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Tidal Wave


Harry

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Tidal Wave's gas ball is currently covered in scaffolding. IF The Swarm does have fire effects, I do wonder if they could re-route the gas piping from the gas source for The Swarm's to also provide gas for the Tidal Wave ball... It could just be general maintenance, but we will have to wait and see if it is going to be back working or not. :mellow:Posted ImageImage credit to UK Park News.

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It really does make me wonder though, why on earth have they bothered to focus on it? When it's been neglected for years, and has never had scaffolding around it since the flame projectors were removed.....Something substantial must be happening for them to go to this effort.Just wondering who or how were these photos taken!?

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It makes a lot of sense if you think about it. I made a diagram to help prove my point:Posted ImageAs you have probably worked out, the yellow line is my interpretation of where the pipe linking the two up will be placed. The plane wing is self explanatory.The Tidal Wave ball thingy is pretty much in line with the location of the wing. If there was to be a fire effect on the engine of the plane, then it would make sense to refurbish the effects of the ball on Tidal Wave whilst Thorpe are at it. I'd imagine not many of the guests would have seen the fire effect so it would be something new for most of the public. It's killing two birds with one stone if Thorpe are giving us two sexy fire effects in one year. (If Thorpe actually doing it that is) :mellow:

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I have a few thoughts on this really. Firstly, if this happens then it will be the single best thing Thorpe have done other than installing Tidal in the first place.Secondly, as others have said, it could be for a general repaint rather than anything substantial, it is not uncommon for elements such as this to receive a lick of paint once in a while, even at Thorpe.Lastly, I do agree that it would make sense to kill two birds with one stone what with heavily rumoured fire effects on Swarm said to be appearing, then why not bring back Tidal's old effect? I'll be honest, all I know about the history of the effect is that pipes and the gas itself had to be destroyed when building Stealth. If this effect was to come back, wouldn't major works have to be carried out under the ground surface to repair and reconnect those pipes? I don't see it as something that can be done without ripping up park surfaces.

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I can't speak about the fire effect, but I do know that the park have been keen to fix the water effect beside that one, for ages.If they are making the effort as Heide Park are, for he huge fix toward Krake and it's theming then thats a good thing.Somehow knowing Thorpe, it's nothing more than a repaint! I'd LOVE to be shown otherwise, with such a huge fixed effect.

Edited by Neilfever
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There have been rumours floating around pretty much every closed season- the water tower and gas tank to Thorpe Park have become what the Air tunnel is to Alton Towers! :mellow: It is nice to know that there are certain people who would love to see it return but for whatever reason (mainly budgetary I'm assuming), they've not been implemented.The water tower seems like a much more viable option. If they cannot re-instate both effects, I'd still love to see the water tower back!

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I HATE to throw it out there, and I'd LOVE to be proven wrong; but the thought that they may be fixing such an effect, when Tidal Wave is pointless compared to it's new neighbour..I'd be VERY, VERY suprised that they would go back and fix such an awesome effect.Please Thorpe Park, show me that I'm wrong! :mellow:

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Sheepie touched on a good point, and most probably if that diagram above carries some accuracy, then surfaces that run under the actual ride need to be ripped up. It's not a small job, but if this is the case, as ive said, Kudos to the park if their making the effort.

Would they need to rip up the surface under the ride itself? As far as I can remember the gas piping is still there in the actual splash pool itself so they would probably follow it around under the drop/queue line/lift hill area of the ride and up towards The Swarm's wing. If you look carefully in the northwest corner of the following image you can see two lines which I believe is the piping.http://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/viewphoto/3063
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Well the way I look at it is, its not such a big job really. Earlier this year when the contractors where connected The Swarm island with the mainland park they went under the stealth maintenance track between the straight after the bunny hop and the maintenance shed.They could of included the gas pipe in this bundle of cables. After then they just find where the gas pipe is under soil, dig a hole cut the pipe and connect ith with a new one which could be hidden inces under the soil.. When it comes to queline all they need to do it lift a couple of bricks and slide it under the wood and when it gets to lands edge they already have a connecting pipe..so its not really a big job logistically

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I don't know if this was just innacurate wording, but I've always heard the situation to be that the pipeline was severed during Stealth construction, I.e. just cut off. I can't imagine why they would have taken all the stuff out of the ground for it? In which case, so long as the stuff is still ok after 10 years in the ground, it could just be a case of reconnecting the end that went over by the farm. Who knows I guess, but now I really can't wait for opening day!

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In all honesty it's probably just false hope. Remember that the gas tank thingamajig is hit by a huge force of water, every few minutes during open season and unless we've just never been told, it has never had a refurbishment or a major do up since Tidal Wave opened in 2000.I would love for it to be a case of Thorpe wanting to make it work though, it was an awesome visual trick back in the day and it would be nice to think the park doesn't think that the new ride is the only important thing.

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I really wish I had a VCR- DVD copier. I have some great footage of Tidal Wave from 2002, including the water tower and gas tank effects. I particularly loved the massive explosion of water before the fire erupted. It'd be great for those people who weren't lucky enough to see it in person.

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