February 7, 201213 yr comment_131517 I think there may be 2 water skims. This one we can see is after the corckscrew. I think we were all under the assumption there was one at the turnaround by the helicopter.
February 7, 201213 yr comment_131519 cant wait to ride this on the 15th and I hope the blades spin slowly on the chopper just to give it an intense fee l
February 7, 201213 yr comment_131521 Looking at the 1st pic of the fire engine I spy a gas pipe (sure someone will ablige and add pic I cant sorry) must surely be some flame effects there?
February 7, 201213 yr comment_131522 The way the chopper was photographed in the Studios workshop with the rotor mechanism and housing in various states of dismantlement, then back together and new-looking when installed has certainly boosted my hopes slightly that the rotor will indeed be moving. Plus someone said somewhere recently that they thought the helicopter was getting it's own effects didn't they, so it wouldn't surprise me
February 7, 201213 yr comment_131523 I do hope that along with fire effects/moving parts, the fire truck and the helicopter will be getting some sound effects as well. Perhaps a siren/horn for the truck and some sort a crashing helicopter sound.
February 7, 201213 yr comment_131525 The only thing I can possible think of is that the firetruck being used for The Swarm looks a lot more modern. Comparing this:To this:Really shows how different they actually are. I suppose no body would notice how modern a fire engine looks when it is being blown up, in the dark, a few hundred feet away so it suited Blow Shit Up perfectly. It will look out of place however in The Swarm because alongside all the other modern stuff, like the plane or helicopter, that old Fire Engine would look very odd. I'm sure that would be picked up on y the GP so maybe Thorpe have picked up on something here by buying a 'newer' model of Fire Engine?
February 7, 201213 yr comment_131529 This is shaping up to be world class.Can someone explain to me why The Swarm is seen as possibly 'world class' but Raptor isn't?I understand The Swarm has great themeing and hopefully a good story, is made by a great manufacturer, and is a very new design of roller coaster.But why is this considered 'world class' when Raptor has all these three points, and many other coasters do too.
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131533 I've always maintained that Swarm has the potential to be world class. Looking back on when I rode Raptor in September, I clearly had Katun withdrawal symptoms as I now think of Raptor as a world class ride. It's easy to say why people think Swarm will be better though. For one it's in the UK so far closer then trying to trek through Italy's ridiculous road signs. Secondly, Swarm has far more large scale props in its area then Raptor. And finally the use of effects at Thorpe could even make Raptor look lazy.. if that's even possible.
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131543 All credit goes to Danzibarr on CoasterForce, who was lucky enough to go a tour with UKrides: - The brake under the wing is a trim but is likely not to be used. B&M install it as a precaution, and it operates if it detects the train is travelling too fast, although so far it's not been kicked into action at all throughout any of the testing. - The station isn't having a roof so will be open to the elements. - When it opens, it will double the total number of 'effects' used in total throughout the park. Fire, water and smoke are all being used (although we already knew that?).. And as a sidetrack, Tidal Wave's fire effect won't be running again this year, but they've done some work to the structure and hope to have it running again in 2013.- They're hoping for 1100/1200 pph on Swarm (apparently Raptor gets about 700pph), and will run two trains 'hopefully' all year.- You won't get the choice of right/left riding, the queue will be managed in a similar way to Air.- They've opted for a front row queue as opposed to a single rider.Lots of other interesting facts throughout the day, including the fact that Colossus was originally planned for Chessington but they couldn't get the planning permission.And the most exciting/devasting news of the day was finding out that Saw was originally planned to be a GCI woodie. To make it worse we got to see the plans, it looked fantastic. Station fly-by and fly-under, a tunnel shared with the flume and millennium flyers! It was shelved when Merlin took over. The man showing us around suggested that Tussauds were more about quality attractions and that when it switched to Merlin they had more of a "Let's get rides in quickly" attitude. Hence we got Saw. Boo.http://www.coasterfo...9847&start=3024tl;dr: Trim probs isnt being used, open station, doubling the effects in park, fire for Tidal is not till 2013, 1100-1200 pph, NO CHOICE OF RIGHT/LEFT RIDING, air like queuing (pissed), no single rider, front row queue.Credit for pics go to UKRides.info
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131544 They're hoping for 1100/1200 pph on Swarm (apparently Raptor gets about 700pph), and will run two trains 'hopefully' all year.Hmm. So presumably Swarm won't be stopping at each block break section in the break run then and instead will slow to a crawl and stop just outside the station. That's about Raptor's only flaw as on that you stop twice so by the time you are back in the station, the other train is near the top of the lift hill.
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131546 No choice is slightly annoying, but meh, makes it easier for staff to keep the queue moving and stopping people demanding certain sides...No front row is same as Raptor... Again to ensure flow through the station, especially if the layout is similar to Raptor's...
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131549 Woody! Instead of SAW... Did you get the opportunity to photograph the plans? And that view of swarm is amazing, really can't wait till March.
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131550 Off topic, but interesting about Colossus and Chessington. Perhaps the initial plan was to try and make Chessington into more of the thrill park then...
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131552 There are pictures of the woodie around here somewhere. I'm still more gutted that the flyer that was planned after the woodie was also shelved in favour of the stupid eurofighter. Actually, saying stupid eurofighter has made me think of something, but it's completely off topic so I'll continue that elsewhere.On topic, smoke effects if used in a good place will be EPIC. I love smoke effects
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131556 Remember that 2008 was economically a terrible time, so ever thought that maybe the plans for the flyer and the woodie were scrapped?
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131558 Remember that 2008 was economically a terrible time, so ever thought that maybe the plans for the flyer and the woodie were scrapped?Perhaps the plans might resurface for the 2015 and 2018 coasters. *Imagines pretzel loop over the lake*
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131559 Smoke coming out of the jet engine would be a a cool thing; especially seeing the wing rider trains dive down a whip the smoke up a little bit.
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131564 That would be really cool actually, if the wing acted a bit like The Hulk's fog tunnel with smoke coming out of the engine(s). Also if the flames are coming from the fire truck, that would be a sensible place for the smoke effect to be so you might have just guessed it there. Here's hoping!
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131565 Remember that 2008 was economically a terrible time, so ever thought that maybe the plans for the flyer and the woodie were scrapped? Yeah, s'pose I have.
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131566 No choice is slightly annoying, but meh, makes it easier for staff to keep the queue moving and stopping people demanding certain sides...No front row is same as Raptor... Again to ensure flow through the station, especially if the layout is similar to Raptor's...I think you misread, Benin. There actually is a front row queue, it's in place of the single rider queue.Thanks for the summary Drawin! Still hoping for 1200pph. I still can't get my head round the Wing-rider's blocking system.
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131570 I believe that the choice was made to swap the SRQ for a front row queue, as many people would want to opt for a front row option instead. Which makes sense to me. I was totally suiprised that Raptor's station was such a free for all.
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131573 After reading through some of the previous pages talking about the effects.. Imagine all these effects, IN THE DARK!!!
February 8, 201213 yr comment_131574 fire going up in the air at 9 o'clock at fright night, smoke billowing out...getting soaked by a water effect in 3 degrees.I can think of worse.
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