Theme Park Discussion / TH13TEEN

I don't think anyone has posted this before but this ride recently opened at Alton Towers in England. It is branded as the first free-fall drop coaster of it's kind in the world....

I don't think it's that good though. It was built by Intamin AG and I queued 3 hours on Wednesday to see what it is like. Well, it was a slowish ride around the woods and then into a room for a 1M drop. I thought at the very least the drop would be a bit bigger and that, really the only good part was going backwards in a tunnel.

What do you guys think? Have any of you ridden it?

Edited by LDW, 09 April 2010 - 02:37 PM.

I've not ridden it yet... But from the videos it looks disappointing. Not the Secret Weapon I was expecting when they announced it.

I've not ridden it yet... But from the videos it looks disappointing. Not the Secret Weapon I was expecting when they announced it.

Could you post those links to the videos?

I agree, looks very disappointing. I haven't ridden it but I am in no rush to either. Alton really went over the top with the hype-machine on this one and created a marketing campaign promoting Thi3teen as the scariest coaster on the planet, they even claimed at one point that there would be an on site doctor/psychiatrist to help guests with the fright! Bullshit!

It's coming back to bite them in the ass as all early reports claim the ride is very tame and in the rush to have it open for Easter a lot of the final theming and special effects are yet to be finished...whether they are completed to original expectations is also a doubt given their previous track record of opening rides early and never returning to complete the project as initially planned.

Give it a year or so and Thi3teen will just be considered a semi-decent family/starter coaster. Alton Towers really need to pull their fingers out and build something intense again. None of their coasters are cutting edge any more.

I rode it last week and also Me and louis rode it last wednesday too LDW. The first go I didn't think it was too good but after a few more goes i grew to love it. I think it's easily my fav ride at Alton at the minute. I think it's louis' too...

If you sit at the back with the lap bar really high there is a lot of airtime to be had on the first drop and other places!

You might have seen us a round...

Love this ORP

is that kumba behind you?

Might have seen you around, did you notice oblivion breaking down twice during the end of the day?

^^haha
I exactly thought the same

It couldn't have been Kumba...that dude's smiling.

youtubed a couple videos. This looked pretty lame, not going to lie. The way too girly reporter with an obvious fear of rollercoasters ("This looks high." "It's 60ft" "Well it looks way too high.") screaming the whole time made my reaction to it even worse.

Yeah, I was far from impressed by the videos. Usually I'd reserve my judgement until I've actually been on the ride, but this one just looks like a waste of time. Maybe when they finish the theming?

But yeah, in the video MA is talking about, it seems that the woman who is terrified of coasters isn't all too impressed by the "world's first" element. If I remember correctly, she says something along the lines of, "that was it?" I don't know. This was hyped beyond all reason and looks like a total let down.

screaming the whole time made my reaction to it even worse.

That's why I hate watching on-ride videos, unless it is replaced by music, anyways I think this coaster is an over-hype, but it seems fairly interesting.

The videos and schizz do nothing to show what the ride actually is.

Sure it's not an amazing thrill ride, but why does every coaster need to be? When the plans came out everyone knew it was going to be a family ride and it hits the spot for the park with that.

Sure they advertised it to get some hype and that back fired with enthusiasts (i'm thinking coasterforce.com here) but they should have known that it was always going to be a family coaster seeing as they poured over the layout plans for months.

I think it's brilliant. It's smooth, its quite quick, you get insane airtime in both the middle and the back (although at the back it's obviously better), and when you leave masses of room you are whipped right out of your seat throughout the ride and on the inside drop section.

Whilst the theming isn't all that great in some places (the cheap merlin way of theming by working in scaffolding as part of a theme), overall it's a great addition and they've done well with it, clearly, seeing as it's queues are around 2 hours on main park days.

For me it's Alton's best ride, but only just beating Oblivion. (oh and the ORP that was posted, the 100 signifies that it was my 100th coaster)

LDW - You don't happen to speak welsh do you? And maybe you were in the Th13teen queue when it was broken down? Cause there were a few groups of welsh people in the queue that were always speaking welsh to each other lol maybe you were one of them

No, I don't speak much Welsh, I was queuing for Oblivion when it broke down around 5pm. The coaster got stuck on the lift.

LDW are you sure you wasn't in the Th13teen queue around half 12 to 2? lol There was loads of welsh people in there...

Edited by Airtime, 10 April 2010 - 03:59 PM.

If they were in green hoodies...no. My group split up and queued in single rider to try the ride out quicker and cut the 2h wait time. Anyway, that was at 11:30am

Hope to pay a visit in the coming week. Looking at the videos I have seen it does not look like what I expected but it looks a fun family orientated ride.

^Sit furthest towards the back and try and have the lap bar as high as possible and there is a bit of airtime to be had, honestly lol... Thats my tip


On a similar note Im really kicking myself for not buying an AT season pass this year, really, really wished I would have

You still can right?

okay, so i have a huge problem with scare rides already and i almost died in alton tower's haunted house and now this? why do they go for spooky stuff so much?