I'm going to ramble about a UK theme park and what it means to me!

When I was a really little kid my first ever PC game was a theme park management game produced by Bullfrog simply called 'Theme Park', we played it in school to teach us business on the MS DOS workstation (debatable how useful this was) and I remember bugging my parents to buy me the sequel. Theme Park World, from PC World back in 1999, it barely ran on our PC and caused all kinds of headaches to get working. As a kid I was **obsessed** with theme parks, I used to draw them on paper, make books about park designs, convert the back garden into a theme park with all my toys. I first saw Rollercoaster Tycoon at one of those scholastic book fairs that would visit the school and occasionally sell games, my friend bought RCT2 and I borrowed it off him weekly.

But despite all the games, the drawings, imagining theme parks, my parents never took me to one. There was a story when I was younger that my Grandad went on one and threw up and it kinda traumatized me as a kid. My parents weren't thrill seekers and often would complain at the loud and noisy rides. So for 20-odd years I went about being terrified of them, occasionally I'd find myself in proximity to theme parks, often disneyland, other parks in america, but I never rode the coasters or really enjoyed being in the parks.

I never drove on the motorway either, so when Dad died last year I suddenly found myself driving everyone everywhere (something he always did and I wasn't allowed to) to see my family and friends across the country. One day I was randomly invited to Alton Towers, the UK's biggest theme park up Staffordshire, by my good friend Grandiose. Originally I wasn't going to go, I made up some excuses about being busy or whatever, but somehow I just kinda went for it and decided to go along. I initially figured I'd turn up late, look and watch friends on some rides, then go home early. We ended up going on one of the busiest days of the year during the summer holidays of 2023, crammed with kids, most rides had 2-hour wait times. I think in the end we rode 4 rides, I rode Thirteen first, and it was like a 20-year awakening....

It was love at first sight, I was there in the park I'd imagined as a little kid. THE theme park from those games (which was very true, as Theme Park/RCT took big inspiration from the British parks of the time, Alton Towers even featuring in the original RCT)

It had all come full circle from when I was younger, taking me 20+ years to appreciate the parks & rides, somewhere I should have gone a lot sooner...

I often get told by other rollercoaster enthusiasts that I should go to different parks, that alton towers isn't that good, the rides aren't the biggest, the most modern or exciting. But to me it means everything, the history of the park and the area, the rides themselves are all so unique and interesting, themed incredibly well.

It was something I needed in my life when I was at my lowest, somewhere to go, somewhere new to explore, new to experience. I've since got a season pass and I go every other week. I've bought pretty much all the merchandise, ridden every ride hundreds of times, all in the short space of one year. Its been an intense journey so far but I've loved it.

If you ever get the chance to visit Alton Towers I highly recommend it!




My Alton Towers rollercoaster tier list:

1. Oblivion (best ride in the park, perfect, peak 90's aesthetic and music)
2. Nemesis Reborn (Super cool theme, most intense ride in the park)
3. Rita (super fast and smooth, front row is a must!)
4. The Smiler (pretty good, bit rough in places)
5. The Wicker Man (fast and fun, but not the most intense)
6. Thirteen (Don't spoil the surprise)
7. Galactica (needs a rebrand)
8. Spinball Whizzer (rough and tough, mind that final bend, ouch!)




Do you like Alton Towers or theme parks? Lets talk about them!