With the 2013 season now under way Alton Towers is once again a hive of activity, with hundreds of guests flocking to the park every day. However, as construction on the new roller coaster The Smiler continues, it appears that the park will need to compromise its ride opening times briefly to ensure construction can continue uninterrupted.
The £18 million project previously codenamed Secret Weapon 7 was initially intended to open in March, along with the rest of the park. This has since been pushed back to May to ensure there is enough time to complete the ride following delays in construction over Winter.
The Smiler is to be located on the area formerly home to the Black Hole tent in the X-Sector area of the park. So far guests who have visited the area will have been met by high fences to ensure the construction site remains safe and inaccessible to the pubic. However, both the Enterprise and Submission rides are in close proximity to the building work, and for this reason there shall be changes to these rides opening times.
A spokesperson for Alton Towers said:
“The health and safety of our guests, staff and contractors is of paramount importance to us. To ensure that we are not compromising it, we have taken the decision to delay the opening of Enterprise and Submission for the next few days to allow for the safe movement of vehicles and equipment on The Smiler site. Ride opening times will be reviewed on an on-going basis to minimise disruption, and Oblivion will remain unaffected.”
As of today (20th March 2013) both Submission and Enterprise will open at 12:00 noon, two hours after the rest of the park. This will allow the construction teams optimum access to the site and allow the assembly of The Smiler to continue at full speed. Whether these times will change over the coming weeks, and how long this new procedure shall be in place for remain unknown at this time, but we will keep you updated as and when we hear more.
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