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Broome Era Towers

I remembered reading years ago that The Flume was the longest log flume in the world when it opened. According to Towers Street it was 2907ft long.
https://towersstreet.com/theme-park/ride/the-flume/#factfile

For some reason I got the urge to suddenly compare the length of The Flume to Alton Towers' roller coasters. According to RCDB, Alton Towers has only ever built one roller coaster longer than The Flume, and that was The Smiler. It does put into perspective how big and ambitious The Flume was.

By the way, does anyone know what the world's longest log flume is now?
 
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I loved the Flume but I think calling it ambitious is a bit of a stretch. The long windy bit between the little first drop and the in-the-dark second drop was pointless. Would have been much better had that section been cut out and replaced by a drop in the woods.

I guess it speaks to the ambition of John Broome at the time though, and unlike Corkscrew it was a permanent addition which he couldn't just pack up and ship somewhere else if it didn't work out.
 
I remembered reading years ago that The Flume was the longest log flume in the world when it opened. According to Towers Street it was 2907ft long.
https://towersstreet.com/theme-park/ride/the-flume/#factfile

For some reason I got the urge to suddenly compare the length of The Flume to Alton Towers' roller coasters. According to RCDB, Alton Towers has only ever built one roller coaster longer than The Flume, and that was The Smiler. It does put into perspective how big and ambitious The Flume was.

By the way, does anyone know what the world's longest log flume is now?
This is actually very interesting. I presume the reason for this is space limitations because of where all the coasters are situated and the lack of height permitted.. I always wondered why the planners allowed Broome to have the flume go into the historic woods. I suppose it must be similar to the 'run off track' on thirteen. As for the longest flume I thought the UK had the two longest flumes in 'The Flume' and 'loggers leap' both of which are gone so I have no idea but I presume one of the late arrow ones or possible one of the intimin ones with the turntables. I think we only have travelling flumes left in this country now. Shame there is a water rides database like RCDB.
 
I think we only have travelling flumes left in this country now. Shame there is a water rides database like RCDB.
We do still have plenty of permanent flumes left in Britain; off the top of my head, I can think of Tiger Rock at Chessington, Pirate Falls at Legoland, Raging River (I think?) at Paultons, Water Fun Factory (I think?) at Pleasurewood Hills, Zambezi River at West Midlands Safari Park and Skull Rock at Oakwood in terms of traditional flumes, and there’s probably more I haven’t mentioned.

As well as that, you have new-age flumes (called “spillwater” rides by some) like Valhalla at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Stormforce 10 at Drayton Manor.

As for the comment about the lack of a water ride database; there is the EWRDB, which covers all the water rides in Europe: https://ewrdb.com/
 
We do still have plenty of permanent flumes left in Britain; off the top of my head, I can think of Tiger Rock at Chessington, Pirate Falls at Legoland, Raging River (I think?) at Paultons, Water Fun Factory (I think?) at Pleasurewood Hills, Zambezi River at West Midlands Safari Park and Skull Rock at Oakwood in terms of traditional flumes, and there’s probably more I haven’t mentioned.

As well as that, you have new-age flumes (called “spillwater” rides by some) like Valhalla at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Stormforce 10 at Drayton Manor.

As for the comment about the lack of a water ride database; there is the EWRDB, which covers all the water rides in Europe: https://ewrdb.com/
This is a good point and thanks for the info about the database however a lot of our 'permanent' flumes are actually travelling models that are sat in a permanent. To be fair you have proven me wrong and its just me being a little negative as you'll find is a common trait. :(
 
This is a good point and thanks for the info about the database however a lot of our 'permanent' flumes are actually travelling models that are sat in a permanent. To be fair you have proven me wrong and its just me being a little negative as you'll find is a common trait. :(
That’s a fair point; properly bespoke flumes do seem to be a dying breed in the UK, with The Flume, Logger’s Leap and Nightmare Niagara (the 3 biggest, most bespoke UK flumes I could think of) all having closed. In somewhat of a rarity for a record like it, the record for tallest flume in the UK actually seems to be getting shorter as opposed to taller, with both the main previous record holders in Nightmare Niagara and Logger’s Leap having closed.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with being negative; I guess we all have our own different outlooks on life! I’m often criticised for being too positive, so I think it’s a good thing to have a balance of different outlooks in a place like this to prevent it from being too positive or negative!
 
That’s a fair point; properly bespoke flumes do seem to be a dying breed in the UK, with The Flume, Logger’s Leap and Nightmare Niagara (the 3 biggest, most bespoke UK flumes I could think of) all having closed. In somewhat of a rarity for a record like it, the record for tallest flume in the UK actually seems to be getting shorter as opposed to taller, with both the main previous record holders in Nightmare Niagara and Logger’s Leap having closed.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with being negative; I guess we all have our own different outlooks on life! I’m often criticised for being too positive, so I think it’s a good thing to have a balance of different outlooks in a place like this to prevent it from being too positive or negative!
Thanks. Also about the flume record I would suspect the biggest flumes left to actually be travelling flumes due to there support structure. The only flumes we've had built in the last like 15 years have been them little kids ones so you defiantly have a point about them getting shorter. I don't really agree with parks removing flumes because if you ask someone who doesn't like rides what they'll go on the two most common answers and rapids and flumes. Wicker Man should have been built in forbidden valley but never mind. I suppose the flume had a high maintance cost due to it being all the way out in the woods. It must have been a nightmare for the maintance team at Alton. If I am right in thinking the supports where wooden? So they were probably a right nightmare to sort out.
 
I actually forgot pleasure beach ever had a flume. That would have been a contender for the modern day title. What year was it removed?
Built 1967, removed 2006. My favourite flume in the UK by (half) a mile.

DmLnuBlW4AU4h5S.jpg
 
Built 1967, removed 2006. My favourite flume in the UK by (half) a mile.

DmLnuBlW4AU4h5S.jpg
Don't think that would meet water saftey standards if build today the water looks like apple juice. :D:D. Anyway I would image it would have been the longest today if it had stayed open. Shame we don't really have any bespoke flumes left apart from the ones @Matt N mentioned but none of them are to the scale of these ones.
 
suppose the flume had a high maintance cost due to it being all the way out in the woods. It must have been a nightmare for the maintance team at Alton.

The issue with Flumes (and one of the reasons they are removed) is the fact that guests can simply stand up at any point on the ride. If the Flume is at ground level for most of the time such as Tiger Rock then the risk of injury from a guest falling is mitigated.

Alton Towers Flume was elevated at quite a height for most of its course, and so not only could a guest fall out, they would then fall quite a way to the ground. Placing walkways/barriers along the entire length of the course would have been costly and unsightly and so was a big factor in the decision to get rid.
 
The issue with Flumes (and one of the reasons they are removed) is the fact that guests can simply stand up at any point on the ride. If the Flume is at ground level for most of the time such as Tiger Rock then the risk of injury from a guest falling is mitigated.

Alton Towers Flume was elevated at quite a height for most of its course, and so not only could a guest fall out, they would then fall quite a way to the ground. Placing walkways/barriers along the entire length of the course would have been costly and unsightly and so was a big factor in the decision to get rid.
Safety has gone nuts. Did anyone ever fall out in its entire existence? Do people not have common sense anymore? Then again I understand it from Alton Towers point of view after the smiler incident they couldn't risk anything otherwise towers would have been toast. If this is the thinking it doesn't look good for the rapids. I suppose they could always do a refurbishment and get some of them new boats like Drayton did this year.
 
I guess to some extent the height restriction change in 2011 (from 0.9m to 1.2m or 1m with modified boats) must have made log flumes less attractive to parks.
 
That didn't stop Chessington though
Yes didn't think about that. Then again if you are talking about tiger rock all they did was take the old dragon river rip out the old theming and bung in some lions can't have cost much. I suspect the most expensive thing would have been the lions.
 
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