We went to Alton Towers today, for the first time in 4 years. It's not far from me, but I don't go often as I'm not a huge fan of it. Dave suggested we go this year while I don't have a job as we can usually only visit when it is busy, in school holidays. We always buy cheap tickets off someone locally or from ebay as I would never pay full price for it, it's good, but I don't think it's £50 each kind of good! Today's tickets cost £16.50 in total for two, good old ebay! This one was 2013s new ride and it's the first time in about 20 years I think (since Nemesis) that the big new ride wasn't completely lame!
What a difference it makes going on a weekday in September; hardly any queues, we were able to go on everything we wanted to, some rollercoasters multiple times! I probably won't visit again for another 4 years now, but I really enjoyed going when it wasn't as busy! This photo was taken towards the end of the day, just after the rain moved in.
The Smiler has a track length of 1170 metres, a ride time of 165 seconds, max speed of 85kph and the highest drop is 30m. It holds the world record for the number of loops at the moment - 14. "Ride" it yourself through youtube:
