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If The Smiler accident didn’t happen..

djtruefitt

TS Team
So here’s a little discussion and debate I thought I would start, so if the Smiler accident hadn’t had happened back in 2015, what do you think the park would be like now?

Would we still all be riding Charlie and the chocolate factory and Ripsaw? Maybe the Flume would still be in operation and we would have had a cross valley woodie? Would lattice fries and Ben & Jerrys still be an option? Or could the park had taken exactly the same path that it has taken in the past five years?
 
I think maybe The Flume, Ripsaw and Sub-Terra might still be about if there was no accident. I don't think we'd have a cross valley woodie, but I think The Blade would be gone and there'd be a woodie in FV.
 
The cross valley was canned a long time ago, and I think the flume site was always going to be next. So I'm not sure much would have changed there. I don't think we'd have seen the TLC stuff, but the park probably would have been more willing to keep Sub Terra running longer and I think the park would have remained open 7 days a week all season.

All things considred, and the massive financial impact the accident had, investment in the park has remained pretty solid - so I'm not really sure we would have seen much else? I mean, Towers still seem to have invested more than Thorpe Park have over the last 5 years?
 
I still think we'd have gotten the cross valley wooden coaster? Possibly a bigger RMC Wickerman? Designed by John Wardley as his final legacy to the park.

TLC wouldn't have happened (at least not as marketing campaign)

Edward England to get his own ride in mutiny bay. (That may be wishful thinking.)

Nemesis Sub terra would still be running with VR.

Rapids to still be running with waterfalls (assuming chaos theory and Dreamworld/Drayton doesn't happen)

Spinball to be moved and replaced with a pinfari and some recycled jump tower from another park.

Aqua spin from Heide Park to die a death in AT car park whilst ripsaw lives.
 
I don't think we would have had or will ever, get the cross valley woody due to planning permission, even though I would have loved it.

I agree that we may have got an RMC perhaps 50% bigger than Wicker Man in Forbidden Valley, but make no mistake, I was skeptical until I rode it but WM was a great investment for the park and packs one hell of a punch for a ride with such small drops. I suspect this is a least partly down to the last minute intervention of a certain Mr Wardly.

The Smiler would have kept the Get Corrected theme which I really liked.

SW8 whatever it was would have happened a year earlier than WM and SW9 would be closer than it is, though I'm sure this has been further delayed due to covid 19.

I think the gate numbers would be 3 million plus and AT would still have the highest in the UK (which it deserves hands down).

Stand by what I've said though... For all its faults, I regard AT as an awesome World Class Theme Park, that could do with more live entertainment. I've never had a bad day there and have enjoyed every minute of every visit.

We are lucky to have it.
 
I think maybe The Flume, Ripsaw and Sub-Terra might still be about if there was no accident. I don't think we'd have a cross valley woodie, but I think The Blade would be gone and there'd be a woodie in FV.
If the woodie replaced Blade it would be a very small one.
 
If the woodie replaced Blade it would be a very small one.
I think The Edge arcade and The Blade were earmarked for removal in early 2015, with tree clearance going on behind Sub-Terra (it was still operating at this point), so I think it may have been of substantial length. I know markings were spotted in FV in the early 2015 season.
 
They got outline permission for a cross valley coaster, also an environmental impact was approved in 2014 so I don’t think a cross valley coaster is completely off the cards from a planning point of view.
 
They got outline permission for a cross valley coaster, also an environmental impact was approved in 2014 so I don’t think a cross valley coaster is completely off the cards from a planning point of view.

Id love to see it, but could see it being a steel or hybrid coaster with tunnels and sound barriers, so to aid with planning being accepted. We can dream.
 
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