AstroDan
-
Posts
1138 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Events
Posts posted by AstroDan
-
-
A lot of the people saying they are glad to see the back of them. I am confused.
It was already a challenge to achieve a throughput of even 950pph on The Smiler. With added faff of a bag storage area on the platform, this will plummet further.
- Stuntman707 and HermanTheGerman
-
1
-
1
-
23 hours ago, Marhelorpe said:
Although, I still think that bendy lift hill looks really, really silly, regardless of whether it was needed or not...
I know what you mean. It just looks daft!
Still, the whole project looks very well executed. Looking forward to seeing it next week!
:) -
Well it's Holovis doing the preshow, so let us live in hope.
Scruffy Dog, Universal Rocks, a local craftsman, GCI - thankfully this isn't just MMM.
So... we can hope it doesn't fall apart after 13 months.
Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
-
I sense you are pretty negative about this.Doubt he'll be working for Towers much longer... The pre-show has been making the rounds (a verbal description, not a vid/pics), all seems a bit of an attempt to give it a story or something... Certainly going to have to be something to judge upon viewing (but it has to beat Baron 1898)...Even if the coaster isn't the be all and end all, what is evident is the theming/experience element of this ride appears a step up from previous MMM installations.
Whether it compares to Baron or not - which thematically it's not likely too. But ride wise, I would hope so...
Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
-
I was about to say.
Thorpe needs more barbed wire in its queue lines. It works so well.
- SteveJ and Marhelorpe
-
2
-
It is just delightful to see Alton Towers refer to Nemesis as 'Nemmy', in that blog post.
And this. Just this:
-
TLC is not a 1 year thing. The park are looking it having at as a permanent part of what they deliver and offer every year - which is good news, because Benin is right that this sort of thing should be typical of a normal year, not a special occasion. This year, there's so much going on around Alton Towers that you could be forgiven for thinking it was an EP maintenance programme. It's almost alien to see this sort of level of refurbishment at Alton!
The Nemesis re-paint is not all being done this winter, because the cost is too great and it is an enormous job. They have already spent the best part of £150,000 on Nemesis alone and the rest of it will have to wait - especially with everything else going on in Dark Forest, Cloud Cuckoo Land etc. There is also new audio coming to many areas, which will be heard in March.
It's easy to assume that TLC is some smoke and mirrors thing, but really - the park are making every effort to improve things across the entire place to make it better for guests after the low ebb of 2015.
When TLC was announced some people wrote it off as a lie. Hopefully the massive range of images posted on the Twitter feed have at least re-assured people that they are trying, and are spending, on this sort of stuff.
The closed rides at AT this year have not been announced - it is out of AT's hands and totally in those of Merlin.
-
I had a lovely time at Hyde Park on Saturday evening. Only did 1 ride (Wilde Maus) because, no matter what anybody says about London, the bottom line is that the rides are a horrendous price (more than 1 hour on minimum wage for many of them).
However, the live music and food was great. Lovely atmosphere.
-
It is through the noise complaints, that Phantasialand deliver the best nuggets of themed beauty in Europe.
-
-
-
The rollercoasters at Alton Towers are, absolutely, the bread and butter of the park. To say otherwise is almost incredulous. However, The Flume was most certainly not filler. It may have been old, past it and in a right state, but it often had queues of over 45 minutes on even medium days... well over an hour on busy July heatwave occasions!
Log Flumes are one of very few rides that the whole family, from gran to the youngest child, could enjoy... I hope they have plans for a replacement.
-
It could be that, rather like what happened with Black Hole at Alton Towers, in order for the flume rides to comply with some change in the law (be it H&S, water quality - whatever), that the parks would have to fork out £x,000 money. Rather than do this, the decision has been taken to close them all as they are all old, and instead (hopefully, possibly) redevelop the sites for 2017 and beyond.
Black Hole was always going to be removed at Alton Towers eventually, but they decided not to spend the money on evacuation stairs when the ride only had a few years left in it anyway.
It is very sad to see this though, after all - these rides have given long service - and there has been no opportunity to say goodbye.
There are still Mack, and Arrow, log flumes operating safely across Europe, of course...
- slendercat and JoshuaA
-
2
-
The Smiler will re-open in 2016. Absolutely.
It will be one of few pleasing points...
Aside from its rollercoasters, which will remain the best on offer in the UK, everything else about 2016 at Alton Towers appears rotten.
-
I have done some research:
Logger's Leap is confirmed closed in 2016.
Heide-Park forum is discussing the "rumoured removal" of their Log Flume this winter.
Alton Towers' Flume was closed for the last 3 weeks of the season and is now understood to be going entirely.
As for Chessington?
This seems a Merlin-wide thing.
-
Why can Alton Towers not manage to do this?
-
-
It says a lot about the expectations from our measly theme parks that some folks are saying "I understand X, Y and Z rides but not A and B rides"...
It should be remembered that:
The Flume regularly attracts a 20-45 minute queue, longer in hot weather.
Charlie regularly attracts a 20-30 minute queue.
Ripsaw may not get a queue, but it certainly is watched by as many that ride - if not more!
Hex gets a steady stream of guests, and in fact had a queue outside during Scarefest and fireworks. It is also one of the UK's most cherished rides.
Driving School... well, what is there to maintain? It's not old and it's pretty good for kids. Shoddy.
NST - the less said the better.
It is diabolical in every which way - how can they claim to be a major theme park acting like this? Has anybody ever actually been to a park where 6 rides have just been closed for cost cutting reasons? I can't think I have and I have been to many.
The way to regain trust and reputation is not to close rides down. Furthermore, the Mutiny Bay show will be cut for 2016 and I also expect lousy opening times, staggered ride offerings, food and beverage closures, shop closures and the loss of gardeners, technicians, operatives and entertainers.
Alton were being made to cut things after the 2.9m guests that came in 2014. Anyone remember opening day 2015? Staggered openings galore. It was a joke - and that was after an amazing year! This isn't simply due to the Smiler. There is a wider agenda at work here and it's all about money.
Will they cut the admission fee? Let us see...
- OldFarmerDean, SteveJ and Adam P
-
3
-
The reason most people are not saying "it's nice that Thorpe Park are throwing some TLC towards Loggers" is due to the recent record of Merlin Entertainments.
Which is entirely different to the recent record of Universal Orlando Resort.
-
-
Of course they won't operate it if it is unsafe. I am not a fool.
I would ask the question, however, why would it have become as such in the first place?
If the rides were looked after, and fully maintained, refurbished in a logical and cohesive manner, then they would not end up with things collapsing (and I am not talking exclusively about Thorpe Park, either).
If I delivered my line of work with the chaos and shoddiness that appears ingrained into the Merlin empire here in the UK, I assure you I would be out of a job because it simply wouldn't stand up.
-
The thing is - Loggers Leap isn't even that old. It opened in 1989, right?
The old flume rides at Phantasialand were made by Schwarzkopf and opened in 1974...The Flume at Alton Towers opened in 1981, and Chessington's was 1987.
So, in theory, Loggers should be in the best state out of all of them... !
-
The comparison with the log flume at Europa-Park is not off.
OK, how about a comparison with the log flume at Liseberg? Or perhaps many of the log flumes at Six Flags parks? Perhaps 'Le Scoot' at Busch Gardens Williamsburg? Many of which are made by Mack and/or Arrow and opened in the 1970s.
The fact is, like many rides in the UK, Loggers Leap has been neglected to the point that it is presumably unsafe to operate.
If the parks were actually run with care and love, we wouldn't see the mess we are seeing with many of our rides.
It is perfectly legitimate to compare the looking after of Loggers Leap with that of the Tirol Log Flume at Europa-Park. They are both old, both made by the same company, and, with the right management, can both be looked after appropriately.
-
Sorry - but Europa-Park's log flume opened in 1978 and is a Mack log flume. It has seen 2 or 3 refurbishments over its life and is as good as new.
The last refurbishments included a suite of new 6-seater boats to comply with new safety regulations a few years ago, a new control system and 2 years ago they also recladded all the channel theming.
Wicker Man
in Alton Towers
Posted
The park probably want to 'officially' open Wicker Man on Saturday because they want a bit of an opening ceremony, and want there to be some energy around the park - rather than a dull day in March mid-week with less than 2000 on park.
I rode Wicker Man on Friday. It is excellent.