wilma-bride
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- Joined
- Jul 13, 2005
- Messages
- 22,681
Yesterday, DH and I went to Alton Towers with the Longstaff family. I thought I would write a little mini trippy of our day. Its been said many times before but Ill say it again its not Disney World - however, Nat and I found a way to keep ourselves amused throughout the day by renaming the Alton Towers rides and attractions with Disney World alternatives.
We left the Longstaffs house at about 8:30 am and were parking up by 9:45.
Tip No. 1 Use Express Parking it costs £10 but is well worth it (well, it would have been if wed actually used it
)
After a 25 minute wait for the monorail see, were feeling at home already we were at the front entrance to the park.
Unfortunately, we werent able to sit up front with the driver and we didnt pass the Grand Floridian still, you cant have it all.
We bought our tickets, utilising various BOGOF vouchers that we had and we were all of us in (4 adults, 2 kids) for the grand sum of £105. Once in the park, we stopped at Guest Services to pick up Parent Queue Passes.
Tip No. 2 If you have children who fall short of the 1.2 or 1.4m height minimums for the bigger rides, pick up a Parent Queue Pass from Guest Services. It allows one parent to join the normal queue, ride the ride while the other parent looks after the children, then the other parent can enter through the ride exit and more or less get straight on the ride.
Once we were done at Guest Services, it was almost 10:30 and we were losing valuable time. We headed straight for Ug Land, where one of the newest rides, Rita, is. We let the boys join the queue for Rita while Nat and I took the kids on the corkscrew. This was their (Nat and the kids) very first upside down ride and they all did extremely well, although I wouldnt like to be holding Ellies hand during childbirth as she nearly broke the bones in my hand, gripping on to it so tightly when we went upside down for the first time.
From the corkscrew, we went back to Rita to meet the boys, grabbed the Parent Queue cards and went through the exit for our turn. Nat was a bit nervous as, previously, the worst ride shes been on is Tower of Terror (and she only braved that for the first time last year). For those who dont know, Rita takes you from 0-100 mph in 2.5 seconds. To be fair, I was feeling slightly apprehensive myself. All too soon, the ride was over it was fantastic but over far too quickly.
From there, it was on to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a fun boat and elevator ride aimed mainly at kids. IT was fun, though, and we dubbed this Pirates of the Caribbean meets Jimmy Neutron.
Next, it was on to Hex for me, Nat and the kids, while Jon and Gary went off to ride Oblivion. No parent queue swap for this one as I, having ridden Oblivion 10 years ago, refuse to get on it and Nat decided she wasnt going to brave it either.
Hex was a walk-through attraction with a ride at the end it was different but not brilliant, although the kids both liked the end bit.
After Hex, we went to meet the guys by Oblivion and stopped for some lunch. KFC all round, except for Ellie who had pizza.
Suitably refreshed, it was time for Nat and I to head across to the other side of the park and ride Air, another new ride. The guys took the kids to Spinball Whizzer, then were coming across to meet us.
Air was showing a wait time of 60 minutes but we were on the ride within 40. Nat was a bit apprehensive!
I managed to get a couple of pictures of it while we were waiting to go on.
It really was one of the most amazing rides Ive been on. Nat did amazingly well and managed to cure herself of any fear of rollercoasters she may have had before. In fact, once we were off the ride, she announced that she was ready for Duelling Dragons and Mission Space, having previously said she would never try either of them. At this rate, we might get her on Sheikra too!
While the boys took their turn on Air, me, Nat and the kids got ice-creams and sat outside the Air shop.
The boys were back quickly, having thoroughly enjoyed it also and, after feeding them some chocolate and ice-cream, we sent them off to join the queue for Nemesis.
Meanwhile, we went to Duel, a shoot-em-up ride which we promptly named Haunted Mansion meets Buzz Lightyear. It was a really good ride and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. I wont mention who won, though, as I feel it would be in poor taste to boast
Back at Nemesis, we rang the boys, who were still nowhere near getting on the ride, despite having been queueing for 60 minutes. They were not impressed. The ride was experiencing some technical difficulties so we left them debating whether to remain in the queue or move on. I took the kids to see Ripsaw, which I had previously ridden on my last visit, and Nat didnt really want to go on. The kids were suitably impressed and, I think, secretly glad they were too short to ride. Nemesis had started running again and we finally spotted the boys nearing the front of the queue. After about 20 minutes, they had written and so had we. Unfortunately, Nat and I got split up when we did the swap and were put in different rows, a fact that worried Nat momentarily. Once the ride was underway, though, she absolutely loved it and declared it her favourite ride of the day.
After a pit stop to buy donuts and a stroll through Haunted Hollow, we rode Runaway Mine Train aka Big Thunder Mountain, then the guys went off to ride Oblivion again while Nat and I took the kids on Spinball Whizzer (also known as Primeval Whirl). There was quite a long wait for this (almost 50 minutes) but it was a really good ride and a lot faster and more thrilling than it looked much, much better than Primeval Whirl actually.
After this, it was gone 6 and we decided to head home. After purchasing a car park token (£4), we caught the monorail back to the parking area and were in the car and heading back to Nat and Jons by 6:45. We stopped for a meal at a restaurant called The Racecourse and, unfortunately, forgot to take pictures of our food, which tasted great even if it did take an absolute age to arrive.
We were back in Hinckley by 10 pm and Gary and I then headed back to Wiltshire, arriving home just after midnight.
Even though it wasnt Disney, Alton Towers is still a great day out and we had an absolutely fantastic day.
We left the Longstaffs house at about 8:30 am and were parking up by 9:45.
Tip No. 1 Use Express Parking it costs £10 but is well worth it (well, it would have been if wed actually used it
)
After a 25 minute wait for the monorail see, were feeling at home already we were at the front entrance to the park.
Unfortunately, we werent able to sit up front with the driver and we didnt pass the Grand Floridian still, you cant have it all.
We bought our tickets, utilising various BOGOF vouchers that we had and we were all of us in (4 adults, 2 kids) for the grand sum of £105. Once in the park, we stopped at Guest Services to pick up Parent Queue Passes.
Tip No. 2 If you have children who fall short of the 1.2 or 1.4m height minimums for the bigger rides, pick up a Parent Queue Pass from Guest Services. It allows one parent to join the normal queue, ride the ride while the other parent looks after the children, then the other parent can enter through the ride exit and more or less get straight on the ride.
Once we were done at Guest Services, it was almost 10:30 and we were losing valuable time. We headed straight for Ug Land, where one of the newest rides, Rita, is. We let the boys join the queue for Rita while Nat and I took the kids on the corkscrew. This was their (Nat and the kids) very first upside down ride and they all did extremely well, although I wouldnt like to be holding Ellies hand during childbirth as she nearly broke the bones in my hand, gripping on to it so tightly when we went upside down for the first time.
From the corkscrew, we went back to Rita to meet the boys, grabbed the Parent Queue cards and went through the exit for our turn. Nat was a bit nervous as, previously, the worst ride shes been on is Tower of Terror (and she only braved that for the first time last year). For those who dont know, Rita takes you from 0-100 mph in 2.5 seconds. To be fair, I was feeling slightly apprehensive myself. All too soon, the ride was over it was fantastic but over far too quickly.
From there, it was on to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a fun boat and elevator ride aimed mainly at kids. IT was fun, though, and we dubbed this Pirates of the Caribbean meets Jimmy Neutron.
Next, it was on to Hex for me, Nat and the kids, while Jon and Gary went off to ride Oblivion. No parent queue swap for this one as I, having ridden Oblivion 10 years ago, refuse to get on it and Nat decided she wasnt going to brave it either.
Hex was a walk-through attraction with a ride at the end it was different but not brilliant, although the kids both liked the end bit.
After Hex, we went to meet the guys by Oblivion and stopped for some lunch. KFC all round, except for Ellie who had pizza.
Suitably refreshed, it was time for Nat and I to head across to the other side of the park and ride Air, another new ride. The guys took the kids to Spinball Whizzer, then were coming across to meet us.
Air was showing a wait time of 60 minutes but we were on the ride within 40. Nat was a bit apprehensive!
I managed to get a couple of pictures of it while we were waiting to go on.
It really was one of the most amazing rides Ive been on. Nat did amazingly well and managed to cure herself of any fear of rollercoasters she may have had before. In fact, once we were off the ride, she announced that she was ready for Duelling Dragons and Mission Space, having previously said she would never try either of them. At this rate, we might get her on Sheikra too!
While the boys took their turn on Air, me, Nat and the kids got ice-creams and sat outside the Air shop.
The boys were back quickly, having thoroughly enjoyed it also and, after feeding them some chocolate and ice-cream, we sent them off to join the queue for Nemesis.
Meanwhile, we went to Duel, a shoot-em-up ride which we promptly named Haunted Mansion meets Buzz Lightyear. It was a really good ride and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. I wont mention who won, though, as I feel it would be in poor taste to boast
Back at Nemesis, we rang the boys, who were still nowhere near getting on the ride, despite having been queueing for 60 minutes. They were not impressed. The ride was experiencing some technical difficulties so we left them debating whether to remain in the queue or move on. I took the kids to see Ripsaw, which I had previously ridden on my last visit, and Nat didnt really want to go on. The kids were suitably impressed and, I think, secretly glad they were too short to ride. Nemesis had started running again and we finally spotted the boys nearing the front of the queue. After about 20 minutes, they had written and so had we. Unfortunately, Nat and I got split up when we did the swap and were put in different rows, a fact that worried Nat momentarily. Once the ride was underway, though, she absolutely loved it and declared it her favourite ride of the day.
After a pit stop to buy donuts and a stroll through Haunted Hollow, we rode Runaway Mine Train aka Big Thunder Mountain, then the guys went off to ride Oblivion again while Nat and I took the kids on Spinball Whizzer (also known as Primeval Whirl
). There was quite a long wait for this (almost 50 minutes) but it was a really good ride and a lot faster and more thrilling than it looked much, much better than Primeval Whirl actually.After this, it was gone 6 and we decided to head home. After purchasing a car park token (£4), we caught the monorail back to the parking area and were in the car and heading back to Nat and Jons by 6:45. We stopped for a meal at a restaurant called The Racecourse and, unfortunately, forgot to take pictures of our food, which tasted great even if it did take an absolute age to arrive.
We were back in Hinckley by 10 pm and Gary and I then headed back to Wiltshire, arriving home just after midnight.
Even though it wasnt Disney, Alton Towers is still a great day out and we had an absolutely fantastic day.
daft eh?!?!
, they need to get that sorted!, we had the same thing earlier in the month.
