• 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.
Ethan said:
I can never be bothered to lap Wicker man as it just takes too long. I went once when it was on 0 and tried to see how many goes I'd get in an hour, only got 3. Walking around the queue takes forever and then you have to wait to get into the pre show, watch the pre show and then finally into the station. During covid a 0 min wait was actually 0 mins as you walked straight through into the airgates. The pre show just makes re riding it tedious
Click to expand...
Preshow was off beyond 6.15pm as it was just the same 15-20 people reriding. And didn't use main queue.



Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
AstroDan said:
I appreciate this is almost a mini trip report, but it's simply not worthy of its own topic - so here it is in general.

Today was one of those absolutely absurd experiences at ATR that only come around once in a blue moon. The last time I recall the park like this was Adrenaline Week back in 2005/2006. I am no ride whore typically, but today saw the old geek come right out of the bag. We paid £25 on the gate as part of the spectator fee for the race, and ended up as follows:

Nemesis x 2
Galactica x 1
Blade x 1
Duel x 1
Runaway Mine Train x 1
Wicker Man x 7
Spinball Whizzer x 2
Oblivion x 2
Enterprise x 1
Hex x 1
Gangsta Granny: The Ride x 1
Flavio's Fabulous Fandango x 1
Rita x 1
Th13teen x 4 (successive re-rides due to weight requirements, so we did them a favour)

The park was absolutely empty beyond 5pm and even before that queues were minimal - in most cases under 10 minutes, and in many cases walk on.

To wander round the park in the dark, with rides open but no guests is a privilege and somewhat surreal experience. We even enjoyed a meal at Woodcutters with a pint, and a coffee later on at the Coffee Lounge.

I'd definitely be up for some spectating again in the future - even if it was £25. Consider the £25 like a fastrack purchase and you almost feel like you have the park to yourself.

No RAP clogging up the queue. No Fastrack making your wait longer. Darkness.

Wonderful.
Click to expand...
This reminds me of a trip to Chessington in January where the park was empty and I got 12 consecutive rides on Vampire, it feels insulting to those people who wait one hour+ in the main season.
Ethan said:
I can never be bothered to lap Wicker man as it just takes too long. I went once when it was on 0 and tried to see how many goes I'd get in an hour, only got 3. Walking around the queue takes forever and then you have to wait to get into the pre show, watch the pre show and then finally into the station. During covid a 0 min wait was actually 0 mins as you walked straight through into the airgates. The pre show just makes re riding it tedious
Click to expand...
Yeah it is a pain walking around an empty queue line, at least it keeps you fit (although it will make you exhausted if the Skyride is down).
 
AstroDan said:
Preshow was off beyond 6.15pm as it was just the same 15-20 people reriding. And didn't use main queue.



Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Wow that's amazing. If I had the chance to do that I couldn't imagine how many goes I'd get on it. It's walking around the queue and keep watching the pre show that puts me off. Re riding it at night over and over just sounds like a dream. I don't think you'd appreciate the ride as much though, bcus if you get on it like 4+ times in 30 mins then you'll never queue 80+ mins for it again for the night ride
 
Alastair said:
Probably the worst ride I've ever had on Hex today - almost merciful that they didn't revive it for last week given the state it was in. Horribly loud fan going in the Octagon and some of the audio not working which totally ruined the atmosphere. Then the vault...the audio was so quiet that the mechanism was clearly audible. Barely any of the lighting effects were working properly, including the eyes in the finale. So sad.to see, especially with so many newbies clearly riding!
Click to expand...
This is strange as I did Hex yesterday and thought it was the best it’s been in years.

It’s the first time I’ve seen the generator spark and work properly in years. Also in the actual vault they’ve clearly replaced a lot of the lights, the flashing lights in the tube also worked which I’ve not seen this year, plus the smoke was working.

The covid fan was still in the octagon however all the others were off, and all the doors shut as well now.

I do agree though that the audio is still too quiet in the vault, it’s odd as the announcements are really loud, but the actual ride audio is quiet.
 
In terms of the race, it was such a good atmosphere yesterday watching the race start. I couldn’t actually believe how many people were running the 10K and 5K races, according to the results page there were 2045 who ran the 10K and 1002 running the 5K (and today 1893 people completed the half marathon, with a few who didn’t finish).

It was nice to see lots of people who clearly don’t visit Alton Towers much (if ever) and generally just having a good day in a quiet park!

They’ve already announced the event is taking place again next year so it much have been a success for them.

Well done to everyone who took part during the weekend, including a few friends of mine who did well.
 
Because I'm used to visiting Towers when it's dead, when I do go on a busyish day I rarely ride everything because I can't bring myself to queue for an hour or more for rides I've whored the hell out of walk on earlier in the season.

The only times I'll ever visit when most rides aren't walk on is during Scarefest. This season they've tempted me in to visiting during Mardi Gras and Oktoberfest as well. When there's events on, there's other things to do anyway.

I remember a rainy Thursday in April 2017. I had to wait 5 mins on Oblivion for another rider to walk up the queue line otherwise a staff member said he'd go on with me as I had the shuttle to myself. 5 front row rides on Rita in 20 mins, only reason it took so long was again waiting for riders. I never rode as much in any theme park day ever as I did that day. The park feels a lot smaller when it's dead as well albeit still tiring but it's great to do some exploring when you know whatever ride your closest to is walk on anyway (that was the day I went searching for and found the old abandoned toilet block behind Dark Forest). Would love to have experienced that in the dark like tonight though, it must have been awesome.
 
Dan has already summed it up perfectly, but yesterday was quite simply a brilliant day on park and £25 well spent. We rode every coaster in the dark no problem at all. To be riding Wicker Man with the trains over half empty much of the time was quite surreal.

I think the longest queue we had all day was actually in Coffee Lounge.
 
Ethan said:
Can you buy a ticket without having to do the race. I just want to enjoy a quiet day out not run around!
Click to expand...

Heidi said:
Same by the sounds of it I'd really like to attend next year
Click to expand...
You can indeed, spectator tickets will be available online nearer the time, and at first they'll be offered to participants before being put on general sale for everyone else. Tickets will also be available at the admissions kiosks on the day.
 
Skyscraper said:
You can indeed, spectator tickets will be available online nearer the time, and at first they'll be offered to participants before being put on general sale for everyone else. Tickets will also be available at the admissions kiosks on the day.
Click to expand...
So literally anyone can go to this event. Surprised how quiet it was then
 
And the more people that hear about it and decide to go, the busier it will be and therefore you question whether it is value for money. We only paid to get in yesterday after we say just how dead it appeared to be on the Saturday night. If hours were reduced next year, which would probably be justifiable, I am not sure I'd bother.
 
Ethan said:
So there's no point trying to buy a ticket on the day as there won't be any left
Click to expand...
@Rob and co were able to buy tickets on the day yesterday. Yes next year's event could be busier as more people know about it, but remember that it's only advertised by Run Through themselves, and Towers have the park listed as closed on their website.
 
Skyscraper said:
@Rob and co were able to buy tickets on the day yesterday. Yes next year's event could be busier as more people know about it, but remember that it's only advertised by Run Through themselves, and Towers have the park listed as closed on their website.
Click to expand...
Might still book in advance though rather than take the risk
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top