Jb85
TS Member
Oh it was ……..
-
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Nemesis: Looking back at the 1994 original
- Thread starter Squiggs
- Start date
Oh it was ……..
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Now correct me if I’m wrong here, but what I seem to remember hearing was that:
- SW1 was the Arrow pipeline coaster before they considered the idea of rock blasting and digging down. It was scrapped due to it only being around 300m long as a result of Alton Towers’ height limits not giving enough potential energy for a long ride.
- SW2 was the Arrow pipeline coaster after they considered the idea of digging down. It was longer, but was scrapped due to Wardley riding the prototype and finding it “slow and cumbersome”.
Skyscraper
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
JW mentions about it in Creating My Nemesis.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
That’s probably where I read it, then! I couldn’t remember where I read that, but I definitely seem to remember reading it somewhere…
On a side note, I wonder when John Wardley’s second book is coming out?
Squiggs
TS Team
It was in by Nemesis Nosh/former Nemesis Shop. It was taken out when they built Fresh Fish and Chips, or what is now Ground Command Coffee Outpost.I would say that I have a decent knowledge of Forbidden Valley's history, but I don't know where this truck was situated. Does anyone here remember/know? Apparently, it was removed in the early 2000s.
Not only is it running it has a weird message now on the home page from 5 years after it shut down!
Jb85
TS Member
Yes very very odd message indeed. Pay cash!!!!
Someone just still be paying for the site to be hosted.
Anyhow bringing it back on topic, I forgot they had this on the site:
Nemesis Comic
Slugjc
TS Member
I remeber my brother going on a school trip to AT in 1994 and fetching some merch back. Lovely hat (usually seen being worn by cricketers) as one such item. I looked at that thing for hours, along with the park map, wanting and needing to get to AT and ride this thing. I recorded add breaks on VHS. Just to incase the nemmy advert came on. And watched it over and over again. Compare that to the big one at Blackpool. I just wasn't as determined to go on that or know anything on it. Yes it was the tallest for 10mins. But it didn't have that wow factor. All I wanted to do was ride nemesis. Which is why in 1994 at the age of 10. The first rollercoaster I went was.....The pepsi max big one. Blackpool was a yearly family "treat." Alton towers was if we were lucky.
1995, a week after princess Di had taken will and Harry yo Alton towers and rode nemmy. We went there. It did not disappoint. Am I sad that incarnation is not there anymore. Yes, that track is what I fell in love with. But my lord, judging by Barry Zola first day video have they improved it. Can't wait to go and ride this. 30 years after that first ride.
It's strange how now. I can sit at home on an opening weekend and have everything on my TV or phone by midday. A photo of every angle, a ride POV and detailed analysis. The anticipation has gone unless you are there opening day. Which is why with new rides etc, I hang back till I see it through my eyes first.
AT magic for me has never left for me. It's still deep down in the soul. Nemesis is the thing that will always pull me back.
1995, a week after princess Di had taken will and Harry yo Alton towers and rode nemmy. We went there. It did not disappoint. Am I sad that incarnation is not there anymore. Yes, that track is what I fell in love with. But my lord, judging by Barry Zola first day video have they improved it. Can't wait to go and ride this. 30 years after that first ride.
It's strange how now. I can sit at home on an opening weekend and have everything on my TV or phone by midday. A photo of every angle, a ride POV and detailed analysis. The anticipation has gone unless you are there opening day. Which is why with new rides etc, I hang back till I see it through my eyes first.
AT magic for me has never left for me. It's still deep down in the soul. Nemesis is the thing that will always pull me back.
Matt.GC
TS Member
There's something about the element of suprise and not knowing. When you know every minute detail, warts and all, it ruins it somewhat.
I knew they were building something special in my 1993 summer trip. The year before, after getting off Haunted House, we ventured up to Thunder Valley and it was a grass mound. 1993, it was a construction site as I waited for my dad to be evacuated from Thunder Looper after a breakdown.
I saw some TV advertising, and saw the "It started as a routine excavation" promo (not sure if it was in the park, or in a TV programme) but still didn't know really what it was.
Roll on August 1994 and I entered a 3 hour queue for it. My mind fades, but I vaguely remember the queue (not sure if it was 94 or a later season) where Sub Terra sits. Thunder Valley now looked completely different as Forbidden. It was still recognisable when you walked in as old Thunder Valley, but walking down towards Nemesis and you really got the sense that a 'disaster' had occurred. Very well done.
I remember queueing around the top and seeing the pit from the car park side (don't remember seeing the car park like you can now though). I missed that view for years. The freshly blasted pit with red water thundering into it really was spectacular! It all had this mysterious feel to it. There was a monster and 'blood' everywhere in this massive rock pit. I remember seeing the the faux track pieces tangled around the station, and seeing how close the coaster got to pathways and rocks. To a kid seeing it for the first time, it really did feel like this tangle of tentacles was rooted into the landscape. With this and the blood, the whole thing felt organic and alive. It was so good in fact, I remember finding it disappointing that the brake run and maintenance shed looked so uninspiring.
A far cry overall from what it was like in its latter years where it kind of looked like a rusty forgotten old coaster being taken back by nature. Also far different from what they've done with it now. With it's dull dry pit, gloss black and hot wheels paint job, guns, helicopters and shipping container, the new thematics have taken a very different take. It all looks so clinical now, and other than the excellent station job (much better than it ever was now) , it's lost the organic feel it used to have.
As for ride experience, the first thing I noticed is how amazingly smooth it was. It was the second B&M I ever rode (after Kumba) and it blew me away. I remember feeling it was short, and I used to fear crashing into the rocks and used to try and lift my feet up. Wonderful experience.
I did Shockwave a few weeks before, and I flew out to Florida just weeks later that year. Nemesis really was as good an experience as anything you could find out there at the time. And we had it here in the UK! Alton Towers had opened a truly world class coaster, and you wondered what on earth they were going to do next! They delivered of course with some of the other excellent investments over the next few years. But I had no idea at the time that this was the beginning of only a very short period of Towers standing alongside the big boys, opening world class rides. The industry moved on in the mid-2000's, and Towers stagnated and cheapened. 30 years later, they still haven't topped the original Nemesis for me.
I knew they were building something special in my 1993 summer trip. The year before, after getting off Haunted House, we ventured up to Thunder Valley and it was a grass mound. 1993, it was a construction site as I waited for my dad to be evacuated from Thunder Looper after a breakdown.
I saw some TV advertising, and saw the "It started as a routine excavation" promo (not sure if it was in the park, or in a TV programme) but still didn't know really what it was.
Roll on August 1994 and I entered a 3 hour queue for it. My mind fades, but I vaguely remember the queue (not sure if it was 94 or a later season) where Sub Terra sits. Thunder Valley now looked completely different as Forbidden. It was still recognisable when you walked in as old Thunder Valley, but walking down towards Nemesis and you really got the sense that a 'disaster' had occurred. Very well done.
I remember queueing around the top and seeing the pit from the car park side (don't remember seeing the car park like you can now though). I missed that view for years. The freshly blasted pit with red water thundering into it really was spectacular! It all had this mysterious feel to it. There was a monster and 'blood' everywhere in this massive rock pit. I remember seeing the the faux track pieces tangled around the station, and seeing how close the coaster got to pathways and rocks. To a kid seeing it for the first time, it really did feel like this tangle of tentacles was rooted into the landscape. With this and the blood, the whole thing felt organic and alive. It was so good in fact, I remember finding it disappointing that the brake run and maintenance shed looked so uninspiring.
A far cry overall from what it was like in its latter years where it kind of looked like a rusty forgotten old coaster being taken back by nature. Also far different from what they've done with it now. With it's dull dry pit, gloss black and hot wheels paint job, guns, helicopters and shipping container, the new thematics have taken a very different take. It all looks so clinical now, and other than the excellent station job (much better than it ever was now) , it's lost the organic feel it used to have.
As for ride experience, the first thing I noticed is how amazingly smooth it was. It was the second B&M I ever rode (after Kumba) and it blew me away. I remember feeling it was short, and I used to fear crashing into the rocks and used to try and lift my feet up. Wonderful experience.
I did Shockwave a few weeks before, and I flew out to Florida just weeks later that year. Nemesis really was as good an experience as anything you could find out there at the time. And we had it here in the UK! Alton Towers had opened a truly world class coaster, and you wondered what on earth they were going to do next! They delivered of course with some of the other excellent investments over the next few years. But I had no idea at the time that this was the beginning of only a very short period of Towers standing alongside the big boys, opening world class rides. The industry moved on in the mid-2000's, and Towers stagnated and cheapened. 30 years later, they still haven't topped the original Nemesis for me.
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