So my first visit to Alton Towers was back in 2014 during a school trip. I thought it would be fun to discuss the rides I experienced and my overall thoughts on the park at that time.
Inspiration came from PBE Blogs & their Throwback Thursday series! Be sure to check them out if you haven’t already.
Pre-Visit Impressions:
I always had this idea that Alton Towers was rammed all the time. Almost the same way I once thought about Disneyland Paris. It was the place to be and if you haven’t visited Alton Towers yet you weren’t a cool kid (ps I still wasn’t a cool kid after visiting lol). Yet the only two rides I knew existed at the park was Rita (Queen of Speed) & Sonic Spinball. Don’t ask me why I only knew of those two? So that’s the impressions I had prior to my visit.
No Map:
I decided that me & my best friend weren’t going to use a map. We were simply going to walk and hope for the best. It didn’t go all that bad as we walked through Mutiny Bay to Forbidden Valley finding many rides along the way!
Lost Rides:
I’m forever thankful I got to experience some of the rides which no longer stand/operate at Alton Towers. First of which was Ripsaw. I didn’t see it move during the time in the area and never seen anything quite like it until that moment. Safe to say I was utterly shocked by how mad it was! Next up was Sub Terra… yeah what’s with that? I assumed there’d be no actors inside. It turns out there was and I basically crapped my pants! Finally The Flume. The sweetest log flume I’ve experienced. It was so much fun! Except for that giant duck which was truthfully traumatic, to say the least. The length was something I’ve always wanted on a log flume I am sad it’s gone now but its replacement is pretty fab.
B&M Goodness:
Before that trip, I had never experienced a B&M coaster before. At that time I didn’t even know about manufactures, so it was no biggy at that moment. But my first B&M was Air (as it was at the time). It was the strangest experience I’ve ever had. I didn’t know rollercoasters could be in the position that the we were in. But I loved it a lot. Then next up was Nemesis front row. The views from the front row have always been so beautiful the red river at the time and the rock work, it all makes my heart flutter. Most definitely the most intense coaster I had done at that point. I did attempt to experience Oblivion but the 3 times of entering the queue line it had broken down… SPITED!!
The Smiler:
I remember looking at it and thinking what is this monster? To me then it was simply track everywhere and nothing else. I didn’t even know it had the most inversions in the worl, which shows how little I knew about this coaster! We queued 3 hours. I was pleasantly surprised it was fun and that was simply my only thoughts of it.
Couldn’t Find Dark Forest:
This seems really odd come to think of it now I can navigate the place probably with my eyes shut. But I had no idea where Dark Forest was. Like I said at the start I didn’t bother collecting a map we were just going to walk and see what comes into our eye line. Yet Dark Forest was almost hidden. Plus the little amount of time you have on a school trip is seriously disappointing given you can’t explore everywhere you’d like. So I missed that entire area of the park, I was sad about it as it meant I missed Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.
So there’s a little throwback trip report to my first visit to Alton Towers. I may share a few more first visits in the coming weeks. But this trip was the starting point of my love for Towers for sure! What year did you first visit?
Thank you for reading! .
All Photos Used Are From Alton Towers Facebook Page.
