Purplepills

I'm not really a fan of Derren so the association doesn't really do anything for me at all. I think its quite an interesting choice using an individual rather than a brand isn't it? In as much as it might actually put some people off because they hate the guy and the whole thing is sort of marketed as an 'experience' he's come up with. Suppose I'm not really the target audience though Any ideas as to what the 13 minute minute long journey might consist of? A few preshows and an actual ride? By the looks of things nobody really know what it is yet.

THAT LOOKS HORRIBLE

^Thats makes sense I guess, if the cause has been determined (human error) but then the effects (state of the cars) might still be being investigated? That sort of thing?

^I kinda figured the prohibition notice would stand until the investigation is complete. Do they lift prohibition notices before they're done investigating?

From the HSE statement on 5 June: Sounds to me like it won't be allowed to open it until the HSE investigation is complete, and I would imagine they have proven to the HSE that they have made changes to ensure it wont happen again.

so we just post burger photos? Awesome! Had this at the weekend in Byron Burger in Exeter, UK. Its a chain but its new to us! Pretty good!

I'd read the recent stories about Nick Varney visiting Vicky Balch who was one of the amputees. I noticed this in one of the the stories though posted this morning: As everyone expected but its the first 'official' human error announcement I've seen. Full article In another article a statement in response to rumours of the ride reopening was released: Full link

Just had a quick look on ridetimes.co.uk and its still listed as closed. 0 minutes wait for everything else though, so with the semi decent weather a good day to be there.

Thanks guys glad you liked it. No I didn't ride it. Whilst I find it okay, its just a bit too rough for my liking and there were other things I would rather do. I would ride it again if there was no wait, but when we went past it in the morning there was a 20 or 30 minute wait, and then at the end of the day there just wasn't time with the other things we wanted to squeeze in before closing! We could probably use 2 days at the park in all honesty, given Oktoberfest was pretty busy we didn't actually do much riding in the evening compared to previous years. Problem is with only 7 nights holiday in Salou, we can't really spend more than a day there without sacrificing any of the other things we really wanted to do.

No problem, glad you liked it! It is a lovely park, I intentionally didn't take lots of photos of the coasters, more just random stuff as I wandered about. Thanks! I didn't really have too much trouble with the operations, only really the fact when the park opens at 10, Shambhala doesn't open until 10.30. Its only a minor thing for me really given it takes 10 minutes to walk there anyway. I think out of the 10 or so rides on the time board, two thirds of them didn't open until 10.30 or 11, but I would've expected Shambhala to be open at 10. The ride ops were very good, and on Shambhala they were almost hitting to 60 second unloading/loading timer during the day just going a few seconds over. Now this does depend on the public too but normally when I've been they've been 20/30 seconds over it.

So for the third year in a row, we had our week’s holiday in Salou, Spain, which by no coincidence is where Port Aventura is. We also just happened to be there on Oktoberfest weekend for the third year running, so after taking a bunch of pictures both during a day visit, and at the Oktoberfest evening we went to, I thought some of you might like to see them. This year Oktoberfest was 2 consecutive Saturdays from 6pm to 1am, at 18 Euros (£13/$20) per adult. You can of course go to the park at 10am and stay until 1am if you choose for normal ticket price. The Oktoberfest opening times keep changing over the three years we’ve been. In 2014 it was 7pm to 2am (I think) Friday and Saturday for 2 consecutive weekends. In 2013 it was 7pm to 2/4am Friday, Saturday and Sunday but only one weekend. Not sure how long they have been doing it but it seems they’re still trying different things to see what works. I love the park, its a really nice place to visit, very clean, well kept, theming is great, and very family friendly. I’m not that well travelled in terms of theme parks but this is one of the nicest I’ve been to. We had an excellent time as usual! We did the Oktoberfest visit first from 8pm to 1am, then the daytime visit a few days later. The photos aren’t in the order they were taken but for some reason I feel the night photos should come last View from our hotel balcony....makes me happy! Ferrari Land construction area. They’ve dug up a lot of the old car park and built new ones elsewhere from what I could see. Not much construction going on, just a few pipes... ...and some concrete blocks. Could those be footers for the new Intamin coaster? I tried from the balcony with max zoom to get both trains in...nearly! Its the 20th anniversary this year so Woody has some extra balloons! All of the Mediterranean area is decorated with ribbons and balloons to celebrate the 20 years And there’s a big anniversary logo and stage in front the Theater building. The lake and Baco. I love one of these and hate the other..... ..and from the other side. Hint: I love the lake and Baco is horrible Khan drop vs Shambhala drop General Himalayan theming, fortunately the snow is fake and it was nice and hot! Something about this photo makes me want to eat burger and fries...hmmmm More theming, I don’t really know if it ties in with any story etc as I’m lazy and I’ve never bothered to find out Generic splashdown shot! Love this view! Such a a nice looking park with super tidy landscaping. 5-10 minute wait in the afternoon for Shambhala makes for happy riding! Its not an ice cream stall its a happiness station! Only I’m unhappy as its closed This was my daughters favourite ride She must have done it about 12 times in all Hurakan Condor....doesn’t really do anything for me so didn’t go on. Would’ve given it another go if it wasn’t a 20+ minute wait all day Then we had a nice ride on the excellent train Choo choo! etc To Sesamo Aventura! This whole kids area is really nicely done, although some small areas could now use a little TLC From big boats.... To nicely themed sun shades for eating under! Aaaand not forgetting a magic tree in the middle I took a few random pictures from Coco Piloto ride. This I think is a pretty good view! I love it Tami Tami kiddie coaster NOW to the untrained eye it may look like I’ve borrowed a child to get a credit. I assure you she borrowed me as her mum had to stay with a baby and she was too short to go on alone! I’d not seen one of these wonky maze type things before My daughter thought it was fun! Although I thought an adult version would make a good Horror maze As dusk falls the park starts to get even nicer! I’d never noticed these guys before hanging onto Baco Ahhh darkness, the nemesis of anyone trying to take photos of fast moving objects The Mediterranean area by the lake looks so nice when the lights come on Heading to the Far west area of the park Excellent Flume station It was pretty busy really through the whole park in the evening Lots of entertainment in the park for Oktoberfest evening, these drummers were pretty good Love the theming in the Far west area Bridge in the Far west area with 20th anniversary decorations. Cant remember if the flags etc were there last year or not! ‘So what family friendly shapes should we arrange the hay bales in for Oktoberfest?’ ‘How about a dick and balls?’ ‘Great idea!’ The carousel looks great at night Presented by straw style Oktoberfest Woody! As well as the larger groups dancing, there were ladies like these too ‘If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it!’ etc I haven’t done one of these for YEARS. My daughter wanted a go though Then she changed her mind but enjoyed watching me have a go instead. Pretty sure half of it didn't work though! Random Far west shop The entertainment moved around the different stages, and was more or less constant. Drummers at it again! There were also cheerleaders, and a band playing Offspring songs who I didnt get photos of. Ahhh the disco vulture! Normally he just chats in Spanish but this time he had disco lights and was miming rock songs! ‘Let meeeeeeeeeee, entertain you!’ The coasters look great lit up at night. One of the things I like the most if all the lighting at night isn’t overly bright or floodlit, just makes the whole place look great. General gold thingy in the Shambhala area Shambhala station Got this rather nice ghostly splashdown image. Wasn’t really trying for it as I’m not good enough with a camera to do so! Belly dancing in the Mexican area Park was still quite busy at 12.30am as we headed for a beer (coke for me) by the lake I waited a short while for these ladies to life up their skirts again like they did just as I got there... ...but they didn’t! Last look over the lake before a beer on the boat! Lots of people on their way out until... The new (I hadn't seen them before at least) fountains came on! They were timed to some Europop music with different lights Was quite a good display, set to 3 or 4 different songs! The Port Aventura photo sign has had a makeover and is specially lit so you can have your photo there...thanks Port Aventura for a wonderful time!

Geat pictures! Thanks for sharing, several people I know have been by the looks of my Facebook feed, but only posted a few photos each. Whilst I'm not into art I think this is one arty place I would actually go. I like the staff too, I can imagine its hard not to laugh at how grumpy they are. Bet it takes some people ages to get through security!

Good news. Hope the investigation will be complete soon so the reopening is in the hands of the park.

Personally I'm pleased this has been printed even if its not yet not any kind of 'official' outcome. People reading it will take it as fact anyway so I would hope this might instill a bit more trust from the public in terms of ride safety. Frankly if it was reported to be anything other than human error that would be very frightening. At least the article suggests park SOP's were breached and there shouldn't have been anyone on it when the engineer took over, rather than suggesting The Park lacks basic safety procedures. For a Daily Mail article it seems surprisingly sensible.

Have you been reading the Daily Mail? Its still listed as a ride on the Alton Towers website, and their daily ride time website albeit shown closed. Its not closing, but, the general opinion seems to be that it probably won't be open again until next season. Depends when the HSE investigation is complete.

Was just looking for the Air story, yes 20 minutes stuck on a lifthill, not so bad. Apparantely though two cars actually collided on Spinball on Tuesday? Very slowly but nonetheless the media have 'Second crash' headlines... www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/alton-towers-rollercoaster-crash-man-5987141 Statement from the park: Seems some people were stuck on the monorail for an hour too. Whilst nobody was really in any danger, it all couldn't come at a worse time, and so many small issues at once too.

Sad news indeed Me too, I think in terms of how the park has come across in the handling of this 'aftercare' it seems very good so far. I guess they don't really have a choice given whatever the outcome of the investigation they are ultimately responsible for guests safety, but the fact that there haven't really been loads of negative headlines about that sort of thing shows I think they're doing as best as they really can. I always see the multi million pound compensation headlines which sounds a lot, but then lets face it, if thats what it costs to support these people for the rest of their lives, thats what they deserve.

Problem is people read this without thinking about it and then its gets misquoted as fact. Its a quote from a lawyer with no basis other than hm stating its a possibility. Still, it generates more clicks than the headline 'Alton Towers Sparing No Expense in Smiler Accident Investigation' doesn't it

Another note from the 2 days is that there were still quite a few school trips there. I know some schools had cancelled after the Smiler incident, but not all. However there did seem to be less younger teenagers than normal there for when we visit. We do normally visit in May though, so the different time of year may have made a bit of a difference? There were quite a few larger groups of 6-10 year olds there though. We noticed this as they kept all going in their groups of 30 kids, 60 seconds before my daughter decided it was time to go on the same ride! 15 minute wait instead of 5...argh!

You may have been imagining it. The map I got yesterday, as you rightly say has Blade missing.

None of the maps have changed, paper or park ones.

Thinking about it I noticed staff were stood at the entrance to The Smiler. Given the sign is gone and its closed, why would they be there? Just to answer guests questions? Also interestingly at The Smiler entrance there are light effects on the inside of the 'doorways' into each line . These were still on. Found this odd that the effects would still be on.

Yeah I was expecting to see it on the parent swap pass, I made the effort to look for it on the off chance they had gone to that level of removing it. Didn't actually look at a a map all day as we dont need one, never occurred to me to check it but I'll have a look tomorrow out of interest.

Been today, in terms of ride operations Spinball had 3 cars going round at once and more loading/unloading (not sure if this is less than normal, don't normally pay attention?). Oblivion had 3 or 4 trains on only using one half of the station, so they were stacking at the station as normal. Nemesis was dispatching as soon as the train in front got to the first set of brakes (when they were ready to, like when my last ride only had 3 people in it). So after reading last week about trains being held in the station on Nemesis until the first train was past the first set of brakes etc it seems now it's back to normal. Or at least what I recall as normal, it's been a while! No Smiler branding anywhere, the only place I saw the name was on the parent swap pass. The metal grill which had the outline of the logo in the photo a couple of pages back has now gone completely. Fun day in all, bit wet but good day nonetheless Do people still do ride counts? I was counting for my own fun anyway so if it does interest anyone here you go. And yes I had a child with me before you judge my ride choices Postman Pat 3 Tree Top Adventure 2 NumNum number cars thingy 2 Oblivion 3 Enterprise 1 Nemesis 4 Air 2 Octonoughts coaster 1 Rapids 2 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 1 Carousel 1 Spinball 1 Pie factory 1 Mine Train 1 Duel 1 We are back in tomorrow so looking forward to it all over again!

You're right, people here seem to be very much on the news side. I personally find it hard to even read some Daily Mail articles as I get so angry so quickly ( how immigrants and people on benefits are ruining the country), yet people lap it right up without really thinking too much. I think a name change as mentioned above would do good to immediately distance the ride from this horrible incident. A fresh start if you will.