A fab time at Alton Towers! (Part 2)

After a very, very wet day yesterday, we could only keep our fingers crossed for today. The forecast was promising, dry with patchy showers. We left the hotel in sunshine, just after 9.00am, and got to Alton Towers around 9.30. Another ride on the annoying Jelly Bean train (we would not be getting that on the way home!) and we arrived about 9.40.

There was a small crowd of people waiting by the lake to enter the grounds, which we joined, until Mark spotted a sign that said Annual Pass holders could enter ahead of everyone else - result!

We headed straight down to Oblivion, which Emily persuaded Mark to go on (no thanks said I!). They didn't even have to queue,just walked straight on the ride.

I thought Mark would hate it, but he really enjoyed it and Emily thought it was brilliant!

We then headed off to Rita Queen of Speed, but had a little sidetrack for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The first bit was a boat ride, which took you through the chocolate river where Augustus Gloop got sucked up the pipe, then it carried on through the juicer bit where Violet Beauregard ate the bubblegum and the squirrel part where Veruca Salt wanted the squirrel. We got off the boat and into a viewing area for a short film clip about Mike Teevee. Finally we ended up in the Great Glass Elevator for a very clever simulated ride. It was the best part of the ride.

Then onto Rita! I went on with Emily first. The whole thing from joining the queue to finishing the ride took 10 minutes! Oh My God - it was fast. It was like being fired out of a gun. I couldn't walk in a straight line when I got off - it was brilliant!!

While we were on that Mark took Edward to the Peugeot Driving School (yet another driving licence!).

Then it was Mark's turn to go on Rita. We didn't tell him how fast it was, we wanted him to be surprised (or shocked). At that point was the first downpour of the day. Edward and I sheltered at the driving school whist Mark and Emily went off to Rita. When it stopped we went down to watch them. They were nearly at the head of the queue - in the front seat queue - Emily wanted to go at the front.

Emily really enjoyed it again and Mark thought it was great.

Mark and I then did Hex. The children were going to come on it with us, but Edward was really nervous so Emily took him out and they waited for us to finish. It was OK, the end bit was the best, the rest was a bit tedious really.

After that Emily and Mark went on Air and then Nemesis. Edward and I went on Duel again and then we stopped and had coffee and cake while we waiting. Then we all went back on the Runaway Mine Train again.

After that we went back on Congo River Rapids. I was determined not to get a wet bottom this time, so I bought myself (and Edward) the Alton Towers rain ponchos (with 20% discount!). We had to queue for quite a while and it rained whilst we were queueing, but I was dry in my groovy purple poncho. The ride was fun as usual - we really like this one.

We packed so much into the day, not just to make up for the day before, but because the queues weren't really too bad. We did whatever we fancied. We went on the Flume where you sit in bathtubs - that was great fun. Edward and Mark got the wettest because they were up the front. The wettest we all got was on the Pirate Galleons. You ride on a boat round the lake shooting others with water whilst they are shooting you. The spectators and people queueing can also squirt you - and they did! We all got absolutely drenched, even though we were wearing raincoats, ponchos etc. I had water go up the sleeve of my raincoat!

Emily decided that she wanted one more ride on Air before we left, so she and Mark headed off in that direction, whilst Edward and I had our final ride on the Runaway Mine Train. We went to meet them at the photo shop for Air, but they were ages. The ride had broken down whilst they were queuing! Nemesis had also broken down and people had to disembark half way up the chain lift - rather them than me!

We decided to call it a day at this point, as we had done so much and everyone had had a really great time. We had one final ride on Duel, Edward bought his turtles in the Sea Life Centre shop, we picked up some doughnuts and a cookie for Edward and then headed off. We got the Daisy Train back to the car park this time, the poor Jelly Bean had been sidelined - ha ha!

Yet again, lovely warm baths back at the hotel, then dinner at Frankie and Benny's in Uttoxeter (not much else on offer apart from KFC).

We were all pretty pooped from such a full-on day - but we had a really great time.

M x

Busy Weekend

Today I feel really tired. The weekend was so busy, that I need a day to catch up. Don't know why, but I am not really sleeping very well, and certainly am not able to sleep in - which is a tad annoying given that it is the summer holiday. Although having said that, the weather is certainly not summery - another day of rain (getting slightly tedious now!).

On Saturday we went up to Milton Keynes for my niece's 13th birthday. We went up early to do a couple of jobs before the party. We went to Ikea to get the small bookcase and a spare shelf for Edward's bookcase. Then we went to Costco to stock up on essentials, before calling in at Borders so that I could browse in Paperchase. Also tried to find out some info from a very helpful chap about Breaking Dawn - he couldn't find out any info about the paperback launch either - drat!

After that we headed off to my sister's house where we had a very nice time. Drank quite a lot of champagne sangria (far to nice) and had lots of delicious food. Mum made a Charis a great birthday cake.

Charis with her cake

We stayed until about 9pm, then made a move to go home. I was planning for us to go to Legoland the next day, so didn't want to be too late. We were all pretty tired by the time we got home, so didn't unpack all our goodies from the car - who wants to be carrying bookcases about at that time of night!

We got up really early the next day and left by 8.30 to go to Legoland. Luckily the weather looked quite promising so off we went. We got to Legoland just before 10am. It looked quite busy, but with our Merlin passes we avoided the queues (and saved ourselves over £100!).

We had a really great day and went on everything we wanted to go on. Slight problem with Tomb Raiders that broke down just as we were about to get on it (after queueing for 45 minutes!). It was sorted pretty quickly, so we did get to go on the ride - much to Ed's relief. We got a bit wet on the Viking river ride, and the Pirate Falls, but nowhere as wet as we did on Tidal Wave at Thorpe Parke! Ed was a bit nervous at the Jungle Coaster and the Dragon ride but he really enjoyed it.

Em and Ed at the Driving School

We had a really nice lunch in the pizza and pasta restaurant, made even better by getting 20% off with our Merlin passes!

We finally left to go home around 6.45. We did think that the traffic on the M4 and M25 was going to be a problem, but we decided to head towards Beaconsfield, Amersham and Chesham and were home at 8.30 - not bad at all. We all had a really great day.

Today, we are having a lazy day. As I write, Mark has taken Ed to see Transformers 2 (rather him than me, I had to endure the first one!), and Em is still in bed . She is going to start her homework today, not that she is too keen. We are off to Buntingford to see the Mother-in-Law and have dinner there. Apart from that, it will be catching up on some jobs and building a bookcase. Sounds like fun!

M x