you are moved quickly through it and up to the station.
Social Distancing was kept to oquite well during this queue line.
The Smiler thoughts…
I think this was the most scared our new guests to Alton Towers were throughout the two days for a ride. One even stepped onto the ride and off the other side and out the exit because they did not want to ride it!
It’s been 5 years since I’ve done the ride myself and it is definitely still the most intense and dizzying coaster experience out there. You really can’t tell which direction you are facing for most of the duration of the ride and it’s a long 2 minute 45 second duration of flips, turns, and barrel rolls.
It definitely is one of a kind experience on The Smiler and something really unique to Alton Towers. Do I enjoy it? I think so. I certainly could not ride it more than once in a trip though.
Final Thoughts
After The Smiler the time was 5:55 pm with the park closing at 6 pm. We actually made a dash for Oblivion and managed to get one final ride in to end the day before our drive to Blackpool.
Each of us enjoyed our two days at Alton Towers. We were very glad to have two days at it made the trip more relaxing and enabled to us actually ride almost everything we wanted too. The rides we did not get to ride were Rita, Spinball Whizzer and the mine train. We did not even have time to do the new up charge experience of the Alton Dungeon. There simply was not enough time in the day.
With the social distancing measures in place the reduced capacity does not mean shorter wait times. It was good to see most guests stuck on their own chevrons bar a few who simply did not seem to care. This was not Alton Towers fault though and some people seem don’t seem to take the new regulations seriously.
The new regulations requiring guests to wear a face mask in any indoor area and queue coming in from this weekend should help things out. If you are worried about mask wearing not being enforced it may be worth skipping Alton Towers for the moment.
Ride count
Day 1:
Duel
Nemesis
Thirteen
Hex
Day 2:
Wicker Man
Galactica
Duel
Oblivion x 2
The Smiler
Thanks for reading our Alton Towers trip report, if you have any questions feel free to ask us on Twitter or Instagram.
We will be back to Alton Towers for Scarefest for Halloween.
Look out for our trip report on Blackpool Pleasure Beach coming next week!
