Coastin' Thru Europe Episode Five: ALTON TOWERS (Day One)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2023
- This was our most anticipated day of the UK portion of our trip!! We were so excited to spend not one but TWO days at Alton Towers! Here's a look at the first day we spent at the park, including initial reactions to the rides and attractions.
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Production, Filming, & Editing: Taylor Bybee and Sarah Anderson
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Intro: Casey Rentmeester
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![[페이스캠4K] 베이비몬스터 치키타 'FOREVER' (BABYMONSTER CHIQUITA FaceCam) @SBS Inkigayo 240707](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/x9VRNTV4VDI/mqdefault.jpg)
Alton towers is such a weird park having beautiful gardens and castles that aren’t really part of theming and then you have like a 14 inversion Gerstlauer out of nowhere lol
Love how you said 12 quid. Harry has changed you to British 😂
It had to be done 😅
pretty sure the smiler stops at the bottom of the lift so it duels almost every time. i think it's exactly what twisted colossus should do and i think it's worth doing nothing for a few seconds for a duel
yea but six flags just doesn't care i guess
Six Flags will never care
@@jappie. true
this is to engage onto the lift, saw does this as well, you can see the chain moving a small amount whilst the train is stationary
@@Xtreme16420 yeah i know that but smiler has a while where it isn’t even engaging the lift. it just sits there for a minute
“Enjoy your day at Alton Towers” - Taylor to baby ducks, best quote in the whole video
6:52
"Rita is the best ride ever!" - said a random guest of the park whose first ever coaster was Rita
My favourite ride ever is the big dipper despite being on velocicoaster, iron gwazi but thats only because big dipper was my first coaster :D
My favourite ride ever is Dragon's Fury, mainly because it was my first rollercoaster and it's been so long since I rode it, and the only rollercoaster to beat it in my rankings (The Smiler) has moved way down because I've grown taller and those awful Gerstlauer OTSRs dig into my shoulders. It's worse than Olympia Looping because the Smiler actually has airtime.
If I ride it again, there's a decent chance it will move down in my rankings below Blue Fire Megacoaster, which is currently my #2. It might even drop below Wodan and Silver Star, my #3 and #4.
Absolutely insane how cool this park is and its castles.
The history behind the towers is really interesting.
10:01
The curse of Alton manor is my everything. Such an iconic and detailed attraction. Reminds me of something at Halloween Horror Nights.
The ride reliabilty has been awful lately. I hope they get this sorted for next year as this is normally such a fantastic park.
From the day you announced you were going to the UK, this was the video I was looking forward to the most. It didn't disappoint! Alton Towers looks amazing!
Same!
It looks amazing and if it wasn't run by Merlin then it might also BE amazing.
Same..
Guys - your comment about the towers made me laugh. The theme park was built around the towers, which was owned by the earl of Shrewsbury. Beautiful place with so much history.
I really enjoy your vlogs. They are really well done. You’ve made me want to go back to Alton Towers lol I haven’t been this year.
BTW you have got to do runaway mine train, the kiddie coaster, it's way more intense than you think around that curve by the rapids. I wish I went when the waterfalls were on...
CHOO CHOO
100% second this, it's actually knda insane for a family ride. also if you're lucky they'll send you round four times in a row lol
It's very easy to get Towers fatigue here in the UK. It's nice to see it through other eyes. We haven't been yet in 23 with Neme down but hearing you positives, especially curse is getting us ready for Scarefest
Completely forgot that I made that bed sheets joke ahaha. Was great seeing you guys again, until next time!
I absolutely love Alton Towers, definitely in my top 10 favorite parks in the world. Even tho I’m only visited it once because I live in Sweden.
The last time I went to Alton Towers, Oblivion was still being built and I wasn't tall enough to ride Nemesis! Now Oblivion is out of date and Nemesis is getting completely retracked....I feel so old!!
Once the new indoor ride opens, i think a great video would be BGW vs AT. Their coaster line ups and atmosphere is similar enough for a good comparison video. Beautiful park grounds, 3 B&M’s, a “family” coaster with a drop track, an intamin launch, indoor coasters, black and yellow inversion based coaster (not a great comparison between Nessy and Smiler, but oh well) and a mid tier themed family-ish GCI, etc etc
Busch Gardens would probably win. Alpengeist Vs Nemesis - Alpengeist is taller and has a great first half, but Nemesis interacts with the terrain better and is probably more popular
Oblivion Vs Griffon: Definitely Griffon.
Galactica Vs Apollo's Chariot: probably Apollo's Chariot
Rita Vs Pantheon: definitely Pantheon
Th13teen Vs Verboten: depends on who you ask
Smiler Vs Nessy: Definitely Smiler
Was looking forward to this one for a while. Alton Towers holds a special place for me. Glad y'all had a good first day getting on most of the major rides. The Retro Squad and Mardi Gras stuff is admittedly kinda cringe, but things like Curse, Sub Terra and Wicker Man make up for that. I'm particularly happy you guys enjoyed Galactica! I feel that one doesn't get enough love.
Icon is much faster and more forceful than it looks on camera, the first launch does really push you back in it's 2nd half, straight into that top hat is insane sustained ejector in the back. The rest is okay but it's the interaction with the other rides that makes it special.
I’m so excited for this vlog, my favourite channel!
Excellent timing! I'm going to Alton Towers in exactly a month!
Was great to meet you guys during this visit. Looking forward to day 2 🤘🏼😀
I have been WAITING For this!!
And also agree with you on Galactica - I love that coaster and think that it is the second best coaster in the park behind the Smiler by a long way. On Wicker Man I have only got two mid-trains so I need to go again at some point.
My favorite series 🎢
Wicker Man's air gate management has always baffled me. I tried to stealthily change row once in the hope that the next pair would just fill in my original row, but the staff member immediately told me to move back. I have no idea why they're so strict about it.
I can only imagine it’s because of how tight the station is, id imagine health & safety is very strict with over crowdimg
@@matt64allison I was going to suggest that, but places like Blackpool Pleasure Beach have much tighter stations, and they let you have free reign there (if I remember correctly, they don't even have a staff member to direct people to rows on most of the coasters).
Oh I am getting cosy for this episode ❤
It was great riding the monorail with you
So I work at a casino and our protocol is that if a machine has to be opened to access the money box, then the machines on either side have to be vacated by guests sitting there. It doesn't matter if they're in a row or there's just 4 machines in a square, the protocol is what the protocol is so that we don't have to have the employees on the floor making judgement calls. That's probably the case with the ride ops - they are required to load front to back no matter what, so that way ops don't get slowed down by people asking for seats and then everyone in the line sees that and starts asking. It's not YOU specifically they're being mean to, it's just a management decision and there's probably no amount of complaining that will change it short of a total boycott by a large portion of guests. Now, ideally the company would also be paying enough that they could fully staff the ride, and have a dedicated grouper that can solve these issues between trains...
Great Vlog! I Wish Theme Park Worldwide Was There So Sarah And Charlotte Can Meet Up For The First Time
(Hope You Guys Meet Them In Florida In A Few Weeks Time).
They've met before! They met last October at Halloween Horror Nights
Here we go!
I was there last week for the first time and found it pretty nice. Queues were Insane tho... but on my second day the smiler Operators went completly insane so we could ride alot. We barely left the station and the train dispatched again
Can't wait until you come back and get to ride Nemesis Reborn and hopefully SW9 by then!
I didn't do Gangsta Granny because the queue looked long and the wait time was not posted at the entrance, and I left my phone with my parents so I couldn't check on the app.
Whilst Galactica was my favourite, that was mostly due to the smooth flying sensation. Wickerman was my 2nd favourite, but it was definitely more intense. Probably top 3 most intense rides in the park, along with Rita and Smiler. But Smiler has those awful Gerstlauer OTSRs which dig into my shoulders, and Rita has a bit of a rattle and has those hard plastic OTSRs. Meanwhile, Wickerman has lapbars. And it has great headchoppers and strong laterals which made me reluctant to put my hands up. I rode it in the back later in the day, which probably influenced my opinion of it.
Th13teen was my 3rd favourite due to the great airtime, smooth experience, comfortable restraints, and the drop track. It wasn't as intense as Wickerman, but it might have had better airtime. But since Th13teen didn't barrage me with forces, I could appreciate the airtime more. But I still preferred Wickerman's relentless ride experience.
My 4th favourite was Oblivion. It wasn't as long as the previous 3, but it was smooth, had comfortable seats and restraints, and had good airtime on the drop (but not as good as Th13teen).
Below that was Spinball Whizzer, then Rita, then Smiler was my least favourite.
Yes! I have been waiting for this episode! This is probably the highlight of my weekend!!!!!
oh my days indeeeeed. been weeeeeeks! lol
Me and my bf just did Valhalla for the first time post-refurb, and EVERYTHING WAS WORKING, and it was just before park close. There's so much fire, so much drama, and the drops are ludicrously long and steep for a boat with no harnesses. They are listed online as 70° which is definitely wrong, but they must be some of the steepest and highest log flume drops in the world, I'd love to see them outdoors. I think they are 65ft
Alton Towers is a great park and Nemesis was (and hopefully will be again) one of the best B&Ms around. My biggest knock against it is that nearly all its major attractions are horror themed. It would make more sense for a park with that kind of natural scenery to go more of a whimsical Efteling route.
Towers is definitely on a low season for 2023. The whole park feels like it’s missing something, and of course that thing is Nemesis. BUT if they make the right moves, this park has a very bright future. With Nemesis and Horizon, the future is exiting. All they need is some flats to complete the park
If you park in VIP parking, it's right at the gate! :)
Shame you missed Nemesis.
My and my bf just ignored the Wicker Man seat assigner and got second to back row, it was a night ride and absolutely epic. Completely different experience to front of mid with those long millenium flyer trains. They really need to allow guests to say their seat preference as they often get normies at the back who have a too intense time, and enthusiasts at the front also having a bad time, it's ridiculous.
It's so noisey you just look at what space is free closest to the back and say 'yeah 9, cool thanks' and walk away while they have to deal with the next screaming family
I've had similar experiences at Six Flags New England and Lake Compounce, with a *lot* of the rides not opening with the park.
YES ANOTHER Awesome EPISODE of this series and Alton towers is the largest theme park in the UK and some of my favourites from Alton towers would be
Gangster Granny The Ride
Blade
Battle Galleons
Congo River Rapids
Hex the Legend of the towers
The Curse At the Alton Manor
Maurders Mayhem
Heave Ho
Nemesis Sub Terror
Wickerman
Nemesis
Oblivion
The Smiler
Runaway mine train
Spinball Whizzer
Galactica
7:25 That voice crack is actually diabolical 😭🙏
14:46 Yes! This happens often with Wicker Man it's such a pain!
You just have to get lucky and get a nice ride op, maybe one who's not so ginger if that's possible hahaha
I know exactly which ride op you are on about.. she’s denied us a back row so many times.. 😂
02:00 those buildings are not theming. They're the former stables of the castle, and very much a part of the original Alton Towers estate.
Even after riding Nemesis Sub-Terra and The Curse at Alton Manor, Volitarium is still my favourite dark ride.
I've got to get out to Blackpool some time.
Honestly Alton Towers is one of the them parks I'd like to visit the most
Great video! Cool park! It's funny how Sarah said on Wicker Nan the front is more like a family coaster and the back is more like a thrill coaster but yet you said you don't get to choose your seats.
you don't, i meant like front part of the train, and back part of the train
@CoasterStudios I know what you mean. The coaster is different at both parts of the train meaning different experience but you don't even get to choose your seats. It's just odd how they don't let you.
Thirteen wasn't intented to have trims on the first drop however during inirial testing the coaster went way to fast into the second lift hill so they added the trims to combat that. Intamin kinda screwed up with it as it has a few design flaws, it was trying to be ahead of its time.
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
Person from the uk here that’s been to towers liek 5 times, when u guys were talking abt Sub Terra , you don’t actually go underground with the drops, the lift just shakes that’s all, the only thing that goes underground is the drop tower, I suggest watching Theme park Worldwide
Totally found the same thing with wicker man when I visited in July, and it is so annoying because the middle has so much weaker airtime.
We always do single rider on the Smiler, was a 50min q the other day and single rider was 6 minutes!
Fantastic video once again. A great time of year to visit Alton Towers is during Halloween. The park is perfectly set up for scarefest with the towers, scare mazes and general spooky atmosphere. Plus riding nemesis and the smiler at night time is a must! The park is even open until 10pm. Maybe an idea for a future trip? Keep up the great work!
14:46 strange, I always get back row when asking
Yeah that’s a thing to get used to in uk theme parks you won’t get to pick your row unless it’s like a 5 min wait. It’s basically a get what your given basis
I am so lucky this is my local park
4:28 YOOO LESTAH!!!
It’s so weird to me to see a light sky at the end of the day. I guess it’s good for the employees, but I’ll never understand why so many European parks close so early. Closing between 4-6pm is crazy to me.
For towers it makes a bit of sense, theres a small village right next to it. Idk why others close so early tho
18:05 It's based on Gangsta Granny by David Walliams, a great, popular children's novel. In that book, this grandson doesn't like his grandma until he finds out she's a gangsta. She told him all these stories about the crimes she committed when she was younger. Then, they formulated a plan to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London by sneaking through a defunct sewer. However, Granny was in the hospital at this time. Granny said not to sell the Crown Jewels, because that's how thieves get caught. She never got caught because she only stole for the thrill of it. She was reluctant to steal the Crown Jewels, but eventually decided to go along with the plan as long as he agreed to put them back afterwards, since as she grew up, she realised stealing was wrong. Then, she was discharged from the hospital. Then, they put the plan in action. They snuck into the Tower of London. Then, they were stopped by the Queen of England before they could steal the Crown Jewels. Then, the truth came out. Granny actually wasn't a thief. The jewelry at her house was fake. She pretended to be a thief to earn her grandson's respect. They ask the Queen for forgiveness, and she forgives them. Then, Granny dies from her illness. Turns out, she actually hadn't been discharged from the hospital. The doctor had actually told her her illness was terminal. So she decided to pull off this heist before dying.
David Walliams made loads of great books. Gangsta Granny, Billionaire Boy (about the son of the owner of a company which sold toilet paper which was wet on one side and dry on the other, and how his life changed), Demon Dentist (about a dentist who is actually a Tooth Witch and who tries to get kids' teeth to rot away before she steels them, the more rotten the better) and my personal favourite, Grandpa's Great Escape, which is about a grandpa escaping from an evil nursing home.
The reason they don’t have any coasters over tree height is because there is a restriction as there is a neighborhood right next to the park
going here on the 31st, can't wait to get back on wicker man
You guys returning this year ? Love to see your reaction when alton towers are at the top of their game . Looking like a big year
14:41 12 quid love it mate
With the comment about waiting at the bottom of the lift hill the reason why you wait there is because there is supposed to be some sound affects and theming but haven’t been working for the whole of 2023 so that’s why you felt like there was nothing going on
Great vlog as per usual! Can't wait for day 2! Just a quick question, but what ride would you like to see go to Alton Towers the most?
I’m not them, but I’d love an Intamin or Vekoma multi launch. Something like Abyssus or Taron, with airtime, inversions and length
@@twistedcoasters1533 That would be a great and very well-needed addition! Towers lacks a true "elite" coaster, something that we can say is one of the best coasters in Europe. 😀
15:00 had an extremely similar experience at fury 325 where the supervisor really was trying hard to not allow us to ride the front no matter what, we even let people in front of us before the stairs but because he said no the first attempt when we asked him (which again we get assigning seats) but he saw us and put us in middle when there wasn't even anybody in the seats in front of u but he loaded row 6 first then went back to front, we didn't do anything about it cause we didn't care much but it was still wildly petty
I go here every year and this time it felt like something was missing. Nemesis is my favourite ride in the UK and I couldnt ride the smiler becuase the queue was way too long. The curse at alton manor was incredible though
The Smiler has a single rider queue (at least, it did when I went). I'd recommend that next time you go if you don't mind splitting up your group.
@@dingo137 that was also rammed! It was an hour to an hour and a half with the ride access pass queue!
@@danielward4868 Wow, unlucky. Single rider was almost a walk on for me, when the main queue was 30 minutes or so.
@dingo137 on that day the ride closed every ten minutes so that didn't help
Nice vlog guys and good to see you back in Europe again.
Are you also going to spend some time at Efteling? ✨🍄
not this trip, we went last year!
The comments about how the Smiler doesn't feel like a 14-inversion coaster are interesting. I've never been to Alton Towers, but I was wondering about the Smiler after riding PortAventura's Dragon Khan, the only eight-inversion B&M coaster. The inversions on that are intense and relentless and I actually came off the ride dizzy, thinking I might have enjoyed it more with only six or seven, and wondering if a 14-inversion coaster would even be bearable for me. But maybe that's not the right comparison. I know Gerstlauer's inversions don't necessarily have the same kick to them.
The Smiler doesn't feel too dizzying in my experience - certainly much less than Colossus, where those last inversions are just too much. I also preferred it to Dragon Khan, which had a little bit of headbanging.
The smilers inversions arent that bad, you may have issues with the first one and the final 3 but the rest are fun
I think the trim was put in after the fact on thirteen because it was running too fast and overshooting the block section before the drop. Somebody correct me if I have that wrong.
It definitely wasn’t there in the early days.
Does Sub Terra have a place in your top drop towers list? I remember the mine drop being No1
Great VLOG guys.
I cannot believe they didn’t let you wait to sit at the back of Wickerman. Normally we have no problems. It is a great coaster but it is strange as it feels slow in every seat apart from the back.
Agree on Gangster Granny weak .
I went a couple months ago and the ride ops were awful on wicker man, wouldn’t let us wait for the back, borderline rude. Not good when you’ve waited 70 minutes and all you want is to be flung around in the back row, to then get stuck with a boring mid or front ride
@@alexscott94 That is a shame, we have not been much this year but last year the ride ops on Wickerman were amazing, really quick and always let us wait for the back.
Did you go in June? If so the rainbow decorations were probably for Pride Month, not Mardi Gras (which isn't really known in the UK)
18:48 Sarah is already victim of the Smiler before even riding.
Gangsta granny the ride was kind of fun when I rode it. Even if it was a screen ride.
@everyone: what do you think about the situation where the ride operator does not grant seat requests?
Been looking forward to this year has been full of negativity for Alton Towers with good reason, but its nice to have some positive feedback for it. Whilst I am not a fan of the retro squad myself I will say the Marketing is cool for it and it does draw people away from the other rides also have to remember the loss of Nemesis meant Alton Towers took a hard hit in its capacity so the Retro Squad does help.
A lot of the ride ops are damn right rude now. My cousin came over from Ireland and really wanted front row oblivion. We did is 3 times back to back and didn't get front row (each time 15 min queue). The same ride op, even though we spoke to him, would not budge and kept putting us on the back row. He wasn't horrible, but my cousin is a 12 yr old and asked really politely for front row! Just a shame really, they used to be a lot more flexible.
We had the same with wanting to sit at the back, the seats were empty so not
Sure why we couldn’t sit at that row, rather sucks as good ride at the back
Glad you enjoyed AT, I’m not a big fan as the ride Ops aren’t the best, queue times are completely crazy and you should never wait that long for a ride, just my opinion.
Good rides though but too much walking when the transportation system is shut due to staffing levels.
Wish Black Hole was still there though 😂
What you guys think of the retrosquad rides overall?
The Wicker Man on your merch looks like Groot.
If i remember correctly the nemesis track holds the alien in place and i believe the egg in sub terra is it hatching or its young
Coaster studios, when is the best time of the year to visit this park?
They won't let you wait for the front but I've always been allowed to sit at the back for wicker man
21:10 A lot of cobra rolls are meh but if you’re in Florida it’s a different story 😂
Galactica is honestly my safe ride it's just so fun and relaxing and I just love it so much. On a more sad note compared to the 22 season 23 has been awful ride reliability and it makes me sad
I know we're on episode 5 right now, but people are gonna wonder when the next episode is gonna be out. Impatient people.
SARAH NEEDS TO RANK DARK RIDES!!!!
at phantasialand the rides open 1h after the park... :d
Please come again when Nemesis is in operation again -- but avoid Summer - especially August !!
When is the best time to visit?
@@Disturbed666METAL Just avoid the school holidays. . . March . . April . . May (avoiding the 2 national Holidays) . . June . . beginning of July (before schools break up) . . Sept (after schools have returned) . . Oct.
Is there anywhere to put your bags in all the rides stations
yes
What hotel were you staying at?
Legit was making a smiler edit for TikTok
Good to see you back here! Is Smiler still your favorite ride in the uk?
yes
@@CoasterStudios Nice, glad you enjoyed your trip
Mardi geas was ages ago! How long does it take you guys to upload videos?
We filmed this at the beginning of June, and we didn't get back from Europe until mid July. Since then, we've been busy posting other videos that we filmed before Alton Towers, while also going on other trips to film future content, so it is difficult to get everything out in a timely manner, especially when the videos are as long as this one
@@CoasterStudios it’s all good man, sorry my comment came off a bit rude, was just genuinely curious, thx for the reply!
Ahhh, yesss! A plain white background! Great video as always!
Look to see if ride curse at alton manor
are the late openings normal for altons? or was something wrong the day you visited?
They're not normal at all. Ride availability hasn't been very good at Alton Towers this year. Normally all rides open at 10 on the dot, or at the latest 5 minutes after.
@@coasterbot thank you for clarifying!
Will the meetup we did feature in the next Coastin thru Europe season 2 vlog I did meet you guys that day so it was nice to meet up with some fellow coaster enthusiasts