Morgan

To be fair there are only nine other Dive Machines in the world, and only two others in America. So for the majority of people that will ride this, it will be a new coaster experience.

There is one of two ways it will reopen I think. They will either reopen it next season with no fanfare or announcement as quietly as possible, to minimise the amount of bad press it receives when it does reopen, or they are preparing it to open soon and get any negative coverage out of the way before the new season starts next year. In my opinion the most likely is the latter, as this season has already been a bit of a write off with low attendance since the accident, so the press will hurt it less this year so they can start with a 'cleaner' slate next year.

Absolutely, but as this is all pure speculation we can't say for any certainty that this is what actually happened, or if anybody did actually alert any of the staff about the stalled train. People have said they have done this, but there's been a lot of blatantly false statements been made by people there that day (like the woman who was due to get on the next train, who said she could see the stalled train, obviously with her X-Ray vision through the station walls). I'm sure every aspect of what went on that day will have been investigated, including the communication between the station and the rest of the ride staff, so I'm sure that when the report is published, we will all find out.

I think the more likely option regarding the guests reporting the valleyed train would be that they were probably telling the retail staff, as the people in the actual queue that would be able to see the train would not be in the vicinity of any of the actual ride staff, so I imagine that it would either be the staff in the shop at the ride exit and the kiosk in the middle of the queue. If this was the case, I could imagine that they wouldn't report it as it would be assumed that the ride staff would be aware and have it covered. Of course this is purely speculative though, Alton Towers staff are for the most part very good and I can't see any ride staff just brushing off anybody who came to them with a concern at all, without acting upon it. I would imagine that now this story has gone into the press (although I'm surprised that it hasn't appeared elsewhere yet), we will see some kind of official statement in the not so distant future, to get the official line across. Also the sooner the outcome of this is out, the sooner it can be put in the past, it's obviously horrible for all those involved, but dragging it out is not going to benefit the victims or the park. Hopefully the park can start afresh next season, as I think it's safe to say that the rest of this season is a bit of a write off in terms of visitor numbers, unless Scarefest can draw people back.

If the article is correct, I imagine that the two staff members in question may be liable to charges. I'm no expert, but if they have gone against the safety procedures that they have been trained in and presumably signed off against, they have knowingly 'broken the rules'. Regardless that Alton Towers is ultimately responsible for the safety of the guests, the two have acted against the procedures and are surely liable in some shape or form.

I have to say that the plans for Toy Story Land has pleasantly surprised me. The Paris version was very underwhelming and disappointing, and felt very un-Disney to me. Three low capacity mediocre rides in a park like Studios in Paris, just doesn't work very well, when it needs people eaters to cope with the overall low capacity. So when I heard that DHS was getting a version of it, I really didn't see it working out very well, but these plans look great. Hopefully they can get this turned around in a reasonable amount of time as there doesn't appear to be a massive task to theme it, mainly landscaping of the area.

In the case of Oblivion it has the inline dual loading station, so two trains can be unloaded and loaded at once, and then both are dispatched at the same time. The first heads up the lift hill and the second holds just before lift until the track ahead is clear. This allows another two trains to be loading in the station. It's a good set up and can easily be switched to single train loading at quieter times. I presume that most dive coasters operate like this.

Peter Pan is fairly similar from what I remember, minus any of the new interactive queue elements that the WDW version has. Star Tours is currently the original version, and is being upgraded in next years rehab. Big Thunder Mountain on the other hand is a bit different as it takes place on an island in the middle of the Rivers of the Far West, so you travel under the river to get to and from the main bulk of the ride. The overall ride experience is fairly similar though and on my visit last month a lot of the effects weren't working, and it was suffering from regular downtime, so the rehab is definitely needed.

The maintenance schedule is fairly intensive next year. We were considering tagging on a visit to the end of our holiday to France again next year, but have decided to hold off for a few years to let them get everything sorted first. Hopefully once they are through, the resort should be back on top form, it was definitely looking a bit tired when we were there in June.

Rumours are suggesting that it could debut sometime next year, instead of alongside Avatar as previously thought.

I'd be very surprised if there was an announcement that the riders would be evacuated. I've not once heard anything like this on any of the rides at Alton Towers. In these cases staff walk up the lift hill and speak to the stuck riders in person, not over a loud speaker for everyone to hear. Also if it was an evacuation situation, I would imagine they would have closed the queue line completely and removed all guests from it. With regards to The Smiler never reopening, it's highly unlikely that, that will ever happen. This is an £18 million investment. Yes it has been involved in a tragic accident, which should never have happened, and has really hurt some unfortunate people, but worse incidents have occurred on other rides around the world and those rides are still operating. The press are spinning the 'may never reopen' line for dramatic effect, but they have no basis for this claim. I'm fairly sure The Smiler will remain closed for the rest of the season, regardless of when the investigation is completed, purely from a PR point of view, come next season the buzz about it will have died down and they'll be able to reopen it without as much attention as they would get this year. Now that Saw has reopened at Thorpe Park, it suggests to me that they may have found the cause of the incident, as I would not have expected them to reopen Saw, until the cause was found and that they could guarantee that it could not affect Saw's operation, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

When we were there last month, I noticed that Crush's single rider queue was not always open, so I would definitely suggest heading there first, we found Ratatouille to have fairly acceptable queues. We waited when it was an advertised 55 min, but it only took 40 mins or so. Once you enter the building there is only about a 10 minute wait from there so you can easily judge the queue as it is mostly outside.

It's great to hear that DLP is also banning them, I've just returned from there and while in general it's not too bad, Main Street and the hub is terrible for selfie sticks. People just walk about with them extended at all angles, I unintentionally hit one with our stroller at one point, it's just hazardous. I did see a few out in the Frozen Sing-a-Long also, so this should really improve the guest experience.

Sounds like a prime candidate to take over the Wonders of Life Pavilion. I won't hold my breath though.

If it is a shooter, here's hoping it's more like JLBM and not their current shooters at Alton Towers & Chessington (Duel & Tomb Blaster). Shooting at twinkling lights stuck on the scenery, does tend to break the immersion of the experience.

The UK Merlin parks have also joined the bandwagon and have specifically stated that selfie sticks are not allowed on rides. I don't know if there is much of an issue at the parks though, as I haven't spotted any being used on or off the rides on my recent visits, even though they sell them in the main shop at Alton Towers. Source BBC News

From what I understand, one of the biggest issues with the wooden coaster at Alton Towers wasn't the planning restrictions (the plans were pulled by the park before any decision was made), it was the marketability of such a ride. With the UK only having 9 wooden coasters in total, and the only major ones that are a major park are those at BPB (I'm not including Megafobia at Oakwood, even though it's a great coaster it is too far out of the way for the majority of the UK to even know about it). The BPB coasters are all old rides, the youngest is the Wild Mouse at almost 60 years old, so Alton Towers/Merlin did at least hold the opinion that the majority of the UK public viewed wooden coasters as old, rickety and 'unsafe', which would therefore make marketing a wooden coaster much more difficult. Whether this opinion has changed since then, I don't know, but RMC have definitely made a very marketable product and as Alton Towers like to have a USP for each of their coasters they could go down the 'most inversions on a wooden coaster' route, which would no doubt appeal to the general public.

Here's a few from Alton Towers back from 2012 when it was so cold they couldn't open any rides for the majority of the day. From memory I think the only rides that opened were the indoor attractions (Duel, Hex & SeaLife), plus Maraurder's Mayhem (Teacups) & The Blade, I think they got Air going later on, but that was about it. We spent the day just wandering about, it was quite fun as there was literally nobody else in the park and it looked stunning in the snow and frost. Snowy Towers Street Frozen Rapids Foolish Lake Runner Driving School Vomiting Gargoyle

First coaster: Big Apple (Alton Towers) That I remember First steel: Big Apple (Alton Towers) First woodie: Big Dipper (BPB) First 100+ foot coaster: Missile (American Adventure) First 200+ foot coaster: Big One (BPB) First looper: Corkscrew (Alton Towers) First B&M: Nemesis (Alton Towers First Intamin: Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril (DLP) Firrst CCI: Megafobia (Oakwood) First invert: Nemesis (Alton Towers) First launched: Thunder Looper (Alton Towers) First standup: Shockwave (Drayton Manor) First flyer: Air (Alton Towers) Favorite coaster: Nemesis (Alton Towers) Favorite steel: Nemesis (Alton Towers) Favorite wood: Megafobia (Oakwood) Favorite 100+ foot: Manta (SW Orlando) Favorite 200+ foot: SheiKra (BGT) Favorite looper: Dragon Khan (PotAventura) Favorite B&M: Nemesis (Alton Towers) Favorite Intamin: Thirteen (Alton Towers) Favorite CCI: Megafobia (Oakwood) Favorite invert: Nemesis (Alton Towers) Favorite launched: Stealth (Thorpe Park) Favorite standup: Shockwave (Drayton Manor) Favorite flyer: Manta (SW Orlando)

My 'home' park is Alton Towers, which is about an hour away from where I live, I've also got Flamingo Land & Lightwater Valley which aren't a huge amount further away, but I rarely visit them, where as I go to Alton Towers around 7 or 8 times a year.

Just a quick alert, Thorpe Park have just announced that Thursday, Friday & Saturday this week (30th-1st) is strictly pre-booked tickets only, so if you are still planning on going this Thursday you will need to make sure you have your tickets pre-booked online before you go, you won't be able to pay at the gates if that is what you were planning.

Thorpe Park have just announced that they have hit capacity today and only people who have pre-booked tickets will be admitted now, they are strongly recommending that anybody wanting to visit this week to book in advance to avoid disappointment. I've also just read that this last weekend has been one of the busiest Thorpe has ever had, so it looks like it is going to be a very busy week. A word of warning regarding Fastrack, it would appear that even with Fastrack tickets queues are still significant, although this appears to be mostly for the scare mazes, and not too bad for the regular rides and attractions.

My first was Sonic Spinball at Alton Towers, and my last was a front row ride on The Smiler in the dark.

It's currently our October half-term period so all the kids are off school at the moment, plus it is Fright Nights as well, so potentially it will be busy. Fastrack tickets can be bought on the day though so I would wait and see how it is when you visit before purchasing, I've never known them sell out. With it being Fright Nights they also have the 5 scare attractions running, so rides tend to be less busy later on (the park is open until 10pm), so if you are only concerned with the rides then this is generally the best time to hit the coasters, but the mazes are definitely worth a visit if you get a chance.

I'd quite like to see them relocate the hat to the plaza outside the park, if they put it on the right between bag check and the ferry dock it could serve as a 'welcome' icon for the park similar to Universal's Globe or Pharaoh's Lighthouse. It would be a shame to lose it completely, I know that there is a lot of hate for it, but I imagine the majority of visitors quite like it, and I imagine there will be more photos taken in front of it than the Chinese Theatre. It would also mean that it would not have to be completely removed from all the merchandise and media for the park, as it has become one of the most recognisable elements of the park. Also the issue with using the Earful Tower as the park's icon again is that it is not prominent enough, it's not visible throughout the majority of the park, the best view of it was on the Tram Tour which is now closed, so it would seem a little weird using an icon which is rarely seen.