Ian-S

STOP PRESS! Altitude and Ian-S agree on something!

I actually agree with Ian on this. If they mentioned accidents at Six Flags, the papers (well, the Mail, Sun and Mirror) would say "THEME PARKS ARE DANGEROUS, BOYCOTT ALTON TOWERS AND THE REST OF THEM".
 
I know the law gives papers the right to print what they want, but some of it is just lies. I know it's more complicated than this but I wish there was a law which made journalists back up all information and facts with evidence and real statistics. The point of the press is to bring the news to the people, but now it's all about money (as everything is).

Kind of cheeses me off, the amount of comments I've seen on the web about how Alton Towers should be shut down - yes the incident with the Smiler was horrific and shouldn't have happened which Merlin have acknowledged and handled brilliantly. The press are just picking up on the tiniest pointless things which happen and hapoen regularly at theme parks - I've stopped on the lift hill on Air before as well as being evacuated from Rumba Rapids(!), a slight stuck moment on The Vampire ride and had to be released from Smiler by battery pack thing inside the station - I'm a naturally nervous person but none of those things made alarm bells ring - are members of the GP really that daft or maybe I am being harsh. When people say they will never go to a park again I just think - well that's less people in a queue. But I do feel for Alton Towers because they are getting so much grief over recent non newsworthy events (not including Smiler here). And unfortunately it appears a lot of people will buy into the scaremongering

However there is asilver lining...
 
The more idiots that refuse to visit theme parks due to the media, the less idiots stood before us in queues!

Pointless media clickbait crap.
The people who reported this to The Mirror clearly have no lives.

I'll just say it now, save you a hundred PM's....
 
Make sure you ask them when SAW will re-open

Seriously, you arrive and they take you straight to the lift and then your handed a wax sealed letter and a bag of coins. The letter talks of using the coins to get out of situations and can be used for priority death on the boat etc and tells you to make sure sure you keep that silver thingy round ye neck.

Nice to see the horrible tacky lanyards have gotten an update to be even more tacky and horrible. I am so glad they addressed the issues of the VIP's thinking they are better than everyone else. Oh wait...

Now we just have to be able to push children off their parents' shoulders during shows and it'll be perfect...

Let's be honest, the queues are usually unbearable with or without one coaster open/closed...

Perhaps he was just having a bad day when I met him then, although unhappy/miserable celebs off camera isn't a rarity, Nick Knowles was one of the absolute worst I ever met and very rude to those who got within shouting distance of him.
These t-shirts are in a similar vein to the kiss me quick ones you could buy in the seventies, they are harmless humour and I suspect would never have become an issue had the Smiler not happened, but even back then there were many who were offended by them, the irony is those offended by them likely send their children to school in extremely short skirts, which is far more provocotive to some than any words on a T-shirt.

Yeah I thought of that after I typed the question

I hope that Saw is back open before the main summer holiday period, as queues will be unbearable on the other coasters without it.

That's exactly the point though, they'll be testing it to see if the situation can be recreated...
 
All possible avenues that might lead to another crash MUST be looked into, irrespective of whether or not there might be failsafes... Always the distinct (rare) possibility that ALL the failsafes to prevent something might not work...

I hope the next ambiguous clue they release revolves around trees and plywood now.

I'm fed up of this whole pathetic "demand" thing, trying to cover up the real reason why the coasters don't operate on two trains at thorpe. It's just a shoddy excuse to hide the fact that Thorpe don't want to or are unable to add more cars to the circuit.
A queue, of any length is quite frankly enough "demand" to warrant the second train. Therefore, unless of a genuine technical error, more cars should be added to the circuit as soon as a queue is starting to form. However, it's not a irregular occurance at thorpe to see the coasters operating one train all day on a weekday. Many a time I've been on a weekday and the coasters have reached 30-70minute queues and second trains haven't been added on any of them. This is shockingly poor on Thorpe's behalf and it is almost impossible to defend them here as this has happened on several occasions. Unless of technical errors, it seems to be due to understaffing or the fact thorpe simply don't want to spend money as to why more cars are not added. This is completely unacceptable and the fact thorpe constantly cover up the real reasons with excuses about "demand" is pathetic as often they say this when queues are well above half an hour on reduced capacity.
I think Europa Park in 2 weeks will be a real eye opener for me, it's going to prove how poor operations at certain UK parks really are.

I can see the papers blaming the Smiler on this one. 

The funny thing is, the ride doesn't even NEED a plot...
 
Safari, animals, job done...

Perhaps he was just bitter at not being able to ride something himself, and took it out on the park.
Strongly suggest he stays out of London this weekend, cos he'll be more than offended at some of the t-shirts on display there.

Two headlines on that actual page...
 
11 TRUTHS ABOUT SEX WITH YOUR HOUSEMATE
8 LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT MALE ORGASMS
 
Suggestive indeed, on the site of a family paper. Where's the petition? BAN THIS FILTH!
 
Also liked the (presumably) misprint...
 
 
So outraged he decided to wear one then! 

Perhaps he was just bitter at not being able to ride something himself, and took it out on the park.
Strongly suggest he stays out of London this weekend, cos he'll be more than offended at some of the t-shirts on display there.

Perhaps he was just bitter at not being able to ride something himself, and took it out on the park.
Strongly suggest he stays out of London this weekend, cos he'll be more than offended at some of the t-shirts on display there.

Perhaps he was just bitter at not being able to ride something himself, and took it out on the park.
Strongly suggest he stays out of London this weekend, cos he'll be more than offended at some of the t-shirts on display there.

After remembering my password I can finally put my two cents in.
Firstly, those poor people, no one can imagine what they are going through and my greatest sympathies are with them.
Secondly, at my work I have had the greatest pleasure in getting to view the headlines everyday of the past few weeks. After the way it was made out in the paper I'm surprised it only lasted less than a week in the actual news, not online but paper, that being said, I think the Sun had a lot of wasted ink. The headline 'Towers of Terror' was a great loss to the world of ink. I am not in anyway shocked at the mail, sun or express for their portrayal of this incident. The times and telegraph should know better.
The sympathy for the victims in the papers was amazingly lacking. Well except the mail when they got the only exclusive interview. Now I am aware that the papers are positively cottage cheese but this time I'm not shocked at how they wrote the articles but I'm shocked at the lack of understanding and the lack of sympathy for those humans that had to go through was is and will be a very traumatic event.
Way to go UK papers once again you have proved why other countries have the view they do of us.