Hello, my name is Gadi and I’m the son of Lisa, or Mrs. Handmade in Israel. I’m sure whoever follows my mum’s blog knows about our recent trip to England and Scotland, but I’m sure most of you didn’t see her brief mention of a day trip near the end of our holiday to Alton Towers - a massive theme park between Stoke and Birmingham. I was rather annoyed that my Mum barely mentioned the whole thing, as it was my highlight of the holiday, so I decided to write about it myself!
After spending the night in a squashed room in a Holiday Inn Express, we set off early in the morning (about 8am) to Alton Towers, which was half an hour drive away, and then promptly spent another 15 minutes looking for parking. After that the day really started… The first thing we did was get on a SkyRide (a sort of cable car) to the front entrance of the park, as the car park was at the back. The first thing I did after we’d collected my Fastrack (I’ll get to that later) was run to get into the queue to “The Smiler” rollercoaster, a terrifying 14 loop, twisting, turning, marmalising new addition to the park (I was the only one that wanted to go on it). I went on it, and frankly it was the most insane and fun ride I’d ever been on! (Although there was a half an hour queue in a rather disturbing waiting line…). I think the first thing I said when I got off was “WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO”!
I think I’d better explain about the Fastrack. A Fastrack is a special ticket that you could buy online and it lets you jump the queues to certain rides. I’d bought the “Fastrack Scream” which let me jump the queues to all the rollercoasters in the park (except for “The Smiler”, which was 10 quid by itself!). The “Fastrack Scream” cost 22 pounds. Now that I got that out of the way, I can carry on with the experience.
After “The Smiler”, my brother and Mum went to slightly smaller rides (they all thought I was insane!) and I went to my next ride with my Dad (who just sits and watches as he hasn’t yet got over the rollercoaster I dragged him onto back in Israel)… The ride that I went on was called the “The Enterprise” and it’s sort of like a metal plate that spins around incredibly fast at a 90 degree angle. I think it was the only ride that I didn’t like, as it made me feel seasick…
Straight after “The Enterprise” was a rollercoaster called “Oblivion”, which apparently is the first rollercoaster in the world to have a 40 metre vertical, 90 degree drop… It was probably one of my favourite rollercoasters in the park and I rode on it 3 times! After “Oblivion”, I went back to my brother and Mum, who were just exiting the “Ice Age the 4D Experience”, and we set off to two rollercoasters in the same area called “Rita” and “Th3rteen”. My brother decided that if they didn’t go upside down, he would try them. Now “Rita” I really liked, because although it didn’t go upside down, it was really fast and unexpected! “Th3rteen” was just a normal creepy rollercoaster, until you reached a closed off building, and just as you begin wondering where the heck you’re going, the rollercoaster drops down onto the tracks below and starts going backwards really fast until you reach the end of the ride! I thoroughly enjoyed it!
When I’d finished on the ride, we all took a cable car to another side of the park, so that I could ride a coaster called “Air”. “Air” is a rollercoaster that holds you so you’re like on your hands and knees but in the air, and then shoots you all over the place! It was my second favourite ride, and I wanted to go again, but the Fastrack was for single use and the queue was really long! Instead I went on a ride called “Ripsaw” which is basically two rows of seats which the ride flips you upside down, holds you there, drops you, holds you upside down and so on. It was also one of my favourite rides. The last extreme rollercoaster I went on was “Nemesis”. “Nemesis” is also one of the most intense coasters in the world, so I was quite worried when I got on, and wow! I now completely agree with the sign outside warning you about it! (I still enjoyed it though). I then headed over to “Nemesis sub Terra”, an experience which sort of explains why “Nemesis” is based around a giant stone monster. What happens is that the experience takes you to a sort of underground cave with supposed monster eggs, the monsters hatch, your seats drop down, the monsters touch your legs etc. My Dad went on the experience with me, and he agreed with me that it was all quite realistic!
Later we were meant to meet with my Mum and brother and go on a small rollercoaster with them, but by the time we got there they had been on already, so we decided to go on alone. I found it quite boring, but my Dad screamed his head off and I got the feeling he didn’t enjoy the ride much. Just a hunch. Finally, after going on “Oblivion” for the third time, I went on another small rollercoaster called “Sonic Spinball”. The funny thing was, I discovered two Israelis behind me in the queue, and I ended up going on the ride with them. They even lent me their coat and gave me biscuits, and they were really nice in general. After I’d said goodbye to them, I went to buy a “Smiler” trophy, and then we headed back to the car. I was very sad to leave, and I wished we could’ve stayed there forever!
