[Videos Relating to Angry/Annoyed People at Theme Parks]

Hi everyone,

Hope you don't mind me posting this. I've been a 'lurker' here a good number of years, a year or so ago I posted an interview I'd conducted with John Wardley as part of my TV Production course. Since then I've been working in the "real world", I'm currently researching for an upcoming Channel 5 series featuring user generated content. We're currently looking for videos people have shot of 'angry' or annoyed people at theme parks or other leisure places. This is a fantastic example, except the quality is far too poor to be used:

Queue jumper on Colossus:

So things like queue jumpers, arguments, people annoyed about being stuck on a broken down ride etc would be fantastic if anyone has shot anything themselves, or has seen something similar elsewhere on YouTube etc. Just post here or message me!

Many thanks in advance guys

Chris

[John Wardley]

Thanks yes it did! I graduated this summer with a 2.1 and now I'm working on a well-known reality show on Channel 5

[John Wardley]

Glad you liked it I actually only just read it back for the first time since March, I realise some of the questions seem to be a bit odd but obviously I needed the answers to fill whatever the narrative was of the documentary script (I'm thinking the Disneyland question here)

[John Wardley]

Hi everyone,

Earlier this year, as part of my Television Production degree, I researched and wrote the script for a documentary detailing the history of roller coasters within the UK. I was privileged enough to be given an interview with John Wardley. I've since graduated and felt like people might be interested in the interview. I'm sure none of what he says is news to you lot, but still.. enjoy!

CJ: How does the roller coaster industry today compare to the 1980’s?

JW: Well the biggest change has been through the use of computer technology, both in terms of calculating the dynamics of the rides themselves and in terms of being able to control the track bending and the machinery for fabricating the rides, but I would say the main difference has been brought about by computer technology, and also sophistication in terms of the material that are used, the materials, the synthetic materials for the wheels and so on, and also in the sophistication of computer controls and the control technology.

CJ: The 1980’s saw many “off-the-shelf” design roller coasters…

JW: Well that’s not really the case as such, the permanent theme parks in the 80’s, particularly in America were using companies like Arrow Dynamics and Intamin and neither of those companies had off-the-shelf designs. They had off-the-shelf basic systems, but the actual track configurations were invariably custom designed. It was companies like Vekoma that were producing standard layouts either for travelling fairs or for amusement parks that couldn’t afford the luxury of having a custom design, or in actual fact didn’t have the space and wanted something very compact.

CJ: Yes, I believe the Corkscrew was a popular design having been found at Alton Towers and Drayton Manor

JW: Yes that was the Vekoma Corkscrew which was a standard design, now that was a totally portable ride and it moved on from Alton Towers when Alton Towers sold it a few years ago. That was designed… that was purchased for the reason that I mentioned. The previous owner of Alton Towers, John Broome, wanted a ride that he was able to lease rather than purchase and he also had a very very tight footprint in which to put it. But that was a standard design from Vekoma. But since then, and since I’ve been involved there hasn’t actually been any standard designs, they’ve all been custom layouts

CJ: The development of Chessington Zoo saw it become the UK’s first true theme park. Why was this direction taken as opposed to a more traditional amusement park?

JW: Right well that’s a good question because my original brief was to look at Chessington Zoo with a view to upgrading the circus and fun fair and I reached the conclusion that the way forward was not to upgrade the circus and fun fair because there is precious little point in people travelling long distances for permanent facilities if, what they could see when they got there, arrived at their local village green 6 weeks later. So the fairground was essentially all travelling fairground rides operated by travelling showmen and the circus was no different to any travelling circus that moved around the country and I felt that in order to develop an attraction that had a future, it had to provide something special which meant custom built rides on a permanent site which was very different and much more special than anything that travelled around

CJ: Yes I think the Vampire ride is probably a good example of a custom ride that was built at Chessington

JW: That’s right, it was not only a custom-designed ride, it was also Europe’s first suspended coaster, and a swing coaster like that which was of course built by Arrow Dynamics, very heavily themed using special effects and scenery and so on, combined with the Professor Burp’s Bubbleworks dark ride all embracing one sort of Bavarian-type Germanic theme. That was really the first time anything had been done like that in Britain, so you’re right it was Britain’s first real theme park although of course the definition of a theme park is a much-abused thing and a lot of people think a theme park is any kind of amusement park with a pay-one-price policy, preferably inland, in other words not by the sea side with a reasonably clean-cut image and I think people consider that as a theme park. But I think that’s a nonsense, a theme park is something where you provide a series of adventures and attractions on a theme and tell a story in the process.

CJ: 1994 is referred to as the year of the roller coaster, with the opening of Nemesis, Pepsi Max Big One and Shockwave at rival parks. How do each of these rides differ in terms of unique selling point?

JW: Well it was the starting point that each of the three attractions that you’ve mentioned set out from. Blackpool set out to build the tallest. Drayton Manor with Shockwave set out to build the first stand up coaster in Britain, and at Alton Towers we set out to build the best and the most unique. It certainly wasn’t the tallest, it didn’t get in any record books, we just set out to build the most amazing adventure. But I think probably time has really told the tale in as much as Nemesis is still way, way up there in the popularity charts of the international roller coaster enthusiasts, not just British. But Nemesis is still way up there and when ACE and the various roller coaster societies around the world come to Britain they made a bee-line for Nemesis and both the Big One and Shockwave just don’t get a mention

CJ: So I think it’s fair to say the building restrictions at Alton Towers obviously help with the design of innovative roller coasters?

JW: Oh yes, I mean although we curse the local planners for the restrictions that they put on us, at the same time they force us to be creative, and although it’s incredibly expensive to do what we did.. I mean that hole that we dug for Nemesis cost more than the ride cost and so although it is a great inconvenience, it would be so easy and so much cheaper if we could just throw steel up into the air way above the trees. At the same time the restrictions force us to be much more creative which gives the rides greater appeal both in the short and, most importantly, in the long term

CJ: So in that case, how did you go about topping Nemesis?

JW: Well after Nemesis opened, we obviously had to think outside the box again, and I sat down with Walter Bolliger of B&M and we came up with the idea of a vertical drop, but obviously we didn’t have the height to go up in the air, we had to go down in the ground so it meant digging a big shaft so the idea of a vertical shaft going into the ground and then going through a U-bend and back up again seemed to be the way forward, although again that excavation was going to cost a fortune. Subsequently, B&M have built dive machine coasters on the ground and they have had to be two or three times the size. That’s all very exciting, but the idea of dropping into that hole and not knowing how deep it is and whether you’re ever going to come out again, in other words dropping into oblivion which immediate gave us the name for the ride, that was how the whole project came about.

CJ: And then afterwards, what inspired you to create AIR?

JW: Well, having got a suspended coaster and developed the idea of hanging beneath the track, the next logical step was to lie in a face-down position like Superman and that led to, or suggested the idea of flying. I’d been working on this with B&M immediately after we had built Oblivion and a number of other companies got the same idea, it was the next logical step forward, so in effect the race was on to perfect it. Of course, Vekoma actually got a flying coaster out before we did with B&M but I still think that our system, which was totally different to Vekoma’s, they’re loaded in a different way, it gave a more satisfactory sensation of flying, the means by which we got people of varying dimensions into that flying position so they were safe and comfortable and it could be done quickly for maximum ride capacity was terribly difficult and that’s why it took a long time to get the technology perfected. And then, as we progressed, it was obvious that whereas Nemesis and Oblivion were the villains, they were the baddies, the wonderful thing about AIR was that it allowed you to do something that you wanted to do which was to fly, and so therefore AIR became the hero, it wasn’t a baddie, so it wasn’t threatening, it was a challenge but it was exhilarating, it was the goodie rather than the baddie. So the whole theme of AIR and its name suggested that it was the hero, not the villain.

CJ: So of course Alton Towers is known for its innovative roller coasters. Could you tell me about your relationship with B&M?

JW: Well B&M are arguably the finest roller coaster manufacturer in the world, but they are a very low-key organisation with an elite portfolio of clients. And they will deal with everybody, but at the same time their prices are far higher than other ride manufacturers and they will not build anything that they’re not completely happy with, so they will only build rides within their existing portfolio, they only develop new technology in-house and the only person to the best of my knowledge that collaborates with them is myself. I have a very good relationship with them, from the moment Nemesis opened, with Walter and Claude I developed a good relationship and I do collaborate with them with new technologies and new ideas and of course the wing coaster they’ve currently come out with is one of those collaborations.

CJ: Why was the decision made to build a 10 looping roller coaster at Thorpe Park?

JW: Well again it was at a time when it was very very important that whatever the next new ride was had some kind of easy, unique selling point. The company was in the ownership of merchant bankers, they wanted something that could convey very very quickly what the unique selling point was, and therefore a record breaker of some type was the requirement. But it couldn’t be the highest, it couldn’t be the fastest, it couldn’t be the longest, but we decided that it could have the most inversions of any roller coaster in the world so that quite simply was the reason.

CJ: You’ve had some involvement in the development of B&M’s new wing rider concept seen at Thorpe Park with the Swarm this year. How did you come to develop this concept?

JW: Well B&M wanted a new product, and the concept of separating the riders’ heartline, in other words the riders’ centre of gravity from the actual axis of the track. Below the track was done with the inverted coaster, above the track was the stand-up coaster. Now in terms of either side of the track, although there’s the dive coaster such as Oblivion, or later the bigger ones that they’ve built, had very wide vehicles. They were still very much on top of the track rather than either side of the track. Now the thing that appealed to me with the wing coaster idea is that essentially the vehicle and its track was very wide and not very deep, in other words you could go through a horizontal slot that was wide but not very high. The beauty of it is that you can head towards a vertical slot of the same dimensions so it looks as though you’re not going to fit through and rather like that famous sequence in Star Wars where you’re whizzing through canyons, the idea of a vehicle that rapidly flips onto its side can therefore fit through a gap that looks too narrow for it. That looked like fun. So that was how the wing coaster developed.

CJ: Merlin operates 4 of the UK’s top 5 theme parks. Do you think this lack of competition helps or hinders the UK’s roller coaster offerings?

JW: I would say, it certainly doesn’t hinder it because Merlin are the only people with the budget to enable big coasters to be built, and also they’re the only people that have the imagination to put aside ride manufacturers brochures and start thinking outside the box and creating something different and something special. I would say that Merlin are uniquely placed to be able to take roller coasters forward in Britain, and if it were left just to the competition I don’t think that would happen.

CJ: Did you feel that Alton Towers would be in competition with Disneyland Paris when it opened?

JW: No, none whatsoever. First of all, when Disneyland Paris first opened, it wasn’t a particularly happy sort of ship and it got a lot of bad press. It wasn’t as easy to get to as it is now, and things like the food offerings and the hotel offerings weren’t sorted like they are now, so people still felt that Alton Towers, which they could get to and enter for a fraction of the price of a visit to, what was then called Euro Disney, was, there really was no competition whatsoever from Disneyland Paris and I would say that there still isn’t because you can visit Alton Towers without a tremendous amount of planning, at the drop of a hat you can go there and you can have a thumping good time for far far less than if you got a Eurostar and went all the way over the Paris.

CJ: What do you think will be the next big thing in roller coaster design?

JW: Well that’s the question that everybody asks me because I am working on some new ideas with B&M but obviously until such time as the first one is announced, that will be very much under wraps so I’m afraid I can’t really elaborate on that, but you can rest assured that there is a lot of thought being put into where to go from here.

Please don't repost without crediting me

[Thorpe Park's Old Days]

Spot the Lost City theming

[Food Outlets]

Where's this new map then?