Danny
TS Contributor
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
In short, the best and last day of the 2012 season for me!
Starting the day seeing more SW7 track being unboxed, to then getting to see the track for the first time in person. Although it's now got to the point where it's hard to tell what track is new on the day or what has been sat there for a while!
First stop on park was Box Office to get our maze tickets refunded as we'd purchased them just before Towers began to give them away for free if you booked a ticket to visit the park on the 1st November. We were given TotT fast tracks to compensate this [I felt like I had sinned. Ugh] and began the day on a short queue for Bliv.
So walking around the park in our little party hats to celebrate the birth of Georgiaa many years ago, we headed to the Dark Forest. Upon arrival, Rita shut down and did not operate for the majority of the day afterwards. Spinball was also closed at this point and showed no signs of testing. After the longest queue of the day [20-25 minutes], I finally got to ride Thirteen front row! However for me, this is only decent for the backwards helix, so I'll preferably stick to the rear of the train in the future.
After a trip over to the Valley to look at queue times [Terry on 45 minutes, Air and Nemesis sat in the 20-35 minute bracket each], we decided to head back over to the Towers to have our TotT run through. After walking onto the maze with our fast track [beating a normal queue of no less than 2 minutes wait time] we entered the maze. I was expecting far less actors due to it being the extended day of Scarefest and the last, and that is exactly what happened [with the exception of the strobe maze, where there were far more actors compared to my previous and first run through the other week]. The highlights of this maze were telling the actors it was Georgia's birthday who was at the back of the group and directly behind me. The actors stayed very much in character and made use of this fact in some interesting ways
After leaving TotT, we were pretty gutted we didn't have our photo. The queue had now racked up compared to when we entered the maze, however the staff allowed us to run back along the fast track queue and into the photo booth to get our photo.
Our maze slot then clocked around so we headed over to CoS first. The maze again was a walk on, and obviously nobody had been through for quite some time as the actors were still socialising with each other and took some time to get ready for our group. The fortune teller ruined the atmosphere when they blinked in the booth as we entered. Considering I didn't even realise this was an actor last time, and was targeted when he came out of the booth because of this fact, this scene fell flat on its arse. The rest of the maze was very similar to my first run through the other week, so I can't really rate it better or worse.
The Sanctuary next, and again, I was expecting a lack of actors, which is exactly what we got. After informing Dr Kelman that Georgia would need some "birthday treatment", we headed into the maze. The actor on the right of the entrance door did not make as much of an impact as they didn't really bother jumping out at us. The first room lacked so many actors and the fireball was also delayed. After visiting the patient ward, we took a wrong turn as we thought we had walked into the actors dressing room due to the actor being sat around looking incredibly bored. We were soon re routed onto the correct course and into the marmalisation room. The leg ticklers weren't working here, but we got drenched nonetheless! A slightly poorer run through of The Sanctuary compared to my first and previous one, but again, we managed to get some birthday interaction from the actors for Georgia.
After the mazes we headed back over to Valley to get our dosage of Air and Nemesis, queuing no more than 25 minutes for each. We also had a great chat with the Air host at the batching point who took an interest in my camera shots of Air [and managed to at least continue her enthusiasm when she learned we were "ride geeks", although she eventually dispatched us when she learnt we were from "a website". The most uncomfortable ride I have ever had on Air ensued due to the jacket being incredibly tight. Nemesis was just Nemesis, excellent as always. And it was great to see the blood has returned!
Now we decided to make the stupidest choice of the day. To tackle water rides when it was freezing cold. Firstly, the Flume gave us a minor soaking, freezing us to the bone. A couple of rough jolts here and there, and a certain jolt on the final drop on the splash down. As we were already wet, we decided to tackle the Rapids and get it over and done with. Not any major soakings from the majority of the course, and thanks to Vicky, I was incredibly prepared for the fools who part with their money for the water guns. Umbrellas make perfect water gun shields!
Now freezing slowly into an ice cube, myself and Al headed for a quick pit stop in Corner Coffee whilst Georgia and Vicky managed to obtain some of the Sanctuary and Carnie posters from the front of Box Office. Spinball was to be our next stop, but after seeing the B&M three and Thirteen were on shorter queues combined, we gave it a miss. Bliv was to be our first stop of night riding, but only after marveling at the incredibly picturesque Towers as they stood lit in all their glory, with a cheeky pop up from the smile.
It was my first time on Bliv in the dark, and definitely my favourite and last ride on Bliv of the 2012 season. The drop just seems to drag on forever in the dark, it felt faster and not to mention some great views of X Sector and the SW7 site at night are incredible! Submission looked great against that pretty sunset!
So after departing X Sector in it's current state for the final time [noting that when I return, a brand new coaster will be standing and potentially ready to test during Feb half term] we decided to give Zombies! a run through as I hadn't yet experienced it. The maze was walk on and near enough quiet, so we pretty much had it to ourselves. After walking past many of the actors who seemed to have hiccups or issues with breathing, I became surrounded by a group of zombies, most likely singling me out for being the person who showed not a single sign of being petrified by their rather displeasing acting. Yeah, I think I'll give Zombies a miss next year if it's nothing compared to what this year had to offer....
Thirteen in the dark. My final coaster that I needed to experience to have completed the main five in the dark over the course of my Scarefest visits to Towers. Front row again and it was incredible. Such an improvement to the day light counterpart, although I would love to ride it back row at the same time next year!
As ride close began to loom ever closer, we quickly retreated from the Intamin Forest [laughing at those in the lengthy queue for Rita] and headed over to the Valley for one last time. One final ride on Air in the dark, before myself and Al split off to do Nemesis whilst Georgia and Vicky stayed for Air. We managed to secure two final rides on Nemesis, with the last being on front row and on the last train of the day! What a way to end the season on a ride!
With rides now closed, we headed back to the entrance with intentions to see SW7 track in the dark, but first, myself and Al managed to convince the rather friendly chap in Box Office to tear down some more posters from the front of Box Office and part ways with them so we could give them a home on our walls. With the park now practically empty apart from a small handful of guests, we witnessed the demolition of the Scarefest theming on Towers Street as hay was placed into plastic bags, and the pumpkins placed intro trolleys and carted away. Big Al departed our company at this point, leaving the three of us to watch the actors having a final send off to Scarefest 2012 on the Trick or Treat stage. This in itself was a treat, and we even managed to get Georgia a birthday photo with Dr Kelman who we also had a great little chat with! He told us to search up on his real name, but didn't seem too phased when we revealed we knew he had Facebook and found him quite easily He is such a wonderful gentlemen and has really created a fantastic character for Scarefest this year! I'd love to see him doing the same again next year should The Sanctuary be brought back.
And so for the last time this season, I left Alton Towers on a high. A truly fantastic way to end my season of 2012. Massive thanks to ALL the staff for making the day superb, it couldn't have been like it was had you not all shown such enthusiasm towards making an excellent customer service to each individual guest today. Many kudos to the chap in Box Office for being able to get our posters [and also his supervisor for allowing us to take them in the first place!], the member of staff at the queue splitting point for Air who was great for a friendly chat and genuinly took interest in our day, the TotT queue entrance host who allowed us to skip the main queue simply to get our photo, ALL the actors in the mazes who made it unique for Georgia in your ways of delivering birthday messages, and Gerry for his portrayal of Dr Kelman. He certainly made the day unique for Georgia and all of us, and I think it's safe to say she had a fantastic birthday!
And of course, the biggest thanks have to go to Big Al, Georgiaa and Vicky for attending yesterday and making it my best day of the season!
Team Edit: Potentially offensive content removed.
Starting the day seeing more SW7 track being unboxed, to then getting to see the track for the first time in person. Although it's now got to the point where it's hard to tell what track is new on the day or what has been sat there for a while!
First stop on park was Box Office to get our maze tickets refunded as we'd purchased them just before Towers began to give them away for free if you booked a ticket to visit the park on the 1st November. We were given TotT fast tracks to compensate this [I felt like I had sinned. Ugh] and began the day on a short queue for Bliv.
So walking around the park in our little party hats to celebrate the birth of Georgiaa many years ago, we headed to the Dark Forest. Upon arrival, Rita shut down and did not operate for the majority of the day afterwards. Spinball was also closed at this point and showed no signs of testing. After the longest queue of the day [20-25 minutes], I finally got to ride Thirteen front row! However for me, this is only decent for the backwards helix, so I'll preferably stick to the rear of the train in the future.
After a trip over to the Valley to look at queue times [Terry on 45 minutes, Air and Nemesis sat in the 20-35 minute bracket each], we decided to head back over to the Towers to have our TotT run through. After walking onto the maze with our fast track [beating a normal queue of no less than 2 minutes wait time] we entered the maze. I was expecting far less actors due to it being the extended day of Scarefest and the last, and that is exactly what happened [with the exception of the strobe maze, where there were far more actors compared to my previous and first run through the other week]. The highlights of this maze were telling the actors it was Georgia's birthday who was at the back of the group and directly behind me. The actors stayed very much in character and made use of this fact in some interesting ways
After leaving TotT, we were pretty gutted we didn't have our photo. The queue had now racked up compared to when we entered the maze, however the staff allowed us to run back along the fast track queue and into the photo booth to get our photo.Our maze slot then clocked around so we headed over to CoS first. The maze again was a walk on, and obviously nobody had been through for quite some time as the actors were still socialising with each other and took some time to get ready for our group. The fortune teller ruined the atmosphere when they blinked in the booth as we entered. Considering I didn't even realise this was an actor last time, and was targeted when he came out of the booth because of this fact, this scene fell flat on its arse. The rest of the maze was very similar to my first run through the other week, so I can't really rate it better or worse.
The Sanctuary next, and again, I was expecting a lack of actors, which is exactly what we got. After informing Dr Kelman that Georgia would need some "birthday treatment", we headed into the maze. The actor on the right of the entrance door did not make as much of an impact as they didn't really bother jumping out at us. The first room lacked so many actors and the fireball was also delayed. After visiting the patient ward, we took a wrong turn as we thought we had walked into the actors dressing room due to the actor being sat around looking incredibly bored. We were soon re routed onto the correct course and into the marmalisation room. The leg ticklers weren't working here, but we got drenched nonetheless! A slightly poorer run through of The Sanctuary compared to my first and previous one, but again, we managed to get some birthday interaction from the actors for Georgia.
After the mazes we headed back over to Valley to get our dosage of Air and Nemesis, queuing no more than 25 minutes for each. We also had a great chat with the Air host at the batching point who took an interest in my camera shots of Air [and managed to at least continue her enthusiasm when she learned we were "ride geeks", although she eventually dispatched us when she learnt we were from "a website". The most uncomfortable ride I have ever had on Air ensued due to the jacket being incredibly tight. Nemesis was just Nemesis, excellent as always. And it was great to see the blood has returned!
Now we decided to make the stupidest choice of the day. To tackle water rides when it was freezing cold. Firstly, the Flume gave us a minor soaking, freezing us to the bone. A couple of rough jolts here and there, and a certain jolt on the final drop on the splash down. As we were already wet, we decided to tackle the Rapids and get it over and done with. Not any major soakings from the majority of the course, and thanks to Vicky, I was incredibly prepared for the fools who part with their money for the water guns. Umbrellas make perfect water gun shields!
Now freezing slowly into an ice cube, myself and Al headed for a quick pit stop in Corner Coffee whilst Georgia and Vicky managed to obtain some of the Sanctuary and Carnie posters from the front of Box Office. Spinball was to be our next stop, but after seeing the B&M three and Thirteen were on shorter queues combined, we gave it a miss. Bliv was to be our first stop of night riding, but only after marveling at the incredibly picturesque Towers as they stood lit in all their glory, with a cheeky pop up from the smile.
It was my first time on Bliv in the dark, and definitely my favourite and last ride on Bliv of the 2012 season. The drop just seems to drag on forever in the dark, it felt faster and not to mention some great views of X Sector and the SW7 site at night are incredible! Submission looked great against that pretty sunset!
So after departing X Sector in it's current state for the final time [noting that when I return, a brand new coaster will be standing and potentially ready to test during Feb half term] we decided to give Zombies! a run through as I hadn't yet experienced it. The maze was walk on and near enough quiet, so we pretty much had it to ourselves. After walking past many of the actors who seemed to have hiccups or issues with breathing, I became surrounded by a group of zombies, most likely singling me out for being the person who showed not a single sign of being petrified by their rather displeasing acting. Yeah, I think I'll give Zombies a miss next year if it's nothing compared to what this year had to offer....
Thirteen in the dark. My final coaster that I needed to experience to have completed the main five in the dark over the course of my Scarefest visits to Towers. Front row again and it was incredible. Such an improvement to the day light counterpart, although I would love to ride it back row at the same time next year!
As ride close began to loom ever closer, we quickly retreated from the Intamin Forest [laughing at those in the lengthy queue for Rita] and headed over to the Valley for one last time. One final ride on Air in the dark, before myself and Al split off to do Nemesis whilst Georgia and Vicky stayed for Air. We managed to secure two final rides on Nemesis, with the last being on front row and on the last train of the day! What a way to end the season on a ride!
With rides now closed, we headed back to the entrance with intentions to see SW7 track in the dark, but first, myself and Al managed to convince the rather friendly chap in Box Office to tear down some more posters from the front of Box Office and part ways with them so we could give them a home on our walls. With the park now practically empty apart from a small handful of guests, we witnessed the demolition of the Scarefest theming on Towers Street as hay was placed into plastic bags, and the pumpkins placed intro trolleys and carted away. Big Al departed our company at this point, leaving the three of us to watch the actors having a final send off to Scarefest 2012 on the Trick or Treat stage. This in itself was a treat, and we even managed to get Georgia a birthday photo with Dr Kelman who we also had a great little chat with! He told us to search up on his real name, but didn't seem too phased when we revealed we knew he had Facebook and found him quite easily
He is such a wonderful gentlemen and has really created a fantastic character for Scarefest this year! I'd love to see him doing the same again next year should The Sanctuary be brought back.And so for the last time this season, I left Alton Towers on a high. A truly fantastic way to end my season of 2012. Massive thanks to ALL the staff for making the day superb, it couldn't have been like it was had you not all shown such enthusiasm towards making an excellent customer service to each individual guest today. Many kudos to the chap in Box Office for being able to get our posters [and also his supervisor for allowing us to take them in the first place!], the member of staff at the queue splitting point for Air who was great for a friendly chat and genuinly took interest in our day, the TotT queue entrance host who allowed us to skip the main queue simply to get our photo, ALL the actors in the mazes who made it unique for Georgia in your ways of delivering birthday messages, and Gerry for his portrayal of Dr Kelman. He certainly made the day unique for Georgia and all of us, and I think it's safe to say she had a fantastic birthday!
And of course, the biggest thanks have to go to Big Al, Georgiaa and Vicky for attending yesterday and making it my best day of the season!
Team Edit: Potentially offensive content removed.