Tom is 13 So Let's Do 13 Theme Parks This Year
Alton Towers Part 3 - Monday 30th July 2018
Just The Two Of Us - A Mom & Tom Day
This 3rd visit of the year came about as I had a couple of leiu days owing me. I needed to take the Tuesday off for an appointment, so decided I'd make a long weekend of it. Rich had to work, so suggested Tom and I made the most of our annual passes (but making us promise not to do The Smiler without him). The hot weather had finally broke over the weekend and more rain was forecast for today, but we werent going to let that stop us.
Rich had his usual 4:45am start, and once he'd gone, I had a couple of hours dozing and watching Friends on Netflix, before getting up at half 7. I made a packed lunch then put some toast on for me and Tom and woke him up.
We were ready to leave at about 8:20 and stopped off for a couple of bottles of pop at the local shop before officially setting off at 8:30.
The satnav said we'd be there at 9:45, but I was expecting a bit of Monday morning traffic. We didn't do too bad and despite my sat Nav seemingly taking me the longest windiest route from junction 14, we were pulling into the entrance by about 10:10. We parked up not too far from the monorail station so decided to take the "lazy" way in, but there was a big queue so we ended up walking, and were through the turnstiles by about 10:30ish.
The queue times were looking promising...
We decided to see if the Wicker Man queue eased up later and headed over to Forbidden Valley to make the most of the short lines on Nemesis and Glactica.
We walked through the Gloomy Wood and pretty much straight onto Nemesis - on the last but one row (as back to was for the FastTrackers).
It was a good ride and (being a bit more theme park savvy now) I could really appreciate the difference between this B&M and Infusion at Blackpool (which is a Vekoma SLC and a lot rougher).
Tom needed the loo, so we quickly nipped to the one by the Sky Ride station then doubled back on ourselves to do Galactica, deciding we'd have a go with and without VR.
The wait time 10 mins but again it was pretty much a walk-on. We chose the VR line and were in the line for back row, but there was a broken seat so we were asked to move to the last but one.
I struggled to get my headset right - it was very uncomfortable on my ear.
We both agreed that VR ride was a bit meh. We only have Freedom Flyer at Fun Spot to compare VR experiences with, but this wasn't as good. Quite boring and it definitely detracted from the ride.
We went straight through the gift shop and back around to do the proper version. This time the wait-time was showing as 25 mins, but it was probably around 10. Most people were waiting for VR, so we excused ourselves down the line and walked straight onto the front row, with Tom in the outside seat that I'd been in in April.
Thai was a much better ride - it's a great feeling and the front row view is brilliant. Definitely one of my top coasters!
We had a mooch around the gift shop and picked out a few things that we might get later (a magnet for me and a drinks cup for Tom).
By now Wicker Man was showing as 45 mins so we decided to do it now. I was going to grab a Costa on ten way, but Tom fancied something snacks so I said I'd wait and we'd both get something from Mutiny Bay.
The sky ride wasn't open yet, so we walked back via the lakeside path, having a nice chat along the way.
Tom fancied donuts and they were £5.95 for 5 or £6.95 for 10. We didn't want 10 but it seemed daft not to get the offer. Handily, they came as 2 bags of 5 so we put one in the back pack for later. I also got my cappuccino (£2.50) - which was a bog standard Nescafé rather than a Costa.
I wished I'd paid extra for the Costa tho, as it was horrible - like dishwater - even with 3 pots of milk added to it
We got in line for Wicker Man and enjoyed our donuts - I gave up on my coffee as soon as we got to a bin.
We took a few pics and did a bit of instagramming to pass the time...
The 45 mins went really quickly and we were soon in the pre-ride show. We were right at the front of our group for this, so walked straight in and onto the last but 1 row.
Wow! The ride was much better than in April. We both agreed it seemed faster and it was a really good ride. So much so that I insta'd that it could now be a contender for my top Woody! Tom said he enjoyed it more, but he'd need to ride Stampida at PortAventura again before making a decision (we both love Stampida) 🎢🎢🎢.
We had a good mooch at the merch in the shop - I really liked the women's fit shirt for £15 and almost bought it (maybe next time), and Tom said he'd like to get Rich some wood (£25) or one of the frames (£50) for Christmas, but would let him choose next time. We stopped to fill in the customer survey on the way out of the store.
It was almost 1pm by now, so we headed into the courtyard area by Mutiny Bay to have our packed lunch of ham sandwiches and crisps...
Tom has recently gone off thick sliced bread, so asked if he could use the £5 he had on him to buy a hot dog and nipped off. He came backs saying they didn't look very nice and to let me know he was going to look for something else - I knew his £5 wouldn't stitch far, so I gave him £10 and he came back with Chicken Strips, Chips and a Coke (£7.25)
(Sorry no pic). He let me have a piece of chicken and a few chips too, so I left my Skips for now.
After a quick loo stop we pondered our plans - we had intended to do Runaway Mine Train next, but It was quite warm so I suggested a quick lap of Battle Gallions first. to, had said he wasn't up for any water rides today, but he agreed to come on with me.
It was less than a 5 min wait and we could see that the squirters looked quite powerful - so everything got put into our trey FootAsylum carrier bag and we were soon on and squirting away. It was great fun, and loads of guests were playing along from the perimeter squirters. We were soaked!
We both loved it and agreed to go straight back on for another go - this time it was a walk on. Sadly our squirters weren't so good this time, but we got another soaking and came off dripping
Tom was keen to have a go at the perimeter squirters so paid a £1 whilst I took a wet selfie...
The £1 didn't last long, but Tom had spotted some free ones around the side so we headed round and he was in his element battling with the riders...
We had a chuckle when a lady of about my age came over and hid herself under the squirters waiting to jump out and catch the riders unware, telling em "it brings out the big kid in us doesn't it?" Then she recognised that Tom had just gotten her whilst she was riding
Tom was absolutely soaked by the time he'd finished...
It was quite warm in the sun - I even put some sun spray on whilst Tom was squirting away.
As we were already wet, we decided we may as well do the Congo River Rapids (Rubber Dinghy Rapids) next and walked around to Catanga Canyon.
The Rapids were a 25 min wait, but it went quickly...
We got a dinghy to ourselves and had a very tame ride - no KFC Mega-Wave for us today (a Themepark Worldwide reference there for any fans of Shawn's Vlogs).
We checked the ride times on the app and as Runaway Mine Train and Wicker Man were both showing as 30 mins, it was a no-brainier where we were headed...
The wait went quite quickly again, but just as we were about to go around the final turn into the bag-drop area, an alarm started ringing (like a fire alarm). It was just starting to spit with rain too. Then they started sending around empty trains, and after a few of these the voiceover came on saying the Wicker Man wasn't accepting sacrifices right now. As we were so close to the front, we decided to wait it out.
It was raining a bit more now, so I put my hoody on. Then about 10 mins another announcement came on saying that the queue was being vacated
.
They did give us one of these beauties though, which we could use on most of the big rides...
We decided to hang onto the pass and see if Wicker Man came back up later (it was about 3:30 and the park was open till 6).
Tom said he wasn't particularly bothered about Rita or Thirteen today (which had both had 30-45 min queues all day), so we got the Sky Ride back over to Forbidden Valley (having a donut each on the way) where Nemesis was a 10min wait (but actually no more than 5). We were in the same seats as this morning and it was another great ride.
We headed over to Galctica, but the queue had gone up to 35 mins, so we didn't bother and just went in the shop to get the magnet (£4) and cup (£6) from earlier...
Then back to Nemesis - another less than 5 min wait, and back in our "usual" seats. It was raining again now and this time was really fast - absolutely brilliant (I had a new-found love for Nemesis after today)
Tom suggested going straight back on for ride #4 so we nipped around for another walk-on. We were in our usual row, but the other two seats this time. It was wetter, but not quite as fast as ride #3.
I was pondering one more ride, but the queue had built up a bit by now. As we were walking out an announcement came on advising that Nemeisis would keep running in the rain, but could be uncomfortable, so advised guests to let others in the queue to pass if they wanted to wait for the rain to calm down.
Wicker Man still wasn't running, so we decided to get the Sky Ride back to Mutiny Bay and give Spinball Whizzer a go as it was a relatively short queue at 20 mins. However, by the time we got off the sky ride, the wait time had jumped to 60 mins' so we walked up to the castle to give Hex a try.
It was after 5 by now, and it wasn't looking good for Wicker Man, so on the way we decided to use our Priority Pass for Rita, which was on a 30 min wait. We asked for back row, so just had to wait for 1 train and we were on. It was a good ride, with a good bit of air-time, and a good use of our pass.
We did Hex next, which had been a 0 min wait all day. It was about a 5 min wait for the pre-ride show. Nicely themed we thought, but just a simple Mad House, so a bit meh.
It was 5:35 by the time we came out, so we headed back towards the entrance, checking the wait time for Spinball Whizzer on the way. It was a more reasonable 25 mins, but Tom wasn't fussed about waiting, so we popped in the shop on Tower Street for a merch mooch instead
A quick loo stop and I sorted the parking ticket (£6) - the monorail queue was almost back to the turnstiles, so we decided to walk, getting Tom a Tub of Ben & Jerry's (£2.80) from the vending machine on the way past.
We were back to the car by 6:30. Tom quickly changed into some dry shorts as his joggers were still a bit damp, and we headed home.
The sat Nav took us on a different, but equally long winded route back to Junction 14 and Tom was asleep by the time we were on the motorway, so it was a lonely journey back for me.
I quickly nipped in Asda for some bits for tea on the way past and we were home by 8:30.
We'd had a fab day - we definitely missed Rich, but it was nice to have some Mom & Tom time 💙🎢
My phone gave up on me just before we started the walk to the carpark. My step counter was on 17,919 by this point but, based on our previous carpark walks, I estimated we'd have hit 21,000 steps for the day!