Coaster

Yep can't beat fresh paint! In my opinion the TLC should have been done on a rolling basis rather than all at once, but since that opinion has a slight hint of being a negative comment it's not valid. So, great job Alton!

If you go back to page 71 and read onwards you'll see that Tommy is trying to create arguments by making a dig at me over daring to express a negative opinion... again. I don't go around causing arguments with people who express an opinion I don't agree with, nor do I make digs at people for that - everyone is entitled to an opinion. Debating is a part of forums and is completely different to arguing, making digs at people (no matter how small) shouldn't be. Also, which posts of mine aren't on topic?

In what way does that post contribute towards the topic title "Alton Towers General Discussion?"

This is completely unacceptable, the park opens in less than two weeks. There is no way that those in charge don't know what is going to be open by now. They are misleading the public which will only create further bad PR if people turn up to find lots of rides closed on opening day without having been warned in advance by the park. I actually think this is quite underhand, they are leaving it to the last minute so that people will have already decided to visit, instead of being honest and announcing the ride lineup well in advance. This announcement was promised for January.

Starting the season in classic Chessington style... At least they've got the decency to let people know about the closures in advance though.

Rita's space could house a decent wooden coaster, and it would fit in with the dark forest theme! Regarding the new fence, it could be much better but I'm just surprised to see them actually doing something to improve the appearance of the park for once!

After all these years, finally Rita doesn't look like an Ug Land cast-off! https://twitter.com/AltonTLC There is more that could be done with the fences (possibly add some vines to them), but I'm impressed with this so far, a vast improvement on what was there previously!

There's some amazing photos in this topic! Quite a nostalgic photo for me, taken last year. Shame there's no train in shot, and about the turd ride in the background.

In response to someone asking about AP day. What are these rumours about Colossus out of interest?

There's a star flyer going to Lightwater this year to replace Whirlwind... Wonder where that's coming from! The Waltzers were removed last year I believe which is a shame as they were always popular. I'm not keen on what the new owner is doing to Brean to be honest, it seems to be a case of moving rides around and removing them gradually.

There are lots of smaller effects on The Swarm that didn't work for a lot of 2015 such as the small water jets on the fire engine (not the spray triggered by the train), and did the sound effect in the queue tower work at all last year? I don't recall hearing it.

That it's bumpy enough to be fun but not as rough as Infusion on a bad day (bear in mind that not everyone wants glass smooth coasters - I certainly don't), has some force in places and a good first drop.

I can't honestly remember which rides were open, but I remember there being several rides closed for the preview day and I'm fairly certain that Saw wasn't ready for the main park opening alongside several of the flats? Unless I'm remembering it wrong.

Famous last words!

What is actually wrong with Odyssey (as a coaster, not the fact that it's closed most of the time)? I've heard lots of good things about it!

With Annual Pass day approaching fast, I really hope we don't see a repeat of last year's start to the season (several rides closed for the first few weeks and only a select lineup for the pass day).

The queueline was designed with actors in mind however they didn't last past 2009, apart from the situation you mentioned with Saw Alive - I seem to remember them advertising Saw as "more terrifying than ever" because it had Saw Alive's actors in the queue. Regarding actors in Derren Brown's Ghost Train, I really hope there aren't any (an investment as large as this shouldn't rely on actors IMO), and given the track record of actor based attractions in Merlin parks (Saw Alive, Sub Terra etc.) I hope they've learnt by now that the cost involved in hiring actors permanently just doesn't seem viable in the long term (going by the previous examples listed above).

No idea as I've never been there/haven't paid much attention to what goes on there in the past. I just assumed it must have been on track once!

Great news, hopefully they'll get the park back on track!

Great news!

That is very true - but the point I was making is that themed uniforms are not out of the question for Ghost Train.

The Smiler was only £2m less than The Swarm, and I expect that a lot of the quoted £20 million for Swarm was the theming rather than the ride hardware. Not that I'm defending the build quality of The Smiler!

Themed hosts can just mean ride ops with a different uniform - anyone remember the "Evacuation Team" uniform from Swarm back in 2012?

Not every park, at BPB you pay as you drive in I just think there are better systems than paying as you go out as it means that you leave with a bad impression - however it would be much better if the barriers were staffed to avoid traffic building up. In reality I doubt that parking fees have much impact on traffic pollution (at least not with theme parks anyway), I doubt many people are put off because of a parking fee. I think it is fairly obvious that the parking fee is put in place as an easy way of making money rather than to aid the environment, otherwise it wouldn't rise as often as it does.Regarding paying on the day, Thorpe want people to book online so that they have a rough prediction of how many guests will be in the park, alongside other factors such as staffing levels which you mentioned.

I never thought of that but actually I can see it working, and it would make sense with the "you won't know what's real and what's not" idea. I'm prepared to give Ghost Train a chance but the idea of Virtual Reality in a theme park just doesn't appeal to me, hopefully this attraction will change that though!