Pupletts in Sweden: England and Wales (27 Oct - 2nd Nov 24) Day 6

One place that has always held a fond place in my memories is Alton Towers, a theme park in Staffordshire.

The theme park started as a private estate, that of the Earls of Shrewsbury, and in 1860 the grounds were opened to the public to help raise money to maintain the estate. In the 1970s some themed areas and rides were added to the park and it was fully transformed into a theme park in 1980 with its first rollercoaster.

I visited with my family when I was 16, back in 1996 and there was a new ride that had just been built called the Nemesis. It was themed up as an alien that had been uncovered and was now trying to be held under control and it was the first real thrill ride I went on.

On our first Sweden trip we took the family to Alton Towers in 2017 (Previous Visit), however Tomas was just an inch or two short of being able to ride the Nemesis. We promised we'd take him back some day so he could ride it.

The Nemesis had been closed for retracking between 6 Nov 2022 and 16 Mar 2024, so now was the perfect time to head back.

The park was also themed up for Halloween. Kristine wasn't able to go on any rides due to her shoulder surgery so she checked out the Halloween themed events while the boys and I rode the rides.

Cam and Tomas raced first to the Smiler, one of the biggest rollercoasters, but I wasn't able to ride as my height and broad shoulders meant that I couldn't get the harness closed. They also rode the Oblivion and then the boys and I rode the Nemesis Reborn twice, the Nemesis Subterra, the Th13rteen and the Wickerman.

The lines were pretty long as it was school holidays, so we didn't get to ride as many rides as we had hoped, but it was a fun day and great to fulfil the promise to Tomas and ride the Nemesis with him.

Part of the old Corkscrew ride (I rode this.. when it was all connected)

Heading in

The Smiler:

One of the coolest things with Alton Towers is that there is so much green space and a castle in the middle of the grounds. Anyone who knows me knows that a theme park and castle is an unbeatable combination:

I had been patient, waiting for the kids to finish up on the X-Zone rides, before we could finally head to the Nemesis:

After the Nemesis, we tried the Nemesis Subterra, which was a themed ride where we entered a fake elevator and then took seats around an unhatched Nemesis egg. The lights then dimmed and the seats dropped into a lower cave showing broken eggs. There were a series of effects, such as water spray, air blowers and back-pokers that created the illusion that the Nemesis creatures were breaking free, a more horror version of the Lilo and Stitch ride from Disney.

Following that, we decided to try the Alton Ghost Train as it had a short queue time. Cameron was a little worried that the devil was wiping its bottom with the gravestone:

We passed a few other rides, the Th13rteen a haunted woods themed roller coaster with a drop component where the coaster and tracks fall down and the new Wickerman wooden roller coaster, but the wait times were too long (70min+). The boys ended up going on the Spinball Whizzer and the Rita.

The Wickerman:

When it started getting dark, we grabbed a quick dinner and then rode a few rides in the dark - the Nemesis and the Wickerman:

Nemesis:

Wickerman:

While we were chasing these rides, Kristine was getting a masterclass on sharks from a twelve-year old shark enthusiast in the aquarium and checking out the Scarefest stage: