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Best order to do rides on park?

Danscott22

TS Member
Favourite Ride
The Smiler
Sorry if this has already been mentioned/asked, but does anyone know what time the Skyride opens? Gonna have to try and utilise it as much as possible on Friday, planning on doing Dark Forest first and I assume TH13TEEN, Rita and Roller Disco will take less than 30 minutes between them, so if the Skyride doesn't open with the rest of the park we can just take the Haunted Hollow shortcut to Forbidden Valley if its not open.

Team Edit: Moved into dedicated trip planning topic
 
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Sorry if this has already been mentioned/asked, but does anyone know what time the Skyride opens? Gonna have to try and utilise it as much as possible on Friday, planning on doing Dark Forest first and I assume TH13TEEN, Rita and Roller Disco will take less than 30 minutes between them, so if the Skyride doesn't open with the rest of the park we can just take the Haunted Hollow shortcut to Forbidden Valley if its not open.
The skyride opens at 11. I advise starting on the left side of the park, wicker man early then katanga canyon, duel and then forbidden valley. By then it'll be gone 11 so you should be able to hop on the skyride to Dark Forest and TWODW. Th13teen and Rita may have queues by then but they'll be minium. With this route the smiler is the only ride you'll queue a decent amount of time for (45-60 mins)
 
Riding Wicker Man first is quite an absurd notion. Not only does every man and their dog head there first, you'd also be riding it as the slowest compared to when it's hauling at the end of the day. You'd be better off getting The Smiler and Oblivion out of the way first, then Dark Forest, then taking the Skyride over to FV.
 
Bearing in mind we're going to want to ride the flats in each area as well - I think I may actually start with Wicker Man, as we will be in the park pretty much as soon as it opens at 9am. If the pre-queue is too long we're likely to scrap that plan and head to Dark Forest, do the three rides in there, Hex, FFF (maybe GG but probably not) and then Skyride it to FV. I'm now not actually sure though I've got a few different ideas on where to start, usually it's always Dark Forest for us. I will say though the only area I'm 100% ruling out starting in is X Sector, as 3 of the 4 rides are likely to have a minimal queue by the time we get there.

EDIT: possibly gonna stick with DF, then do Hex, FFF, and then hopefully Skyride to FV as I've seen Wicker Man can have a tendency to drop to around 20 minutes in the middle of the day on these offpeak days, which may hopefully be around the time we've done all of FV, Duel and Katanga Canyon. This would likely leave The Smiler as the only substantial queue - really wishing it's SRQ was still in operation at this point! An alternative is just to do DF first and walk through Haunted Hollow to FV and do Hex and such later on, but I'll have to see the crowd level to decide.
 
It’s of course entirely up to you, but if you want my recommendation; stick with Dark Forest as a way to start your day. The last twice I’ve done that, I’ve gotten 2 of the big 7 nailed within 30 minutes of entering the park, and they’re also 2 that tend to pull long queues later on, particularly Thirteen (what with its social distancing policy)!
 
Sorry if this has already been mentioned/asked, but does anyone know what time the Skyride opens? Gonna have to try and utilise it as much as possible on Friday, planning on doing Dark Forest first and I assume TH13TEEN, Rita and Roller Disco will take less than 30 minutes between them, so if the Skyride doesn't open with the rest of the park we can just take the Haunted Hollow shortcut to Forbidden Valley if its not open.
My plan on Friday is to do Thirteen, Rita (I'll skip the Waltzers), GG, Walliams flats, Hex and then FV. The walk isn't that bad to FV if you walk past the conservatories, only around 5 mins, 10 possibly with kids in toe, shorter than the Skyride queue will probably be. X Sector in the afternoon and join the Wickerman queue just before close. If I'm going to queue, I'd rather it was Wickerman. This is based on not wanting to queue for Thirteen, with reduced throughput that would be intolerable and I don't like waiting for Rita too long either. Normally on a pathetic hours day I'd get X Sector done first thing and be over to Dark Forest before the crowds but the way Thirteen operates at the moment if you miss it first thing then it's curtains for the rest of the day. I don't think Friday will be as quiet as the hours suggest either.

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It’s of course entirely up to you, but if you want my recommendation; stick with Dark Forest as a way to start your day. The last twice I’ve done that, I’ve gotten 2 of the big 7 nailed within 30 minutes of entering the park, and they’re also 2 that tend to pull long queues later on, particularly Thirteen (what with its social distancing policy)!
Yes I'm going to stick with Thirteen and Rita first, grab a quick ride on Roller Disco whilst we're in the area and then Haunted Hollow shortcut to FV where (hopefully) Nemesis and Galactica will still have minimal queues. I think the plan is to then Skyride down the entrance and work back up towards Katanga Canyon and Gloomy Wood and then do Wicker Man possible before moving to 3/4 of X Sector, Hex and FFF and then end on The Smiler. Fingers crossed it works out that way!
 
My plan on Friday is to do Thirteen, Rita (I'll skip the Waltzers), GG, Walliams flats, Hex and then FV. The walk isn't that bad to FV if you walk past the conservatories, only around 5 mins, 10 possibly with kids in toe, shorter than the Skyride queue will probably be. X Sector in the afternoon and join the Wickerman queue just before close. If I'm going to queue, I'd rather it was Wickerman. This is based on not wanting to queue for Thirteen, with reduced throughput that would be intolerable and I don't like waiting for Rita too long either. Normally on a pathetic hours day I'd get X Sector done first thing and be over to Dark Forest before the crowds but the way Thirteen operates at the moment if you miss it first thing then it's curtains for the rest of the day. I don't think Friday will be as quiet as the hours suggest either.

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Sorry for double posting, but do you know which route to FV is quicker between Haunted Hollow and The Gardens? I've never taken the gardens path past the conservatory (or at all) so just suggested HH as it's the only "quick" route I really know.
 
Sorry for double posting, but do you know which route to FV is quicker between Haunted Hollow and The Gardens? I've never taken the gardens path past the conservatory (or at all) so just suggested HH as it's the only "quick" route I really know.
Basically turn into the Garden's after you've passed the kiosk by the archway, go down the steps and stay on the top path past the conservatories then turn left up the steps by Prospect Tower and you're at Forbidden Valley Skyride station.
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Today we did Smiler, Oblivion, Thirteen and Rita by 10:40am in that order. You have to get to Smiler well before opening though.
Ah, maybe starting with The Smiler and darting to Dark Forest could be another option - confident I could leave Oblivion until later in the day. EDIT: With the time we arrive we'd be at The Smiler for 9:15ish, would you say we're likely to be one of the first there?

Basically turn into the Garden's after you've passed the kiosk by the archway, go down the steps and stay on the top path past the conservatories then turn left up the steps by Prospect Tower and you're at Forbidden Valley Skyride station.
60f25ffe8e1f79b982d8a93e1f54887f.jpg


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Thank you for this! Is it quicker than Haunted Hollow?
 
With the time we arrive we'd be at The Smiler for 9:15ish, would you say we're likely to be one of the first there?
Most definitely on a weekday. Whenever I've looked at 10am on weekdays the smiler is normally around 30 mins, so if you get there early at 9:15, then I reckon you could be on the first train
 
Most definitely on a weekday. Whenever I've looked at 10am on weekdays the smiler is normally around 30 mins, so if you get there early at 9:15, then I reckon you could be on the first train
Genuinely tempted to do The Smiler > TH13TEEN > Rita > Galactica > Nemesis then, hopefully within the first 90 minutes.
 
Genuinely tempted to do The Smiler > TH13TEEN > Rita > Galactica > Nemesis then, hopefully within the first 90 minutes.
It's probably a good place to start with the smiler too. If you were to leave the smiler til last, you're likely to wait longer than you would leaving wicker man til last
 
I went to Mardi Gras on the 22nd and the opening day. I have posted on here about my experience and what I did throughout the day. Have a look at it. It has great pointers and what you expect there
 
Genuinely tempted to do The Smiler > TH13TEEN > Rita > Galactica > Nemesis then, hopefully within the first 90 minutes.
This is my plan when I visit on Tuesday 29th June. Looking at the queue times, Smiler seems to hover around the 45-60 minute mark from 1030 onwards until close whereas Wickerman tends to be 45-60 minutes from open but winds down to 30 minutes towards the end of the day, on weekdays at least. After doing the Smiler, DF and FV I’ll probably head to Duel, RMT and CRR then Spinball, Hex, X Sector for Oblivion and Mixtape and after that I’d just go wherever until my end of day ride on Wickerman.
 
This is my plan when I visit on Tuesday 29th June. Looking at the queue times, Smiler seems to hover around the 45-60 minute mark from 1030 onwards until close whereas Wickerman tends to be 45-60 minutes from open but winds down to 30 minutes towards the end of the day, on weekdays at least. After doing the Smiler, DF and FV I’ll probably head to Duel, RMT and CRR then Spinball, Hex, X Sector for Oblivion and Mixtape and after that I’d just go wherever until my end of day ride on Wickerman.
This is literally my plan! Bar Spinball Whizzer my friend doesn't like it and I can't ride on my own. I think it's the best strategy at this point.
 
Pardon my ignorance, but there's a lot of mention of pre 10am times. I thought ERT wasn't a running at the moment?

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Pardon my ignorance, but there's a lot of mention of pre 10am times. I thought ERT wasn't a running at the moment?

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Do they open the park gates sometime between 9am and 10am to avoid crowds gathering, then rides open at 10am?
 
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