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What year has Alton been at its best

s_g_k said:
The arrival of Rita which butchered Ug Land marked the end of the magic for me, so I’d say around 2002-2003. Plenty of flat rides all over the park, an indoor coaster, Toyland tours, the Log Flume, a recently opened Hex and the arrival of Air. I miss those days!
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Can't think of a better answer than this!
 
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Personally, a few years after the end of the Persons Tussauds era, just before the changes at the top caused noticeable changes on the ground. So 2002 / 2003 ish.

The park had a large entertainment line up including shows in the big top, and Cred Street, the big selection of rides gave the park a large capacity and they ran well. Park hours were 5PM minimum, routinely 7 to 8PM in the summer. F&B was decent and well priced with high street fast food vendors on site. Fast track actually served to alleviate queues for guests and was free. It wasn't there as a money making exercise but to improve guest experience.

Overall the park accepted a much larger influx of visitors than it did now, but the park did not feel as busy. The whole operation from hotels to theme park ran like a well oiled machine and it was well priced with great customer service and you felt like you actually got your moneys worth.

Objectively speaking, not subjectively speaking, the park has not offered such a great overall product since those days. It has come close but it has not quite hit the same high notes.
 
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I first visited Alton Towers in 1994 (when Nemesis opened), and I didn't go again until 2001 - mainly due to the heavy queues (I much preferred Drayton Manor, and even Safari Park, back then). I sadly never got to ride Thunder Looper for this reason, but at least I eventually got to ride Corkscrew and The Black Hole (in later years) before they both closed!

There were also no single-rider queues back then, and so - even though AT hit its record attendance in 1994 - I personally don't remember 1994 as being all that great of a year (I may be alone in that thinking, though).
 
If you don’t love Alton at its worst you don’t deserve it at its best.

I couldn’t name a specific year but the mid to late 90s hold the fondest memories. Felt like the park were pioneers of the industry and almost every year brought growth and something new. A park on the rise with high quality rides and theming.
 
Bowser said:
I couldn’t name a specific year but the mid to late 90s hold the fondest memories. Felt like the park were pioneers of the industry and almost every year brought growth and something new. A park on the rise with high quality rides and theming.
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I think that's fair. I personally preferred Drayton Manor during the 1990s, but I remember there being a feeling at the time that Alton Towers was the major league that everybody else was struggling to compete with (e.g. American Adventure).

The only other parks that felt as big / bigger were the American parks, such as Disney World.
MaxPower said:
Another vote for 2002
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I remember Air launching in 2002 (although I didn't ride it until 2004), but I don't remember Colossus launching in the same year at all (I don't think Thorpe Park landed on my radar until Nemesis Inferno launched the following year).

Was there a sense from enthusiasts in 2002 that Thorpe Park might eventually overtake Alton Towers in terms of investment and ride quality ?
 
Secret Weapon said:
Was there a sense from enthusiasts in 2002 that Thorpe Park might eventually overtake Alton Towers in terms of investment and ride quality ?
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I didn't really think Thorpe would overtake overall, but really felt like Tussauds were investing heavily in thrill rides there, between Colossus, Nemesis Inferno and the five or so flat rides they added in the early 2000s. It was definitely an exciting time for thrill rides and I would say Thorpe did overtake Alton in terms of quantity of thrill rides, but maybe not on quality.
 
s_g_k said:
The arrival of Rita which butchered Ug Land marked the end of the magic for me, so I’d say around 2002-2003. Plenty of flat rides all over the park, an indoor coaster, Toyland tours, the Log Flume, a recently opened Hex and the arrival of Air. I miss those days!
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Agree with this!
 
Secret Weapon said:
Was there a sense from enthusiasts in 2002 that Thorpe Park might eventually overtake Alton Towers in terms of investment and ride quality ?
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Not at all no, Alton Towers in the 1990's had risen to be a worldwide renown icon of rollercoaster innovation. It was arguably at the top of it's niche game that it was playing. That year, 2002, we got air, further fuelling this momentum within the general public and enthusiast perception alike. Still riding this wave in the court of public opinion that the very strong brand Alton Towers, meant innovation, it meant new, it meant unique among many different things.

It is also worth mentioning that while Thorpe Park was investing heavily in new rides, the ride systems and types were not new or innovative at all, Colossus took the inversion record yes, but that is hardly new or innovative, it is just more of something we already had, so there was not much on that front at all. Mean while, as mentioned earlier, Alton Towers had just invested that same year, in the worlds first proper flying coaster, to huge fanfare interest and popularity, across the globe. With an equally huge budget for marketing to match.

Alton Towers were riding extremely high in 2002 on the investment and ride quality front, with a very impressive and proven track record under their belt to match. The year 2002, was only the second year of heavy investment at Thorpe park anyway, and as said previously, these investments offered nothing truly unique or innovate like Alton Towers did. So no, there never was any sense from enthusiasts I do not think that Thorpe would overtake, not even a hint. I would argue that Thorpe never overtook Alton Towers anyway, so why would there be this thought? When the rot set in, it set in across all parks with almost equal measures and decline.
 
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DistortAMG said:
Not at all no, Alton Towers in the 1990's had risen to be a worldwide renown icon of rollercoaster innovation. It was arguably at the top of it's niche game that it was playing. That year, 2002, we got air, further fuelling this momentum within the general public and enthusiast perception alike. Still riding this wave in the court of public opinion that the very strong brand Alton Towers, meant innovation, it meant new, it meant unique among many different things.

It is also worth mentioning that while Thorpe Park was investing heavily in new rides, the ride systems and types were not new or innovative at all, Colossus took the inversion record yes, but that is hardly new or innovative, it is just more of something we already had, so there was not much on that front at all. Mean while, as mentioned earlier, Alton Towers had just invested that same year, in the worlds first proper flying coaster, to huge fanfare interest and popularity, across the globe. With an equally huge budget for marketing to match.

Alton Towers were riding extremely high in 2002 on the investment and ride quality front, with a very impressive and proven track record under their belt to match. The year 2002, was only the second year of heavy investment at Thorpe park anyway, and as said previously, these investments offered nothing truly unique or innovate like Alton Towers did. So no, there never was any sense from enthusiasts I do not think that Thorpe would overtake, not even a hint. I would argue that Thorpe never overtook Alton Towers anyway, so why would there be this thought? When the rot set in, it set in across all parks with almost equal measures and decline.
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Just to offer an alternative view as I certainly wouldn’t consider myself an enthusiast at that point.

I’d also move the date to 2006 so perhaps I’m missing the initial point but I do remember with the trilogy of Colossus, Inferno and Stealth it did feel like Thorpe was becoming the number one park to me. Stealth was innovative to the UK market and the regular introduction of such large scale projects gave the impression of rapid growth.
 
Bowser said:
Stealth was innovative to the UK market
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Although I think Stealth wasn’t as overwhelming as it could have been due to Rita opening a year or two earlier. Yes Stealth has the top hat height, but the speed and acceleration felt incremental over Rita rather than something truly new.
 
jon81uk said:
Although I think Stealth wasn’t as overwhelming as it could have been due to Rita opening a year or two earlier. Yes Stealth has the top hat height, but the speed and acceleration felt incremental over Rita rather than something truly new.
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Rita was the first AT coaster I had no interest in. It looked boring. I’ve never been on it so I’m sure post ride perception could have been different at the time.

Stealth just looked amazing and launching vertically upwards then falling down seemed so intimidating and unlike anything else.

Subjective of course!
 
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