• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

2021: General Discussion

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Yeah I think a chill back on topic is needed - I swear this argument happens at least once every week, it's like going round in circles.
 
Working around any machinery you notice changes when you get a sudden swing in temperatures unless it's in a controlled environment. Even where I work where temperature is the only factor as it's inside but no aircon, we went to a lot more failures now it's warm, especially those in the direct sun. The glaring issue is how they are dealt with, is there enough engineers etc.
 
Just seen that Th3rteen is closed, this is the second time today I believe.

Wicker is 140!

Nemesis is 60 whilst Galactica is only 30, I usually find that to be the other way around. Rapids are 80 which I suppose is not unusual considering its 24+ degrees.

Temp reaches 28 when I go in a weeks time, will be interesting to see what's closed and what the waits are. I shall report back.
 
It isn't 24 today, more around 20.
I think the forecast temperatures for next week have dropped now as well.

Ah I've just seen they've dropped to around 23/24 next week when I go.

Still good enough weather for a day in the park, it's one of those awkward ones where you don't know what to wear incase weather changes!
 
My own preference is for autumn on the park, the weeks before scarefest.
Quiet park, beautiful tree shades, and the gardens seem to look at their best.
Hot days in summer though, nothing like soaking your sore feet in the little pond with the stepping stones at the top of the gardens.
Can be on your own up there for a while, even on the busy days.
Anyone else do the gardens to some degree on every visit?
 
i do remember september weekends in 2019 be one of the busiest times that i went to alton towers during that season, tho compared to queues at the moment they werent quite that high, most were between 50-90 Minutes!
 
My own preference is for autumn on the park, the weeks before scarefest.
Quiet park, beautiful tree shades, and the gardens seem to look at their best.
Hot days in summer though, nothing like soaking your sore feet in the little pond with the stepping stones at the top of the gardens.
Can be on your own up there for a while, even on the busy days.
Anyone else do the gardens to some degree on every visit?

Yes I love doing the gardens, they were looking splendid on Sunday. Unfortunately my tour was cut short because Wickerman reopened and we had to race to it! Never been down to the very bottom of the gully, next time maybe!
 
I'm guessing you have a very limited experience of parks outside the UK? Yet again, your inability to consider anything from anyone else's perspective.

Both are bang average coasters.

Personally don't agree with this. I understand why Smiler splits opinion, but I think both are considerably better than just average. And that's having ridden lots of coasters worldwide.
 
Personally don't agree with this. I understand why Smiler splits opinion, but I think both are considerably better than just average. And that's having ridden lots of coasters worldwide.
To put it simply we have a lot of ungrateful people on here who don't appreciate most the rides at towers. That is apart from nemesis which imo gets way too much love and attention. Its one of the best in the uk sure, but to constantly get in top 50 in the world in polls. Its got to be the most overrated ride to ever be built surely
 
To put it simply we have a lot of ungrateful people on here who don't appreciate most the rides at towers. That is apart from nemesis which imo gets way too much love and attention. Its one of the best in the uk sure, but to constantly get in top 50 in the world in polls. Its got to be the most overrated ride to ever be built surely
Who’s to judge what’s “overrated”, though? I don’t personally like the term “overrated” very much as I feel it kind of disregards other people’s opinions to an extent. I’ve always thought that “overrated” kind of implies that the consensus is “wrong”, in a sense, and that you’re the only one who’s “right” about the thing being discussed. I know that the term is usually never used with this intention, and I apologise if I sound overly critical, but that’s my two pence worth. I’ve never personally liked to use the term “overrated”, myself.

With every highly rated ride (or anything highly rated, for that matter), there will naturally be people who love it and people who don’t really get the hype. Everybody has their own different opinions on these things; if everyone thought the same thing, or if there was one opinion that was considered fact, then these forums would be very boring indeed! As much as you might not get the hype for Nemesis, it’s important to remember that there are plenty who do love it, and their opinion is equally as valid as yours or anyone else’s, for that matter.

It’s also worth remembering that these rides vary to a certain degree, for all kinds of reasons. The experience of one person who rides a ride in row x on day x might be surprisingly different to the experience of another person who rides in row y on day y. Rides vary to a certain extent, with some being more consistent than others.
 
Last edited:
Who’s to judge what’s “overrated”, though? I don’t personally like the term “overrated” very much as I feel it kind of disregards other people’s opinions to an extent. I’ve always thought that “overrated” kind of implies that the consensus is “wrong”, in a sense, and that you’re the only one who’s “right” about the thing being discussed. I know that the term is usually never used with this intention, and I apologise if I sound overly critical, but that’s my two pence worth. I’ve never personally liked to use the term “overrated”, myself.

With every highly rated ride (or anything highly rated, for that matter), there will naturally be people who love it and people who don’t really get the hype. Everybody has their own different opinions on these things; if everyone thought the same thing, or if there was one opinion that was considered fact, then these forums would be very boring indeed! As much as you might not get the hype for Nemesis, it’s important to remember that there are plenty who do love it, and their opinion is equally as valid as yours or anyone else’s, for that matter.

It’s also worth remembering that these rides vary to a certain degree, for all kinds of reasons. The experience of one person who rides a ride in row x on day x might be surprisingly different to the experience of another person who rides in row y on day y. Rides vary to a certain extent, with some being more consistent than others.
You're right that's a better and more appropriate way of putting it, I don't get the hype of nemesis like other enthusiasts do. This is annoying actually as I really want to love it as much as others. It's certainly a standout ride in the country, but I just get the hype more from the smiler. No idea why, perhaps the fact that inversions are my favourite coaster element I guess it makes sense!
 
Its got to be the most overrated ride to ever be built surely

No that title definitely belongs to Icon :wink:

At the end of the day on paper Towers has one of the strongest coaster line ups in Europe, and most definitely in the UK, but certain rides appeal to different people. That's life.

It's okay to like The Smiler, it's okay to like Wicker Man, it's okay to like Nemesis. It's even okay for some people to say Th13teen is their favourite ride at Towers. I'm yet to find that person though :tearsofjoy:
 
It's okay to like The Smiler, it's okay to like Wicker Man, it's okay to like Nemesis. It's even okay for some people to say Th13teen is their favourite ride at Towers. I'm yet to find that person though
I think for most people it's between the smiler, nemesis and wicker man. They're arguably the standout rides at the park
 
That is apart from nemesis which imo gets way too much love and attention. Its one of the best in the uk sure, but to constantly get in top 50 in the world in polls. Its got to be the most overrated ride to ever be built surely
You seem to get offended when others don't share your view. I don't understand why that's the case.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You're allowed to think Nemesis is rubbish and The Smiler is better. Other people can think the opposite. Just accept that others have different viewpoints to you.
 
You're right right that's a better and more appropriate way of putting it, I don't get the hype of nemesis like other enthusiasts do. This is annoying actually as I really want to love it as much as others. It's certainly a standout ride in the country, but I just get the hype more from the smiler. No idea why, perhaps the fact that inversions are my favourite coaster element I guess it makes sense!
Fair enough! To an extent, I don’t really love Nemesis like a lot of enthusiasts do, either. Don’t get me wrong, I really like it, and I admire it as a feat of engineering, but out of the 74 coasters I’ve done, it doesn’t quite make the top 10. It’s a solid 8/10 for me, and a solid top 15 coaster, but not quite a top 10 ride for me. I apologise if that’s controversial, as I know that a lot of enthusiasts who’ve done the coasters I’ve done would place it more in the top 5, top 3 or even at the #1 spot!

I don’t really rate The Smiler very highly, though. I really want to like Smiler, as I admire it in so many ways and actually quite like the layout itself, but I just find it a bit too rough for me to rate it highly, and I’ve had a few rides where the sheer intensity of the back-to-back inversions has made me feel a bit nauseous, to an extent. Admittedly, I might be being a tad unfair, as it wasn’t actually too bad last time I did it, but it certainly isn’t one of my favourite coasters. If we’re comparing Nemesis and Smiler head to head, I’d personally go Nemesis every time, and I wouldn’t even say it’s close for me. Sorry if I’m being a bit harsh on Smiler, as my opinion on it may be more down to my low tolerance for nausea and roughness than any fault of the ride itself, but it’s not really my kind of coaster.

Controversially, my personal Towers favourite is actually Wicker Man! As much as I’m not generally a massive wooden coaster person, and would mostly pick steel over wood given the choice, I think the modern, comfortable GCI feel that Wicker Man provides is a definite exception, as I love WM to bits! As much as it’s not the most intense, I just find it a huge amount of fun in every row, with loads of sharp pops of airtime, great twists and turns, relentless pacing, and just an overall fun, smooth (in woodie terms), and rerideable ride experience that gives you the kick you desire from a roller coaster without going too overboard!

My favourite steel coaster at Towers, and my close 2nd favourite behind Wicker Man, is actually Oblivion! As much as it only has one trick, it’s concise in delivering that trick, and it’s a trick that always delivers, in my opinion! On my last visit, it was running spectacularly, with a phenomenal moment of sustained airtime over the drop, unrivalled speed and intensity in the tunnel and a nice bonus bit of airtime at the end! Yes, it’s just a little bit too short to be one of my all-time favourites, but pound-for-pound, it delivers all I could ever want it to, and it certainly delivers enough to make my top 10!
It's even okay for some people to say Th13teen is their favourite ride at Towers. I'm yet to find that person though :tearsofjoy:
That’s not as uncommon as you’d expect, actually! Prior to Wicker Man opening, Thirteen was actually my mum’s favourite coaster at Towers!
 
Last edited:
I would differ and say that I think Europa Has a better line up of coasters than towers.

Silver Star- amazing on a good run.
Blue fire- one of my favourite coasters
wodan- Amazing Wooden better than Wickerman
Matterhorn Blitz-
Arthur-Unique experience
Euro-mir
Eurosat
Pegasus- family coaster
Alpen express Runaway mine train
Schweizer Bobbahn Bobsled coaster
Baa express childrens
Poseidon-water coaster


The only thing that Europa is missing is like a B&M inverted/flyer...

but they are building another coaster for 2023, most likely in house.....

So that would be 14 coasters if you include the supersplash
 
I should probably put it out there as well that some of us haven’t had the chance to go travelling all over the world to ride different coasters (WDW, SW & BGT aside) so it’s personally why I appreciate the Towers coaster lineup that little bit more probably. I think the coaster line up is very strong, and probably why I think The Smiler is better than “average” as somebody referred to it as. We’ve not all had the pleasure of travelling, so the coasters I’m really comparing it to are in the UK. Nothing at BGT for example struck me as having having a “wow” factor like The Smiler does. (Except Falcon’s Fury but that doesn’t count here and it’s probably just because of the tilting at the top).
 
If y’all want a controversial opinion, then here’s one; when I first got onto the big rides back in 2013, my favourite coaster at Alton Towers was actually Rita! I can sense I would definitely have been outvoted by a considerable margin had I been on the forums back then…

Rita’s not my favourite now (I’d probably say 4th or 5th favourite on park for me now?), but I guess it’s emblematic of what my coaster tastes were when I first got into this hobby; Rita was actually my first ever number 1 coaster, and I was really into anything launched back then! Rita’s title was stolen by Stealth when I first visited Thorpe in 2014, but then the title was stolen once again a few hours later by The Swarm, which held the title right up until 2016, when I rode my current #1 coaster, Mako at SeaWorld Orlando!
 
I think for most people it's between the smiler, nemesis and wicker man. They're arguably the standout rides at the park

It's subjective. Any ride could be the standout ride. For example I met someone in America in 2017 who said he wanted to visit the UK to go on Oblivion. He'd never heard of The Smiler or even Nemesis when I mentioned those.
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top