KarlaKoaster

Smiler has now reopened after last year's accident.

I can't believe how quickly the track is going up, particularly as most of the work is being done at night... it's only about 10-or-so pieces from being completed!

I think bleak, medieval and volcanic are what they're going for to be honest I kinda like that it's very grey and dark, and think that grass or some other colour would kinda detract from it? It's annoying that Merlin persist with dark and bleak themes for their latest rides and it just looks tacky, but Phantasialand go from colourful and cheery Chiapas to this dark and brooding masterpiece! Oh yes, totally, it looks brilliant! I'm sick of Merlin and their depressing 'psychological' rides but Phantasialand can definitely afford to go a bit dark, and unlike Merlin this doesn't mean just putting oil drums and shipping containers everywhere and making everything look abandoned... Taron is a work of art and looks amazing!

This looks amazing, both the coaster and the theming. Will there be grass underneath? It looks quite bleak at the moment, but obviously that could be intentional.

I guess their USP became toxic. I agree with coasterbill that it could be the thin end of the wedge, but I'm hoping it's more a case that that the baying mob will think they've won and move onto their next target of moral objection.

That's true, I take it all back! Maybe Intamin will learn from this and will design future coasters in Microsoft Paint #KarlaKnowsBest

I feel almost guilty as I think I was the first person who noticed the wiggly track and never intended it to become such a 'thing'. I remember at the time asking whether it was the angle of the photo that exaggerated the bumps. Honestly it's never really worried me too much, I mean the track will be checked and double checked at the site... not by someone like me drawing a line in Microsoft Paint and with little or no knowledge of these things, but by clever people who commission rides all the time.

I'd be quite happy with something like a Mack Water Coaster and think this would be both a fitting replacement to the Flume, and also be a nice fit for the park. It's a nice area they have to work with - looking forward to seeing the construction pictures from the Sky Ride

Yep, I thought so, I wonder when they were changed on Air?

Also I thought the chassis on FB was grey, not brown?

Yes, but they are more like arm rests not actual handles. It seems the handles are actually new. The silver rests that are underneath were always there but not the handles themselves. I've never noticed them before, but they were there already, at least in all the pictures I've seen, although having said that it looks like the shape of them has changed over the years. I guess some might have been replaced through wear and tear over the years and the shape has changed as the design has been refined? Image: Towers Times

In other news, I didn't realise Logger's Leap was closed this season. Bad year to be a flume, eh?

I guess it will open when it opens. Dollywood will do everything they can to get it running for the public on opening day, but they won't cut corners to do so. To avoid the ride after it's been testing for "only" a week is silly, Dollywood aren't going to let people on it if they're not satisfied it's safe, even if it means their exceptional reputation for having rides open on time takes a knock.... which it won't, because people have very short term memories.

I'm not going to lie, but I'm gutted about Hex. It's one of my must-rides. I like Nemesis Sub Terra as a filler ride too, and I normally rode this at least once every visit too. I hope they both reopen.

Before the summer holidays it can get busy because of school trips, but even during Summer holidays last year it wasn't too busy. Maybe just buy Fastrack when you're there if you need it. I certainly wouldn't recommend buying it before you go. Remember you can see queue times on ridetimes.co.uk so maybe monitor that in the week(s) before you go so that you know what crowd levels are like. My plan of action with the park is always to work from Forbidden Valley down through Katanga Canyon, across to X Sector and then across to the Dark Forest, although not sure how Galactica will change things this year (if Galactica makes X Sector busy first thing in the morning I guess it might be worth doing it backwards, starting in the Dark Forest). In other news! Here's an article on John Wardley and his thoughts on Galactica: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/alton-towers-galactica-replace-air-11023240

The only thing I'd say is that I don't find Thorpe Park isn't a very "nice" place when it's busy. Some theme parks have such a great atmosphere when they're busy but Thorpe Park just seems really unpleasant and like it doesn't cope very well, particularly during Fright Nights. This is just my experience though.

I'm so excited for this park! It looks absolutely amazing IMHO. Thanks for the pictures everybody.

I'm intrigued more than I am excited but the video looks pretty good.

I wondered if it might be something to do with that, but was a bit surprised to see whole I beam supports as some of these I beam supports are quite large. But like other people have said, it's obviously not a complete carbon copy of the previous Hulk and has been refined quite a bit. Is the loop track a bit different too? Quite a few sections have a very deep backbone which I can't remember on the Hulk V1.

Hmm yes! And here's an I beam support supporting track on the turnaround. I can't think why this would be the case. Image from Mako Madness.

Thanks for the pic! Are the two little supports on the left of the image square, or is it just the light?

Well done RCS! Just over two months to build this huge coaster in earnest!

Oh wow CoryPA77, nothing gets past you, well noticed Thanks for the pictures CPmillenia94. In their original permit Universal said "remove and replace the coaster's accelerator launch motors" so I think a lot of people (myself included) assumed they might be replacing with LSMs now that the technology has improved, but you could be right

I think the launch technology is probably going to change, and apparently (according to someone in this thread who has been right about everything else) it will still have overheads (some people wondered whether it might have vest restraints). Universal said that the queue would be getting "enhancements" so I guess this might be modernised. I actually quite liked the vibe of the old queue with the cartoon video, but I'm interested to see what they do. As rcdider says, the track is idential. I thought they might smooth it out and remove some of the snaps, but apparently they've not even done this, they just clicked 'print'

Wonderful trains, I love that the pterodactyl and the train are separate entities with the train being pulled along by the dino. I also love the mini handlebars that the pterodactyl's holding onto