Page 1 of Oblivion - Alton Towers

Have you been on this coaster and is it as good as they make it out to be?

Adam...

Yeah it`s OK. Over quickly though.

Nemesis is way better.

Ste

"Yeah it`s OK. Over quickly though."

Whilst on the subject of sex...

;-)

Nick

On a serious note, the bit on Oblivion where they dangle you just before you`re dropped into the tunnel is absolutely fantastic. I went the other summer before the schools broke up so we got to go on every ride, some twice, and that was my fave bit from the whole day...other than the donuts, of course!

Nick

I was "dragged" to Alton Towers and I hate these sort of things. I spent nine hours milling from KFC to Pizza Hut and back. I must have spent £60+ on PIzza Hut alone.

Whilst Nemesis is great, Oblivion is good and AIR is ok, Thorpe park urinates over all three of these with Nemesis Inferno and Colossus! Alton Towers need to deliver more intense and thrilling rides and faster! If thrope Park can do it theres no reason Alton Towers cant!

Both are owned by the Taussauds group, so I`m not sure AT needs to deliver more of anything, it doesn`t have much competition. :)

I thought Oblivion was great, really, really, really fast. A one trick coaster but I really loved it. Nemesis is also very good, but for me the thing about the big O is that it has the real JESUS CHRIST feeling after you`ve dropped due to the acceleration.

Air was fun (we went up front) but I still prefer Nemesis.

Must go to Thorpe Park this year, heh.


Editor
DVD REVIEWER

Oblivion is a great little ride.

For me the "real JESUS CHRIST" feeling is on the Big One at Blackpool the very first time.

You just don`t expect it, especially if you`re sitting at the back.

Mind you, some of those American `coasters I saw on the telly looked impressive, 0-103mph in 5 seconds or something.

I found Oblivion unnecessarily violent. The wife and I were the only people in this car, we were dangled for a short period, then thrown with aggressive force down this hole. We didn`t have to queue which was lucky, as you wouldn`t want to wait 2 hours to go on a ride that does your neck in.

Nemesis is fantastic, you lose count of the number of loops you go thru. I was (un)lucky enough to be seated by some younger girls (The wife doesn`t like loopy rides) but their terrified/exhilerated screams made the ride all the better, and it lasts longer than oblivion. I`m intrigued as to how this new Nemesis:Inferno at Thorpe park looks..

But the best ride at AT so far, is Air, I`ve got the T-shirts and everything. The only drawback is that because the mechanism surrounding the cars is so complicated, it breaks down a hell of a lot. I went there last april and July, both times the ride broke down (Both times with people still strapped into the cars, if you`ve seen those cars you`ll understand how claustophobes would get a bit edgy) The april break-downs were over quickly, but in July, the breakdown that stopped us having a second go lasted 2 hours.

Tips:ALWAYS go on Air first thing, then go back later

Use the virtual ticket system, nothing beats the feeling of satisfaction of jumping ahead of all those little baseball-capped turds smoking in the queue.

Just as you go in, on the right, there`s a locker facility which is relatively cheap. If you`re going to be there all daty, you don`t want to be lugging souveneirs around with you.

On a few of the rides, there is a separate queue for the front seats of the cars. Don`t bother with the one for Air, it`s not an advantage and the queue defeats the purpose of the virtual queueing.

I`d also suggest staying there the nighyt before to get an early start. Don`t bother with the AT hotels, they`re overpriced and tacky. There are loads of Good B+B`s in Alton Village. You can get their details from the alton towers website.

If you`d like to have a dekko at the ride in action, Radio 1 funsters Mark & Lard got to go on the ride before it was open to the public. You`ll need realplayer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/media/g2/djs/markandlard/bigdayout/markandlard_on_air.ram

This item was edited on Tuesday, 20th May 2003, 19:16

its good but nothing compared to the coasters in america.
the hulk especially puts them all to shame.
but i havnt been to thorpe park so i dont know what they are like.