Best of Britain

Curious...which Topscan did you ride? That might have something to do with it, as they heavily depend on whatever program is running (or the person who is running it).

-Nate

Go to both parks!!!

Thorpe has got 2 amazingly good world class coasters (Nemesis inferno and colossus) plus 2 others that are just for the coaster count!! 3 good water rides and an excellent array of flats. It has better themeing than Alton, and nicer staff, but overall has less rides than Alton.

Alton has 3 excellent coasters (nemesis being the best) 2 rideable others (black hole and corkscrew) and the new spinning mouse which looks a lot of fun. It has a decent selection of flats and 2 water rides with the log flume being re-themed to baths for next year.

Try and go during the week, when the kids are in school, the parks will be evry quiet and you will have very little queing. Do not go on weekends.

Last year if you bought your tickets on line you got ERT for 1/2 hour at Alton, which meant you can do AIR and Nemesis before the masses get it. If they are still offering that- do it. It is great.

All in all, have fun and enjoy the best that brits have to offer. They may not be the biggest or fastest rides, but i am sure you will enjoy them.

Nate.....the one at Adventureland...:)

bill, and *I* am looking forward to BPB more than any other place in Europe bar none, no questions asked....maybe two days! Hey Invy, I'll return yer visit. :)

Colincsl,

Be warned that getting to AT isn't easy - i live in the UK and went up by car a couple of years ago for a few days and stayed at a guest house / B&B farm type thing just 2 miles away.

The car broke down (my fault) and we had to walk, get a cab, or hitch a lift. Not pleasant as there is only one bus and that's not very frequent that runs through Alton Village every blue moon or so.

That said, if you can afford to stay on-site it's well worth it, especially with the new water park!

Baz

Gator -

Sure man - its a deal ;) I'll be happy to hold your coat while you ride the killer wild mouse hehehe

-Jim (still sticking with BPB for sheer volume of rides)

I'm a Brit, live not too far from AT and BPB.

I'd recommend AT, BUT its a heck of a trek from London really more than a day out (or a very long day). If you are only in London and only have 1 day for parks, then Thorpe Park is well worth the trip. Its just on the outskirts of London and easily do-able in a day from the city. Colossus and Nemesis:Inferno are the only really good coasters (the other 2 are an OK powered ride and an indoor ride that is by far the worst coaster I've ever been on - it doesnt coast, it just starts, stops, starts (repeat) in the dark).

So if you are up for a trip - Alton - if you are up for a day out from London - Thorpe - if you are up for an old-seaside-traditional-amusement park - Blackpool.

Dave.

My mom looked and I think we would get to Alton at about 11 and we would stay there until close, so I personally think that it will be fine. There is a shuttle from the train station to Alton so I don't see how we could get lost(we don't dare rent a car and drive on the crazy side of the road). Thanks to all the Brits for the extra info. Oh, one last thing, does BBC still play Monty Python? If they do what days and times is it on? :-p

hmmm i looking at all your posts and stuff i can easily say that you'd like to go to alton towers, and your family would enjoy it. however the train times you see are never right, and if you manage to get a rainy day (which i reckon is 1/4 the time at AT), then it will be a shame. however from london to bppb is about 4 hours, so the others are much clearer

You're damn right the train times are never right. Our train trip from London should only take about 3 hours but it took more than 6 hours after alot of incedents. And then next day (after a night at a B&B) the bus ride took about 1 hour to get to the park which was pretty crowded.

I managed to get one ride on Oblivion (was down half of the day), one on Corkscrew, two on Nemesis, one on Energizer and that's it. Also take the skyride, whatever you do don't take the trip from the towers to the Forbidden Valley if you want to ride as much as possible at the park. However if you want to relax, a trip through the wood and garden is pretty neat. And then the last bus home went about 6pm so there's no late openings there.

If you manage to make a day trip from London to Alton Towers then I would say you're a very lucky man...

Never ever Brittish Railway again.

No wait, maybe it wasn't Brittish Raileway but one of the other trizillion train companies... *** Edited 11/28/2003 10:55:50 PM UTC by olov***

I don't see what the big fuss is about getting from London to Alton Towers. We just hopped on a train to Stoke-on-Trent, and once there, took at taxi to the park. It’s not tough at all, if you’re willing to spend money on cab fares.

I think it’s easily worth the trip up to Alton, seeing as how you get to see some of the beautiful countryside, not to mention experience those terrifying one lane roads!

And by the way, Olov, we made it back to London in time for our show. Easy. ;)

Did your train have to stop thanks to whatever the problem was with the engine and the train company tried to get about 500 passenegers to the next station with taxis only? :)

Warning - Trains in the UK are rubbish.

If you are lucky, you can get a direct train (there are lots as its a main route) from London (Euston) to Stoke (then on to AT by bus/taxi) in about 2 hours (but its still upto 1 hour from Stoke to AT with the traffic).

AT closes at 6pm, even in the summer (stupid local planning laws), so if you even delayed by 1 hour or so, you are pushing to get anything more than a few hours in AT (which can easily be taken up by the queue for Air).

There ARE "Fasttrack" tickets (they work somewhat like the ones at Disney) so they can all run out by mid-morning on a busy day (and they only operate them on "Peak" days) - although I think if you book online you can pre-book a fasttrack ticket per booking (I'd pre-book Air as its Q's are usually longer then Nemesis).

Better idea would be to travel up the evening before and stay in a local cheap B&B then you can get into the park nice and early. This may even be cheaper as the rail prices for travelling early in the morning are often extortionate compared to off-peak afternoon/evening fares. (In ANY case book train tickets weeks early to get discounts).

Dave.

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rollergator said:
Nate.....the one at Adventureland...

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You may just have to catch a ride on the traveling one. It's the only Topscan I've ridden, and though I have heard good things about LIA's, I've also heard nothing compares to Cumberland Valley Shows' ride. You may prefer the more intense ride the traveling Topscan offers (though I will note that a friend of mine hated the CVS's but loved LIA's...apparently the Space Roller was just too intense for him!).

-Nate