Right then!
I hadn't visited The Towers in a little over two years so I the main attractions I was looking forward to were The Smiler, Nemesis and Nemesis: Sub Terra. I'd barely read or heard anything about Sub Terra since I'd not been following much of the construction and had semi-consciously avoided spoilers since then as well. I'd cracked and watched a video of The Smiler a few days before the visit but it was obviously a completely new experience for me...except that I had been on SAW once before.
We got into the park at a little past 10 after a brief detour to look at some corn and a dead end. We got a parking spot fairly close to the front so it was only the mandatory walk to the entrance which was fine. There were huge queues at the booths to the sides of the corkscrew monument (I think) but I ushered our group around the corner to much smaller lines at the individual booths. We exchanged our cereal packets for tickets and bought the fast-track with Rita and Thirteen on since I could see it was going to be a pretty busy day. That being said, I have been utterly jaded by Adrenaline Week so now if the trains are going around full it is a busy day hahaha!
"Let's head straight to the new r-"
So we headed to Forbidden Valley via the Sky Ride and joined a 20 minute queue for Nemesis. I only got one ride on her that day but it was front row and...mmmm. Yeah. My arms up covering my brother's face in the photo was to become a recurring joke throughout the day, mind you.
Air was next, a little longer (around 30 minutens) but the short front row queue made it a little better. I was with my brother's friends from school who are a good laugh. One of them claimed Air was boring which led to me shouting at him to wake up at various points - my laughing face got caught by the camera which did not look amazing.
Ripsaw was fun. The operators got the next batch to stand inside the ride area which led to some screams and soakings. The property bins had not been closed though which led to the one nearest the fountains, and mine at the closer edge of the other one, to get pretty soaked. Maybe that should have been shut since the ones nearest the fountain were REALLY soaked and people put their stuff in there to keep it safe, not get it damaged or maybe broken! Whose responsibility that is, I'm not sure.
Spoiler Warning (just in case)
Next was Sub-Terra. I enjoyed the videos during the queue and it was about another 30 minutes. I had a vague idea that there was an egg and a drop but I decided to just take it as it comes and have no expectations. I remembered bad reviews on opening but also word of added effects of which I had not read more about. The actors were not very outgoing and seemed to be a little reserved if anything. Getting people on the circles was a nice touch but was totally not understood by the group who went through the right 'scanner'. A child was their 'leader' and so when he has not grasped the instructions, everyone else was just...not standing on the circles. The 'guards' tried to enforce this, and eventually got them to...sort of. It was funny for us on the other side who were obeying our orders like good robots - and I was with people who had technically queue jumped. They may not have been model guests but they obeyed arbitrary rules that had no humanistic purpose.
They may go far in this world yet.
All in all, I enjoyed it. I wasn't sure if the dildo in the back was just my seat or what effect it was meant to achieve but the tentacles and disdainful inter-species racialist spitting were fun. The countdown didn't add tension because it is difficult to get people to fear what isn't happening and you can't force the suspension of disbelief on people easily, especially the British. The next part was great and caught a lot of people, including myself, by surprise. From there to the exit it was fun and we were all quite giddy, smiling and laughing when we came out! I think there could be something done to the part where the solitary egg is for that 'evacuation' scene. I'm not sure what is feasible though.
Even still, the relative 'oh, it's over' calm of that part seems to make the next part work even better!
The pre-show I did enjoy. It explains what Nemesis is and about very succinctly. Good job!
However, the giant crab on the screen did remind me a little of the old Sinbad films with iguana-dragons terrorising people. Nemesis has struck me as more...gooey and slimy. Though I suppose that imagery is relatively faithful to the older material and comic etc.
Spoiler Alert Over! Go back to your homes!
Rita was next after some food in X-Sector. I guessed 7...got 15.
We had fast-track for between 2 and 3 and they were so worth it.
That queue is brutal and it was full! We waited about 10/15 minutes still.
Got directed to gate 7 too...where were you in the chicken diner?
Thirteen was on the fast-track too and that queue was outside the entrance! [size=small]It was fun, as usual, but even after two years there was no novelty. [/size][size=small]I had been on it three times before on two separate visits and to quote B.B. King (et al), The Thrill is Gone. The outside section is enjoyable but too short to even be as good as RMT. My brother and one friend had not been on it so they sat together whilst his other friend and I taunted them. That was quite fun, I admit...pretending to be nervous whilst standing at the gates etc. The drop and return were enjoyable but I wouldn't queue for it for a long time ever again. It was worth buying fast-tracks because my brother had never been on any of the big rides at AT but I would likely skip both Rita and Thirteen if I had to queue over 30 minutes and didn't have outstanding company and mild weather to boot!
[/size]
[size=small][/size]
[size=small]Also, without those queue-skips, we'd have never gotten all of the big rides done.[/size]
[size=small][/size]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0v7dNp5v0A#ws
S'good, yeah. I liked the part when it went upside-down.
But all jokes (and what jokes!) aside, I did really enjoy The Smiler.
It was a bit forceful but then it really ought to be given the number of inversions, it's not meant to be gentle. That being said, Nemesis is 20 years old and MUCH smoother and enjoyable to actually BE on, in the moment. Now, I am not sure if that is because I know Nemmy's layout so well but I don't remember her ever being an ordeal. Now, The Smiler isn't an ordeal...yet. But it is enough of one to take a break, do something else, then go back on - if it weren't for the 100 minute queue. I liked the mist in the face which I was not expecting at all and it was an insane ride!! The vertical lift was very nice and I'm glad AT have got one of those because I really enjoy them! The music was good, the queue was fit for an Indian cow and there was only only breakdown. Unfortunately it when we had just gotten into the section of inside queue that is too narrow to sit down in so we could see those behind us rest their weary legs but couldn't ourselves. The darkness and trippy patterns made a prolonged stay in that room a little claustrophobic, but the downtime wasn't long.
I put my bag in the hold and I was glad to see that there were wristbands...s'nice touch.
My wristband? It had a marking of $7 on it. Where were you in the chicken diner?
Front row too! Very nice!
Then after a lovely day the masochistic streak took over and we went on Enterprise and The Flume to ruin it before getting back in the car all soggy with some overpriced, and very finite, everlasting gobstoppers.
I hope you enjoyed my trip report if you read it or this sentence if you didn't.
Sorry there weren't any pictures but it was strictly business! :twirly:
I hadn't visited The Towers in a little over two years so I the main attractions I was looking forward to were The Smiler, Nemesis and Nemesis: Sub Terra. I'd barely read or heard anything about Sub Terra since I'd not been following much of the construction and had semi-consciously avoided spoilers since then as well. I'd cracked and watched a video of The Smiler a few days before the visit but it was obviously a completely new experience for me...except that I had been on SAW once before.
We got into the park at a little past 10 after a brief detour to look at some corn and a dead end. We got a parking spot fairly close to the front so it was only the mandatory walk to the entrance which was fine. There were huge queues at the booths to the sides of the corkscrew monument (I think) but I ushered our group around the corner to much smaller lines at the individual booths. We exchanged our cereal packets for tickets and bought the fast-track with Rita and Thirteen on since I could see it was going to be a pretty busy day. That being said, I have been utterly jaded by Adrenaline Week so now if the trains are going around full it is a busy day hahaha!
"Let's head straight to the new r-"
So we headed to Forbidden Valley via the Sky Ride and joined a 20 minute queue for Nemesis. I only got one ride on her that day but it was front row and...mmmm. Yeah. My arms up covering my brother's face in the photo was to become a recurring joke throughout the day, mind you.
Air was next, a little longer (around 30 minutens) but the short front row queue made it a little better. I was with my brother's friends from school who are a good laugh. One of them claimed Air was boring which led to me shouting at him to wake up at various points - my laughing face got caught by the camera which did not look amazing.
Ripsaw was fun. The operators got the next batch to stand inside the ride area which led to some screams and soakings. The property bins had not been closed though which led to the one nearest the fountains, and mine at the closer edge of the other one, to get pretty soaked. Maybe that should have been shut since the ones nearest the fountain were REALLY soaked and people put their stuff in there to keep it safe, not get it damaged or maybe broken! Whose responsibility that is, I'm not sure.
Spoiler Warning (just in case)
Next was Sub-Terra. I enjoyed the videos during the queue and it was about another 30 minutes. I had a vague idea that there was an egg and a drop but I decided to just take it as it comes and have no expectations. I remembered bad reviews on opening but also word of added effects of which I had not read more about. The actors were not very outgoing and seemed to be a little reserved if anything. Getting people on the circles was a nice touch but was totally not understood by the group who went through the right 'scanner'. A child was their 'leader' and so when he has not grasped the instructions, everyone else was just...not standing on the circles. The 'guards' tried to enforce this, and eventually got them to...sort of. It was funny for us on the other side who were obeying our orders like good robots - and I was with people who had technically queue jumped. They may not have been model guests but they obeyed arbitrary rules that had no humanistic purpose.
They may go far in this world yet.
All in all, I enjoyed it. I wasn't sure if the dildo in the back was just my seat or what effect it was meant to achieve but the tentacles and disdainful inter-species racialist spitting were fun. The countdown didn't add tension because it is difficult to get people to fear what isn't happening and you can't force the suspension of disbelief on people easily, especially the British. The next part was great and caught a lot of people, including myself, by surprise. From there to the exit it was fun and we were all quite giddy, smiling and laughing when we came out! I think there could be something done to the part where the solitary egg is for that 'evacuation' scene. I'm not sure what is feasible though.
Even still, the relative 'oh, it's over' calm of that part seems to make the next part work even better!
The pre-show I did enjoy. It explains what Nemesis is and about very succinctly. Good job!
However, the giant crab on the screen did remind me a little of the old Sinbad films with iguana-dragons terrorising people. Nemesis has struck me as more...gooey and slimy. Though I suppose that imagery is relatively faithful to the older material and comic etc.
Spoiler Alert Over! Go back to your homes!
Rita was next after some food in X-Sector. I guessed 7...got 15.
We had fast-track for between 2 and 3 and they were so worth it.
That queue is brutal and it was full! We waited about 10/15 minutes still.
Got directed to gate 7 too...where were you in the chicken diner?
Thirteen was on the fast-track too and that queue was outside the entrance! [size=small]It was fun, as usual, but even after two years there was no novelty. [/size][size=small]I had been on it three times before on two separate visits and to quote B.B. King (et al), The Thrill is Gone. The outside section is enjoyable but too short to even be as good as RMT. My brother and one friend had not been on it so they sat together whilst his other friend and I taunted them. That was quite fun, I admit...pretending to be nervous whilst standing at the gates etc. The drop and return were enjoyable but I wouldn't queue for it for a long time ever again. It was worth buying fast-tracks because my brother had never been on any of the big rides at AT but I would likely skip both Rita and Thirteen if I had to queue over 30 minutes and didn't have outstanding company and mild weather to boot!
[/size][size=small][/size]
[size=small]Also, without those queue-skips, we'd have never gotten all of the big rides done.[/size]
[size=small][/size]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0v7dNp5v0A#ws
S'good, yeah. I liked the part when it went upside-down.
But all jokes (and what jokes!) aside, I did really enjoy The Smiler.
It was a bit forceful but then it really ought to be given the number of inversions, it's not meant to be gentle. That being said, Nemesis is 20 years old and MUCH smoother and enjoyable to actually BE on, in the moment. Now, I am not sure if that is because I know Nemmy's layout so well but I don't remember her ever being an ordeal. Now, The Smiler isn't an ordeal...yet. But it is enough of one to take a break, do something else, then go back on - if it weren't for the 100 minute queue. I liked the mist in the face which I was not expecting at all and it was an insane ride!! The vertical lift was very nice and I'm glad AT have got one of those because I really enjoy them! The music was good, the queue was fit for an Indian cow and there was only only breakdown. Unfortunately it when we had just gotten into the section of inside queue that is too narrow to sit down in so we could see those behind us rest their weary legs but couldn't ourselves. The darkness and trippy patterns made a prolonged stay in that room a little claustrophobic, but the downtime wasn't long.
I put my bag in the hold and I was glad to see that there were wristbands...s'nice touch.
My wristband? It had a marking of $7 on it. Where were you in the chicken diner?
Front row too! Very nice!
Then after a lovely day the masochistic streak took over and we went on Enterprise and The Flume to ruin it before getting back in the car all soggy with some overpriced, and very finite, everlasting gobstoppers.
I hope you enjoyed my trip report if you read it or this sentence if you didn't.
Sorry there weren't any pictures but it was strictly business! :twirly: