Purplepills

Thanks for taking the time to do this! Its great to have a such a good source to see which coasters are considered the best

This is true, some years ago my brother had friends visiting from when he did a year of college in the US...they rented a car, and returned it after 10 minutes of trying to get out of Heathrow. Its not the nicest place to drive when you live here, let alone in a foreign country! Thorpe is a much easier option, so much transport, dedicated buses every 15 or 20 minutes from Staines station...but if you can leave London 2pm(ish) and get to Alton for 8pm and stay overnight before going in this is what I would suggest doing. In a single day it is a lot! Both parks are good but for me if it was one or the other I'd choose AT.

In addition to the posts above you did mention an overnight stay, which would be in a B&B - this is what we always have done, we live a 4.5 hour car journey away and its much nicer to not have that at the start of your day. There is a B&B right outside Alton Towers gates called the Trough Ivy House, I've stayed there a couple of times, cosy but nice and its closer to the turnstiles than the car park is! There is another 5 minutes walk down the road called the Chained Oak which we have also used twice, again very nice. Its a short walk up the hill but its a bit of a busy road with no pavement/sidewalk. I always see people doing it and its probably fine just something to bear in mind. At a quick glance here are some bus times from Uttoxeter station, if you scroll down from the 5th timetable onwards there seem to be buses every couple of hours. I can't tell you how accurate this information is, although it was only posted a year ago. There may be a better timetable somewhere but this should work as a guide Bus times Uttoxeter station to AT

Thanks for taking the time to post neil, its good to get so much detail on it and a few photos

Theyre now saying this:

Good to hear its opened and people are going on it. Proves the GP are confident the ride is still safe! I dont really think you can fault the parks handling of the whole thing start to (almost) finish - I haven't seen any announcements, advertisments etc specifically about the Smiler opening, other than replies to tweets. Avoids a lot of criticism from the media about what they should and shouldn't do, by not doing anything at all other than promoting Galactica and general park re-opening.

^Possibly just to appease the public with all the stuff thats been removed this season? If the sign is there they at least know the flume has been removed for a reason, as opposed to the other stuff which is just shut or gone completely.

That was my first thought given the massive area but the height restriction. Not really sure though. On what sort of timescale are the planning applications submitted to the council if they were going to aim to open it next year? Is it a bit late already for someone not to have spotted them?

^Interesting poster, although as you say a lot can change in 5 years so the Switzerland reference may well be outdated, but still seems as if it was planned a long time ago! I'd love it to be something like an RMC woodie. Either way I hope it is a new coaster, and a decent sized one that uses much of the area the Flume currently uses, given that the area looks big enough to just about take Nemesis and Galactica combined. If only Alton didn't have the height restriction we could dream BIG

I thought this yesterday! I'm not going to be able to make it there this year but I'd be more looking forward to seeing Nemesis looking awesome than some VR which may or may not be any good. Infact half the time I keep forgetting they've even done it. Is it still the case they haven't repainted the Galactica track then? Its seems really weird if they haven't given the effort they seem to be putting into everything else, you'd think if a ride was being completely rebranded they would TLC that before a lot of the other things. Although maybe they have and I've not been paying attention....

Looks great! Best fake rust I've ever seen, even the way its 'dripping' down the lower rail. I know its meant to be a beast but I did like the rusty look for the ride...and this is perfect IMO. Awesome

The BBC report about the prosecution says: The protocols weren't followed, as you might expect given whats happened. It seems in cases like this that regardless of the actions of their employees, Merlin are ultimately responsible for the safety of the guests and thats why they're being prosecuted. I didn't really like the wording (assuming its accurate) 'The theme park said staff misunderstood a shutdown message and wrongly restarted the ride.'. What sort of shutdown messages would they get in the operating booth? It just seems to deflect from the fact they must have not bothered checking (looking) why the ride had stopped in the first place, and just restarted it assuming it was an error. I think there's a difference between 'misunderstanding a shutdown message' and not properly double checking why the ride has stopped. Are the individuals involved likely to face criminal charges of any sort?

Your mind works in the same way as me, I asked and got this reply: They must be getting fed up of people like us asking. Possibly, I bet they're more fed up of being asked when The Smiler will open! I look every now and then just incase and see 3 or 4 replies near the top saying that they don't know yet. I wonder if they'll just open it quietly on opening day and not really say anything. No idea if they're allowed to open it yet even.

So I figured I would just ask them. I did tweet the TLC account last week but got no response. Its not conclusive but suggests the white isn't the final colour..

Agreed, that track isn't being 'rusted up', it's the original track colour on the spine and it looks like they've slapped a bit of red primer on parts of it. Plus the rails look grey in areas. From their earlier tweets I believe they shotblasted some of the track back to steel, so maybe thats what we're seeing. I think the photo being referred to might be BEFORE the white was put on? Its the same red primer look on the joints that you can see on the supports in the image below:

It looks brushed because you're seeing the thinner parts of the brushed/rolled on topcoat wearing off, not the red being brushed onto the white. It's most likely a red oxide primer which is a very common primer for metals, put on by B&M at manufacture which would explain why it's on the supports too. Anyway it's doesn't really matter and I think we can all agree any painting is a much needed improvement!

Pretty sure, if you look at the photos (specifically the corkscrew) you can see it's only the upward facing sections that show the red where the rain and hail hits it the most. The face with the red on isnt red on the back end as you look at the photo if that nakes sense. If it was intentional it would be a lot more evenly painted (or they did a horrible job). It did suit the ride but last time I went it looked pretty bad so glad they have decided to sort it out, white, rust or otherwise.

Wowie, do you want some salt to go with that chip on your shoulder? No need to be so preachy about it, I didn't realise. You knew what I meant, I'm just talking about the paint effect added to the track, and rust or not my point is still valid. There's no need to be so condescending. Quite. The fact is that maybe that it wasnt supposed to be rusty, but it was actually quite rusty, which I personally thought suited it but obviously isn't ideal. Plus thats not blood on the track they 'painted on' is it? Thats the original primer coat showing through the weather worn top coat, see the circle in attached photo showing another section of this 'blood' paint you speak of. So before going on such a condescending rant, perhaps you should get your own facts straight first. I didn't bother circling the rust as there is so much of it

Agree completely, I really don't like the white if thats the final colour. Hoping it won't be though, as the @AltonTLC twitter posted these earlier showing the 'base' white coat being applied for a station refurb, hoping its the same deal with the track as suggested in the earlier tweet as 'work in progress'.

Its been like that since the accident. As far as I recall someone said there's no option for SBNO so whoever edits it (can anyone edit it?) just put closed. The park have said it'll open this year but theres no actual date yet. It is still listed but showing as closed on their website.

It also does imply a starry night sky. I'd be cautious about such a concept art. By the way, as it has already happened to Air before, what happens when the ride get stuck for a long moment and you have your VR headset on? It automatically skypes a journalist who works for The Daily Mail so they can quote you in an article about how dangerous roller coasters are.

According to the Twitter feed they will be cleaned after every use so I'd guess they have several in circulation at once? Thats a LOT of cleaning though. Is this the VR where the display itself is removable from a plastic shell? So they would have say 100 displays and hundreds of shells and swap them over for cleaning? Is this how it works? Or would they just have loads of complete units?

Looking at the youtube video it appears to show segments of the VR video from the start of the ride, then slowly going up the lift hill. If it doesn't reduce capacity and is entirely optional then it can only be a good thing. Will be interesting to see all the retheming and how the VR works out. I really want to visit this year but they still haven't confirmed a date the Smiler is opening. I missed out last year as we visited just after the accident so don;t want to miss it again. Also it bugs me when they just put random track on posters, especially when the wheel is hitting the rail supports

I'm interested in the VR thing, I mean assuming its an option, can it make a ride worse than not having it at all? With Merlin style OTT hype advertising it should bring extra visitors in which is what the place needs next season.

It doesn't really bother me tbh if its one person. If a group of 2 or 3 push past it annoys me but then I don't ever say anything anyway. Realistically, one person pushing to see their friends is going to make NO difference to you at all. If 10 people all by themselves pushed in then I guess it could make the line longer. The only place I've ever been where we've done it is Paultons Park, where Peppa Pig world is. So, its aimed at small kids, and leaving the line for the bathroom then getting back in was basically accepted by all because everyone there understood your two year old can't hold it in.