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Which major coaster will be the next to go?

Which major coaster will be the next to go?

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Matt N

Matt N

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Hi guys. Over in the “Galactica’s Future” thread, discussion has been taking place on the lifespan of Galactica and how long it might have left, and this brought about some wider discussion about the lifespan of the park’s coasters. With this in mind, I’d be interested to know; which major coaster at Alton Towers do you think will be the next to go (or be retracked)?

Before I get into the rides and my thoughts on their removal prospects, I would firstly say that I think it will probably be some time before we see any of the current coasters removed. I reckon we’re looking at very least towards the end of the current decade, if not into the 2030s, before we see any of the current crop removed.

Nonetheless, if I was to dissect the current major coasters in terms of their likely removal prospects, I’d say the following:
  • Galactica: This is a possible contender. Although I can’t imagine that the track is in particularly bad nick, the ride seems to have grown increasingly unreliable in recent years, with the trains being a key source of issues. The ride also doesn’t seem overly popular, has had an increasingly confused and neglected brand identity since the demise of the VR, and is now somewhat out of step with the new look Forbidden Valley. It also sits on an absolutely massive plot of land.
  • Nemesis Reborn: In my view, the chances of this being the next coaster to go are pretty much zero given it’s only just been retracked.
  • Oblivion: I guess it’s possible, but I think there are stronger contenders. While Oblivion now has the oldest track of the big 7, I can’t imagine that the track is in as poor of a condition as Nemesis’ was. The ride also seems to remain a fairly reliable workhorse for the time being, and like Nemesis, I think that the land it sits on is not the most opportune in terms of alternative usage.
  • Rita: I think this is a pretty strong contender. The ride isn’t overly popular, it lacks a strong brand identity of its own, and Dark Forest has long been cited as a problem area ripe for development. To do anything significant with Dark Forest, I think you’re almost forced to remove Rita. It should also be said that hydraulic launches increasingly seem to be coming towards the end of their lives; while Rita itself has not been overly problematic, the likes of Top Thrill Dragster suggest that the end may be coming for some of these hydraulic launch coasters.
  • The Smiler: Perhaps controversially, I don’t think this is an overly strong contender. While the ride isn’t the smoothest and had the crash and associated issues in its earlier life, it remains extremely popular, it isn’t overly old, and has also remained relatively unproblematic in terms of reliability in more recent years despite a rocky start to its life.
  • Thirteen: I wouldn’t have said this a few years ago, but I think Thirteen is starting to look like an increasingly strong contender. While it isn’t overly old and remains popular enough, it suddenly seems to have aged very quickly in terms of reliability. The ride’s reliability and uptime seem to have taken an absolute nosedive in recent years, and it seems increasingly flaky in terms of operation. I’d also cite what I said with regard to Rita about the wider area being seen as an area ripe for development.
  • Wicker Man: I think the chances of this being the next coaster to go are pretty low. It’s relatively new, it’s extremely popular, and it has been relatively unproblematic in terms of reliability in recent years despite a rocky start to its life.
With all of this in mind, my current prediction is Rita, with a possible outside mention for Thirteen if its reliability continues to deteriorate. Either way, I think it’s most likely to be one of the two Dark Forest coasters that is the next to go of the big 7. Probably Rita, but I could also see Thirteen if that reliability continues to decline.

But which major coaster do you think will be the next to go? Do you agree with me, or do you hold a different view?
 
Rita for me I think, unless the park want to keep it as a standout, rare and unique coaster going forward, I think it will be removed. Hydraulic launches have had their day, great to ride, but very problematic overall.

The intensity of the launch combined with the plethora of mechanical equipment required to power that launch and with spare parts becoming more problematic and expensive to obtain, (especially as more of these close) mean the writing is on the wall for many of these world wide. This problem will only worsen as time as goes on. The larger ones are seeming to go first, it makes sense, the faster more powerful launches put more strain on the mechanical equipment meaning more needs replacing and sooner. But the same does apply to the smaller models such as RITA, I think.

Personally, while I will miss the launch, I cannot say I would miss the ride, Alton Towers can do much better than what was a rushed job back in 2005, haphazardly placed to quickly boost the value of Alton Towers before a sale. I do not think the attraction is or has been, up to the standard of Alton Towers, attractions that come before and after, have done a much better job. Even The Smiler gives a far better experience. It also cut what was a great area of the park, literally straight down the middle with the launch track.

As we are talking about hydraulic launches, I would hazard a bet that Formula Rossa at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi would be a strong contender to being open the longest. The ride is the fastest but does arguably operate in the harshest climate of all the hydraulic launch coasters in existence, but it is also backed by the seemingly never ending supply of UAE oil cash. This fact is more than likely what has kept it open to this date, that machinery must have taken an absolute beating over the years. Saying that, the ride is long term closed now. They could for all I know, do a TT2 overhaul on it.

From a green perspective though, Rita is incredibly energy efficient, due to the mechanical setup. It probably uses much less electricity to operate the ride than say the lift motor for Oblivion. So green credentials are high, that is a positive spin in this day and age. Probably offset somewhat by carbon footprint of delivery of parts and increased attention the rides need.

In any case, melt it down and send it off.
 
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Rita for certain, if we were to include Spinball to the list then that for sure would have been defiantly on the chopping block, unless if we're going to see Merlin do the utter cheap option and move it to become Project Horizon if Merlin are concern for future budgets but that is another story.

Rita has been an issue for Ug Land and Dark Forest for all these years and you could throw in Thirteen in there in which Dark Forest on the whole is totally cleared and you start again from scratch and honestly, while I doubt many enthusiasts will miss it/them, Rita and Thirteen are popular with the GP so what we might think is bad for the park much of the GP would disagree with so that be a problem when it comes time for Rita's farewell as there will be some sad to see it go so whatever would replace it would have to be truly special that it will utterly trump Rita in which many will forget about Rita for better or worse.
 
Certain?
Rita has given a few million punters what will probably be the fastest land acceleration in their life.
Popular, always has a queue, and (when staffed properly) it is quite a queuemuncher.
My vote, if I did one, probably Oblivion...the one trick pony.
Reuse the hole for a nice smooth family coaster all round the area...there is plenty of space...putting most in a shed for the noise issue on the edge of the park.
Then x sector has a family/thrill mix.
 
Definitely between Rita or Galactica. Galactica is a real PITA in terms of operations. I'm not sure why they refuse to operate both stations. If anyone knows and wants to enlighten me I would be grateful.
It is also so clearly uncared for, it will either get a huge revamp for 2025, or... I don't even know, but it really lets FV down.

Rita is a hydraulic launch, and as we have seen recently, the Intamin Hydraulic launch coasters of the era (2003 - 2005) have not been operating very well, with one major example being converted to LSM.
It's been 12 years since I went to Thorpe, so not sure who Stealth is fairing, but people love that ride, so I am assuming it is running much better than Rita.
I don't think Rita would suit LSM as it just isn't powerful enough. It is also an off the shelf model plonked in the middle of an area that doesn't suit the park. It also has serious downtime issues, which must be costing a fortune, and also annoying guests who join a 20 minute queue, only to be told over the PA system "those joining or at the back of the queue have been seriously misled in terms of waiting time, bugger off to other rides, please"
Unless it's walk-on and clearly running well, I refuse to go for it.
 
It always confuses me why Spinball isn’t classed as a major coaster when the other family thrill coasters are.

It’s a much better ride than Thirteen.


That aside, of the options given I voted for Galactica because I think it’s in a better location and therefore easier to replace than Rita . They are both ride types that have had their time
 
I don't think they'll be in a hurry to get rid of any of them, so it's a tricky one. All popular and I don't think any are near the end, I can see all still being operational at the end of the decade.

If it was a preference, Galactica/Air is my least favourite and the land it sits on has the greatest redevelopment opportunity. But there's no way that won't still be with us for a fair few years yet.
 
I'm hoping it's Rita. Poorly placed, ruined airtime by the OTSRs, very off the shelf, not even the fastest ride in the park, and a maintenance headache. Send it off to a medium sized park in the US where it can be the star there

Next personal choice would be Smiler (hate it), but next realistic choice would be Galactica. Beginning to become a headache, but I think they'll do something less drastic to sort it out

Ultimately though, I can't see anything being removed in say the next 5 years
 
Matt.GC said:
I don't think they'll be in a hurry to get rid of any of them, so it's a tricky one. All popular and I don't think any are near the end, I can see all still being operational at the end of the decade.
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Something I wonder though is how many coasters could the park actually sustain in theory, taking in to consideration not only the physical size of the park and the amount of land that would be good to build coasters on, but also the resources needed to maintain and staff those coasters?

Some parks such as Energylandia or Flamingo Land do indeed have a very large amount of coasters, but many of them are either kiddie rides and seem as though they are there just to boost a number. So if we just take for example what we would described as quality coasters, how many more could Alton Towers add before they would need to start removing some for whatever reasons? Personally I’m of the opinion that sometimes removing a ride that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, so long as it’s replaced with something better. I wouldn’t want to see Alton Towers have its coaster lineup stagnate because the park felt that arguably dated rides like Rita and Spinball were still popular and so didn’t need releasing any time soon. This might be controversial but for me I don’t feel that AT has that many “modern” feeling coasters. Spinball and Rita seem of their time, and both Oblivion and Thirteen feel very much like first generation one trick rides with quite simple layouts. What the park really needs is something like its own Batman Gotham City Escape, or a F.L.Y, or a Toutatis or a Ride To Happiness, something that feels very much “now” and of the moment. I do sometimes wonder if it’s actually a benefit for a park to be somewhat limited in terms of their size because it can force them to not only be creative but also to be more keen to refresh the ride lineup with quality additions such as how Liseberg gained Helix in 2015 and Valkyria in 2018 by way of removing and selling their 2005 Intamin Accelerator (Kanonen) after only 11 years at the park in 2016.
 
Shaggy_Dog_ said:
Something I wonder though is how many coasters could the park actually sustain in theory, taking in to consideration not only the physical size of the park and the amount of land that would be good to build coasters on, but also the resources needed to maintain and staff those coasters?
Click to expand...
Although AT does have a significant number of coasters, for its size, there are not that many. people always remark how far you can walk before even seeing a coaster, which is true when you think of the likes of Cedar Point, which must have the most rides over a given area than any other park. At has the problem of having so much space that a huge percentage of it is restricted, which is a shame as only a small area is worth preserving.
 
I would hope it’s Rita and/or Thirteen. I still think it’s utter madness that the park ripped up Ug Land after just 5 years to plonk Rita on it. I’m aware that the park changed ownership in between this, but I still stand by Ug Land being the strongest themed area the park has ever had in terms of ride variety, theming and uniqueness.

Taking the hardware alone, Rita and Thirteen aren’t bad rides, but the Dark Forest area has just never worked.

Spinball is also a contender I guess, but it’s in an odd location in terms of future development and does CBeebies really need to expand? Coupled with the fact the park have spent money on updating the PLC and it’s broad appeal, I can’t see this being removed in the short to medium term.

Those aside, I think the other coasters are safe for the medium term.
 
On the dark forest thread, I voted to keep the theme but improve it.

However I wouldn’t be against both coasters going at the exact same time, closing the whole area for a year/maybe two and having a completely new land with two new coasters. Would reduce the parks capacity drastically though and cost a small fortune. And I also feel that Walliams/Dungeons/Horizon should be the first priority, so yeah I hope they have deep pockets!
 
Mick said:
On the dark forest thread, I voted to keep the theme but improve it.

However I wouldn’t be against both coasters going at the exact same time, closing the whole area for a year/maybe two and having a completely new land with two new coasters. Would reduce the parks capacity drastically though and cost a small fortune. And I also feel that Walliams/Dungeons/Horizon should be the first priority, so yeah I hope they have deep pockets!
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They could flog Rita, I'm sure some European park would take it off their hands or somewhere like South America, the further the better really. Ideally Thirteen would move to somewhere like Mars.

Ug land was destroyed but it was themed around the Corkscrew being old if we are honest, and Corky wouldn't be here by now anyway.
 
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