We’ve not long returned from our first road trip of the year. This one including a few places we’ve never been before – and not just theme parks!
We started our 4-day epic with a trip to Alton Towers Resort in Staffordshire on what was looking like a grey and gloomy day during the May school half-term holidays, so we were expecting a busy day, and for the most part, that’s what we got!!
As it was our first trip to a fully opened Alton Towers (We did the ‘Pirates Takeover’ event during the February half term break with only select parts of the park open) we had two goals in mind:
- Get a ride on the re-built, re-imagined ‘Nemesis: Reborn’ for the first time.
- Get Jo on Wicker Man
We arrived at around 9am and were greeted with an announcement that there would be a 1 hour wait for the Monorail, so we took the long walk to the main gate. We could see the queue already building at the Hotel Guest entrance at the back of the park, so we knew our ‘run straight to Nemesis’ plan would start with a big queue, but it was the priority so we thought we’d best check it off the list early. As Evan only reached the 1.4m height requirement for the ride last year, this would be his first ever ride on Nemesis as it was closed for the entire 2023 season due to the re-track. …and I hadn’t seen the new and improved ‘Forbidden Valley’ in the flesh either.
Planning for the Day
As Elliott is still just under 1.2m, he and Jo would part ways with us in the Gloomy Wood and make their way towards his favourite ride ‘Runaway Mine Train’ while we headed down to Nemesis. As a family with one child that can go on the big rides and one child that can’t this usually happens, and we pack accordingly.
- 2 small backpacks so we can switch if we swap children.
- 2 refillable drink bottles, one with water (Elliott only really drinks water) and one with cordial (Evan doesn’t like water) and we always take one of those squeezy concentrated cordials in case we run out.
- Sweets/snacks – essential for a long queue – Skittles for Evan, Smarties for Elliott.
- Rainy day, so pack-a-macs (and they were needed).
- Hats – for a reasonably sunny day (They weren’t).
- Sunblock – for that one UK day it might be sunny.
- A packed lunch.
- Tissues – for snotty children and there’s always a toilet cubicle missing bog roll.
- Wet wipes – because kids are messy.
As it was still before 10am (Alton Towers allows you in the park from 9am, but ride queues don’t open until 10am), the queue for nemesis stretched past Nemesis Sub-Terra and back towards Katanga Canyon, but swiftly moves as 10am came and the queue opened. As we moved, we came into Forbidden Valley, and it looks amazing. The theming is on point – Nemesis tentacles wrapping everything, the Phalanx helicopter, the Phalanx Facility logo scrawled over with ‘Forbidden Valley’ sign, the Phalanx themed buildings and staff, actors dressed as reporters and protestors walking around the facility, the details in the queue line, the Nemesis monster itself with its gazing eye. Everything looked great and very immersive. It’s great to see such themed areas in a UK park.
The queue itself – whilst incredibly long – was impressive. Littered with themed elements from tentacles to extra track pieces, the giant laser, the shipping container that had been overrun, all set to a musical backdrop of the Nemesis theme. There were even telescope points so you can stop and look towards the station. Incredible. And it all made the queue feel a lot faster. It took about 40 minutes, and we were in the station preparing for our first ride on Nemesis Reborn….
Wow! Just as brilliant and just as forceful as ever. Still hurts my feet though. After the first drop, it goes into a hard right loop that makes it feel a though my entire body is being pushed through the bottom of my feet! Just me? Ok then.
We loved it though. Glad to have it back up and running and it jumped to being Evan’s number one coaster in the UK in quick fashion. Sorry Swarm, Sorry Oblivion…
We headed over to Galactica next which, in comparison to Nemesis, needs another re-theme, or at the very least, needs a bath. It’s still a good intergalactic coaster with great views of –the car park– Space, but definitely needs cleaning up and bringing into the area. Maybe some type of Phalanx transport or the ship that brought Nemesis to earth – if it was Alien. But yeah, it needs bringing up to date.
Now we did witness something that I think the parks need to fix as it has happened to us once before with Elliott at Thorpe Park last year. Accurately checking a child’s height. There was a child who was on the cusp of 1.4m and excited to get on Galactica. They were in FastTrack queue so didn’t have to wait as long (so this could have been worse) but he was so happy as the ride staff member verified he was 1.4m and tall enough to ride, stamped his ticket and allowed them to go to the station, he was cheering with his family as he went. But those cheers were soon turned to tears as when he was re-measured in the station, they were informed he wasn’t tall enough and told to leave the station. This is soul crushing for excited kids when it happens, and yes, if kids aren’t tall enough then safety is paramount, but the initial check should have been a no, which would have been disappointing, but wouldn’t have gotten his hopes up soo much!
There were only two other rides at Alton Towers that we had never been on and/or hadn’t been on since reopening. Nemesis Sub-Terra and The Curse at Alton Manor. Both in the vicinity of where we were, and both still showing as closed on the App. So, we decided to regroup with the Mine Trainers (who’d done a lap of Sharkbait Reef and completed Mutiny Bay due to 5-minute queues on Marauders Mayhem and Heave Ho), and do some shopping in the new Nemesis store. Nemesis T-shirt for Evan – £15, a Nemesis fridge magnet (we love a fridge magnet) – £6.50, and a Nemesis tote bag – £8.
Heading over to the construction site in Forbidden Valley to see what is expected to be a new version of ‘Ripsaw’. I say expected, it’s pretty much been confirmed to be a ‘Topspin’ ride, which Ripsaw was. Ripsaw left the park in 2015 (seems longer ago). It was a great flat ride that not only spun you around, but shot jets of water (and occasionally lowered you into the oncoming spray) and if there’s one thing Alton Towers needs now it’s some decent flat rides to soak up the capacity, so this would be a welcome re-addition to Forbidden Valley and the park as a whole. …and as I guessed Nemesis Reborn as a name well before they’d announced anything, I’m guessing at Ripsaw: The Revenge or Ripsaw: Vengeance. You read it here first!
We then moved on as Elliott had seen ‘The Eye’ and was ready for more Mine Train action, but first he wanted to try The Blade again. We did this last year and he wasn’t a fan (he kept trying to slide down under the bar to escape). We joined the queue, and before we got near the station, he’d had a change of heart. Luckily, Jo (who also isn’t a fan of a Pirate Ship) was walking by the fence so I could pass him over. We carried on with our ride while they headed back to Katanga Kanyon. Blade needs some better Forbidden Valley theming now. Just because you’ve put Phalanx uniforms on the staff and painted it black, doesn’t mean it fits!
FINALLY, The Curse at Alton Manor had opened so Me and Evan headed to the gloomy wood! Now I’m not a massive fan of ghost trains and such. I’m not scared, they just don’t do a lot for me, but Curse was pretty good. It certainly looks the part, with some clever scenes and jump scare moments. It was enjoyable. Evan enjoyed it too, but it’s not something I’d queue for long for, but it’s definitely better than ‘Dr Umboto’s Catacombs’ at West Midlands Safari Park. If your kids aren’t into spooky jump scare rides, then I’d definitely avoid Curse. The area as a whole though looks great since the re-re-theme. Whilst I liked Duel, the area looks better without the lasers and Duel logo. I bet it’d look good at night. They even do black ice creams on their ‘Cursed Cones’ menu. Definitely have to try one next time.
Runaway Mine Train was up and down more than a yo-yo, but Jo and Elliott had managed to get on it while the queue was short, so we headed over to them to grab some lunch after they’d finished their lap.
Lunchtime!
We generally take a packed lunch with us to theme parks. Sausage rolls or ham baps/barms/buns/batches (delete as appropriate), crisps, chocolate brownies, etc, as the park prices can be quite hefty for a family of four to eat. We have eaten there before at the burger cafe, the food was ok at best, and the kids don’t want to sit and eat, especially on a busy day when time is precious. Besides, you can eat a sausage roll and a bag of crisps as you travel to the next ride! There are plenty of options available throughout the park though, from a Pizza buffet in Katanga Canyon to the Rollercoaster restaurant for a more unique dining experience. And there’s burgers and lighter bites, donuts and snacks everywhere. Theres a few new options down in X-Sector that look quite good too. Pricey, but look better quality than some of the other options around the park.
We swapped bags and swapped children so Evan could hold mummy’s hand while she braved Wicker Man for the first time. Jo isn’t a fan of big coasters. Two goes on Oblivion many years ago had put her off, but she’s slowly been getting on some bigger, more fun coasters. So, while they headed to a 60 minute queue for that, Mine Train was still yo-yoing and was now at 90 minutes, so Me and Elliott headed to CBeebies, via the bar in Mutiny Bay for a pint of their signature lager for £7.50. Oh FYI, you can’t take alcohol into CBeebies land! Fair enough.
CBeebies 10th Anniversary
We stopped on the lawn to take a look at the CBeebies show. It’s the 10th anniversary of CBeebies at Alton Towers and they were celebrating with a fully decorated area, with activities and stalls on the lawn, along with a covered seating area next to the stage for the CBeebies shows happening across the day, featuring the likes of Mr Maker and Bluey. When we arrived, one of Elliotts faves Andy Day was performing his show, rapping about dinosaurs, keeping the kids and parents engaged and entertained, asking dino questions and interacting with the young ones, getting the crowd dancing and singing along.
Elliott was eager to go on more rides now though. He can be a bit of a fusspot when it comes to queues, so if he sees one or thinks there might be one, he’ll either change his mind on where to go, or just walk away. After a little indecision, we header for Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure. There was a 50 minute wait, so be sure to add some games to your phone to distract them with. Evan and I have spent many a queue playing ‘Sausage Flip’ on Poki Games. A few spots of rain didn’t dampen Elliotts spirits in the queue to join Captain Barnacles on the Octonauts coaster as he’d made a friend! Chatting away, they were thick as thieves for the remainder of the 40 min wait, calling each other ‘friend’ as neither bothered to ask a name. We were also wondering how Jo was getting on with Wicker Man. I’m sure Evan will look after her. he loves Wicker Man. He’ll hold her hand.
Time to board the Octocoaster and bid farewell to ‘friend’ as we were separated at the gate. The little boy said ‘Not fair’, to which the staff member replied “life’s not fair, let that be a lesson for you!” Bit harsh, he was only 5!
After a 2-lap special, we regrouped to get mums thoughts. She enjoyed Wicker Man, but thought it was a tad rough (a clash of heads with Evan probably didn’t help) but overall, if there wasn’t a queue, she’d ride it again. personally, I love Wicker Man. I’d say it’s my favourite in the park, maybe alongside Nemesis.
Elliott was ready for MORE Mine Train (Choo Choo!!), whilst Evan was ready to face the drop on Oblivion. 25 min wait. Not bad. Now, I love coasters, but there’s something about Oblivion that makes me ask myself “why am I doing this again?”
With Oblivion done and the Smiler off limits with an 80 minute queue, the app was showing 40 mins for Thirteen, so we jogged over. This is the problem with Alton Towers, it’s such a big park that it takes ages to get across to other rides. By the time we’d arrived in Dark Forest, Thirteen was on 80 minutes. Rita was on 40 though so we hopped into that queue. Thirteen was then consistently over an hour, so we didn’t manage to get on.
Elliott was in queue avoid mode again, so they did some non-ride activities. Checked out more of the CBeebies show, met Duggee and did a lap of the big shop on Towers Street.
We, however, were running back across the towers to X-Sector as Smiler was on a sub 60 minute wait as it had just reopened again. We were pretty lucky and only waited around 30 mins to have our brains ‘Marmalised’. After 14 inversions and a sore shoulder (FYI, Smiler seems to hurt your shoulder, especially in the 2nd half of the layout), we disembarked and Oblivion was on 10 mins, and you don’t turn down a 10 min wait for any rides at Alton Towers on a school holiday. We headed for another drop!
Our day was drawing to a close. There were only a few rides we didn’t manage to get on. Spinball Whizzer opened later and always had a big queue, Thirteen was always busy and Nemesis Sub Terra didn’t open at all. It seemed fitting that we should end our day as it started, so we headed back to Forbidden Valley for a final lap on Nemesis (or Lemesis as Elliott used to say – He also used to call the park ‘Open Towers’).
40 minutes until queues close and a 40 min queue for Nemesis. If it was quick, we might be able to get 2 rides in, and with seconds to spare, we got off, sprinted past the eye, up the rock stairs and rejoined the queue for another go. It’s such a great ride. We’ve heard many say it’s not as good as it was, but it feels the same to me and certainly looks a lot better (aside from the veins on the track, I’m undecided on that)
The operations in the park had been pretty good today at getting through the queues, especially on Nemesis.
Jo and Elliott met us at the exit with some (cold) chips and we headed out, back to the car for a 3 plus hour drive to our next stop on our half term roadtrip: Chessington World of Adventures!
How Much Does a Day at Alton Towers Cost?
Price wise, it’s not cheap for a family day out at Alton Towers these days. Cost of entry, fuel (we live 1.5 hours away), parking (£10) and food it soon becomes very expensive.
Tickets say they start at £29 per person (which is likely an off peak weekday) but School holidays are £37pp in advance or £68 if you decide to pay on the day! There are a few cheaper alternatives though. Kellogg’s and Cadbury had the usual 2-for-1 offer last year and up to 25% off online prices offer on the go throughout this year. We have a stash of barcodes on hand from selection boxes at Christmas and we’ve just used a Cadbury’s one for a day at Legoland Windsor in September.
For Alton Towers this time we used Sun Superdays, which usually runs each year, making our tickets £20 per person, plus the cost of the papers. We usually buy two lots of papers for 4 tickets, but it may work out cheaper to subscribe to the digital version of the paper for a month to get the tokens and then cancel, which would save a few extra pounds than recycling a paper you don’t intend to read. They have changed it now though so where all tickets used to be free, now there are certain numbers free and others at a reduced cost, depending on date and availability. For Alton Towers on a May bank holiday, they were £20, so still cheaper than a 2-for-1, whereas we’ve also booked Thorpe Park using Sun Superdays for an off-peak day, and they were free!
