Last week, Jordan and I decided that we wanted to get away for a couple days and do something fun, so what better place to visit than Alton Towers! We managed to get a deal online in which we got two days in the park and an overnight stay at a hotel for only £150. This worked out at a really good price when halved between the two of us.
We set off on Monday morning at about 4am and managed to arrive at the park around half past 10. We got stuck in so much traffic, and our sat nav kept taking me down all the wrong roads, so it took a lot longer than we'd anticipated.
Our first ride of the day was Thirteen. Jordan was pretty scared for this one but I really liked it. It's supposed to feel like your riding through a dark forrest, and the eerie music really set the tone for the ride. Apparently, Thirteen is the world's first freefall drop rollercoaster as the whole track drops five feet down.
The next ride we went on was Rita. To be honest, I didn't really like this one. I'd been on it before, but I couldn't remember it being so fast. It reaches speeds of 100kph in just 2.5 seconds, but it made my body feel like it was being tossed all over the place. I didn't go on this one again. I didn't manage to get any photos of these rides as the weather was horrendous on our first day and I was scared to get my phone wet. Such a bad blogger!
We took the Skyride to the other side of the park and tried out some of the smaller rides, such as Blade and the Runaway Mine Train. Although these ones are probably more for kids, they were some of my favourite rides as we had such a laugh on them. Across the two days, we ended up going on Blade three times.
I've been to Alton Towers twice before, but one of their newer attractions that I hadn't seen before was Sharkbait Reef. It's sponsored by Sea Life, so it had tanks full of really pretty fish, and even some interactive pools in which you could touch or hold some of them. I thought this was a really nice addition to the park, and it was nice to just wander around looking at all the different fish.
Our final ride of the first day was Galactica. Jordan was really excited to try this one, especially being the total physics geek that he is. Primarily called Air, the ride is now a virtual reality coaster in which all riders have to wear a visor. The ride uses virtual reality to immerse you in space as the rollercoaster lays you on your front, creating the feeling that you're flying. This was definitely a new experience and I really enjoyed it.
The next morning, we arrived at the park around 10am and headed straight for The Smiler. We were hoping to avoid a huge queue, but even at 10am the wait time was 110 minutes! It was definitely worth it though. The ride has a record breaking 14 loops and makes you feel extremely dizzy, but it's definitely the best ride at the park.
Enterprise was our next choice of the day. It had no queue and I'd never even noticed before, but I really enjoyed this one and we went on it twice. We sat in this little pod, with nothing but the rails to hold onto, as it spun us round and round. It even goes upside down, with only the sheer force of the ride keeping you in place. This one made us extremely dizzy, but we ended up going on it twice.
Every time we tried to go on the Spinball Whizzer, for some reason, they kept telling us it was closed. When I finally noticed it was running again, I was excited to try it. Only 4 people can sit in each car, but as it moves around the track, the car itself spins around in all different directions. It made me feel awfully sick, but it gave us such a laugh.
Before heading home, we decided to buy some souvenirs. We went a little bit mad in the gift shop and bought an unnecessary amount of mugs. But since Jordan and I are moving into new flats in September, I figured we could justify it. We also bought a couple of key rings with some of the pictures taken of us on the rides. Pretty cheesy, I know.
We both had a really nice few days away and it was nice to get some time to ourselves. As much as I enjoyed Alton Towers, I probably won't go back for a while now. Now that I've been three times, I feel like I've done everything that I wanted too. I'd definitely recommend going if you love rollercoasters though, as it's a really fun place to visit.
