Thirteen fairs best on quiet days, which isn't a good thing at all but bear with me here. The queue on a dark quiet day is quite atmospheric when the music on and you walk through the queue. I think the whole experience needs some overgrowth maybe going around the queue with some ruins thrown in. I feel the same solution would improve the ride with near misses. We all know though, much like Air, it’s not going to get additional themeing.

Good behind the scenes video of Th13teen including a great sequence of the drop
https://www.facebook.com/altontowersresortjobs/videos/394646201283294/

Great video, I didn’t even know you had to walk the crypt as an Operator - thought that would have been more a Team Leader activity (but then Operator is higher than Host so it still makes sense there’s extra tasks they can carry out that Hosts can’t) 

Looks like it was filmed in 2017 though, where did the baggage racks go? 

Yeah it was filmed in 2017 because I saw a similar video about a year ago.

On TPW’s new video Shawn has a mood board from Thirteen’s development from 23:05-24:24 which I don’t think anyone’s seen before - turns out we could have actually had a wooden coaster 9 years ago! I imagine Wicker Man would have been very different if that were the case. 

Also considered were an Intamin looper like Indiana Jones and a Vekoma mine train like Expedition Everest, the latter of which I think they drew the most influence from in terms of target audience/ride system. 

Did my first ride in years today. The drop and backwards section is still fun and the outside bit is still a little disappointing. However, what made my ride great was that there were people on it that had no idea what was going to happen. Some of their party did though and everyone's reaction at the end was hilarious to listen to.

Gavinr wrote:

Did my first ride in years today. The drop and backwards section is still fun and the outside bit is still a little disappointing. However, what made my ride great was that there were people on it that had no idea what was going to happen. Some of their party did though and everyone's reaction at the end was hilarious to listen to.

I always find that a ride on Thirteen is more fun if there are people on the train who don’t know what happens. Just listening to the screams when the track drops, and again when it leaves the crypt, really add to the atmosphere when you’re on the ride.

Anyone think Thirteen is one of the worst rides in the park? 

scruffy_ wrote:

Anyone think Thirteen is one of the worst rides in the park? 

Personally no, it is a good family coaster and fills the gap of coasters for that market. It may have been advertised badly when it first opened but it does its job of being a decent capacity ride whilst also offering something different at the park.

I love Thirteen, especially when you have first time riders not knowing what happens in the crypt.  I soon choose Thirteen over a couple of other rollercoaster on the park

Thirteen for me is becoming better with age, as the surroundings grow and it sinks into the area it is better. Yes the ride is a few years old now and wont necessarily change i think its a solid family coaster and fits well within the current lineup of coasters.

daveclarkedaveclarke wrote:

Thirteen for me is becoming better with age, as the surroundings grow and it sinks into the area it is better. Yes the ride is a few years old now and wont necessarily change i think its a solid family coaster and fits well within the current lineup of coasters.

It could change significantly if they removed the trims Then we will have a layout of ejector airtime and whippy transitions  



My last visit to the park was during Scarefest in 2019. Out of all the attractions I did that day, Thirteen was my highlight. It is so smooth and feels like a well rounded experience. It has really grown on me. I pick to ride Thirteen over Rita, Galactica and Spinball now.

From the latest TT article:

"TH13TEEN is remaining closed since social distancing requirements mean the minimum passenger weight to run cannot be reached"

Can anyone clarify what this means? Empty trains can still run can't they so why not the same with reduced pax numbers?

swfc96 wrote:

From the latest TT article:

"TH13TEEN is remaining closed since social distancing requirements mean the minimum passenger weight to run cannot be reached"

Can anyone clarify what this means? Empty trains can still run can't they so why not the same with reduced pax numbers?

TH13TEEN can either run empty, or with a minimum of 18 riders. It's all to do with the trim brakes around the circuit. The ride system recognises whether there's guests on the train or not, so if it's empty then the trim brakes won't activate and it will complete the course. However, if there's guests on the train then the trim brakes will activate which stops the train overspeeding onto the second lift hill, which was the main reason for the unreliability of the ride in its first year. If there's less than 18 people on the train, it won't have enough momentum to get to the second lift, and will stall.

It's a huge design flaw which was re-actively added to solve an issue that shouldn't have presented itself in the first place.

So yes, it's either completely empty, or ran with 18 riders or more. There's no inbetween.

It's a shame that water dummies couldn't be used to sit in the empty rows! Could even dress them as monks or something

Very interesting thanks Dan! And yeah I was thinking that myself re the water dummies but I guess it adds another element that would need to be cleaned...

How do they test the ride in the morning before opening? I'd have assumed they'd send the trains round empty?

Gavinr wrote:

How do they test the ride in the morning before opening? I'd have assumed they'd send the trains round empty?

That’s right.

Thirteen completes its morning checks using empty trains.

It's a real shame that Thirteen has had to close because of this and I hope that we will see it back in action for the future. In the meantime, I'm going to be watching the news, AT app and this website until it opens. Hopefully, by next April/May, it'll be up and running since my little sister (who's never been to AT, but heard a lot about it from me) desperately wants to ride it then on our trip.

According to the Alton Towers app and live queue times, Th13teen is open today. Can anybody confirm this and does anybody have any knowledge on how they've managed to open it?