pluk

I obviously don't know but still think a new flume could pay for itself fairly quickly through lower running costs and maintenance with modern technology and new equipment, so there is one big business decision to replace it regardless of how much of an an extra draw it is. I don't think a new flume is SW material, but if SW7 is going in that area it might be a two birds with one stone plan, sort out the whole area out at once.I've never ridden one, but I don't get the aquatrax thing. Looks to me like a fairly crappy coaster built over water, but not interacting with the water in any way. What's the point?

Love the restraints on this, can always have them nice and loose so real floaty time out of seat on the way down. (Don't moan, it's not dangerous. There is no way someone my size is falling out the side!)

A summery tune for a summery day

Why? Simply because every major themepark I can think of has a log flume and so should Alton, and I'm not sure your guess that to make it a reasonable ride would cost less than a rebuild (especially when you factor in the decreased maintenance costs it should save in the long term. It could actually pay for itself fairly quickly). I think it really is that broken and gives an awful ride at the moment.A modern logflume can be a totally different ride to a 20 year old one, depending what they want to do with it. No one thinks it is odd when the same is done with a coaster. I'm quite sure as a one off spend they could have got corkscrew running like new much cheaper than building 13, but they didn't. Because it would have been throwing money at something old and knackered that would doubtless needed a ton of maintenance money every year and not provided anything new to promote. Why could exactly the same thing not happen with a flume?Not saying that is happening, it's just a thought. But I don't see any reason why it shouldn't.

Must agree I think it is well beyond a retheme being worthwhile, it really is a knackered old thing. I just think a logflume is too much of a themepark staple to not be replaced with another one of some sort, hopefully in a way that interacts with whatever SW7 brings, if indeed it is going in that area.

No reports, not nice to think it but does not look good for pilot. There are many eyewitnesses already and I've not heard any mention of an eject, which is loud and obvious if your watching it, so I presume they've gone down with it. Sad.Update: Flt Lt Jon Egging, 33 pilot of Red 4 confirmed dead. Very sad.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14602900Noooooooooo.Love the Red Arrows, hope this doesn't threaten their future.

Something that size could be amazing, but hugely unlikely simply because that is a heavily protected woodland area. More likely to cover the flume site itself, maybe pushing further up towards Katanga, avoiding all those trees. Unless this is all a red herring in terms of SW7, and merely is a rebuilt / rethemed flume for next year. Surely Alton need a flume ride, they can't just replace it with a coaster and not have one? What's the worlds tallest log flume, and could that be exceeded within Altons planning restrictions?

Love the design of that, diving in towards its own structure after the lift hill. Beautiful.

Buy a bike then?!Big ass trains cost a lot, electricity costs a lot. It's a pain but frankly understandable.

I come home from the pub to this! OMFG. Thoughts...."Would fall within days" ... flume won't even see out the season maybe? Something coming on a scale that will require more than a years worth of site work?I see the Blacks Marauders hint at B+M, but it is not explicit. Lets not forget that there are more than one manufacturer based in Switzerland!!"many of whom have seen the weapon in action first hand". So maybe not quite what we are used to SW wise - something that is based on what already exists elsewhere rather than a 'worlds first'. Or has a prototype been built and viewed by the 'Marauders' who have commissioned the ride.All this reference to 'Black' makes me think there is a link to the 'hole'. Not sure what though. Something new in the tent next year in that somehow links themes towards what's coming the year after on the flume site maybe."Black admits he is unaware of how long long the weapon will take to cross the seas". Maybe a mid season opening? Or why not state to the public it would be a good idea to return in 2013?Can Alton do without a flume ride at all? Or will this be a water coaster that's not as lame as the norm, or maybe a revitalised flume interwoven or somehow duelling with a proper coaster?Whatever it all means someone somewhere deserves some brownie points for this kind of teaser promotion. To say I love it doesn't begin to cover it.

As far as I know the actual tubular track is made in Switzerland, the box section and supports are made in Ohio. The manufactured tubular track is shipped fromSwitzerland to Ohio to be welded to the box sections and painted, then the whole thing along with supports is shipped back over this way to be bolted together. The sections are sent out three up in containers and stay in the container until on site, so it's just going to be on the back of a lorry round the M25 I would think. Can't for the life of me remember where I read this, but it was somewhere reputable and I'm pretty sure I didn't dream it.Seems like an uneconomical bizarre set up to me but it must work or they wouldn't do it. By the time we get it it is one well travelled bit of track!

No, it will contain less screeching, squealing, mugging to camera and inane questions. Whatever they do would be an improvement. Not that I'll be watching, it's been going downhill fast since about 2004 and I don't see that trend stopping with the production qualities of channel 5 thrown on top.

Don't think that out loud, some idiot in a suit might read it, decide that's a good idea and park it next to Samurai next year.

How precisely do you propose a person proves how exaggerations of scale and deviation from the norm alters their own perception of how real something looks?! (now that IS a silly point indeed!!).Too be fair, it would look kinda odd if they had to stick one of the engines out near the tip of the wing to give the clearance. We all know roughly what a plane wing should look like and to deviate well beyond the realms of reality would spoil the point of the effect. Not really that much of a silly point. I think it's gonna look pretty awesome though and would suggest the reason the design includes the outer engine broken and falling away has been done precisely to accommodate the size of the train without making the wing/engine proportions look all weird. Praying for ride sequenced engine fire effects. Mmmmmm, pyrotechnics.

Freakin love Angelos Epithemiouhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00jvhqrhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00jw2gp

Some rather fetching young lady in the boat in front of me once flashed on Dragon Falls.The staff just laughed and left it up on the display. Wife wouldn't let me buy it!

From my experience there's no doubting the Merlin parks in the UK are the most popular for a good reason - they are better than the others.I do go to other parks when I can if I'm near one and some of them have been great, but if they are not on a certain scale then I can not justify travelling halfway across the country to visit them. BPB are the exception to this, and Drayton were getting close in terms of size if not quality but their developments recently have not appealed to me at all (they weren't aimed at me either I guess). Oakwood has been calling me for years but that really is a long way away. Alton and Thorpe though have so much to do and provide a complete day out that they are worth huge journeys, same goes for Chessington if you've got a family.The park I have visited more than any other is Peter Pans / Adventure Island Southend. That's not because I think it is the best park in the country, it's because I live a short train ride away and often find myself in Southend anyway sitting on the seafront with a beer on a sunny day and thinking "I fancy a go on Rage". I do hope people aren't driving from somewhere near Alton to Southend just to visit AI, but I know a lot of people here who do drive to Alton for the sole purpose of visiting the park. No independent I've visited would have justified the journey just to visit the park.I think the UK theme park market really could do with a shot in the arm from one of the independents pushing up to the same level as the Merlin. The problems I have with Merlin parks are mainly not about their overall offering but with the laziness in the running and attention to detail. They wouldn't be able to get away with that laziness if others were snapping at their heels.

Ah thanks, didn't realise the crisps ones covered the dungeons - I've got some in my cupboard!

Was the in thing about 10 years ago, now it seems a bit yesterday. The one in Lakeside shopping centre near me stank one half of the place out, cinnabon stank out the other half. Sadly both have now gone, but there is a small lush in there somewhere clinging on to life. I always preferred Virgin Vie; their stuff was amazing, but that's gone now too. Shame.

4 of us going next Monday, our friends will e using c2c which have a but one get one free voucher for any train ticket used, but we are not on that line anymore. Anyone know of any BOGOF vouchers going at the mo?

The rounded nothing to hold on to restraints make this ride for me, would be so much less thrilling if there were handles to grip. Love the forces as it pushes you forward, and that it takes you just high enough to feel like your going over backwards. Why can't they get them swinging in synch though?

In that case - c'mon Rita!

That list is spot on imo.Notice the not so subtle facebook request to bump the 13 votes up? Would be a bit of an embarrassment for their shiny new coaster they are still promoting to come last, looks like they are trying to change that.

Like the site, great pics. Think this would be known as a wing rider though. A wing walker is ......EDIT As usual for me, photo not work. Imagine someone standing on a Brighling plane wing.