NemesisRider Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Fireworks review The Fireworks were definitely my favourite so far. The Enterprise was utilised well and the live actors were a nice touch. There was a good mix of music and it really cannot be summed up in words. I have taken lots of pictures though. The music was very good, and the musical highlight was the orchestral Hex theme. I do love Hex, it's an epic dark ride, so hearing it's theme remastered was pleasing to my inner fanboy The finale was awesome, and the lasers were probably the star this year. I also got in 4 night rides which were Nemesis, Oblivion, Congo River Rapids and lastly Air. I made sure I got several rides on Air before it's transformation next year. I personally am predicting VR like lots of other people, so it could be the last time seeing the actual landscape instead of VR. This was definitely my favourite event of the year as I couldn't attend Scarefest and I was pleasantly surprised by the queues. I definitely hope to attend next year! I got in 3 rides on Nemesis, including one at night. A picture of Rita, taken from the Th13teen queue. Don't look down... Goodbye Air! Some of my pictures of the Fireworks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarlaKoaster Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 190 jobs may go due to restructuring following a poor season: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-34771289 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthFan Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 ^Its not really surprising that something like this has happened given the attendance drop this year. While it does suck for those effected maybe a restructuring of management and other staff could actually be a blessing in disguise for the future of the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Hopefully the ops and maintenance personnel who allowed the ride to operate in an unsafe mode are amongst the 190 losing their jobs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaellynn4 Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Hopefully the ops and maintenance personnel who allowed the ride to operate in an unsafe mode are amongst the 190 losing their jobs! To be honest, I hope they're already long gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Married a Canadian Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Its been rumored Air could possibly become a VR Coaster With apologies, but what is a "VR Coaster"? Air was the first Coaster I took my future wife on, so there is a certain fondess for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthFan Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Its been rumored Air could possibly become a VR Coaster With apologies, but what is a "VR Coaster"? Air was the first Coaster I took my future wife on, so there is a certain fondess for it. This is the only VR coaster currently in existence at Europa Park. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] Honestly if Air gets VR treatment the last small little speck of faith I had in Merlin will die. This is not to sort of ride that VR is needed and will kill the capacity of that ride quick. New paint, trains and some theming and I would be happy. Maybe the awesome light show in the tunnel at the start with misters like was originally planned would also be nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rctneil Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 I really can't see the VR thing take off and I agree with you there Craig, just a nice refresh of the theme (especially a clean up and something decent in the tunnel) would be excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Married a Canadian Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 This is the only VR coaster currently in existence at Europa Park Thanks, I get it now. Personally I don't understand this idea of Virtual reality on a roller coaster. To me the whole point of a ride is taking in the sights and sounds and panorama of what is around me...putting a headset over my eyes to watch a virtual landscape defeats that point. I will take VR on a simulator ride, a roller coaster should remain "au naturel" ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarlaKoaster Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 I saw on Ride Rater and Towers Street that Alton Towers will probably be mothballing six rides next year. Six rides! These will apparently include the Log Flume, Ripsaw, Hex, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Driving School and Nemesis Sub-Terra. No great loss with Charlie and the Driving School, but I did always ride the other four, and Hex is such a brilliant ride! Along with weekday closures and shorter opening times, it looks like 2016 will be bit of a weird year for the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanTPM Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 ^Yeah, some of those closures don't make sense if it's true Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawlessBagel Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 They are really taking a terrible situation and making it worse. They need to tell everyone what happened and how they screwed up and reassure people all the steps they have taken to ensure that the most avoidable accident in the history of amusement parks will never happen again. Looks at what happened to Great Adventure in the 80s...lightning loops death and the horrible fire both very avoidable incidents. The park realized that the only way they were going to survive was the admit their mistakes and pour millions into correcting their mistakes and even having the "we care about you" advertising campaign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dar Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Towers Street are also reporting that Ripsaw and The Flume are being removed entirely, not just SBNO for the season like the others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterkid124 Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 But why? Alton Towers doesn't have many flats as it is. First Submission, now Ripsaw? And the Flume was pretty good too. I get that they have been hurt by The Smiler incident, but removing the rides won't help the park's rep at all. If anything, shutting down more rides will give the media more ammunition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I saw on Ride Rater and Towers Street that Alton Towers will probably be mothballing six rides next year. Six rides! These will apparently include the Log Flume, Ripsaw, Hex, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Driving School and Nemesis Sub-Terra. No great loss with Charlie and the Driving School, but I did always ride the other four, and Hex is such a brilliant ride! Along with weekday closures and shorter opening times, it looks like 2016 will be bit of a weird year for the park. Damn that's major news if true, especially the Log Flume and Hex. I enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for its uniqueness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 ^The Glass Elevator bit at the end of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was the best part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garet Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I'm surprised to see Sub-terra closed so soon after it was installed, even if it did seem to get mediocre reviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottjenkins Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't they merely moving Ripsaw to the X-Sector as planned...... Panic over people! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarlaKoaster Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I'm not sure, a lot has changed since they planned to move Ripsaw, plus that would only account for one of the six rides that look to be closed next year. Hopefully the rumours are groundless, but on Merlin's recent form it wouldn't surprise me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garet Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Decided to look on the AT facebook page and see what kind of comments people were leaving. This seems to be the copy/pasted reply from the PR team. Hello, _______. As the 2015 season has recently ended we are still working on plans for our 2016 season. Watch this space for announcements about fantastic new experiences and exciting new developments planned for the near future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt6885 Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 This is good news for coaster fans. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34911943 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddytheviper Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 (edited) Alton Towers conclude crash was caused by human error. Announced ride will re-open in 2016. Article Here Human error caused the Alton Towers rollercoaster crash in June that seriously injured five people, the Staffordshire theme park has said. Two women - Victoria Balch and Leah Washington - had legs amputated after the Smiler ride hit an empty carriage in front of it on 2 June. Staff misunderstood a shutdown message and wrongly restarted the ride, an investigation by the park confirmed. No technical or mechanical issues were found with the ride itself. The ride, which has been closed since the crash, will reopen next year with improved safety measures. "A ride shutdown message was misunderstood by staff at the ride," an Alton Towers spokeswoman said. "This led to a decision to manually restart the ride, overriding the control system without appropriate safety protocols being followed correctly." A total of 16 people were injured when the carriage they were in collided with an empty one that had come to a halt ahead of them. Merlin Entertainment, which owns Alton Towers, previously said all 16 would receive compensation. Crash errors Four people sat in the front row were among those most seriously hurt. Ms Balch, 20, from Lancashire, had six rounds of surgery in a bid to save her leg before needing an amputation. Ms Washington, 17, from Barnsley, also had one of her legs amputated and her 18-year-old boyfriend Joe Pugh shattered his knees. Daniel Thorpe, 27, from Buxton in Derbyshire, was treated for a collapsed lung and lower leg injuries. Another passenger Chanda Chauhan, 49, from Wednesbury, had surgery after suffering internal injuries. The Health and Safety Executive said its own investigation was "still ongoing". Alton Towers said it had followed "standard HR procedures and taken the appropriate action" when dealing with the staff whose errors caused the crash. A spokeswoman said: "The outcome of this however remains a private matter between us and any individual concerned." Merlin Entertainments saw like-for-live revenues fall by 11.4% across its theme park division over the first nine months of its financial year after seeing "significantly" lower numbers of visitors to Alton Towers. The company said earlier this month that it would be carrying out "a restructuring" of the business leading to the loss of up to 190 jobs. When the Smiler reopens next year, it will feature an additional level of authorisation so no manual override can happen without a senior member of staff, the theme park said. "We are confident that lessons have been learned and that appropriate action has been taken to address all the issues raised by our investigation." Edited November 24, 2015 by eddytheviper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garet Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 It'd been rumored to be human error for a very long time, nice to see it finally confirmed. Some extra info: An investigation by the theme park Alton Towers says the crash on the Smiler ride in June happened after the safety system was manually overridden. The company, from its own investigations, found there were no technical or mechanical problems with the ride itself. Alton Towers says it has since improved safety measures with: - Additional CCTV cameras - Additional manual reset buttons around the track - An "extensive" set of new safety measures - Enhanced training The Health and Safety Executive is continuing with its on-going investigation. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoinItForTheFame Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Alton Towers conclude crash was caused by human error. Announced ride will re-open in 2016. No surprise there. I think we all knew this was the cause, we were just waiting for it to be officially announced after the investigation. My heart still goes out to those who were injured in what was 100% preventable. However, I'm glad to hear the ride will be back up and running in 2016. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgan Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 It's good that the findings are officially out in the open now. What has surprised me a little is the amount of people I've seen blaming Alton Towers for using this as a 'scapegoat' exercise, trying to deflect the blame onto the staff involved. If somebody goes against set safety protocols, who else can be to blame? Yes the ride technical safety systems were obviously not full proof in that the accident did happen, but if the protocols had been followed correctly it would not have. It's an awful incident, but at least Alton Towers/Merlin have always taken full responsibility for it throughout, something which doesn't generally happen until the outcome of an investigation. Hopefully now this is out in the open, the park can try to get back to normal, although if the recent rumours are true I think it might be a long time until that happens. With regards to the rumoured closures, it would seem weird to me for them to do this, at a time when they should be re-building confidence, they should be throwing money at the problem to reinvigorate the park and enticing those visitors that have stayed away since the incident. Yes profit margin-wise it won't be good, especially on top of the losses already reported, but in this case I think they need to take the hit as they are in danger of losing their footing in the UK market, if they continue as they are. I guess realistically though we won't be able to tell the full extent of the problems until The Smiler is back open, perhaps the public will start returning once it is back up an running and people are riding it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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