Rate Th13teen

[Trixz]

[quote=""Blaze""]Since when did SWs have to be 'big and mean'? I wouldn't say Arrow Pipelines were big and mean, and they were the original SWs before Nemesis. Air is big, not it's not really mean aside from the helix after the fly-to-lie. SW is just a name for big projects that are built in secret and are in some way innvoative and different.[/quote]

I think everyone has there own interpretation or idea of what a secret weapon should be, and most people go on what a secret weapon should be by the ones that were built hence the idea that a secreat weapon should be a BaM monster. For me a secret weapon dosent have to be an imense coaster but it does have to be an imense and amazing experience and for me personally 13 is not that which is why for me its not really a secret weapon, not because its not "big and fast" but because i just cant feel the magic!

[Blaze]

Hmm, don't see what I said that was worthy of a boo there, Chrïs, but fair enough...

My opinion still stands, I think it is a five star ride. Certainly not the Ultimate or whatever, but still extremely epic :rock: and it's easily just as much of an SW as Nemie, Blivy and Air.

[Mitch]

Thirteen gets two stars from me, I personally found it to be an unremarkable and pretty rubbish ride to be honest.

The outdoor section COULD be good but unfortunately thanks to the trims on the first drop it's total tripe. The train takes the course at a snail's pace and any enjoyment and airtime has been taken out, if they wanted the ride to go that slow they might as well have built it shorter. A coaster having trims on the first drop doesn't scream "ultimate rollercoaster" to me.

Thankfully, the crypt section does redeem the ride slightly, but it still looks half finished and that something more could have been done to it. I know it's been mentioned many times before but even a simple strobe effect or ambience would make the atmosphere heaps better. The actual drop is enjoyable though and took me by surprise but I don't think that alone makes the ride a 5 star attraction.

The theming is okay but I think Alton can do a lot more than a Tesla coil (which wasn't working) and a van covered in vines. Part of me does wonder "where did that £15 million go?" Unfortunately, the "theming" probably isn't the answer. I would much have preferred it if less had been spent on marketing and ridiculous PR stunts and more into actually making it into the "ultimate rollercoaster".

Before Blaze starts nit-picking at my post, I must state that is my opinion on the ride.

Finally, just to throw a spanner in the works, rides such as Revenge of the Mummy, Alpengeist, Balder, Top Thrill Dragster and Nemesis are considered 5 star attractions by many enthusiasts. For people who rated Thirteen 5 stars, do you seriously consider it to be on the same level as these coasters? I do respect your opinion but I find it strange how you'd consider Thirteen to be as good as some of the examples I listed.

[Blaze]

I'm not going to pick your post appart. I respect your opinion, and it's put across well, so why would I rip it appart just because I like the ride. The only thing I would say is the whole Ultimate thing was a deliberate over the top joke to reel in the non-enthusiasts, and was not meant to be taken so seriously and scrutinised as much as us enthusiasts did.

And I understand where you're coming from with the five star thing, but to me, you can't quantify or reason these kind of things, it's not just the experience of the ride that makes it good or bad, it's how it makes you feel aswell. I enjoy Thirteen more than pretty much any ride, so I'd give it the same number of stars that I give Nemesis, despite the fact that as a ride, Nemesis is much better. It's hard to explain but I love Thirteen as much as Nemesis, but I'd rather ride Nemesis. I would not compare Thirteen to Nemesis, Aplengeist or anything else like that, because they
are totally different rides, so I would concider all to be 5 star rides, for different reasons. There's more than one way a ride can be a 5 star one, so although there are many ways
those rides are better than Thirteen, but all things considered, it is a 5 star ride to me. I will say, however, Thirteen divides opinion like no other ride, and unlike other rides, it is easy to see why people have such a range of opinions about it.

[Mitch]

Very well, I didn't realise how much you liked Thirteen and I apologise if my comment about you nit-picking came across as rude. (I did forget the ":P".) Whilst I agree with you that Thirteen can not be directly compared to Alpengeist and Nemesis. I think you could come to a conclusion about which is a better ride and make a judgement from that. (Although I do see strong similarities between Thirteen and the Mummies.)

For the record, I too enjoy Thirteen just as much as I enjoy Nemesis.

[Blaze]

Oh, I'm under no illusions as to what is the better ride. Nemesis wipes the floor with Thirteen is so many ways, but that doesn't mean I can't give both rides the same score, as Thirteen excells, at least in my view, in other ways. It ticks all my personal boxes and to me is an enjoyable and fun ride, but I understand that Thirteen does not tick everyone else's boxes and they don't enjoy it, which is fine.

To me, Nemesis is flawless, and I mean that. There is nothing which could be better or improved on it, it is as close to being my ideal ride as possible, so I give it full marks, but Thirteen, while not having a lot of the things that make Nemesis what it is, is still, in my view at least, a superb ride and it deserves 5 stars, but not in the same way or for the same reasons as Nemesis. I hope this all makes sense, but know it probably doesn't, it's hard to really explain it all properly.

[The_Chosen_One]

I went on thirteen 3 times yesterday i didnt expect much and my mate said he didnt want to go on because it looked rubbish. How wrong were we the queue line was awesome and the inside bit of the station was awesome to. The outdoor of the ride was average and we were thinking is this it but when we went in the crypt it changed from average to awesome. Its a totally different ride from anything ive ever been on so i give it a 5 stars.

[Luce]

I thought Thirteen was ok - nothing really special because the woodland section isn't the best and the trims spoil the first drop but the actual drop to the crypt is good. It actually grew on me the more times I went on it but I'd still give it a 5/10 or 3 stars

[NeilHD]

I rode it for the first time yesterday. I didn't feel the need to ride it again (compared to most other things in the park).

I gave it 3 stars. It's okay. The drop is quite fun and the backwards-in-the-dark bit is good, but I found the outside bit very tame. I'd ride it again, but out of preference I'd rather do any of the other coasters. They should make the height restriction less. My 4-year old would love to go on it but is a bit small.

And they should make the queue line configurable so when there's no queue you don't have to walk for 10 minutes just to get to the ride entrance! (Mind you same goes for Oblivion but that would be harder to do).

[Tom G]

Just been a victim of overhype. Especially claiming it is "every rollercoaster you've ever dreamed of and more" or the "ultimate rollercoaster", this is probably why some people are disappointed.

If you are completely unaware of what happens on teh ride then I would say it's quite a disturbing experience but after people have ridden it once, I can't see it having greta lastability or it being a classic 10+ years later like Nemesis and Oblivion.

[AshleeK]

I'd have to give it four stars. I personally love the first drop, it was much larger than I was anticipating and made the outside part really interesting. Of course, the ride improves when you go into the crypt. The drop is incredibly smooth and the backwards part is rather fun too. Not forgetting the excellent throughput the ride has, and I'd say it's one of the classic Alton Towers rides.

The ride's only major downside is the ammount of overhype it's had. Despite the fact that I enjoyed it, I came off feeling slightly dissappointed, because it wasn't the 'ultimate rollercoaster' they had promised. I still feel that title belongs to Nemesis.

[ArronL94]

There are so many people who have been let down by th13teen (including me)

'the ultimate rollercoaster' ?
more like 'the coaster that doesnt scare my younger brother a bit'
This is a kids ride.. I got more of a thrill from sonic spinball..
physologically testing? I strongly disaggre.
the drop is fun, but I wont recommend going on the ride more than once, as it lacks even more everytime you ride it..

[D-Man]

I just wish people wouldn't rate the ride based on the marketing that was done on it. What I want people to do is think of the ride without the marketing, Ultimate Coaster, etc.

I looked past that and find the ride to be quite fun so I therefore gave it a 4 although I would class it just below 4 stars.

[SAW_gameover]

[quote=""ArronL94""]
the drop is fun, but I wont recommend going on the ride more than once, as it lacks even more everytime you ride it..[/quote]

Don't agree with you there. I am loving the ride more and more each time I ride it. The Th13teen evening also made me appreciate it alot more, seeing all that went into it and the little theming details in The Crypt. Yes, the marketing did damage it rather alot, but the ride is awesome, and fun. 4/5

[Blaze]

Every time I ride it I notice something new, and it pulls me back everytime, it's adictive and infinitely re-ridable.

[bigphilwest]

When waiting to get on a staff member said "if you know what's coming it's a 3 out of 10 but if you don't it's a 10 out of 10. But i knew what was coming and would certainly give it 5 out of 10! I've only been on it once though so not sure whether i'll rate it lower after i've been on it a few times. I actually found part of the fun teasing and making nervous those who didn't know what was going to happen!

[Tom G]

I knew what was coming from the text description on Wikipedia only. I had seen no videos etc. I would give it 9/10 on my first ride. It would definiately have been a ten if I'd had no idea.

[estranged]

Average, Nothing Special

Done 8 or 9 laps on Th13teen now over the last few months - not sure I'm going to bother with it again until next season. In the end it just failed to deliver for me. It's a one trick pony that will not have the staying power of past SW rides.

In the review that we do not speak of on here - it was likened to a roller skater coaster - and that's so true. The indoor Vekoma junior coaster at Toverland that I rode earlier this year has the same thrill and excitement as the early part of 13 - which is pretty eye opening.

The drop is good, not great - but good. It's not something I want to experience over and over though.

In a park where you have world top 10 coasters, you cannot get away with installing average rides - because next to Nemesis, Oblivion and to a lesser extent Air - they will only be considered poor.

[bradpeet]

[quote=""estranged""]Average, Nothing Special

Done 8 or 9 laps on Th13teen now over the last few months - not sure I'm going to bother with it again until next season. In the end it just failed to deliver for me. It's a one trick pony that will not have the staying power of past SW rides.

In the review that we do not speak of on here - it was likened to a roller skater coaster - and that's so true. The indoor Vekoma junior coaster at Toverland that I rode earlier this year has the same thrill and excitement as the early part of 13 - which is pretty eye opening.

The drop is good, not great - but good. It's not something I want to experience over and over though.

In a park where you have world top 10 coasters, you cannot get away with installing average rides - because next to Nemesis, Oblivion and to a lesser extent Air - they will only be considered poor.[/quote]

Your last point is a very good one

Although it will be interesting to see how popular Th13teen is in 2 or 3 years time once the hype has died down.

But surely Oblivion is the ultimate one trick pony - it drops into a hole, comes out the other side and returns to the station! Unless I'm much mistaken, Nemesis is the only one which still makes world top 10 lists - all the others have been bettered by later versions (Which is the peril of doing "World's Firsts")

And talking of that review, I wonder whether Th13teen was the reason they had chosen to visit the UK this year. If it was, I can understand them feeling somewhat bitter.

[Blaze]

It is an interesting point, considering the Mitch Hawker Poll says Nemesis is the only top 10 coaster at the park. Oblivion finished around 40-50 places lower and Air was much, much further down.

And why can't the park not build top 10 rides every time? Doing that risks damaging other rides and Thirteen was never meant to compete as a top 10 coaster. Maybe top 10 family coaster, but not something to compare to the likes of Bizzarro or Nemesis and the likes.