StealthRider

That explains that then, they rode it and said "HEY THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED". Trust me, they're lying. And again there has NOT been a single backstage tour.

Nobody has had a back stage tour. Ever. However I know somebody who was evacuated from it who said they could see various bits of hardware but I am unsure as to where they were.

You mean you took off the thing that gives the whole ride experience? Well done, really, amazing logic.

I rode yesterday, and I have to say Merlin have outdone themselves, the amount of detail put into this ride is amazing and when everything works fluidly it is the best ride in the UK by a long way. If you are considering reading spoilers, don't, better to go in blind. I didn't find it scary in the slightest, but I have never felt so part of a story in my life on a ride. The second you know for sure it will be open, go and ride it.

I do find it funny how pessimistic everyone is towards what I will guarantee is one of, if not the, most loved rides Merlin have ever created. If this was Disney having a delay, nobody would bat an eye because that is OBVIOUSLY going to be for additional quality. But with Merlin, oh nonono, this MUST be that they've made a massive mistake and the ride will be terrible because of it. I have huge hopes for this ride, and any delay needed to make it work as it was designed is more than fine with me.

Although it can, and I have shown that it can quite clearly, there are a million possibilities to how everything happened and I am just saying that he op may have been paying attention to the wrong cameras. As for the engineer knowing, if they went the way that I think they would have gone if this story is to be believed, they will not have been able to see the stalled train, and the public notifying the ride team and being ignored could be passed down to the fact that there were two trains that were "stuck", one being on the batwing and one being on the lift hill - they could quite easily believe that the public were on about the one on the lift hill and they (as reports that came out closer to the time suggest) just said an engineer was on it. Again, I am just speculating just the same as everyone and until the HSE report is released try not to believe anything as fact, including what I say as all I am trying to do is figure out the most plausible way that the Mails article could make sense

I just checked and I am a bit wrong about it being standard procedure. BUT, for arguments sake, it is entirely possible that the Smiler could have had minor block section issues that day (not picking up trains and such small problems) which could open up the possibility that the op wasn't paying attention to the right camera, and just saw an empty brake run. Obviously the op cannot override anything, so an engineer was called to clear the block section as without doing so the ride could not have continued operation. Adding to this theory is the fact you cannot actually see the batwing element from where the engineer was, where they came from, etc. It also includes the fact that the train on the first lift hill will have stopped in the time it took the engineer to clear the block. I will also point out that I am not in any way saying that this is the way it happened, I am merely making points as to how the Mail have tried to put it and I do not support the fact they are making speculation sound like fact in their article. Until the HSE release their findings no stories can really be believed.

I find it funny that people seem to believe that overriding the system is such a big deal. Even if the story that the Fail on Sunday published turns out to be true, it is standard procedure to override a block section should, say, the ride system not pick up a train the just cleared a block section - the only weird thing about this incident is really the fact that the op, who (as shown before) had a clear view of where the train stalled didn't radio through to the engineer that it had stalled as the engineer, who may or may not have overriden then computer, could not see from the MCBR or quite possibly on the route they would have taken to actually get to it.

You mean like this?

from what I have been told about the screens it is actually very clear and the track section is more than clearly visible in real life, so it is just that the picture isn't amazing quality

I know this has already been discussed but it was never cleared up, the CCTV cameras on the ride do in fact cover the batwing element clearly as shown by this photo taken by a friend of mine (see camera 9).

I've had quite a lot of rides where the fire effect has gone off, a few times front seat at night which is always pretty good

This is on the Merlin Annual Pass website, it is not hidden and is in clear view. You cannot say that Merlin or Thorpe Park have been somehow evil by introducing a 5 quid charge for an event which is clearly stated on the website can happen, even though it isn't a big event, it still requires extra effort from thorpe which in my eyes justifies there being a small price for standard annual pass holders. *rant over*

Thorpe have answered my question to them

Danters Extreme Ride was using the Sonic Spinball announcements when it was around my area and I don't really think Merlin will care for fairground rides using their themes/announcements, they aren't losing anything from it

If the chain is broken, then I believe they have to wait for a new one to be delivered as they won't keep spares on park

am I the only one here who thinks Speed is insanely rough and boring (apart from the airtime hill)? Look forward to seeing what this investment will be!

Just thought I would add to the topic of operations… When I was there a couple of weeks ago, the staff on Megafobia were excellent at what they did, despite only running one train. Even when there was the op and just 1 host there, they were quicker at getting trains in and out then a lot of Merlin staff, which was very good! (they were also very good with people, and were up for a laugh!) On Speed, the operations were godawful, 1 train service on a Eurofighter is just not right! Although the queue was never really that big, it hardly moved due to how slow the staff were that worked on it! (although again, they were friendly) A queue that should have been none existent became 15 minutes due to how badly run it was… All round, the staff are very friendly and the park was very nice, the thing that lets Oakwood down is some of the operations, and I am not sure what caused the bad operations, other than what I think is lack of training. In regards to the trip adviser reviews, on the 2 days I was at the park, the only thing I can agree with on them is the bad operations on half the rides, everything else was fine! (the only ride that was planned to be closed was the pirate ship, they couldn't really have opened Drenched with a broken chain )

I have just got back from Wales and 2 trips to Oakwood, and Speed is actually really rough compared to SAW.

^and The Beast at Fantasy Island, I found that to be the worst for it!

brilliant news! well, hope it is a lot more reliable!

judging by something that happened last season with a ride that had endless delays in opening and staff constantly saying tomorrow it will open, I put my bet on the 31st may

well, just seen it, and am pleased to say that they realised they disappointed so many people with stealth being closed for 3 hours

Vortex was running very well on saturday, wasn't as high as you lot have said, but still higher than it used to be

the way I see it is that if a ride is going to be filmed, do it in the right way, make sure that there is a banner on the website so that anyone going will see this, and make sure that at the park entrance at LEAST has a sign stating that Stealth will be closed for part of the day so that full paying customers are aware! I don't agree with this and don't think it's acceptable to put a TV show over customers. well, I guess it's still merlin, and they still prefer free advertising and money to the overall experience…(I know that thats what it's like for everything, but come on! they could put a lot more effort into what they do!)