I traveled home with my wife to visit my family this week, so we decided to visit Alton Towers as she’s a big fan of rollercoasters. I’ve been there in the past with my family, so it felt nice to introduce her to the rides and attractions there.
We first went on was Galactica. This is your typical inverted coaster, except the seats rotate so you’re facing down at the floor. Given the ride’s space theme, it’s supposed to feel like you’re soaring through space, except the ride takes place outside so you’re given a view of that area of the park instead, as the ride isn’t that tall.
I really enjoyed this ride as it was smooth throughout. There are two inversions where you were on your back during this time, which felt quite good.
I’m a big fan of smooth rides, but I also enjoy fast and tall rides, which Galactica lacked. However, this was definitely one of my favorite rides in the park.
The next ride was Toxicator. This is one of the park’s newest additions having opened this year, with it being similar to the Ripsaw ride at the same location which closed in 2015.
Toxicator uses centrifugal forces to spin you out, while also threatening (and eventually getting) you with jets of water spitting up at you.
It was somewhat fun getting spun around multiple times, but getting sprayed at right in the crotch area was not a good sensation at all. I also ended up with soggy feet.
Generally, I’m not a fan of water rides, but Toxicator only gets you with a small amount of water so it didn’t bother me as much. Toxicator’s movement was enough to make the ride worth it, and I don’t think it needs to spray you with water for it to be a good ride. I would’ve appreciated being able to get off the ride without it looking like I peed myself.
Our next ride was Nemesis Reborn. Having experienced the original Nemesis ride, this felt like the ride had been given a fresh coat of paint, with black and red-veiny track replacing the off-white appearance of the old one, which by the end looked like it was in desperate need of a makeover.
This is your standard inverted coaster with a number of inversions, including its iconic vertical loop. On the day we visited, the river below did not appear blood red as it should have.
Although Nemesis Reborn is slower than other inverted coasters I’ve been on, such as Patriot at Worlds of Fun, the G-forces made it feel like we were going faster. Nemesis Reborn didn’t feel violent at all.
A word of caution: the week we visited was the week before schools in England close for the summer, which meant thousands of unsupervised high-school students were left to explore the park as a school outing. When we went on Nemesis Reborn, there were a number of school kids screaming as the ride was leaving the station! Even after the ride came to a stop, these kids were still screaming for no reason, which ruined the experience for us.
My advice is: do not visit Alton Towers in the second half of July, otherwise you’ll likely run into the same problem. There are two other days of the year you should avoid at all costs, which I’ll get to later.
After a quick lunch break, we joined the line for Wicker Man. It looked like everyone else had the same idea, as we saw the wait time jump from 15 to 40 minutes! In reality, we waited about 60 minutes.
This wooden coaster’s pre-show explains the lore and sees you chosen as a sacrifice to the Wicker Man. After climbing up the chain hill, you hurtle around the track and into the effigy of the Wicker Man itself, which bursts into flames as you shoot into it. This happens three times, after which you end up in a dark tunnel as you arrive back into the station. The tunnel, as well as the rest of the station, has a distinct smoke smell to resemble the burning of the effigy.
I really enjoyed the theme of this ride, and although wooden coasters aren’t usually my thing due to how violent they can be, I still enjoyed the ride. This definitely wasn’t as rough as some other wooden coasters I’ve been on, and I was impressed with the work put into the theming and the presence of pyrotechnics, especially for a ride made of wood.
Next was Nemesis Sub-Terra. We tried to get on earlier, but the ride had closed temporarily while we were waiting in line. When we returned much later, the wait time was surprisingly short at just five minutes. We soon found out why.
We had to surrender all loose articles before we could enter, including cell phones, keys, wallets, and anything else that could’ve otherwise fit in our pockets. I asked one of the attendants if we could keep these in a buttoned-up cargo pocket but was told no. In hindsight, there were no metal detectors, so I could’ve easily brought these onto the ride had I not said anything.
The pre-show explains the underground “facility” and how Phalanx have been keeping an egg of the Nemesis creature under its protection. You are then taken down an elevator to a room with the egg itself in the middle of the room and are seated on a bank of chairs either side of it. These chairs have a shared lap bar that was incredibly tight.
Once the ride begins, the egg “hatches” and the lights go out. The chairs plummet about twenty feet down a couple of floors. If I’d known this, I would’ve secured my glasses, although I was surprised I wasn’t asked to take them off given the big fuss about loose articles at the entrance. You’re also blasted with jets of air to simulate the creature crawling over you.
As the ride comes to a stop following the single drop, you’re rushed out of your seat and have to “evacuate” the facility, which involves rushing to an elevator that stops halfway through as it is attacked by the creature. Once the doors open, you’re pretty much almost outside and are taken to reclaim your belongings.
This was definitely the most anti-climatic ride of the day and I was rather disappointed there wasn’t more to it. This would explain the short wait time.
Alton Towers is a large theme park surrounded by nature. To get between parts of the park they operate a cable car system to help you get around. We took the cable car to get to the other side of the park, but got confused as the station we got on from had two entrances that go either direction, with lack of proper signage to explain which way goes where. Despite this, the view from the cable car was amazing and we were able to see so much scenery within the park.
After getting off the cable car, we walked past the Gangsta Granny ride. This is a dark ride based on author David Walliams’ character “Gangsta Granny” where they go on a heist to steal the crown. However, we did not ride this as we did not have enough time.
Our next stop was Hex, located within the towers itself. Hex tells the story of The Legend of The Chain Oak, which tells of a curse cast on the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1821, who lived at Alton Towers during that time.
The curse told that for every branch of the oak tree that fell, a member of the Earl’s family would die. That same night, a storm caused a branch to fall off the tree, and as expected, a member of the Earl’s family suddenly died. The Earl then lost their mind and chained the tree up to ensure no more family members encountered the same fate.
The line for the ride itself is inside the building, and you get a glimpse of the building’s architecture with videos explaining the history of Alton Towers and its restoration efforts. You are then taken into three different pre-show areas with the legend explained to you.
As you enter the room itself, you take a seat and the lap bars drop. In the middle of the room is the chained tree, with two rows of chairs either side.
Hex is a madhouse ride, so not only do the seats sway back and forth, but the entire room itself rotates around, giving the rider the illusion they are upside down.
After the ride, you walk out to the gardens of Alton Towers.
After Hex, we made our way towards the Dark Forest section of the park. One of the rides here is Rita, a rollercoaster that launches the rider at the beginning. Sadly, Rita was closed during our visit for maintenance. Rita was closed the last time I visited Alton Towers too, and I am still yet to ride it myself.
Right next to Rita is Thirteen. I forgot to take a picture of this ride, but it is a spooky-themed steel coaster that takes you around a track at high speed and into a separate building. Once you enter, the doors close and the track drops sixteen feet down, after which you hurtle backwards on another track until you arrive at the station.
I have been on Thirteen in the past and forgot about this part of the ride, but it was a good thing I put my glasses away as they would’ve probably come off in the backwards section of the ride.
There were only 90 minutes left before the park closed, bearing in mind we’d been here 30 minutes since opening. The park was only open between 10 AM – 6 PM on this day, which although it was a weekday, seemed short for the summer. It would’ve been nice if the park was open for longer as there were plenty more rides we wanted to go on.
Our next stop was Smiler, located in the X-Sector area of the park, which my wife was looking forward to riding the most during our visit. However, we were devastated to learn that the ride had closed by the time we arrived. We could see a train had gotten stuck on its way into the station and there were riders stuck in the car. These riders had to be evacuated by park associates in harnesses. As you can probably guess, this ride did not reopen today. I had been on Smiler before with my family, but it felt rather disappointing not being able to ride it with my wife.
Also in the X-Sector area is Oblivion, a dive coaster with an almost vertical drop. My wife asked a very good question: what is the theme for this ride? Is it futuristic? Is it mysterious? Is it an operation from a top secret government agency? I think I can summarize it in two words: Extreme Sports.
The ride itself was fun, with a little bit of hang time before plummeting through a hole in the ground at high speed. However, I just wish there was more to it. Once you emerge from underground, you turn around before returning to the station. It’s a great experience, but it’s over just as it gets going.
After dinner, we had time for one last ride, which was Spinball Whizzer.
I don’t remember going on this ride before, but it’s comparable to Spinning Dragons at Worlds of Fun or Wild Mouse at Cedar Point, except more violent.
There are two seats either side of each car, and the entire car spins around rapidly as you move along the track. Spinball Whizzer was definitely not one of my favorites as I found it to be too violent for my liking.
And now, here is my ranking of all of the rides we went on today:
| Rank | Attraction | My Rating |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Galactica | ★ 4.2 / 5 |
| #2 | Wicker Man | ★ 4.1 / 5 |
| #3 | Nemesis Reborn | ★ 4.0 / 5 |
| #4 | Hex | ★ 3.8 / 5 |
| #5 | Oblivion | ★ 3.7 / 5 |
| #6 | Thirteen | ★ 3.6 / 5 |
| #7 | Toxicator | ★ 3.3 / 5 |
| #8 | Spinball Whizzer | ★ 2.9 / 5 |
| #9 | Nemesis Sub-Terra | ★ 2.3 / 5 |
Overall, I recommend visiting Alton Towers as we had a great time here. If you’re looking for tall fast rides and you have just one day to visit, Thorpe Park would probably be better suited for you. But if you have the time, I’d recommend visiting both. Get to the park early to make sure you have a chance to get on everything. Alton Towers sell fast passes (Fastrack) so you can jump the line if needed, but you should check the crowd calendar to make sure crowds don’t spoil your day.
I mentioned earlier there are two days you should avoid Alton Towers at all costs. These are Easter Sunday and the last Sunday in September (or the first Sunday of Scarefest). This is because Alton Towers sees a significant number of unattended minors enter the park, causing significant trouble for other guests in the form of queue jumping, theft, brawling, and intimidating and often illegal behavior.
When I last visited a few years ago, I was unfortunate to visit the park on the first Sunday of Scarefest. There were police officers located around the park (compared to Saturday when there was none), the park had issued a ban on the sale of alcohol for the day, and the park was full of unattended minors jumping queues and starting fights with other guests. We had to leave the park early as we did not feel safe being at the park and security did not appear to address the issue, despite the large police presence.
Alton Towers have since added signs to its queues with QR codes so you can report such behavior, but I’d strongly advise against visiting the park on these days anyway, as I certainly did not feel safe at the time. Alton Towers can fix this by enforcing a chaperone policy, like many other parks do.
Finally, I wanted to share some more pictures of the scenery at the park, as there is so much to explore. If you really want to get the full experience, I would recommend visiting the park over two days and taking some time to explore the grounds, as there is so much to look at!
