Alton Towers Discussion Thread

[snoflake15]

My sister was saying they had to pay £38 for my 4 year old nephew yesterday. Surely they should have kids cheaper than that?

[RCT3Bross]

Towerssstreet revealed the third arm is going to be the Tickler. My guess is that this will remain the last arm until they made the dive loop and final airtime hill.

(Towersstreet)

[josephcissell]

The trains look great to me! I really like the open air feeling that they seem to have. The OTSRs really don't look bad, though I wonder how rideable The Smiler will be in the long term with such a twisty layout and thus a major potential for headbanging. In the short term, I'm sure the ride will be wonderfully smooth like other Gerstlauers, but as the ride ages, it seems that could become much more of an issue.

[TyRush]

This seems like it will really add to the ride! Looks outstanding!

[Rollercoasters4Life]

Third leg going in:

 

(Thanks to ThemeParkCollective)

[kadabrium]

So the trim is only on the downward section of the hill?

[RCT3Bross]

^ Not really just on the top of the hill. On the point you going to dive into the Batwing you are already of the trims.

So Now we have the Tickler, Flasher and Giggler arm all placed. When I compare it to the ride it self the Marmaliser doesn't look massive big, but compare it to the workers and it does look very big makes me only looking forward to see it in real-life.

[rctneil]

The Marmaliser is [pretty big when seeing it person and the whole ride certainly gives a presence on the black hole site not seen for a very long time. The whole ride and site is huge and it's going to look great with the trains flying about on it.

 

Yesterday was certainly an interesting experience at the park. More security there than I have ever ever seen on a traveller day in recent years. Police Helicopter flying around and at least 2 3rd party security people monitoring each attraction along with police officers wandering about in each area.

 

It was nice to see the extra security but on previous traveller days I havent felt particularly threatened so I guess it was mostly precautionary but there were a few incidents I saw going on around the park and they looked like they were resolved rather quickly. The queue jumping was ever so present yesterday too. We just let them get on with it and nothing else came of it until it happened a lot in a bigger than normal queue for the skyride and eventually a staff member noticed and sent them all the the back! They seemed to have no idea what they had done.

 

I also rode Nemesis Sub Terra which is massively improved from the first few weeks of operation and I rode with a friend who had never ridden it before and we got stuck on the return so we were stuck between two floors for approximately 15-20 minutes, all the normal lights came on, it was nothing to be worried about but gave a chance to see the inner workings of the ride and there is actually a lot more theming and extra details you normally don't get to appreciate due to the lack of lights so it was nice to be able to see all that extra effort.

 

Nemesis was also running just as well as normal. I just live that final hidden corkscrew. Just a good ride from beginning to end! I normally tend to overlook Rita but we got one ride and I forget how forceful the launch actually is. It is a short ride but it is surprisingly good.

 

The Sanctuary was actually better yesterday than my previous visit. All actors working well and some nice scares throughout. I do like the way they split your group into two in the end cage maze.

[caffeine_demon]

My sister was saying they had to pay £38 for my 4 year old nephew yesterday. Surely they should have kids cheaper than that?

 

crikey that's steep! it's that for anyone under 12!

 

It's much cheaper if you book in advance though...

[jedimaster1227]

Well it looks like The Smiler will shut up all of those people (at least temporarily) that claim that coasters never have enough inversions...

 

But then again, it will probably ignite complaints from the park fanatics of every other park whining about how their newest coasters don't have as many as The Smiler.

 

Honestly, this ride looks fantastic! I'm very impressed with the level of theming on this one... And I don't think anyone can argue that this is a serious step up from the former Black Hole that occupied the same spot.

Edited April 2, 2013 by jedimaster1227

[SharkTums]

^^^Had to look up 'travelers'. Hadn't heard that one before. For those of you too lazy to look it's basically a scary gypsy day at the park!

[Dobba]

Copyright to The Alton Towers Guide

[BeemerBoy]

So Now we have the Tickler, Flasher and Giggler arm all placed.

I haven't followed this project much, so I basically have no idea what the hell is going on except for a ton of track and a washing machine. However, now I'm convinced they're also building a sex shop or something.

[simon8899]

^ That would then be the B**b arm of the Marmaliser....

[Wes]

Copyright to The Alton Towers Guide

 

What is this? A Buzzsaw to decapitate riders?

[A.J.]

What is this? A Buzzsaw to decapitate riders?

It isn't to decapitate riders - it's used to cut rider's faces so they have facial scars in the shape of a smile.

[DJeXeL]

[Wes]

[RCT3Bross]

Mamaliser has some more construction on the flasher arm:

Close up.

As we can see the solar panels (I guess can't think of anything els) and the panels for the strobes are being placed.

Pictures belong to the Alton Towers guide.

[Rollercoaster Rider]

Good for parks to use renewable energy. I wish some American Theme park companies (Cough! Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Busch Cough!) would do it as well.

[TyRush]

A preview for a new movie called Oblivion came on and all i thought about was the coaster. Ah... the life of a coaster enthusiast!

[ultradude306]

Well, first off, this thread's on page 306, & my username's got 306 in it, so that's Kool.

 

Secondly, this ride looks wicked! Too bad I can't get to th uk any time soon ;(

[sfgam#1]

Well, first off, this thread's on page 306, & my username's got 306 in it, so that's Kool.

 

 

Anyway I'm too lazy to read all these threads.. Do we know what the worlds first feature is yet..? (Sorry if this has been asked in the past few threads)

[COASTER FREAK 11]

So far all we know for sure is that the ride has 14 inversions. Which is a worlds first. But we do not know if there will be others or not.

[mark549]

Good for parks to use renewable energy. I wish some American Theme park companies (Cough! Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Busch Cough!) would do it as well.

 

 

The "Cal Expo" fairgrounds in Sacramento, California has a large solar panel array over the parking lot. It may still be the largest parking lot solar array in the world. No coasters there but there is a water park. http://www.californiasolarcenter.org/solareclips/2002.05/20020528-4.html

 

Putting solar panels over queue lines would be a great way to shade waiting riders and provide power for lift motors (or launch systems).

 

Solar hot water would work very well for amusement parks. Most are not open in the winter. Most don't need much hot water at night.

 

They're not as great for rainy days but summertime in northern latitudes (such as at Alton Towers) works well given the long daylight hours.