Alton Towers Discussion Thread

[coasterdude5]

Maybe the ride will go upside down 13 times. Unlikely, but you never know!

[the ghost]

^^^ What if there are boobs like the log ride in Tripsdrill? Am I the only one who got excited in thinking the surprise elements are boobs? I am really immature right now so this seems hilarious as I've been up for like 36 hours and when I wake up in the morning I'm gonna re read this and feel stupid, but for now BOOBS!

[Rollercoaster5000]

There won't be an age limit . It's only marketing, massive lolz to the whole waiver thing, AT have gone too far with the marketing. Any way I'm unhappy with the name, would of preferred Mortalis. Oh well just have to live with it. Really like the theming, and the whole thing about it being a Psychoaster just sounds awesome. Can't wait to find out what the world's first element is, hoping for a freefalling track section, found this earlier http://s116.photobucket.com/albums/o29/ziggyame/?action=view&current=Sw6Element.flv, no it isn't official but it would be great for this to be the world's first element. No there won't be any boobs, remember this is a UK park, we don't show any perverse material in our parks, at least none that know of don't.

[Jcoaster95]

Alton Towers Resort is to launch "the scariest ride in the UK" next year, it announced today.

 

Thirteen, built on the site of the old Corkscrew rollercoaster, aims to combine physical and psychological fear and will be dubbed a "psychoaster".

 

The £15 million ride will be restricted to 16 to 55-year-olds only and visitors limited to one ride per day "due to concerns about emotional maturity and physical health", resort bosses said.

 

Visitors will also be required to sign a waiver which assures the resort of their physical and mental health "to avoid any resulting lawsuits".

 

WTF?!?!?!? Seriously?!?!?!? Are they trying to get less business?!?!? I saw this, and I thought "Awesome! I have to get to the UK to ride this!". But It's not worth it if I have to wait a year AND only get one ride!!! With this combined with the "No hands up because of BO thing" at Thorpe park, They completely turned me off. Good job Merlin.

[traincrossin]

^It's called publicity, I dont think any of it is real.

[Twister II]

There won't be an age limit . It's only marketing, massive lolz to the whole waiver thing, AT have gone too far with the marketing. Any way I'm unhappy with the name, would of preferred Mortalis. Oh well just have to live with it. Really like the theming, and the whole thing about it being a Psychoaster just sounds awesome. Can't wait to find out what the world's first element is, hoping for a freefalling track section, found this earlier http://s116.photobucket.com/albums/o29/ziggyame/?action=view&current=Sw6Element.flv no it isn't official but it would be great for this to be the world's first element. No there won't be any boobs, remember this is a UK park, we don't show any perverse material in our parks, at least none that know of don't.

Maybe it's just me, but that looks like a mechanical nightmare.

[Dobba]

[chemical_echo]

There won't be an age limit . It's only marketing, massive lolz to the whole waiver thing, AT have gone too far with the marketing. Any way I'm unhappy with the name, would of preferred Mortalis. Oh well just have to live with it. Really like the theming, and the whole thing about it being a Psychoaster just sounds awesome. Can't wait to find out what the world's first element is, hoping for a freefalling track section, found this earlier http://s116.photobucket.com/albums/o29/ziggyame/?action=view&current=Sw6Element.flv no it isn't official but it would be great for this to be the world's first element. No there won't be any boobs, remember this is a UK park, we don't show any perverse material in our parks, at least none that know of don't.

Maybe it's just me, but that looks like a mechanical nightmare.

Looks like a typical, tried and true, scissor lift.

Not sure if one was ever built on this scale before, but it's not like it's anything new.

[4rturo]

And inverted boomerangs had been done before, just not in that scale

yet drove vekoma to bankruptcy.....

 

I do think it will be a mechanical nightmare

[Gigalyte]

^^^ That picture is cool and creepy, I hope this ride is as good as it's being hyped up to be. Far as the scissor lift thing is concerned is that even confirmed?

[cmpunk771]

^Not yet, i dont think we will find out until the ride opens

[chemical_echo]

Far as the scissor lift thing is concerned is that even confirmed?

Not confirmed. For all we know it could be a fan's really good animated guess.

 

And inverted boomerangs had been done before, just not in that scale

yet drove vekoma to bankruptcy.....

 

I do think it will be a mechanical nightmare

I'm sorry, but you're comparing a scissor lift (something that is used every day by tons of companies in tons of different applications) to a roller coaster that is designed by one company and their evolution on the design.

 

Sure, there's probably going to be some maintenance problems; there usually is on a first of a kind coaster. But, as for it being a nightmare, I doubt it.

[ImagineerJohn]

Far as the scissor lift thing is concerned is that even confirmed?

Not confirmed. For all we know it could be a fan's really good animated guess.

 

And inverted boomerangs had been done before, just not in that scale

yet drove vekoma to bankruptcy.....

 

I do think it will be a mechanical nightmare

I'm sorry, but you're comparing a scissor lift (something that is used every day by tons of companies in tons of different applications) to a roller coaster that is designed by one company and their evolution on the design.

 

Sure, there's probably going to be some maintenance problems; there usually is on a first of a kind coaster. But, as for it being a nightmare, I doubt it.

 

The Animation you found on Photo Bucket was created by myself along with a few others. Scissor Lifts, Hyrdaulic Tilts and Drop Tracks are all possible ideas which i played around with. The reason i focused alot on a scissor lift is due to the reduction of pressure upon the hydraulics on a scissor lift. A Coaster car with people is going to be very heavy to hold up.

 

The Mechanism is going to require locking pins incase of power cuts.. so that it can be locked in the up state for the top track and down state for bottom track.

 

I hope to be getting some mechanism photos of what ever the secret weapon is from behind the scenes in March at the Preview - Which of course i will post after the 20th March if allowed.

[cmpunk771]

Just noticed there is thirteen evil people in that picture, i really cant wait to find out the element.

 

Corkscrew is also making a return kind of

http://towersnerd.com/news/item.php?id=195

Planning Application Submitted by Alton Towers

[FLIPDUDE]

Rides here have an age limit too... They're hardly justified.

 

 

Are they seriously marketing this as the scariest caoster ever?

Man... This seems like it's going to be one of those summer blockbusters that has months of huge hype buzzing on about it, and then duds in the box office as soon as it opens. Is Alton really smart for overhypign the coaster this much? Sure, alot of people have heard about it by now and alot of people are going to show up o begin with, but aren't diappointed park guests a big PR no-no?

 

 

^Strange that the corkscrew would be there... And not as a dotted line, at that. Nor is the lift or any of the track next to the corkscrews.

[Wes]

^ Um, I think you missed the point with Corkscrew...they are using the corkscrew portions track as decorative pieces for the entrance plaza, kinda like how Thorpe has this pseudo-track for their entrance.

http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/13/75/137527_56ea2595.jpg

[Steelinwood]

I've been skeptical, but i don't want to form my complete opinion until it's open. One thing is for sure, they are marketing it very well. I think the theme may be better than the ride though.

[Rollercoaster5000]

I was gonna post the Corkscrews Oh well doesn't matter, I heard that they'll repaint the Corkscrews, the track purple and the supports will be gold, although they'll look nice, I think they should remain in their true iconic colours, if it's meant to be a tribute. Back on topic, I also noticed that there are 13 wraiths in the picture, hope this will be linked in with the ride's story, maybe this will be shown in a pre-show video.

[Ed]

Corkscrew looked rather terrible in those bright yellow colours towards the end of its life tbh.

 

Dark purple is a much nicer track colour than vomit yellow.

[Dobba]

Spinball Whizzer is currently having a new paint job added, speculation of a re-theme growing with Sonic seemingly the favourite.

[Manny In England]

^ I really don't want to see more licensed themes, they pulled off Charlie and the chocolate factory pretty well, but on their coasters, no thanks. Oblivion's the ride that needs repainting, its gone from black to faded grey.

[Dobba]

^ I really don't want to see more licensed themes, they pulled off Charlie and the chocolate factory pretty well, but on their coasters, no thanks. Oblivion's the ride that needs repainting, its gone from black to faded grey.

I'm not a fan of licensed themes either myself but anything is an improvement on Spinball currently. If this is the start of a retheme then the last 2 mis-matched rides on park will be sorted out within 1 close season. Got to be considered progress surely,

[FLIPDUDE]

Peersonally I LOVE the idea of a pinball theme, but from what I've seen in pictures, it's not a very extensive one. Only a couple of bumpers in the middle of a helix... No?

[B&Mmmmm]

Peersonally I LOVE the idea of a pinball theme, but from what I've seen in pictures, it's not a very extensive one. Only a couple of bumpers in the middle of a helix... No?

 

There is quite a bit more theming, and it has a nice setting surrounded by trees and with pathways to walk all around it, and it's the first ride that you see when you come in. Overall it has a good setting and atmosphere but the theming itself is rather average. It's acceptable theming but not up to Alton Towers high standards

 

 

Is there any news of Rita getting a retheme or repaint?

[dr.gumbo]

The pinball idea was a good one but very tacky. Seems like they just went for that to give it 'some' sort of theming rather than none.

 

I love how they are re-using the corkscrews, very creative idea IMO.