Alton Towers gogogo!

Went to Alton Towers yesterday (28/10/06). Organised by SIngSoc.

Alton Towers is a famous theme park in the UK. Paid 30 pounds for it and it was worth every penny of it.

Its a 2-3 hour bus ride from london to Alton Towers. Reached at around 1000h and spent about 10 hours there. Arrived back at hall at around 0000h (all because of traffic jam on the highways).

Once there I got separated from my good friend Clinton who decided to bang seh me and disappear the moment he got off the bus. Anyway I went around the the together with Caroline, Liling, Grace, Jinfeng and Johari. They were great people to be around. Simply wonderful company for the day.

Come to think of it, luckily clinton left me alone. Hahahaha!!

Alton Towers is a beautiful place. Got its name from one of those old towers at the place(unsurprisingly also called Alton "something"). Apart from the rides, it has beautiful gardens. The setting is relaxed and the weather was good, apart from the occasional drizzle. However, I feel that it still could not compare to places like Disneyland in creating the fairytale atmosphere. And at night, it got kinda dark and we were forced to "stick together team"!.

We spent most of the time queueing(i'm not too sure how to spell "queue"-ing. sorry!) because the rides were comparatively short. For our last ride, we queued around 2 hours for something that could not have lasted more than 3 minutes. But it was worth it.

We had a great time talking, joking and just standing around for the time when we were queueing. Erm... that's until Caroline and Liling (choir girls) started to sing while we were queueing for the AIR ride. Hahahaha! The post-ride excitement was also something that we all felt and enjoyed within the group.

At this juncture I just wanna say to Johari that I respect you man. For your dedication and your mental discipline.

Now, for what you guys have been waiting for.... The description of the rides and events!!!!!! Alright maybe that's not what you guys have been waiting for, but I will describe it to you all anyway...

OBLIVION
It is a ride where you are seated in 2 rows. Then you are brought up along the track to a high point. As you slowly tilt and see where you are heading next, the notion of death creeps eerily into your head. The carriage pauses just long enough to tell yourself that you are going to die. Before you could realize that you actually have the safety harnesses to save you, ZOOM!!!! You are propelled down a 90 degree drop at blistering speed into a dark tunnel.

There's nothing you could do but scream your lungs out. Your heart is at your throat. It was sheer exhilaration for what seemed like eternity. Your mind is racing, taking in every single detail of what is going on around you.

We were still feeling the effects even 30 minutes after the ride. Too bad there was no time for a second try.

RITA-QUEEN OF SPEED
This time it's in one of those normal roller coaster carriages where you are seated in twos. But I assure you, this ride is nothing ordinary. For Oblivion, I mentioned "blistering speed". Well, for this one, I really dunno how to describe it, it's just SPEED.

Our group all went to chiong the front row. That means the first 2 seats only. We went in 3 groups. It was the right thing to do man. Grace and I went together.

You are propelled from 0-100miles per hour in 2.5 secs. You put your hands up in the air. In anticipation of the sheer speed. We knew it would be fast, but not THAT fast. From the moment of blast off, your hands are pushed backwards by the air, your head jammed onto your seat. All you can see is the track in front of you(cos we were at the 1st row), the surroundings which you see using your peripheral vision morph into white streaks (abit like star trek hor. haha!). Before long you reach a turn. The possibilty of the carriage being thrown off the track by the speed lurks ominously at the back of your head. But you don't care, the adrenaline was simply too much. It was fast fast fast!

AIR
This time we did not go for the front row. There was no time. In this ride, you are initially seated normally in rows of 4 with your legs dangling. When the harnesses came down, your legs were secured as well. Then before the ride starts, the seats get rotated such that you are facing the ground in a seated position. This is when you know 2 hours of queueing was worth it. Fun was heading our way.

The ride simulates the feeling of flying (that's how it got its name). Neither as scary as Oblivion nor as fast as RITA, it was SHEER FUN. The track twists and turns such that you are spun with the track as the centre of the circle. One moment you are heading up the next moment you zoom to the ground. At the lowest point, we could not have been more than 1.5 meters above ground. There was also a point where you are rotated to face the sky and the ride carries on with your back facing the ground. Not knowing where you will go next as you watch the horizon appear and disappear from your sight.

TEACUP
We decided to fulfil Grace's "childhood dream". It was to ride in one of those merry-go-round rides where you sat in a teacup. It's one of those Alice in Wonderland things. There's a big teapot in the middle of the ride and you just go around spinning around the teapot and on top of that the teacup can also be spun about itself by turning on an axle in the middle of the teacup. It was enjoyable.

FIREWORKS
All I can say that its really beautiful. It's not exactly those huge fireworks you see on National Day. But its one of those shows where the fireworks are coordinated with music and something which vaguely resembles a storyline.

It was wonderful and what better way to end a memorable trip. Especially when you have great company who enjoys themselves as much as you do.

The fireworks and lasers lit the night sky up as if it were day. Sending showers of golden dust onto bedazzled spectators. Impressing a beautiful memory onto the hearts of all who shared the magical moment together. (Damn! I'm still single! Haha!)

Anyway that's about it for the highlights of the Alton Towers trip. Will post the pics in the following blog...