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Return of the Slap

DiogoJ42

TS Member
Favourite Ride
The Metropolitan Line
Hullo. Long time no post.

You may have noticed I stepped back from the fandom a couple of years ago, as much for everyone else's sanity as for my own. But I haven't actually been to Towers since fireworks 2017. Six very long years ago. Wickerman was just footers and planks, and I brought the infamous “DJ Flip-flop” with me.

A couple of months ago, a friend bagged some Sun free tickets and invited me along. I wasn't sure at first. Then he mentioned the dates were during Oktoberfest. Well, gosh darn it, Billy-Bob, ya just might have convinced me.

I honestly did not know what to expect. I have heard the horror stories. The seemingly ever-expanding list of SBNO rides, including, of course, the only ride that matters being re-tracked. How could I possibly enjoy Towers without my Nemmy?

I set my expectations to “lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut”. I knew this day was only going to infuriate me. Hell, when I heard the Oktoberfest event didn't even sell freakin' currywurst, I almost bailed out. (I've had possibly the most stressful few weeks of my life with work - I'm talking “considering a new career” levels here - and it shows no sign of ending soon).
But no, maybe a day out was what I needed? I mean, how bad could it possibly be?


Lets look up the weather forecast for Friday 22nd...
... oh.


Strap in folks.


And so it was that we pulled in to the car park on a nice sunny September morning. I had been told the monorail was SBNO. We were just walking past it to start the long slog to the entrance, when it just so happened to open the shutters.

OK, good timing. Wasn't expecting that. Won't complain.

Naturally, the first train of the morning departed the station just as we got there. And it took an eternity for the only other train to arrive, park, etc. But you all know this farce, I'm sure. We still made it on park in good time. Slow and infuriating it may have been, but its better than walking.

We started our day in the Dark Forest, with Th-one-three-teen. Sweet Wardley, the utter state of the thing! The fake stone wall next to the unused bag drop was now a rotting pile of plywood. The ladder over the stairs has gone.

Wait, what's that sound? Somehow the Tesla coil is still working??

We boarded swiftly and dispatched. As we rounded the corner and engaged the lift, I found myself thinking,

Wait... When was the last time I rode a coaster? Must have been back in the before times. Probably Olympia Looping at Winter Wonderland? Damn, I haven't even been to that for about five years! I'm out of practice. This should be interesting...

… And so it came to pass, that Thirteen of all things, felt way more intense than I remembered!
I was surprised to see that 13 years after it opened*, there are still new riders who enter the drop chamber complaining that the ride was too short. Always entertaining.

*They missed an opportunity for a “Thirteen at 13” celebration there, didn't they?

A short wait later, we followed up with Rita's first train of the day, and I'm next to a newbie again.
Hands up, green lights, BOOM!.

Oh yeah! There's that adrenalin rush! Man, I'd genuinely forgotten how fun coasters are!

This surprised and shocked me in equal measure.

Best not dwell on it too much, you might go insane. Just crack on with your day.

Next up was a ride that was new to me: Gangster Granny. While walking round to it, I couldn't help but look at the rusting remains of the Skyride. It's been sitting SBNO for so long that I'm pretty sure it would need new cables and running gear to ever open again. I can't see that ever happening, can you?
I know nothing of the IP on which Gangster Granny is based, but the ride does a good enough job of explaining it's plot. As for the ride itself? Yeah, it's alright. I was expecting nothing but screens, so was surprised to see a token bit of scenery here and there. Not great, not terrible. A better ride than Charlie was, dare I say it? Ooon to the nut room!

… By which I mean Smiler. We single-ridered it, and again found myself next to a terrified newbie.
Noob: Have you been on this before?
Me: mmmm, once or twice. I was on the second public train the day it opened.
Smoother than I remembered it! No Gerstache or headbanging. All of the effects seemed to be working. And my coaster mojo was now 100% restored to it's former glory!

Man, I really hope all these generic fairground flats are temporary. It's not that I don't enjoy a KMG Extreme, but Towers really should be aiming a bit higher than that. Just ignore them and maybe they will go away.

Our first real queue of the day was for 'Blivy, at a whopping ten minutes. I found myself having to reassure a young lad in front of me who was terrified. Bless, that was me the first time I rode this machine. Pretty standard ride, as fun as ever, not much else to say.
When we dispatched, it was still sunny. 2 minutes later when we exited the station, it was overcast and threatening to rain. Time to head over to Wickerman now, before it's too late.

We got there to find it closed, so we watched the test trains rattle round for five minutes, then entered the queue when it reopened. It was about twenty minutes. Once again, I was not expecting much from this ride. But you know what? It's pretty good! Longer than I expected, as well. OK, so there's that one boring corner at the top of the hill. Whoever designed that should be slapped with a rotting fish.
Naturally there was no fire. I wasn't expecting that to work. And whatever was supposed to happen on the brake run just left us sitting in darkness. The preshow was better than I feared though, and didn't seem to have any obviously broken effects.

It was at this point that we decided to stop in the Courtyard for the first beer of the day. Having been pre-warned about the official sponsor beer, I opted instead for a Spaten. I'm more of a Lowenbrau man, but any proper German Pilsner beats the swill they were trying to upsell. I tried a sip of it and stand by my choice.

And now we come to the entertainment. The singer on stage was some wet biscuit with an acoustic guitar.

Hardly the oompah-donk music I would expect from Oktoberfest. But Maybe that stuff is on the main stage and this is the more chilled area? Eh, don't get worked up over it. Just enjoy your beer.

About this point the rain finally broke, and I was glad to be under cover.

Well, at least the canopy hasn't developed leaks in the last six years. Could be worse-oh god he's playing that god awful slow cover of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”!

The rain was easing, so we finished up, and I used the loo before I we moved on. While I was in there, I heard the entertainer leave the stage and be replaced by someone who at least sounded German, playing an accordion.

Damnit! I'm missing an “Ein Prosit”! Oh, let's just crack on...

I must say, I was pleased to see the path round the back of the rapids was open. That saves a good ten minutes.

Time to face my biggest fear of the trip.... Curse of the Haunted Duel.
I was dreading this. I loved HH. I even quite liked Duel. I knew this was going to suck.

OK, brace yourself, just keep calm and think of beer. Ooh, they've added misters to the outside queue, that's a nice touch.

It was walk-on, so we hung back in the tilted room (The floor doesn't feel as tilted as it used to?) to watch the dolls house gubbins.
No audio. Total silence in the whole room.

Never mind then, let's just get this ride over with.

I can only comment on what I experienced. I have no idea how much of this was intentional, or how much was just broken on that day. But the majority of the ride was in total darkness. Nothing happened. All the classic effects and monsters were missing. Only one or two dolls sloooowly swing towards the car. I'm told there is supposed to be a “hitch-hiking ghosts” effect in the old skeleton corridor. Could hardly make it out, the lighting was so dim on both sides of the mirror.
The trommel worked at least. But very little else. It seems to me that most of the re-theme consisted of turning off the lights.

I exited through the gift shop, scowling for the first time that day. We discussed our disappointment, and it was at this moment that I was handed a black ice cream.
“Oh, I wasn't in the mood for one, but cheers mate....What the HELL is this?”
Yeah, I'm sure you all know what that resulted in. Joke's on him though. It was his toilet I ruined the next morning.

Wait, is that an actor over there trying to be scary? M£rlin actually paid for roaming actors outside of Scarefest?! What kind of messed up parallel universe have I shifted in to here? Maybe there's hope for this day yet?

Time to head up to the Valley. Entering the area without the familiar roar of Nemesis was disheartening, especially when I know it will never be heard again. I was surprised to see Sub-Standard was open. I thought that would have been scrap metal by now.

They can get that pile of junk working again, but not Hex? Now now, D, happy place, happy place. Ooh, they've repainted Blade... ah, only the supports but not the ship. And oh look, another LED covered spinny thing. Eh, at least it's better than Forbidden Sweep, I guess.

We took a moment to walk along to the viewing platform and pay our respects to Nemski. It sure looks like the new track is identical, save for the colour.

Yet another black tracked Merlin ride. I'm starting to remember why I gave up on this place...

Only time will tell. The real question is, “will it count as a new credit?”

Approaching AIR (because that is and always shall be it's name), I was horrified at the state of it. The track was covered in green slime. It looked far more grotty than Nemesis ever did, and that was supposed to look dirty. Naturally it was down at that moment. But continuing our run of luck for the day, it opened only a minute after we got there.
It was in single station, two train mode, and the staff were far from working at peak efficiency. But given it was walk on, that's hardly an issue. The ride itself has not changed, so very little to say other than that. Fun as always. Just give the damn thing a good pressure wash!

We decided it was time to head to the main event on the lawns, via another cheeky go on Wickerman.

You know what? I quite like this ride!

Passing the Courtyard, I was shocked to see another pair of actors. A young monk and his old “Pappa”, carrying a large fibreglass beer keg. We stopped and enjoyed a bit of banter [urgh, that word has been ruined for me, but I use it in the original sense] with them. Laughs were had. And then I was invited to help carry the barrel towards the stage.

Well, I'm going in that direction anyway, why not? Stop being so miserable and throw yourself in to the fun, you old git.

So of we lollopped. The young monk at the rear, cheerily saying “hallo” to people we passed (in what I'm pretty sure was an Austrian accent, but I'll let that slide), while I merrily wished them a “Guten tag!”

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We ended up outside the stall selling steins, which was perfect, because I'll be damned if I'm going to keep drinking beer from disposable plastic tumblers. I bought a 2 pinter, and had fun explaining to the actor that technically, it's a maß, not a stein. It was at this point that I realised none of the staff spoke a word of German, and only got confused when I tried to get in to the spirit of things.
… Not that I am fluent myself, or anything.

Now then. The main event itself.
The stage and theming were perfectly acceptable. But someone really needs to tell them what Bavarian check is and, more importantly, isn't. Diamonds on a diagonal, not squares on the perpendicular!

Dude, if that's the biggest complaint you can come up with right now, you're doing well. Chill out. Oh hey, I just bought a 2 pint tankard. That should do the job!

I went to get it filled, and was pleased to see that this stall had Spaten Munchen, the Oktoberfest special. Far better than standard Spaten.

You know what? I think I'm going to like it here.

And so, we took a seat at the benches, and settled in. I was pleased to see that the table tops had been covered in plastic and were being squeegeed to remove the rain. The sun was out. I had a maß of pilsner. And there was some top level cheese on the stage.

The entertainment was... confusing. They certainly hit the right cheese level for Oktoberfest. But I didn't here a single hint of anything German.

Where are the call-and-response songs? Where are the German covers of classic country music? No “Joanna”? No polka with a donk on it? Why is no one questioning the parentage of a certain famous F1 driver? And where are the thrice-Wardley-damned PROSITS?!?!?!
…. Oh, but hey, that Choreography is pretty good. Can't argue with that.


We stayed there for … I dunno, I wasn't looking at the time. A good couple of steins' worth. And we had good fun. I could gladly have spent the rest of the day there. But m'lady wanted to try and get a few more rides in. After all, she hasn't been to Towers for six years either, and being the designated driver, I can understand how she may not have wanted to sit there watching us drink all afternoon. Also, it was starting to drizzle again. No one wants their pilsner watered down.

We headed back to Curse, hoping a second run might improve things.
…. It did not. Even less things were working.

Upon exit, we discovered that the heavens had well and truly opened. The rain that had been threatening to come all day had finally caught up with us. So we re-rode Curse another two times, hoping for the best. But sadly it was not to be. We weighed up the options. It wasn't cold, but this rain was clearly here for the rest of the evening. Pretty much every outside ride was closed. I'd have returned to the stage if it was just drizzle, but this was some intense rain.
We reluctantly agreed to cut our losses and bail. Thankfully, we could slip out the AIR exit, at least.

We stopped by ATH for a pint, hoping the worst of the weather would pass before we hit the road. Rather annoyingly, it did. In fact, it cleared right up. If we still had MAPs, I would have gone right back on park for the last couple of hours of Oktoberfest. Of course none of us thought to get a hand stamp as we left (do they even do that any more?)

Now now. Don't dwell on that. You've had fun. No reason to grump at the end of the day. Lets just head back and have some far-less-expensive beer in the dry.

* * *

I honestly expected to hate the whole day. Turns out I had the most fun I've had in years that didn't involve [REDACTED]. ;) I mentally needed a day of coastering and didn't even know it.

The following day, Saturday, was gorgeous weather. All I wanted to do was go back on park.

Ride count:
Th13teen x 1
Rita x 1
Gangster Granny x 1
Smiler x 1
Oblivion x 1
Wicker Man x 2
Curse of Should Have Been Bulldozed x 4
Air x 1
Pints x nowhere near enough

Seriously though, how was there no *&$!ing currywurst???
 
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Welcome Back Diogo!

Curse is the most frustrating ride. I've had some great rides, but also had some absolutely terrible ones. Nothing quite beats the HDMI error in the mirror corridor.

I also feel you're doing forbidden sweep dirty, at least that thing was interesting to watch. Unlike the LED lit monstrosity that is there now.
 
Welcome back. When you last posted on TST, I had just started lurking on here.
 
Welcome back to these forums Diogo, a really great review there!

I didn't notice Spaten Munchen at Oktoberfest the other week, unsure if I was either at the wrong stand or just too drunk to notice!
 
It was only the other day I was talking about Blithering Lodge to someone!

Infact, I remember giving you PC advice many years back now, think you was upgrading to a Nviida GTX 200 series based flight sim PC. A long time ago that was, maybe even TTF days, I was under a different username then in any case.

Great to see you back. It has been a while indeed. I didnt see this else I wouldn't have said its good to see you back in another post.

Love the trip report, I think its an exciting time for Towers right now, lots going on. Exciting time for the whole UK industry infact, perfect time to come back!!
 
Now here's a familiar face! Good to see you back Diogo.
I've now hit 9 years since my last visit but would have also returned this year like you, had I not had to cancel last minute. But I didn't realise you went completely cold turkey since you left!

Not sure if your trip is reassuring that things have got better, sounds about the same (minus the special event beer). But glad you managed to enjoy some rides again!
 
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