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Galactica's Future

What would you like to see happen to Galactica?

  • Keep the Galactica Theme

    Votes: 2 1.1%

  • An improved version of air

    Votes: 70 38.0%

  • A new theme to tie in with Nemesis and The Phalanx

    Votes: 99 53.8%

  • Something else

    Votes: 13 7.1%
  • Total voters
    184
I think the question isn’t “Will Air get a retract”, rather “How long will the coaster remain?”

It’s 22 years old now. The track has (probably) got another 10-15 years in it. It’s a case of are upgrading the ride systems and retheming it better than replacing it with a new ride ahead of its time? (Track life)

My “bets” are firmly on towers keeping it until the track can take no more, and very likely giving it a desperately needed spruce up! Yes they’ll need to invest £2-3m to do this, but for the sake of keeping what’s still a very good ride experience going for another decade or so, it’s probably a safer bet than expending circa £20m to replace it before its time.

With new and updated theming it’d feel like a new ride “experience” - which ultimately, is what the park strives to offer guests to bring them in and keep them coming back.

Might as well sweat your assets as much as possible for as long as the maintenance is viable.
 
As a businessman - £3m refurb or £20m capex - over 20 years. I’ll take the £20m option. Makes my accounts look better.

And you get the new ride boost for a few seasons.
 
Realistically though, we are some way of Air even being considered for removal from the park.

If we make the assumption that Horizon is still on, we know that will be the park's next 'major' investment, and is likely to come in 2026. The next major investment after that might come in 2029/2030, and the good money would be on that going into Dark Forest (likely replacing one of those two coasters).

The earliest that an Air replacement might be on the cards therefore is 2033/34, but by that point there has to be some question mark about which coaster will be removed to make way for that new ride. It's by no means certain that Air would even be near the chopping block at that point, given there are three younger coasters that in one way or another seem to be ageing more rapidly than the B&Ms. By 2033 there is a real possibility that one (or all) of The Smiler, Thirteen or Rita will have reached a point that they are ready for replacement ahead of Air.
 
I can see Air lasting a long while. If anything, the technology will cause issues before the track itself. A £2-3m refurb with some fancy marketing will renew it and the surrounding area.

I would have my bets on The Smiler being removed before Air.

I cannot see any other ride at Alton Towers receiving a re-track. Nemesis is a very unique case, and we know now that Merlin considered a different layout prior to deciding to keep it the same. No chance for the other rides.
 
I could see the smiler getting small retracks, similar to colossus and for the wickerman I am pretty sure that for wooden coasters they tend to have parts retracked every few years, it is why we see quite a few old wooden coasters as they naturally get replaced like that ship of thesius.
 
DistortAMG said:
"Presumably there's only 6-10 years before Air's current track will be life expired, and presumably the whole thing ready for scrap?"

This is why myself and another member are "focusing exclusively" on the track, that was literally your argument point.
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Fair cop. There is a multitude of things which can cause a steel rollercoaster to become economically unviable, track condition is just one.
 
WillPS said:
Fair cop. There is a multitude of things which can cause a steel rollercoaster to become economically unviable, track condition is just one.
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Totally agree with you. I would suspect, like you mentioned, it would be other things besides the track that would mean Galactica reached the end of it's service life.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Or don't have a preshow, that's an option. Some rides benefit from not having an overarching story or preshow, and I think air is one of them.
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I second this. Wasn’t Air was designed to be something simple - an experience like nothing else that was calming, smooth and made you feel as though you were flying.
I was at Towers today and Galactica had some of the longest queue times out of every ride, a pre-show would just add to that time
 
Had they done the orignal planned oasis theme, it would have been nice to have the queue go around many of the themed rock features and waterfalls all giving the calm feeling it was supposed to be.

Given how there is literally nothing there and is ripe for landscaping, I could see something like this happening if Galactica is seeing major changes in future as given how bare the current queueline is for theming they'd have nothing to lose. Honestly, other than Hex's inside queue, IMO none of the park's main attractions have quite the best queue experiences with Rita being the poster girl for this and for good reason. Even Nemesis' new queue doesn't quite have 'it' IMO.
 
AT86 said:
A pre-show would just be something to watch whilst in the later part of the queue. It wouldn’t make the wait time longer.
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Agreed. I had in my mind an actual video, a bit like The Wicker Man. But something maybe spaced out throughout the queue line would be great and add something to what is now quite a bland queue line.
 
Let's say that a reimagined/retracked Air does have a pre-show. Depending on what AT/Merlin decided to do with the general theme of Air when it does eventually reach the end of its service life, they can go down two maybe three roads with theming.

A) They return Galactica to Air and possibly try to add in the concept oasis theming originally plan for the attraction (Like Nemesis had done with adding cut content from the original plans of the ride.)

B) They retheme Air (Again) to fit into the new FV/Phalanx facility area of the park. With Air being turned into something akin to either an Arial Incursion Response unit or, rethemed to Air being an 'escape' from Nemesis herself, with maybe parts of Nemesis's theming 'attacking' the supports of Air.

C) Finally (which I highly doubt) they remove Air entirely and replace it with another 'World's First' attraction on the former site of Air which might still be made as a newer flying coaster type of ride to pay homage to Air.
 
What about if they got a ten year limited planning permission, they do happen apparently, for a bloody great big top style tent right over the top of the whole ride.
Easy to construct and install, no need for massive footers, or extended height, just tensioners, Black Hole style, and they could (possibly, others know better), have a world's first flying coaster completely in the dark.
Few illuminated planets and stars, odd extra meteor flying past, job done.
And how long would that queue be on a rainy day then?
 
rob666 said:
What about if they got a ten year limited planning permission, they do happen apparently, for a bloody great big top style tent right over the top of the whole ride.
Easy to construct and install, no need for massive footers, or extended height, just tensioners, Black Hole style, and they could (possibly, others know better), have a world's first flying coaster completely in the dark.
Few illuminated planets and stars, odd extra meteor flying past, job done.
And how long would that queue be on a rainy day then?
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That’s probably what they should have done with the Octonauts coaster to be fair. Would need a damn big tent to do that for Galactica, it’s got 2,755ft of track and is the 8th longest steel coaster in the country according to RCDB.
 
But it is seated in a shallow valley, and for a longish coaster doesn't have that much height.
Few dozen extra long telegraph poles and a bloody great tarp, sorted.


I know, but I can dream.
Reality ruins so many plans.
 
if it's staying as galactica, I'd love to see it be re-painted like a darker blue, sorta like montu or OzIris, but with the supports staying grey/or jet black
 
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