stretchy

OK guys. During the opening day I took 777 Photos. I have uploaded ALL of them. Some are blurred. Some were used on the live, others weren't (Not necessarily due to them being better or worse, when we were doing the live we could only look on the small screen of the iPhone to decide which to post). Also a lot of them are shot in burst mode, so it may look like there are multiples of the same photo. They are actually 0.2 of a second later. Enjoy. https://plus.google.com/photos/106418309379254557984/albums/5884398095971730385?authkey=CN3Ui6vQibLrAQ

OK some photos from today - This will be my last update of photos for a while. I think we now know why the ride failed it's H&S. They seem to be hurriedly adding grating to the top of all under ride queues. With more pieces of queue meshing being bought in constantly By the end of the day it looked like this The queue board was also working today. Its started with this: And then changed to the following picture causing a short lived flurry of excitement. From the top of the site what we think is the pre-show now has this sign And looking into the other door you can see some of the interior. It looks a bit cattle pennish to me. A car was being added to the ride around lunch time. and a closer look at the wheel assembly. This guy sat there for ages feeding little bricks into that hole. Here we have one of the staff praying to the god of grey boxes to make the ride work. He was soon joined by his friend, who corrected his praying method. Work was also being done on the stairs by the end of the platform.

Couple of quick photos from yesterday and today Stickers have been added to some of the supports and and We have a new sign too, by the way, look at the state of that entrance roof already. OK onto today. I popped down. I had heard some off rumors about cows in tunnels, The whole of X sector was blocked off with no one allowed anywhere where you could see much. The following 2 pics were using the zoom. I moved around the side of the toilet block, with rather perfect timing if you ask me.

OK photos from Today. The entrance The entrance signs The split signs (look whats being painted behind them..) Someone asked what colour the LEDs are. They look green to me but could be yellow. One of the 14 entrance way cameras Fixing a hand tail for the steps. Single Rider a bit later, hand rails are finished. Main Those metallic sticky out things have now been recessed. Speakers have been put in the big holes at the top But there are still two small holes in each side. S W 7 Completed At the bottom of the station a new door has appeared atop a set of metal steps. In the big pit theming is being added. Yellow chevrons seem to be going in everywhere (and you can just see one eye of a smiler) The plastic used to create the chevrons (no they aren't painted) It was difficult to get a picture of them but here are some being added at the time I was photographing More theming has been added to the central leg of The Marmaliser and a quick shot of some of the newly laid turf. Notice the missing fin. There used to be one that was off rectangular here. But why is there a chair with an air horn? and just below that is a bin bag around something Outside X sector is quite a lot of barriers. Maybe a queue will form here on Thursday. And the Sanctuary is still set up And I will leave you with the smiler in the sun.

It was extremely damp on park today. My camera doesn't like the wet, It tries to focus on the rain (foolish camera). Firstly - They were ride envelope testing the bunny hop when we arrived Flasher testing The steps to the entrance are having quite a bit of work on them The smiler entrance board. Inside the entrance there are these. A blurred zoom in on one of them The bottom half of the entrance. There seems to be more of these inset at the bottom. There are also pipes that go along the back. The pipes just end though. On to the Marmaliser. This was receiving a lot of TLC today. We now have a hexagonal central unit. Without people We also have new theming being added to the legs As we watched they added theming to one of the other legs. They started by adding a wooden template and just slotted the parts in; And by the powers of double sided sticky tape we get And a piccy of the train: Sorry the photos aren't up to my usual standard, as you can see, it was a bit wet.

OK not content with 2 days of theme parks, Matt and I popped over to Towers today. I thought you would like some more photos. Firstly I will point out that there were lumps of mud in places on the track where wheels would have gone which indicates to me that no cars have been sent round yet, Also there was no testing of the ride today. The footers at the top are now all black The fences around the are were getting all of those missing panels added, like here by the toilets. Also the banner was removed for one section and the gap was drawing quite a crowd. It wasn't just enthusiasts either, the majority of the gawpers were members of the general public who seemed convinced the vertical lift was a drop. Lights have been placed around the ride too. These all look tempor These are the guys who are installing the lighting. Cake, if you don't know are the advertising company that are used by Merlin at the moment. Whats that I hear? what do those labels on the packing crates say? I think they may say how long the lights are going to be on site! And since I do like wires that go into boxes with lights on them: Steps (2,3,4) have been added to the area. These are the ones that I photographed in the car park last week. And here we see one of the official step testers testing the steps. OK onto the station. It seems that the station and the track had the same constructors. This bit doesn't quite seem to fit. I do hope that they finish this bit. Swirls and legs and hmm whats that at the bottom? Urm one min let me reposition myself and zoom in a bit.. ahh that's better. Ohh I wonder what we can see through the other doors? Oooh look a red thing. And through the other doors? Not as much but look, between them they have installed a telly and left the box on it. Now that's clever. But the tunnel at the start of the first lift hill has something interesting in it. The bottom area is now mostly paved. The marmaliser has some dodgy pixels though. Finally, my usual overview

Coaster and I were once again on park today and I must say, in the sunshine, SMILER looks amazing. You turn the corner towards X sector and this sight greets you. The painting on the maintenance shed is coming along well, the following few pics were taken through out today The transfer track and the station track were being worked on quite a bit today. Proof that the spinny wheels spin, here's one of the motors. The tickler's foot is being added and the red thing in the bottom right of the image is the ride envelope measure. were still at least a few days off testing, the footers haven't started to be concreted in yet. We also have some black metal things that I am not sure about and also a yellow frame that I assume will hold the cameras at the base of the vertical lift hill as on the game. Workers at the top of the vertical lift hill looked like they were doing wiring for most of the day. It looks like they have started adding the normal lift chain. that looks like chain to me at the top of the dog whereas we have none at the bottom There has been quite a bit of talk about a bit of track still not meeting. This is the joint that they are on about. NOTE this is not one of the rails but the back spine and, more importantly, if you look at the bolts they are fully tight. I think that this is deliberate to allow for movement in the track, rather than a mess up. Whereas, this joint, I think will be more problematical. This is the joint that I photographed last week when they couldn't get it to join. It is now joined but there is quite a visible step and that is track not spine. Total NERD shot The station building is receiving cladding And further along we have this. I am not quite sure what is happening here. The games unit has had more paint My usual overview from the oblivion queue, sorry for the huge rain drop on the lens at this point, we were having one of those April showers that plagued today. Finally in the car park we have 1 footer left and 4 concrete stairs (which I assume will be the entrance to the queues) And I will leave you with one more shot of the ride in the sunlight with a storm cloud behind.

just counted - 25 days from today is exactly 18th May. I also think it s a bit tight.

I think it is what they offer after 6pm that is the point. If they offer nothing then I rekon the park will be dead still. If they were to offer something like, live DJ's and small bands playing around the park every weekend then people will start going there to hang out. The problem is the target audience. Thorpe's audience are teens. Teens dont tend to have that much cash to spend, which makes it a waste opening. why spend more on staff when you get nothing extra back?

Hi all, Some pics from today. Arrived on park to find them adding a piece to the main lift hill. Look they're adding a support Yay look it fits And this is what it looks like from the other side The station is looking more themed and look, the pipes all fit. Usual overview shot. Top of the vertical lift Ohh look, they're also adding the inverted drop. Hammer that bolt in, Hammer it. Drill that connector Drill it. Paint that track, paint it Yes work was going at a full pace so we went and had a look to see what we can see inside the station., this is through the entrance hole for the trains. Inside the shop What about the games unit, I hear you ask. Marmaliser leg footer and template. Its all technical stuff. Back at the top of the site we were drawn by the sound of a ratchet... They had added the linking bit between the bottom of the inverted drop and the top... one min.. .. That's not right. aren't these meant to MEET? They were using that ratchet to pull the 2 pieces of track together but that's quite a large discrepancy . So they started using these things at the bases of the supports. I think they are mini rams. and more ratchets on other supports We stood there for about 40 minutes watching them try in vein to get the track to meet and this is how it was when we left. Well I think tomorrow is going be a stressful day for the construction team.

The park is fine. It is a good little regional park with some brilliant rides, Mumbo is wonderful. My Nerd and I friends will be there on May 4th (may the 4th be with you) if any of you want to join us. The flying coaster should be interesting. Hopefully I will have some construction pics of the 3 new rides. Regarding toilets, yes I know what you mean. They are a little sparse and occasionally hard to find, BUT in physical distance, I bet they are more closely packed than Towers's loos. The app is quite useful for that, there is a feature to find the nearest loo.

Hey peops. Unfortunately, unless somethiing unforseen happens, I am unable to make this trip (I cant get cover for work sorry). See yall next time though.

I think it will be another B&M, before The smiler became public there was a lot of chatter about a valley entering B&M concept coaster.

Yes Outlaw Run looks amazing. I don't think Thorpe have the room to do a decent attempt at that though. To be honest I think we will see a Shambhala clone (probably spelt wrong). A B&M Hyper can go over everything thus negating the need for space.

Evening Peops. Ssome construction pics for you. More theming added to the Smiler. Hmm maybe that construction guy needs to be corrected: Like this guy who is far happier in his Job, but whats that they are using to stick te ride together with? Zooming in its.. Bathroom sealant? Ever wondered what the world looks like through the Smiler Operators glasses? Something like this: The bases of the legs now all have their names on them: Want a close up of those logos on the bins and barrels? Well you got one: Whilst were on closeups. Have any of you noticed that the base of the Marmalisor has a sign on it. Ever wondered what that sign says? There has been some debate on whether the Car Wash (Tickler) will actually spin. I think I can lay this one to rest: But lets start a new debate: What are these cables for on the satellite dishes? So on to the theming of the station. This is how the pipes are added. Lots of measurements and funky clasps. And a few minutes later, those clasps are filled with this lovely bit of pipe: So the full pipe work added before it started raining today looks something like this: The HB Leisure unit is coming along swimmingly: Whilst looking at the HB Unit we noticed this flying piece of machinery. Very clever: My usual overview: Ooo I can look into the shop from here: Meanwhile, back at the top They are.. WHAT CUTTING INTO THE SUPPORTS? By the end of the day rain was poring down and the top end looks something like this: Or this (look how much it was raining):

The food is not bad at Woodcutters. My preference order for eating at Towers is Piza woodcutters BBQ World of Chicken Anywhere else Burger Kitchen

OK whilst on park today, and this is, I think an exclusive, Park staff are freely telling visitors that The Smiler will be open 17th of May with previews on the 14th 15th and 16th. Some construction photos from today. Ooh whats this? a Tickler maybe Someone actually working.. see I knew some of them did some work. This guy was hard at work the whole time. Should that really be making smoke? Some hoses. The legs have these huge bolts being attached to the joints now. The front of the station is now fully on. The bottom side is also done, only the top side to go. Look that guy is working again, More importantly, just look how close the track is to the Marmalisers screens. And some pretty spirally double helix bits, I wonder if this is homage to The Corkscrew. And finally, a pick of the top end of the site where they were poring concrete most of the day.

Coaster and I were on site today. Anyone want some piccies? The park looks magical - and But you don't really care about that do you . What you want is Smiler pics. I'm only going to post a couple though. And my usual shot from blivy queue The only action we could see on site today was some concrete being layed and some welding inside the station Smiler staff handing out cards And finally a shot looking back to X sector as we headed over to Dark Forest.

Some pics from today In the car park we have a number of new sections, like the walk ways here and these, some of these ones look like lift hills, this piece looks like a show scene as it has wheels and breaks. My photos of the ones with just wheels came out even more blurred than the above. My camera wants to auto-focus on the trees in the foreground. Meanwhile on park the ducks aren't too impressed. This one seems to believe that the water its standing on is broken. Yup it was mighty nippy. Over on The Smiler site there hasn't been much visible change from yesterdays photos.

One of the Nerds and Myself will be going. If any of you guys are also going, it would be lovely to meet up and maybe grab a pint afterwards. Were plannig on doing the eye and Madame Tousauds aswell that afternoon.

Joss and I have done trip reports for the above mini meet without realising that you guys did trip reports. So rather than cut and paste them here I hope you dont mind if I just link to them. http://towersnerd.com/community/index.php?/topic/1927-half-term-antics-february-17th-2013/#entry34866 By the way. If you notice in the group shot, Both Joss and myself have been Marmalised.

Some more construction pics from today.

So you saw some of these on the live feed (and I see an image from it above). They were pretty low res though as they were taken with my super zoom camera. OK some Supports going in.. One min what the hell is that in the lower left corner. Lets zoom. That's one hell of a gold ball. OK the supports from a different angle. Is that the top of the bowline you can see from the port cullis more of that support piece

Hmm.. OK - Lets just do Alton Towers Clothing Alton 1x Originall Unleash the fear Nemesis T Shirt from the opening year (now rather holey due to exsessive wearing) 2x Nickelodeon Base ball caps from the opening year. (over worn and old) 1x Nemesis Base ball cap (circa 2003 I think) 1x Nemesis Beanie hat (circa 2009 I think) 1x Henry Hound white T Shirt (urm its old, not sure when I had it) 1x Fearsome Five Lion Bar sponsorred T Shirt. (urm also old not sure when I had that either) 1x new Obliovion 98 t shirt (from 2012 season) 1x Signal Radio1 T shirt given away during the preshow for a fireworks event back in the 90's I am sure I have more but cant think of any whilst eating my lunch. All have been bought for wearing not saving. Some are verry worn.

I recogn it will be of a similar scale of costuming to Sub Terrible. I.e. all of the staff working on the ride themed to the ride. Extra staff walking or loitering around the ride. Even though, it wouldnt supprise me if on ride opening day (which I think is penned for day before scarefest starts ) if we see extra actors brought in for that day.