January 2, 20169 yr comment_225478 Has to be: Air - The black hole All the air has been sucked out and next up is the money in your wallet. They can't hear you scream in space but they sure can charge you to be there.
January 2, 20169 yr comment_225480 If it's a space theme, then it's highly unlikely they'll keep the name Air...unless they want to be really ironic.
January 2, 20169 yr comment_225484 Honestly, the only way Air would improve from my point of view would be making it less tame which they cannot do. I know the theme would be better but I'm not sure if it would match Air's tameness.
January 2, 20169 yr comment_225505 It's astounding that Alton Towers most successful ride is being changed. I hope its name isn't changed personally. Air is iconic whether we believe it or not.
January 2, 20169 yr comment_225506 ^Curious to know why you say Air is more successful than Nemesis? I agree with you in that it's successful and even iconic (much more than enthusiasts give it credit for sure). But however I look at it, Nemesis is just more successful in every way?
January 2, 20169 yr comment_225507 ^Curious to know why you say Air is more successful than Nemesis? I agree with you in that it's successful and even iconic (much more than enthusiasts give it credit for sure). But however I look at it, Nemesis is just more successful in every way? Nemesis is a better ride for sure. But outside of the coaster enthusiast bubble, Air gets all the acclaim, at least from my circles. Still gets the queues and the attention in park publications.
January 2, 20169 yr comment_225508 Air retains its USP in the UK even now, so it seems a very very strange choice for such a big change.
January 2, 20169 yr comment_225510 Nemesis is a better ride for sure. But outside of the coaster enthusiast bubble, Air gets all the acclaim, at least from my circles. Still gets the queues and the attention in park publications. Ah fair enough. In my experiences, Nemesis and Air have been the two favourites outside the enthusiast world. I was more thinking of it from the brand as a whole, which has always seemed to have been pushed more than Air's, but I guess that's only natural from the huge enthusiast following it has.
January 2, 20169 yr comment_225511 Air and Rita I would say have the biggest USPs on park. Nemesis is a good ride but it isn't exactly well known to the average family. At least air is the flying one and rita is the launch one. Nemesis isn't unique to the average person.
January 3, 20169 yr comment_225516 My impression is that Air is a forgotten oddball whereas Nemesis and Oblivion are the most famed to the average person. I guess it shows how varied people's experiences are, and that there's no such thing as 'the average guest' and what matters or not. Air is well loved as it is, but truth be told it was never ever properly finished. Whether this new idea is an ideal improvement is something else, it could be but it's certainly an attempt to skirt the park's real issues.
January 3, 20169 yr comment_225520 I went to Alton this summer with my friend (yes he was the foreign one who I talked about in The Derren Brown topic) who had never been before. I explained the basics of all of the big 6 and he wasn't excited for nemesis, th13teen,Rita or Oblivion. He just wanted to go on air. He loved air and we went on it 4 times. My point is that the concept of flying always seems a unique thing which gets people excited. If you are out of theme park circles, you won't have heard of a flying coaster and therefore the concept will be attracting.
January 3, 20169 yr comment_225525 I agree with Mark9 on this, whilst a freshen up will be nice, Air wouldn't have been high on my re-theme list. It's popular, unique and a great world first. There's 100s of other things they could have done around the park instead.
January 3, 20169 yr comment_225526 As someone who's never been to Towers, Air has always been the one ride I've really had the interest in ever since I was young(er) and before I'd even been to Thorpe Park, Rage might not even have been a thing by that point, so it's hardly as though I was bored of other 'thrilling' coasters, as I potentially hadn't even been on one yet! The thought of my first experience on Air being one laden with a gimmick makes me all kinds of sad as Air got all the hype from me before I even acknowledged Nemesis' existence.
January 3, 20169 yr comment_225528 You're not alone, when we went last year the first ride we headed to was Air, although Nemesis is the better ride, Air is unique and we'd already been on Inferno more times than we could remember prior to going. My wife also said she would go on it next time but she can't do VR, it makes her incredibly sick very quickly due to her eyes, so I hope the VR part is optional, I.e. you goto left station is you want VR, right if you don't etc. Otherwise I'm sure we won't be the only people not going on it (I'm not too good with VR either thanks to a childhood eye injury).
January 3, 20169 yr comment_225534 The throughput would be halved with VR. I got a VR headset for Christmas and it takes 20 seconds to put on and adjust the size. Also, the headset is clear for me, but not my dad. Every eye differs. Correctly focusing the Vr headset is had and fiddly too. So focusing the lenses will add even more time. I know air has a dual loading station but this will damage the throughput.
January 3, 20169 yr comment_225535 Yeah I have a cheap Chinese headset on a boat or plane somewhere for fpv with the drone, hoping it's not too hard to setup.
January 3, 20169 yr comment_225538 I was also wondering, if Air did receive VR, would the VR have a space theme, or would there be options. I.E: space, future, alien, horror, mountain ETC...
January 3, 20169 yr comment_225539 What if they're somehow attached to the trains and you just pull them down over your head with the restraint? Then you can have the option to not pull it down or to pull it down. Plus all the electrics and wiring can be stored in the crafts.
January 3, 20169 yr comment_225549 Maybe they will Personally I hope they call it 'An Intergalactic Ride" or A.I.R for short
January 3, 20169 yr comment_225552 Maybe the ride will be called Air Galactica. Then it references the ride in it's new state plus referencing when it was just Air.
January 3, 20169 yr comment_225556 Air already stands for Arial Inversion Roller Coaster. I believe that this is nothing more than a long-standing myth creating by enthusiasts many years ago! --- Looking at some previous Merlin renames (Rita, Sonic Spinball, X, Detonator: Bombs Away, etc.), they've stuck with the key name of the ride's old name. And given the Galactica trademark, I think 'Air Galactica' is very much a possible name. If not, then I expect it to just be Galactica.
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