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Earliest Towers Memories

Stelios

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Nemesis
Well I thought I'd bring it back. What are your earliest memories from the Towers? It may of been when you were 1 or 21.

Mine is being scared of Toyland Tours when I was 3 until I saw Sonic. I also remember my cousin and sister saying to me to stop pedalling on Squirrel Nutty as it "didn't work".
 
My first visit to Alton was only back in 2008, so I don't have as much memories as most people on TST do :( My earliest memory is arriving at Splash Landings in a cab and checking in, then heading on to the monorail and looking amazed at everything. I will Never forget that :)

However, My earliest memory of hearing about Alton was seeing the Hex advert back in 2000 and being terrified of it!. Also remember seeing the advert for the Tweenies show in Cred Street back in the early 2000's :)
 
When I was 7, going onto sonic spinball, and crying all through the queue, with my parents saying "Maya, its only a kiddies ride!" thinking it was going to be really tame and boring. We got off, I was still crying, and they were nearly crying too, they thought it was torture!
 
My earliest memories are of Toyland Tours in some of its earliest years. Such a wonderful ride. I'll never forget those teddy bears covered in candy floss, or the giant WTF party hippos! :p
 
From what I can remember it wasn't an actual ride it was sitting a rock with nan whist my mum and dad were on nemesis in 1996
 
Earliest memory was my parents showing the park map in 1994, and getting overexcited about seeing the monorail! Kept pestering them for days to go on the monorail - little did I know...
 
My earliest memory was of a trip back in 1984 (I only know the year because my mum has labelled the photos in the album!) when I went on a rollercoaster similar to the Beastie but you went through an apple on it, and I have vague recollections of something to do with Rupert the Bear? Random I know! I also remember watching my dad go on Corkscrew.
 
My earliest memory was visiting in mid 80s and going on what was then the tallest log flume in the world and a man sitting at the top of the 2nd or 3rd drop handing you a ticket as you passed for you to order your on ride photo which you couldn't even see till it arrived in the post about 2 weeks later!
 
My earliest AT related memory was seeing the Oblivion advert on TV as a kid back in 1998, not knowing in just over 9 years I'd be ridding it.
 
My earliest memory was riding The Beastie. I was scared, but nowhere near as scared as I would be just an hour later when I was queuing for The Haunted House. It was bloody terrifying when I was six :eek:

I don't remember much else about the park, although I loved Toyland Tours, and my brother had multiple rides on the caterpillar. I do remember staying in the hotel; I won £5 off a magician guy, and I also remember being given a Rugrats comic by the staff. I loved the hotel, although the lift freaked me out because it kept playing the dollhouse theme from The Haunted House.
 
Well, my first visit was only in 2009, and my first memory of that was riding Hex and wondering what the hell was going on!

That wasn't the first time I'd talked about Alton though!

I was 4 and I remember talking about Oblivion, the ride that goes down like that. This was followed by myself pointing my hand towards the ground and a swooshing noise. :p

Who would've known that, in 7 years, I would ride that ride and fall in love with the place?
 
Being 10 years old and Nemesis and Blivvy scaring the crap out of me aha! So glad after this trip I began to like the bigger rollercoasters ;)
 
Pixie-Ro said:
My earliest memory was of a trip back in 1984 (I only know the year because my mum has labelled the photos in the album!) when I went on a rollercoaster similar to the Beastie but you went through an apple on it, and I have vague recollections of something to do with Rupert the Bear? Random I know! I also remember watching my dad go on Corkscrew.

Was it the Caterpillar? I remember that ride - big green coaster with a smiling face on the front. I also remember going on the Octopus, Around The World in 80 Days, TeaCups and the 3D Cinema... and a ghost house which you walked through and things jumped out and scared you.
 
Oh lord, my first visit, in 2002...

Doing UG Bugs while in awe of the UG Swinger soaring high, and marveling at Corky, and then having a real blast on Soakasaurus, even though I could never get enough leverage to soak my friend properly!

Seeing Hex from the outside and presuming it was some kind of exhibit so not going in, absolutely loved the Vintage Cars and the fact that the Cred Street Carousel had MULTIPLE TIERS was the most exciting thing in the world. I also measured myself up outside that and found that I was taller than 1.3 m, which had 8-year-old James protesting that he could go on ALL the rides!

I remember being fascinated by the way the Log Flume boats sped up when they left the turntable (geek from the start!) and having a picnic on the rapids bridge (not sure how we managed that given the throughput...) and finding the tunnel on RMT the most intense thing (my friend almost lost his hat!). Then there's my biggest regret: I remember being utterly TERRIFIED in the graveyard queueline for the Haunted House, but as for the ride, all I remember is vaguelly the hand in the jar, and then breaking down by the Undertaker for what seemed like an age. Why? Because I shut my bloody eyes through the whole thing! :( Not because I was scared, but to support my friend who was...

On top of this, I remember being utterly amazed by Nemesis and her waterfalls, obviously the brand new Air, and Ripsaw made a real impression too (though I could ride none of them :(). Other than that, I've got really fond memories of the teacups, and certainly seeing the swans, though never rode them either!

The overriding impression, though, even when I think back to the memories now, is that it was a truly magical place, which I completely and utterly fell in love with from the moment I set foot there. I didn't go again for another 4 years (when I could finally ride everything :D) but that first visit really stuck with me...

This is why I completely disregard anything about 'the magic' going away; 2002 was hardly a boom year for the park's most "magical" investments, but that didn't stop it being (then and now) the most magical place in the world for me :)
 
I think my earliest memory of AT was queuing to go on to corkscrew and not being allowed on because I was too short.

My brother got on it, and seemed to enjoy it.

Then when we went back and I was tall enough to ride it I would not go on it..... kids huh!

I also have some vague memory of us waiting to go on 1001 nights (can still hear it going now) and they stopped the ride and some paramedics came, I think someone had a heart attack or something.
 
1993 I was 8 and I got Mrs Doubtfire on VHS as a present it came with lots of Alton Towers promotional stuff inside and a holographic sticker on the front. Before the movie rolled the classic Alton Towers advert with the haunted house and runaway mine train which was just awesome I used to rewind and watch that more than the movie and begged my mum to take me to Alton just to go on the runaway train. Growing up on the south coast it would be nearly 10 years - October 2002 when I finally made it. The first thing on the day I remember was the eerie look of the JCB sculpture on the way in the coach and misty foggy start to the day coupled with the smell in the air that just set this amazing tone for the day. Alton Towers has atmosphere and that is what makes it special to me and such a nostalgia trip when I get there..
 
My earliest memory of Alton is riding the monorail and seeing the cars spiraling up the lift hill of the New Beast. I think I would have been 3 years old but I can't remember anything about Thunderlooper. I also vaguely remember snippets of the Peter Rabbit show
 
earlist memories were the feet turning round in the fire place in Doom and Sons 'and the can can girls at the end of Around the World in Eighty Days. And also asking when the Bears would be back out and the member of staff saying when they had watched the dinner time episode of Neighbours. Gerat Days
 
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