Alton Towers Discussion Thread

[verticalzero]

Can you imagine all the fuss if there was a Christians-only day?”

 

If it must be held, then why not on a out-of-season weekday rather than a busy weekend.

 

It would be funny if supporters from the BNP Party turned up

[bovinejumpsuit]

it is NOT the parks fault, they hired out the venue for a private booking and sent the couple a letter explaining that they will be allowed into the park and that they will be expecting 10,000 people into the park on that day and if they want to enjoy the park try the day before the wedding, The muslim fun day organisers invited the couple and their guests into their event out of kindness - all this talk about dresscodes is not too much stuff, all they are asking is that you cover your sshoulders and dont go bare footed??? the only issue i see is the single sex rides but they havent hired the park and they will be allowed in free of charge, stop crying.

 

and i believe the article was printed by the star to make a big deal of muslim fun day...they even rang a poll asking wether it should be banned - completely biasedd article and such.

[Louise]

Can you imagine all the fuss if there was a Christians-only day?”

 

If it must be held, then why not on a out-of-season weekday rather than a busy weekend.

 

It would be funny if supporters from the BNP Party turned up

 

Why would there be fuss? If Christians hired the park out the same way the Muslims have, I don't see that it would be a problem. But it's a slightly different situation: The Muslims kinda have to be in the park alone because of the rules about dress, and gender-mixing. With Christians, those issues wouldn't be there.

 

And yeah, it'd be hilarious if the national racist party turned up to cause trouble at a day when 20,000 people were just trying to have fun.

[Lord Kotowa]

Right there are two parts to this.

 

First one, with the children collapsing:

Thirsty schoolchildren who asked for water during a trip to Alton Towers were told by staff to use the taps in the park's toilets, an angry teacher has claimed. Louise Carus complained to the Staffordshire theme park after she visited the attraction on Tuesday with 150 girls from St Brigids School, in Denbigh, Wales.

 

She claimed that, as temperatures soared into the mid-30s, the children were told by park staff to buy bottles of water, costing about £1 each, or use the toilets, as some collapsed because of the heat.

 

She said: "There were thousands of children there that day and the weather was incredibly hot.

 

Our girls had all brought water bottles with them, but they quickly ran out. They went to a cafeteria, where staff re-filled the bottles for them free of charge, but when they went back later in the day, a different member of staff said she wasn't allowed to re-fill the bottles. When the children asked where they could get water, they were told to buy bottled water for £1 or use the water from the toilets. Children were actually collapsing in the queues for rides because of the heat."

 

A spokesman for Alton Towers said that staff should have re-filled the children's drinking bottles from cafeteria taps free of charge, in line with company policy.

 

But added: "The health, safety and welfare of our guests is our number one priority."

 

Secondly, their Mack Powered Mine Train coaster has crashed, and here is the explenation of the crash, its baffling me:

Three people have been taken to hospital and 26 others treated for cuts and bruises following an accident on a ride at Alton Towers.

 

It happened when the front carriages of the Runaway Mine Train became separated and rolled back into the rest of the ride at the Staffordshire theme park.

 

It took 40 minutes to evacuate the train which was full with 46 passengers at the time and has since been closed.

 

Alton Towers and the Health and Safety Executive are investigating the crash.

 

Two women were flown by air ambulance to North Staffordshire Hospital while a third person was taken by land ambulance.

 

'Rickety rails'

 

A spokeswoman for the theme park said: "The health and safety of our guests is our primary objective. The ride has been closed and will remain so whilst a thorough investigation is carried out."

 

The rollercoaster ride is one of the older attractions at the theme park.

 

Its description on the theme park's website invites customers to "rattle along the rickety rails and mine shafts, past trees and rivers, on a speeding locomotive that's out of control - and getting faster every second."

 

The rest of the theme park remains open.

[bgwfreak]

I wish bottled water was only $1.50 here! (with conversion from PS)

 

They charge $3.50 at most parks here.

 

But many will give you free tap water.

 

And what's up with trains seperating this year? First wild thing and then this.

[CoasterFanatic]

£1 is actually more like $2, but we are splitting hairs at this point ... it is still cheaper.

 

The funny thing I noticed in the UK is that there is very little markup from the store to the park. Unlike the US, most stuff costs about the same as you would pay on the street.

[willski]

I'm hoping that when the article says "Get water from the toilet", they really mean, "Get water from the sinks in the bathrooms" (since most Brits I know call the restroom just "toilet"). Otherwise that is gross.

 

Also, the temperature was only in the mid-90s, which is not that hot, especially with all of the shade that Alton has. It was 105 on Tuesday at SFOG, and a few people in line for Goliath had to leave due to heat exhaustion.

[LiamC]

Also, the temperature was only in the mid-90s, which is not that hot, especially with all of the shade that Alton has. It was 105 on Tuesday at SFOG, and a few people in line for Goliath had to leave due to heat exhaustion.

 

Trust me, thats bloody hot for us brits!!!! And alton do have a thing about trying to bleed every single penny out of you, which explains why they probably wouldnt let them fill the bottles up!

But on the runaway mine train incident, this is very serious news for Alton, and they really dont need the bad press at the moment!!!

 

Liam

[blackcurrent]

people in the UK are not used to the high temps we have had recently. there for are bodies are not use to it and more importantly people do not know how to act responsibly in hot weather. The girls were trying to be responsible by drinking water but it seems the staff were not so sensible as the school children. temps in the 90's in the UK is very rare and the whole country is struggling to cope. We have an official heatwave in the UK

[bgwfreak]

Don't visit the Southern US in the summer then.

 

I don't see why the park wouldn't allow children of all people to fill up their water bottles or get some water.

[verticalzero]

Any member of staff at any Theme Park should go out their way and make sure the customers are 100% ok.

 

As the UK is going through a Heatwave this week, you should be able to fill-up your water bottle anywhere inc at Parks for no fee.

 

I hope that member of staff is told off for saying what he/she did as it's very dangerous not to have water when it is a very hot day.

 

It's been a bad year for accidents at Parks, It must be the heat or just old parts which fail.

 

I'm going to Walibi World at the end of Aug and hope a wheel or 3 are not lost while going down the 1st drop.

 

It's turing out to be like Final Destination 3 film.

[alpengeist04]

Also, the temperature was only in the mid-90s, which is not that hot, especially with all of the shade that Alton has. It was 105 on Tuesday at SFOG, and a few people in line for Goliath had to leave due to heat exhaustion.

 

I'm sorry, the mid-90's is hot no matter where you live.

[WillMontu]

Even Six Flags has free water fountains to use (the ones that work are the best). In the UK, since I'm too cheap to buy a drink, I'll usually ask for a "glass of tap water"

 

I've noticed that a few of these mishaps have happened on rides that TPR visited on the UK tour (I have seen Camera of Doom in the vicinity of the Runaway Mine Train). Fortunately there haven't been many fatalities (aside from the ones at Disney)

[okinawaboy11]

google say's 1 euro is 1.25

 

Anywho. Seriously, the world is coming to an end. God is telling us not to ride coasters by killing us on them. [sarcasm]

 

But 2006 certainly has been the year for coaster accidents so far.

 

Doesn't the park have water fountains? Like near bathrooms and stuff.

[Robbie]

CF gives free cups of ice water, and I got like 50 on my recent trip

[Louise]

google say's 1 euro is 1.25

 

Did we switch currencies without me noticing?!?!

[verticalzero]

Atleast this ride is close to the ground and not very high,

 

I would not like to think of what would happen if "MF" / "Steel Force" trains separated on an hill.

[Hurricane]

those people on the train will be going Wiiiiiii.... and then "um... wheres the track? OH CRAP!" KASPLAT! not plesant. But i have said, if i die, i want to die on a roller-coaster, preferably a Vekoma or Intamin!

[Meteornotes]

google say's 1 euro is 1.25

 

Yes, but the UK uses different money. So what you would need to do is convert your dollars to euros, then convert the euros to yen, then convert the yen into martian space money, then convert the martian space money into pounds. It's complicated, but will give you the best exchange rate.

 

Dave "ok, two people will get that joke" Thomas

[socalMAN123]

Also, the temperature was only in the mid-90s, which is not that hot, especially with all of the shade that Alton has. It was 105 on Tuesday at SFOG, and a few people in line for Goliath had to leave due to heat exhaustion.

 

Remember, this is England you're talking about. Most of the time it is in the mid 60's to 70's. It is hardly ever that hot, so people may not be used to the hot weather like that.

 

As for these incidents, I don't think they will effect Alton at all because it is already such a popular park. When Big Thunder at DL crashed, did the ride or the park loose attendance? No. So really, I think the park will still thrive.

---Brent

[viking86]

And were not excactly talking about a signature ride like Big Thunder...

[socalMAN123]

All right, that was a bad choice of example. I'll take another park. Steel Dragon 2000, when it chucked wheels, do you think Nagashima Spa Land lost attendance? Maybe a little bit, but not a huge dip in attendance. Maybe I should just stop using examples.

---Brent

[Louise]

The article on the incident in one of our tabloids today was hysterical, I meant to bring the page home from the pub so i could quote bits from it but I forgot... Never mind, it's online!

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17422405%26method=full%26siteid=94762%26headline=alton%2dterrors%2d-name_page.html

 

I love that it's described as a "terror ride", and the statement from the woman who was in the first aid centre when the injured passengers were brought in is hysterical, she makes it sound like there'd been a terrorist incident, with the bleeding, shaking, eye patches, and vomiting from shock.

 

I wonder if the quoted ride op is one of the awesome ones that was there in June. TOM! If it was you, speak up!

 

I really don't think it's gonna have any effect on the park at all, maybe if it was Nemesis or Oblivion it'd have a slight one, but... It's still more than a little unnecessary for the media to treat it the way they have.

 

Something else that was kinda bizarre, around 2am last night, Sky News had a "Breaking Newsflash" of the accident... How the hell was it breaking news then?!

[goleafsgo]

wow. they sell water for 1 pound, if you are thirsty, buy it... if you want to collape because of heat stroke, be a cheap idiot and expect free refills.

[twisted_propaganda]

At Knotts if you ask for water, they'll give you their biggest size of that water that comes out of the lemonade spigot on the soda fountain. (It's still tap water, but it's better! )