cmangi

Somebody lend Thorpe Park 50p to put in the meter.... (I’m suddenly aware there are about 2 generations that will no longer get this joke!)

Hi All, I'm a bit of an amateur photographer and took my camera with me on Tuesday (10/07/2018). Quite happy with some of the shots. Please note that I have personally taken the images and if you do wish to use them elsewhere then please ask my permission first, but just really wanted to share these! Hope you like them.

So this happened on 10/07/2018. A stoppage at the top of Tidal Wave. Had my camera with me and got a photo. Was quite surprised that it doesnt look like the staff member had any type of harness on, happy to be proven wrong tho!

Hi, Really late reply. I have never had any issues on rides. Last year around June we went to visit family in Canada and myself and some of my cousins went to Canadas Wonderland. I am male and 34 years old, most of my cousins were around 20-23. I went on loads of rollercaosters and a rew flat rides without any problems, including Behemoth. However, Leviathan..... I completly blacked out around 3/4 of the way down the first drop, and came round just before the turn around point at the car park. I entered a dream like state and had really vivid thoughts, before remembering I was at a theme park and telling myself to wake back up. I was ok for the rest of the ride and when it finished we went and got some fries and a coke for the sugar! I didnt go on much else after, just a copuple of smaller things. Generally when going down larger drops I tense my stomach, and being such a large drop with a lot of g force, I think tensing my stomach stopped me breating and caused me to blackout. I have watched the red bull air race and they always say that under high g force you need to regulate your breathing otherwise you will black out. Hope this isn't too late and provides you with some useful feedback!.

Just to put this entire thing in perspective , six people have died on a balcony that collapsed. Does this mean all balconys are unsafe and should be closed off? Should all balconys be torn down?

Yes and no.No - nothing is 100% safe. Everything we do is a risk, but we calculate the risk constantly in our minds and weigh up the risk vs the benefit. Getting out of bed is a risk (could pull a muscle in your back, could twist an ankle standing up etc) but it's something we need to do so the risk is worth taking. Is going on a roller coaster a risk worth taking, to a lot of people yes, but a lot of people are 'scared' or more accurately their brain thinks the risk vs reward for going on the roller coaster is not worth it. Yes - They have a very small incident rate, the safety systems and fail safes should make an accident impossible. The rules and regulations should make them as safe as practically possible. There will be risk assessments which will reduce any possible risk to 0, or as close to 0 as as it can be. So theoretically everything should be done to make t as safe as humanly possible. So on a balanced view, yes it is safe, but it's impossible for ANYTHING to be 100% safe. You might have guessed, I work as a risk manager ;-) lol.

There is a certain irony and problem with the way we view life in this country.. Or more, they way the media are controlled and allowed to report on things. The 4 victims in this accident were named ASAP, the injuries have been reported on with little sensitivity to the 4 victims, the friends and the families. The videos were shown as soon as possible, showing their full faces, covered in blood and their screams. Yet a 14 year old boy who has committed attempted murder is not named and gets his face blurred out of photos. I know we all think this has had some poor reporting, but the media in this country is a complete shambles in general!!

Apparently One Direction have sent a video message to one of the girls injured. They have also offered her tickets to a concert of her choice and will meet her backstage. A nice gesture, but hasn't the poor girl suffered enough ;-)

https://queue-times.com/park/thorpe-park Judging by Thorpes queue times, I would say it's having much less of an effect on the general public than I expected! I doubt it's a wider problem, the amount of work to safely remove and assess the incident is huge. And even if they cordon off the area, there are still access concerns for cranes and specialist equipment. I really can't stop thinking about this and have been wondering why so few trains have any kind of shock absorbers or bumpers on the front. I know it's a near impossibility that this should happen, but I do risk management, and part of that is saying "if the impossible were to happen, how can we reduce the impact it will have?". I wonder if it re-opens, we will see some kind of bumper on the fron and rear of cars. This is purely speculation, but it would be a simple upgrade in theory.

Has there been any word yet from John Wardley? I'm surprised there appears to be no comment as it is one of his designs. I have no idea how much he would have worked with Gers on the control system, block brakes and ride operation?

Oh yes. Don't worry. I'm going to complain, but will sit and write a detailed and concise letter. I have complained to the NHS, Local MP, train service and many many more. I'm a seasons letter of complaint writer! I plan to address her dis-interest in the interviewee. Constantly taking any words said by interviewee out of context. Her aggressive manor and demeanour. Her constant interruption. Her rudeness throughout. He insensitive questioning when asking if someone had lost a limb. Her attempt to sensationalise the story by implying the rides had been running unsafe, with no evidence or even suggestion as to why she kept questioning this, and making the point time and time again. And that's just off the top of my head! It will probably be tomorrow when wife and baby go out before I can write a proper letter.

The sky news app has an interesting headline: "The boss of Alton Towers has told Sky News safety measures "were not adequate" at the theme park - as four more rollercoasters were closed after an accident. Nick Varney said the group was adding "another layer" of safety measures to existing rides as a "precaution" against the prospect of another accident. Alton Towers has been closed since the record-breaking Smiler ride came to an abrupt halt when two carriages collided, injuring 16 people, on Tuesday." At what point did he say safety measure were not adequate???

I actually feel very disgusted with the interview. The response to video of the interview on Twitter echos the feelings of this forum. I actually feel strongly enough to report this to the Broadcasting standards guys. Does anyone know how to go about doing so. And does anyone else dancing joining me in complaining. I'm surprised she doesn't get slapped with lawsuits for making slanderous claims like "so all your rides were unsafe before then, that's what you are saying isn't it?".

I am asking Sky News how I can officially complain about her. She was scare mongering, she was overly aggressive, she didn't listen and had her own agenda.

This Sky news interview is awful. This woman is a complete bitch. Nick Varney is doing very well. She is being absolutely ridiculous, what a joke. Merlin should refuse to do any work with Sky news ever again. How stupid is this woman on the news?

I have to say that if I had booked time off work and spent a fortune on the over priced hotel, I would be a little bit frustrated (at no one or anything) that the holiday wasn't cancelled but I was not able to do the main thing I had planned, obviously it pales in comparison to those who suffered injury on and those than had to watch the incident, It still must be somewhat disappointing on a personal and financial level that the park is closed down, even though the circumstances are incredibly upsetting and distressing. I am surprised there is nothing for the hotel guests, is there any reason they couldn't open Nemesis and Air just for hotel guests and on single train operation. At least give the people who have spent a small fortune and using up precious holiday time something to do in the park? Apolicies of this sounds like an insensitive post, it's not intended in that way, but hopefully you understand my point.

I think they would be damned if they opened and damned if they don't. As you said, shutting the entire park down is a big decision which wouldn't have been taken lightly. But this is a major incident (and thats a understatement). If they had opened, the staff would have been asked millions of questions, every journalist under the sun would have gone in, lots of people would be trying to get to and take photos of the ride. Also they would have had to shut the entire X sector to keep cameras and reporters away, which would rule out Oblivion as well, would people be happy having paid a lot of money for an entire sector to be closed and most likely be harrassed by journalists all day. Also for the staff, they will need to be briefed on the situation, and yes it may be an isolated issue, but I would have every maintenance person I could find going over ALL rides in detail, just to be 100% sure. Imagine if there was any tiny incident today, how blown out of proportion it would get.

Some thoughts I had overnight. 1. Next time I'm standing in line moaning about the slow dispatch of trains, I will think of the pressure staff are under. (Not saying it was operator error, we don't know yet). 2. The parks are under such pressure for all rides to be open and operating at full capacity. Safety has to come first even if it means all of us waiting longer. 3. As you can tell this won't change my desire to go to parks, but will change my attitude to queuing and waiting for rides, I hope some people here will see this as well and posts moaning about rides not running all trains and at full capacity are less frequent. 4. There is no proof that any of the above was a cause, but it still should be worth thinking about. 5. An accident is just that. No matter how many fail safes there are, an unexpected set of events can happen and that is exactly what an accident is. Obviously my thoughts go out to everyone involved, people on the ride, the families, the people who saw it and were there, the staff and also the emergency services who had to deal with an awful situation, in the most difficult of circumstances. But I would like to look to the future and wonder if this will affect the development plans of the group. If, as expected, this costs the group millions (I know the priority is the people I listed above) then surely investment over the next few years will be significantly reduced, also will they want to spend a large amount on rides when public confidence is down? I know we are sane, but we are enthusiasts, the general public reading the exaggerated reports on Twitter will no doubt be influenced. There are going to be significant questions for the park over the next few days, but as obviously stated the current priority is those involved in the incident and anyone affected by it.

Walter Reiss a U.S. park safety inspector just did a interview on Sky News. Basically said what everyone here is discussing. On a block brake system this should be impossible. Not sure if this will work, but have been trying to film it and upload it somewhere to share. Apologies for poor quality and web site: https://vid.me/1ZFQ

I really hope all involved are ok, and feel for all the people who witnessed it. I went on the smiler twice in October 2013. I love roller coasters, and have done a few backstage tours with a friend of mine. I read everything I can, and have a basic understanding of the how roller coasters work.... and I just can not work out anyway this should be possible on a recent roller coaster. This isn't a 1980s/90s roller coaster. This is a 2 year old roller coaster with every modern system available to it. I can only think There has to have been multiple failures. Both technical and manual/operator for this to happen. The operator should have a complete view of the track (wether direct visual or via cameras) So someone should have spotted the train on the track. It should stop at the bottom of the lift hill, it could then have been stopped on the lift hill, which reports say it was. I can't understand how the train passed all these possible safety points and made it to the other car. Like I said it is a horrible accident and I really hope everyone is ok. Not being a medic I can't discuss the people, but being a roller coaster enthusiast and being fascinated by the technology I feel it is the only question I can ask.

Hi everyone, I am mostly a lurker, but do come out the shadows every now and again! Everyone seems to have missed something here, as people have mentioned there is not much apart from Jungle that connects IAC to Nemesis Inferno. However as they have some space for another ride on SWARM island (if I remember the islands and future development plans correctly), would that not have been a better place to put it? They then could have really tied it in with The SWARM. It could have been a great maze experience, the concept of swarms of different bugs taking over the island, and they are what has caused the destruction. Imagine having dim lighting with what is essentially an invisible glass tunnel (like the sea life centres walk through!) with swarms of bees flying around whilst the sound system plays loud buzzing sounds, really make people think they are in the same room as them all. They could have a glass floor in one room with cockroaches under it (probably just caught from the food outlets there ;-) ) , there could be countless bugs which led to the destruction of the island, and they have now taken it over. Imagine running from them through the maze and then getting caught up in them and being carried through the air on them in SWARM. Anyway, I think you get me point; it really could have tied nicely into the destruction of Swarm Island by a swarm of insects.

Hi guys, I havent ben to Alton since a school trip not long after Nemesis opened. I went last Friday (20th) and had an amazing day. We prebooked tickets and got thhere about 9:30, went straight to Nemesis. Over the course of the day I went on: Nemesis x4, Air x2, Oblivion x2, Rita and Thirteen x 1, Duel x2, Runaway train x1 and the Smiler x2 (Although the 2nd time I gave in and bought fasttrak passes as it was just over an hour queue time). Apart from smiler I think the longest queue was for Rita and was only 30 minutes long, all the rest were under 20 mins. I didnt think I did too badly for a Friday. I have several pictures I will try to share :-). The highlight of the day was, Thirteen. Purely becuse I was expecting a tiny rollercoaster bit and was genuinly bricking it about the drop in the dark (I dont do Pirate ships etc, but love coasters). So I sat there and near the top of the hill I looked over and realised it is reasonably high, and then noticed the drop was steeper than expected, so grabed the side of the car and me and a mate were just laughing our heads off all the way round the outside bit. Overall I loved it and cant wait to go back.