Thread: Rollercoasters

OK a great day was had at Alton Towers a few weeks back but with a couple of let downs.

Pics from http://www.towerstimes.co.uk

Rita: Queen of Speed

Was not running today for 'technical reasons' which is typical on the day we choose to go, badly disappointed when I found out. It's the fastest powered launch in Europe, 0-100kph in 2.5 seconds, but not today hahaha

Don't be sad though, everything else was working and I got to ride all the others including the ones built in recent years since I have been to Alton Towers, these ones....

Oblivion

The worlds first vertical drop into a black pit. I have never felt anything like that before. Hanging on the top and then falling like that kind of feels like weightlessness and being crushed at the same time. Yaaaay we do this for fun ;D

Air

Great idea. imagine laying down, facing downwards with the coaster strapped to your back, like Superman. And it spins around so that instead of facing the ground all you can see is sky moving by as you travel along on your back. Niiiiiice even more fun ;D

Nemesis

This has been at Alton Towers for a good few years but today was my first ride. Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaah. floorless, Legs dangling, loops twists, turns and just monsterous speed. Highly recommended and the best ride of the day for sure (although the vertical drop thing was insane too). reeeeeal gooood fun ;D

The Corckscrew

The old classic, and you can tell its old too, rattles and shakes like its over twenty five years old, oh wait a minute it is hahahaaaa, alwaaaaaaaays fun ;D

So yup, it was a great day out and I also have an announcement. Jayne decided to beat her fear of rollercoasters today and she went on TWO of them... Superhero!!!



The best thing is... We both went on the Corkscrew which does go upside down and stuff but it's quite tame and there was no queue.

Then she really put on a stern face and did not hold back when it came to Nemesis. The thing is and I couldn't tell her at the time, there is little in that theme park more shocking and disturbing than Nemesis HAHAHA. I couldn't tell her. She saw the thing doing loops and she knew all about it and she was determined so I thought ok fair play let's go.

The problem arose as we found out the queue was to be around 40 minutes. We edged round it and it leads a path through the trees under the coaster, around the coaster, making sure you see everything very very clearly. I was happy shooting my video and looking at this great waterfall and deep canyon with red (blood) water. We got to around 10 mins before getting to the front of the queues and we had been watching this thing hammering around us all the time for half an hour and it was all getting real and loud and scary, this music was playing and Jayne turns to me and says "I might cry in a minute". She looked at me and bravely did not shed one tear. I felt a little bad because me with rollercoaster history completely took the whole thiing for granted. I completely forgot how daunting my first coaster was and this thing that we were queuing for is vicious to say the least LOL. I told her everything would be ok and that were about to tame this *insert expletive here* and she agreed and gave me a smile ... like this ;D

And then we were there. No fuss, no blood, no sweat, no tears, we both went round and jayne Loved every second once she had recovered her balance haha.

It was ace but there is one more bit of bad news for those that were interested. For some reason the video's that I shot do not work on my PC. They are fine in my DVD player if I use the disc direct from the camera but cant get it working on my PC which means no uploads unless I find a way when I am less tired. I did get some great pics of us on the rides and I will post our hilarious faces when they are scanned.

wow, looks like fun! Ive been on small coasters, the ones where your feet are hanging make me a bit nervous, as on the ferris wheel my foot got stuck at the top and I almost A-lost my foot B-tipped us over!..lol..guess Ill be a forever clutz!.....haha..

Amazing.

Hehehe yeeeah it was fun... The photo of Oblivion above doesn't really do the ride any justice, here is another pic that I took from the queue... I really cannot describe how this beast feels... Try to imagine weightlessness and being crushed like a tin can at the same time and it might be somewhere close. Over 110kmh but free-falling. The second pic below is the onride photograph, it looks like I am smiling but I am actually wincing and gritting my teeth and look at my forehead LOLOLOL too much blood in my brain and too much Gforce caused that hahaha

Ahhh I LOVEEEE Rollercoasters. I live within a 30 minute drive of Carowinds in NC and SC. They used to have a ride called White Lightening. This coaster started on a straight-away went through one loop then straight up hill to a dead stop, then went backwards through the first loop, then through another loop and straight-up again to a full stop, where it then went back through the second loop, but forwards this time, and stopped on the straight-away again. it went from 0-60 really fast. I don't know how fast. It was fast enough for them to tell you to put your head back against the head rest. Anyway. Glad you had fun Rob!

Those coasters look AWESOME !!!!!!!

Alton Towers in England is definitely THE best place to go for coasters but they also have a lot of other stuff there for lots of other inerests too, kids rides and some beautiful gardens and softer rides too like water rapids and log flumes. If you are even in England CodeBG you have to go there, its a real good day out.... Here's another pic, me on Nemesis....

You and your lady are brave people..kudos to you...I'm achicken and not afrraid to admit it...never used to be but these days ahhh well...the yellow streak gets wider every day down my back....I"M A WIMP and have joined the secret organization of wimps and we are proud but being wimpy we don't say it loudly....so you all enjoy your rollercoasters and we'll sit back and watch....lol

An odd thing though, as I was saying in my original post, Rita: Queen of Speed was broken down on the day we were there, so was a second ride (Hex) ... Less than a week later The Mine Train coaster crashed injuring 29 people. 4 had to be air-lifted to hospital.

I am a bit worried about Alton Towers health and safety proceddures of late and glad I got those coasters in before the accident.

I had to close this post down very quickly as my son came into the room - he'd have wanted to drag me to Alton Towers! It does look awesome, but a bit too much for me!

As you say though - I'd be a bit worried about the Health and Safety aspects now!

Censoring a rollercoast page Trish?

Originally Posted by bill2006

Censoring a rollercoast page Trish?

Absolutely! If he knew there were things like this in the UK he wouldn't rest until he had dragged me onto them! The only way I cope is close my eyes and pray that it will soon be over!

And we pay for this!

Even with the recent accident on a rollcoaster at Alton Towers you are more likely to be struck by lightening than to be hurt on one. It is an irrational fear for sure but I certainly would never dig at anybody for fearing rides such as these, some of us like Seratonin and some of us like Dopemine LOL.

Do you drive Trish? I'd me more frightened of being killed in a car for sure! ;)

I also found this... They don't allow cameras on these rides but somebody managed it... Here is an onboard view of Oblivion.. Hold tight though, that's the vertical drop one :)

Onboard video of Oblivion

LOL That's not a comment on my driving, is it??

HAHAHAHA noooooo not at all hehehe. a sad fact of life :) I cannot remember in recent history anybody ever being killed on a coaster but how many people world wide are killed on the road every year? I dread to think.

Oh dear - my son's seen the video of Oblivon. Cheers for that - he WANTS to go on that now!
Thanks very much! Bit too scary I thought!

Tell him I strongly recommend it, an amazing experience. It's quite a nice area of the park too Trish, shops and cafes dotted about so plenty of things for you to do while you wait for him to queue :)

Had to come back and edit... I forgot to say.. one of the best bits about the Bolivion ride and so so simple too... As you enter that huge black pit there are some presurised water jets. Not a lot of water, in fact nothing but little tiny droplets that float in the air like steam but as you go through them the water hits you in the face and it is such a shock, feels like millions of little painless nails whacking against your face LOL

Sounds Great - I can't wait! (does my sarcasm come through ok???)

Hehehehe yeesssss it does LOL. It's all harmless fun LOL and those 'water-nails' are painless LOL, it's just the shock of not expecting them that produces the effect.