Did Th13teen live up to the hype and your expectations?

[Nemesis Inferno]

^It's about as scary as Hex...

As in, it does have slight creepy factor, but nothing that jumps out (yet apparently)...

Reading around there seems to be a consensus that there are quite a fair few effects to be turned on or aren't ready yet... Although it would've been nice to have the full experience for the first ride, would rather have it working with some things occuring (however minimal) than keeping it closed...

 

[Smithy]

Bollocks has their marketing failed. It may not be matching up with enthusiasts interpretation of the ride. But has it got everyone talking? Yes it has. Did it bring loads of people into the park? Yes it did.

 

[marc]

^No it did not the park was not busy yes the rain may have kept people away but if you have booked tickets and a hotel you would still go. No ride in the park had a queue longer than an hour all day apart from 13 which was 70 mins. Even Rita was only 15 mins so that shows how empty the park was but 2pm.

By 4pm 13 had a 15 min queue.

Saw opening day had a lot more people tbh.

But tbh the public seemed to enjoy it and they are the main focus anyway.

For me 13 failed to live up the hype in every which way. As a family coaster I think it will work out ok.

Will people bother with it in a few years time? I do not think so tbh and that will be a problem.

Its worth a 20 min wait but I personally would not wait longer, again thats me.

Can I just say everyone has their own view on things, there is no right and wrong so everyones views should be respected.

 

[Novas]

Bollocks has their marketing failed. It may not be matching up with enthusiasts interpretation of the ride. But has it got everyone talking? Yes it has. Did it bring loads of people into the park? Yes it did.

I know the weather was naff but it was the quietest opening day, and the quietest opening ride queue I've been in.

Edit: I've just realised how bad the tone of my posts are tonight, after 24 hours I'm just still so darn pissed at this ride. :?

 

[bob_3_]

Everyone I know knows about this ride due to the marketing! They may not have all rushed to opening day but a lot of them plan to go because of what they've said, people that arn't usually bothered if they miss a season at Alton! I think they've done a great job.

Over the top, yes, but it did work.

NOTE; every opening day and Alton I've found to be quiet, I even remember only queing 20 minutes for Stealth in Thorpe when it opened, so judging on how well the ride was marketed by how many people went to opening day is completely wrong. Wait till easter.

 

[marc]

^^I would not worry you and me had the same views anyway if I remember right

^As I have said before people who I work with are not going as they thought there was an age limit and it would be to scary for a 10 year old. So for me thats fail marketing. But as you say the adverts are out there and people have seen them. Just as people have said though this is not the ultimate coaster and it does not play with your mind and there is just nothing in there that will do that. Green lights just don't play with your ming.

I have only been to 1 ride opening before and that was for Saw and Thorpe was packed.

I know some people in the group liked and it and I know some did not not so the views where really spread. Most did agree though that it was not the ultimate coaster and just a family coaster with an extra.

There are meant to be effects in the station that we were told about but there were not work, if they are the effects people are talking about they will not make the ride better btw.

I am trying not to be totally negative btw. As I have said a number of times as a family coaster it does what it says on the tin. Its a fantastic family coaster probably the best in the UK, it just does not work for me and its not a world class family coaster.

Oh and having assembly meeting point signs on the launch part at the end is not very good either

Big up to the ride ops though, they were so fast no messing about.

 

[Mark]

Everyone I know knows about this ride due to the marketing! They may not have all rushed to opening day but a lot of them plan to go because of what they've said, people that arn't usually bothered if they miss a season at Alton! I think they've done a great job.

Over the top, yes, but it did work.

NOTE; every opening day and Alton I've found to be quiet, I even remember only queing 20 minutes for Stealth in Thorpe when it opened, so judging on how well the ride was marketed by how many people went to opening day is completely wrong. Wait till easter.

On ritas opening day the park was hella busy!!! I was there

In terms of the marketing thing....

Yes, everyone is talking about it BUT it is a disaster in the essence that it is a complete mis match for the ride. They are marketing this to the hilt and back as a "Terrifiying" coaster where you may need "health insurance" and they are hold boot camps to find the most hardened riders... Those who have already ridden it can tell those who have not that it is FAR from terrifiying. It is not even mildy nerve inducing. Whats more, it is so strongly marketed as a horror coaster that it IS putting off the younger guests. Karens little 'un (Aidan) wouldn't go on it because of the implied scariness even though he is tall enough and loves rides. He was genuinely scared by the theme and marketing and didn't ride. Yet, essentially the coaster is quite easily a family attraction. I think this is what people are getting at when they say the "marketing" of the ride has failed. I wouldn't say failed so much as complete mismatched.

Had the ride been given a family theme etc and therefore marketed appropriately it wouldn't have been such a damn let down for so many. Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect to be quaking in my stylish yet affordable boots but I was expecting there to be some element of fear or some indication as to how it was supposed to be scary.... Of which there was none whatsoever!

Overall, a great family addition to the park BUT very mis-matched marketing in my opinion. The theme falls solidly on its Secret Weapon ass.

 

[Nic]

A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.

A family coaster with far too many trims, no airtime, some green lights and an overall feeling of disappointment

Don't even get me started on the unnecessary use of the word "definition" in that sentence

 

[nealbie]

Vadge, I'd ride your Dive Machine ANY DAY! (except today, where I was quite clearly gay)

 

[El Patricko]

Im in two minds with thirteen.

Firstly the name: I would consider myself an alton towers FANBOY who reasearches all things alton for all reasons, and i still couldn't find why it's called thirteen.

The station: the Station is brilliant, i can't fault it (apart from the drapes), i cant help but notice there isn't much else apart from a station building and this seems to suggest the ride is "a ride with a themed entrance building" rather than "a building that happens to contain parts of a ride".

The media: it appears this is another risky advertising campaign which has so far generated interest around all campfires, we all naturally feel cheated as being seasoned critics we should be perhaps entitled to something more intense. The thing is i wouldn't feel cheated queueing for thirteen as for some reason, the multipule happenings seem to make it worthwhile and great fun

I would say if they had put this much effort of theming into RITA and hyped it up as much it would probably be considered a more worthy opponent for everyone

 

[marc]

What is rather depressing is the fact Alton probably won't get another coaster of 3 or 5 years

I was thinking on the way to work about good family coasters and BTM, RnR, Space Mountain, The Mummy, Crush and Experdition Everest. 13 does not get anywhere close to them.

Even with all the effects working I do not think it will make the experience better and you still will not have a clue what is going on, the story is just not there.

So I stick to what I say, best UK family coaster but no where near the best in the world not even on the same page.

The more I think about it the more I feel let down so I am going to stop thinking about it now and let everyone else go on about it

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

I think maybe after a while it'll get out that the ride is about as scary as Hex (although I HATE the Octagon room), and more families will ride it...

The problem is the height limit contrasts so much with the theme... It's certainly eerie, but then again so is Hex, a very good family ride...

We also cannot really judge a ride's popularity on a single weekend (there's a similar arguement going on for Chessie's AP day), if the queue's are still short in Easter (as in, not an hour long with a full queue), then we can say Alton really shot themselves in the foot with the advertising...

Let's just be happy it is rather reliable AND high capacity... So it makes it better than the last 3 coasters already :lol:

 

[A-Kid]

Well I had 2 goes on the Saturday, and 5 on the sunday as there was no queue for most of the time.

Firstly on front row, I found it a bit "X:WTF". I didn't see any effects really and the whole thing was just a bit of a blur of nothing. The trims slutered the first half, which is a shame as I believe it would of been great untrimmed. I was going at this with the 'family thrill' coaster in mind too btw.

Back row, yes much better. I mananged to get a really loose restraint for this one. I could actually see the inside bit and the outside layout was all floatly. Nothing more than floater though at a max.

I want to say some positives:

- I like the themeing. It was fairly good. It just its missing the sence of adventure in this dark forest. It just feels like a queue, then ride, like normal. I feel it has made the area a solid theme rather than the miss match Ug /Race it was before though. Its much better than it was.

- The queue did move very fast. Wardley said it was running at over 1200pph.

- The music was different on the second day, or maybe just louder! It was pretty cool, if a bit cheesy, its no 'tussauds classic' though by a long shot.

- After a few rides I found I liked the inside bit. It does create that drop tower tension.

Negatives:

- Its over way too quickly for anybody to take it in.

- 2 strong trims.

- The outside is rather crap other than on back row.

- The backwards section was a missed opertunity for something good. Its funky with the swaying track but thats it really.

- Didn't 'wow' me.

- No real story to involve you or explain WTF is going on.

So in a nutshell, its weee, lift, mild float x3, twisty fun bit, tin shed bit, scene with the drop wich is fun, funky but bland backwards, wait in the graveyard and launch back to the station. At best. For a family thrill, I'd say it was pretty reasonable. But for how it marketed, and thus expected to be by general thrill seekers, its a flop.

My rate scale:
10-Awesome, Thrilling, Wow, amazing.
9-Great
8-Good fun
6/7 - borderline, it just OK. Its just a bit fun sometimes.

I'd probally give it a 6 out of 10. Which its comparable to RMT.

 

[EnigmaHyena]

I can honestly say I was extremely disappointed with Th13teen. Before riding it the excitement was killing me, I was genuinely looking forward to it. Then once we went down the first drop, however, my feelings for it also dropped...

I shall bullet point my views, starting with the negative, naturally
- The HORRENDOUS trimming! I was near the back with Peter, meaning we did get some airtime on the first drop, and then some speed then BAM! It's all killed by the trims. What the hell?

- More trims.

- Another point about the outside section: it was just too bland.

- Trees close enough to the track; there were none.

- The indoors section was pants. I expected lots of cool, Hex-esque theming, but was instead met by some 'terrifying' stiff wraiths accompanied by some 'extreme' green lights. I really, REALLY do hope Alton have some brilliant effects waiting for us, because if what we saw was the final package, well...

- The world's first part was epic fail. I braced myself for the drop tower sensation, and admittedly the first drop did surprise me, but for the second, full drop, our train was just gently lowered in a "There you go!" fashion. But I was told that the free fall drop wasn't working properly when I went on it, so I'll let it off.

- It is NOT the 'ultimate rollercoaster', and it certainly isn't every ride I've ever dreamed of in one. So shut up!

- Story? Where!?

On to the good points!
- Throughput was amazing - so quick!

- Said throughput meant that the queue didn't take long.

- Station theming was good and quite eerie.

- Backwards helix was really great and got a lot of "Woop!"s from our train.

- That epic launch into the brake run.

- Despite what I've said about it, it is a fun ride.

- Brilliant as a family coaster. Just dismiss its 'thrill ride' status, and it's fantastic.

- Finally, when it's finished, it's going to be bloody brilliant.

All in all, a decent, fun family coaster. Definitely not a thrill ride though, and needs a lot of work. 6/10.

 

[furie]

I'm sorry but saying there is far too much positivity on here is just pathetic. People are entitled to their own opinions...

As is Novas surely? Just because he thinks badly of the ride and doesn't think it deserves so much positive opinion doesn't make him "pathetic".

In fact, I think Novas is actually right, he is after all the person being sold "The Ultimate Rollercoaster" which is not what was delivered by Alton. He's just taking it from a "here's what was promised" view. Fair enough.

^ Please get some "fecking" respect for your fellow members...

He responded in polite manor, so how dare you respond in such a knob-like way.

Erol, if ANYONE had called you "pathetic", you'd have gone off on one and you know it. So let it lie.

 

[Gazza]

The only ones I heard were about the first half being crap and the drop section being too small. I personally hate the trims, but the coaster would go way too fast up the second climb hill otherwise, and that second airtime opportunity is quite harsh as it is, let alone if the trims weren't there (from a family perspective). Whether that's poor design, or just so that coaster has the height and the intimidation, I don't know. Someone much more intelligent than me will have to tell you that.

But they could've put the trims at the bottom of the second lift hill.

I mean, it comes down to is it a thrill ride or isn't it?

If it is a thrill ride, then there should be no need to tone down the airtime or intensity (And on the whole the coaster section could've been a bit more intense....that megalite UC keeps mentioning :lol:

If it's not a thrill ride, then they shouldn't be blabbing on about it being horrifying, only for over 16s etc.

Besides, I don't think something being a family ride automatically means building something like every other junior coaster out there. We have 'family' rides here that are actually deceptively intense (And had me questioning Wether they were really suitable), but when you are there in person you don't see a single kid crying because it was too much or whatever.

I think people would be surprised at how much less daring guests will happily deal with once they are actually on the ride.

I don't mean to sound too negative though. It still looks like a good ride....A lot of rides Merlin rides are supposedly disappointing depending on who you listen to, Didn't find that to be the case though in real life and I imagine this would be the same

 

[marc]

They should have built a 1st gen drop tower you know the one that goes along a track after it drops.

That way they could have done away with the rubbish trimmed coaster section that does nothing and have a drop and the backwards section. They could have spent more on the effects then and the story as you climb to drop mind you would have to be a very quick story. Infact just make it a tiny version of ToT.

The more I think about 13 the less I like it tbh.

 

[Nicky]

It's weird as I seem to be the opposite. The more I remember it the more I want to go on it again. I do think it just needs time for nature to grow around it.

 

[bezzzzzer]

Surely queue length isn't the best way to judge whether this coaster is a success or not? On this assumption, you can say Saw was a larger success than Th13teen because Saw had a 3 hour queue pretty much over all Easter weekend. That won't happen here because the capacity is so good, and there are no signs of Alton releasing Fastrack for it anytime soon, maybe in the summer I reckon.

A more accurate judgement would be hearing the views of the general public. As I said, on Sunday I was suprised with the positive reaction it was recieving. I will be interesting during Easter and the summer months when the ride will have a longer queue if people still see it as 'worth the wait' and appreciate the ride when they've spent more of their day waiting for it.

 

[Coaster-Fiend]

Edit: I've just realised how bad the tone of my posts are tonight, after 24 hours I'm just still so darn pissed at this ride. :?

Don't apologize for your opinion because the fanboys here don't like it.

If the ride sucks (and it sounds like it does) then it needs to be said.

I sure don't care what anyone thinks of my opinions.