October 17, 201212 yr comment_142794 Given it has at least 8 loops, I think the idea of this turning out better than Th13teen is a given...!
October 17, 201212 yr comment_142798 Given it has at least 8 loops, I think the idea of this turning out better than Th13teen is a given...! I guess that makes Colossus the best coaster in the world till next year then?
October 17, 201212 yr comment_142803 I guess that makes Colossus the best coaster in the world till next year then? Indeed not, but I am sure Colossus, on opening in 2002 was far better received than Th13teen was, on opening, in 2010.
October 17, 201212 yr comment_142809 There is nothing wrong with Th13teen, its a very good family coaster, I think most were expecting it to be a scary adult coaster, so say that its very poor. When in fact the theme and ride experience is very good. Th13teen does what it does very well. Hopefully SW7 will keep the thrill seekers happy and the families and people who don't want extreme coasters can enjoy Th13teen.
October 17, 201212 yr comment_142812 There is nothing wrong with Th13teen, its a very good family coaster, I think most were expecting it to be a scary adult coaster, so say that its very poor. When in fact the theme and ride experience is very good. Th13teen does what it does very well. Nail pretty much on head here, the GP reaction to Thirteen after it's had a chance to bed into the park is so much better than the initial reactions on opening day and the weeks after... Nowhere near as bad as some people seem to make it out to be...
October 17, 201212 yr comment_142814 For those asking, some statistics about the No Limits Recreation, bearing in mind that the indoor section has no known layout and so the recreation follows this basis (and that No Limits is no way perfectly accurate). Track Length is 1108.14m Height from lowest section of track to highest point is approximately 32m The top speed peaks at 81km/h Remember to note that No Limits is not an accurate representation of the real life values but are a good estimate. Also to note, the landscaping at the bottom of the SW7 site is very dissimilar from that of the recreation.
October 18, 201212 yr comment_142822 Wonder if we'll start to see some track arrive this weekend? I'm going to keep an eye out just incase! Heard someone mention that it could be here this weekend!
October 18, 201212 yr comment_142827 Will be quite interesting to see what these 16-person cars will look like, I doubt it looking like 2 eurofighter trains stuck together is too much of a bad look Nail pretty much on head here, the GP reaction to Thirteen after it's had a chance to bed into the park is so much better than the initial reactions on opening day and the weeks after... Nowhere near as bad as some people seem to make it out to be... Mainly because it was hyped up to be far more thrilling then it turned out to be. "Phsycoaster".. Umm not quite
October 18, 201212 yr comment_142831 That's what happens when people pay too much attention to the PR crap that gets spouted by parks... I enjoyed Thirteen from day 1, because I saw it as a family ride with a special drop... People fell into the hype, and were hence disappointed... Go on Thirteen now, and the entire train laughs from the indoor section onwards... That's what theme parks are about, people having fun and enjoying a ride, not saying it's not as good as such and such ride yada yada...
October 18, 201212 yr comment_142846 I am delighted that you 'didn't fall into the trap' - but I hate to say it, even Alton Towers fell into the trap and were believing their own rhetoric. If Alton had properly assessed what Th13teen was, then the marketing would never have been so riddled with what were effectively lies. Morwenna Angove said at the Th13teen event in mid-2010, that a lot of the marketing was "bull s**t" (and that's a quote). No matter how much a park wants to get its name out there, they should never resort to that. Hence my point about AT believing their own rhetoric during Th13teen's development process. The complete inadequacies shown by Intamin that led to the trim brakes being added, further compound the ridiculous nature of Th13teen's campaign. Of course, Th13teen now is generally received for what it is, because they no longer label it as this, that and the other. On the current park map it states "this world first freefall drop coaster" - rather than what they said back in 2010. That's perfect for it and I am delighted that the park can boast a quality, themed family coaster - with a trick! Perfect for Alton in their current demographic. AT addressed the thrill market with Th13teen, much like they will be with SW7. The main difference is, however, that SW7 is clearly a thrill coaster - rather than a family coaster which relied on a small freefall mechanism to make it into some monstrous, white knuckle thrill machine.
October 18, 201212 yr comment_142848 The complete inadequacies shown by Intamin that led to the trim brakes being added Lets hope Gerstlauer have learnt from their mistakes with Saw, its interesting / strange how this happened to 2 coasters opening in the uk within 2 years of eachother! Do agree though, Th13teen for what it is, is a decent ride, but to be fair theres not many rides how which are not way over hyped!
October 18, 201212 yr comment_142875 Lets hope Gerstlauer have learnt from their mistakes with Saw, its interesting / strange how this happened to 2 coasters opening in the uk within 2 years of eachother! Do agree though, Th13teen for what it is, is a decent ride, but to be fair theres not many rides how which are not way over hyped! I think SW7 will be fine. Judging by Speed, Anubis and Fluch von Novgorod - all great rides.
October 18, 201212 yr comment_142877 Not really the point I was making, I was more on about the terrible reliability / issues Saw before it was even handed over to the park and then the massive design flaws discovered once it had been! As I said, lets hope they've learnt from those mistakes.
October 18, 201212 yr comment_142878 Not really the point I was making, I was more on about the terrible reliability / issues Saw before it was even handed over to the park and then the massive design flaws discovered once it had been! As I said, lets hope they've learnt from those mistakes. Well, if there's anything bizarre or technically innovative about SW7, then I would expect teething problems. It wouldn't be an SW without them!
October 19, 201212 yr comment_142887 I always found it weird how Saw had all the issues yet none of the other Eurofighters did... Was loading 2 at a time REALLY that problematic? That seems to be the one major difference between them (Especially Fluch and Mystery Mine), and perhaps that is the reason... Of course, with 4 rows of 4 per car/train, shouldn't have to dual load trains... But then we'll get the special thing break instead, wahey...
October 19, 201212 yr comment_142888 I'm not too sure if dual loading caused any of the actual issues though. We heard of all sorts of problems with the lift before it opened, then of course it stranded the guests on the press night and Gerstlauer were back in. Then of course the wonderful open day where a normal shutdown ended up in trains of dummy's going around and Gerstlauer in the next day installing trim brakes on the MCBR. And then that didnt work so Saw spent its first few weeks of its life on 6 cars / shutting down for engineers to "check" the chain at certain times of the day, every day. Oh and its never managed to hit its quoted throughput, even with Gerstlauer in to try make it possible, with 16 per car I guess this will get pretty much the same throughput as Saw can?
October 19, 201212 yr comment_142895 Wonder if this leads to just one train being loaded at a time, or dual loading again - 32 loading at one time? However, with Gerstlauer's restraint system, and a appropriate baggage point, you'd very very easily be able to hit whatever the dispatch interval is - like thorpe could if the staff actually were able to work efficiently!
October 20, 201212 yr comment_142937 If alton had the bag room similar to 13, so therefore way before the station. Throughput would increase due to ease of batching within the station area.
October 20, 201212 yr comment_142940 Should just use the same bag systems as Europa's amazing magically self moving cupboards of joy...
October 20, 201212 yr comment_142953 I imagine they don't do that because there's still potential for stuff to go missing/nicked, like the cages found on other rides. Baggage holds almost completely irradicate this happening, increases security and feeling of being secure on park, and adds to customer service. Something they do right is baggage holds! Don't try and change that!!
October 20, 201212 yr comment_142956 It's very difficult to describe the Europa automatic bag holders of joy, but I'm sure it's difficult for people to nick stuff when the only bags available are your ride's, therefore you'll notice... Can't nick the other trains bags because of how they work (and well)... The Merlin method nowadays is ok, but it does mess up the queue no end, and when you're queuing longer to get your bag back than for the ride... It needs some work, like having more than 2 people during peak days to help keep the flow going... I dunno, once you go abroad, there are many better (and cheaper) methods out there, even though the majority is leave on side or much more commonly, take it on with you...
October 20, 201212 yr comment_142957 When we talk abut these automated cupboards, I only saw them on blue fire so they're not everywhere
October 20, 201212 yr comment_142958 Wodan also uses them, and Silver Star has a cupboard system too. Whatever, you cannot dispute that they are a viable solution.
October 20, 201212 yr comment_142960 Stare into one of the eyes on that face for about 20 seconds and blink rapidly at a blank wall... There certainly is some brainwashing going on!
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