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Controversial Alton Towers Opinions

rob666 said:
Simple answer mate, to solve your mystery.
A very wet summer, particularly all the school holidays.
Wet, lack of sun, breezy.
Stunning new ride, lots of hype, fantastic early thoughput, constant shuffle queueline, but in the rain mainly.

I remember, very early on, thinking that the lift hill would be considered torture if it wasn't voluntary.

...and you didn't have to wait half an hour to get off either.
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That is a simple answer; thanks @rob666! In my defence, I unfortunately wasn’t around to experience the weather in 1998…
 
Again, I was very lucky to be doing the job I did all through that time...I had many days at Alton on additional paid hours, likewise camping with small groups at Drayton.
I was the only male thoosie in my trade locally, so lots of other homes wanted me to tag along on their trips.
Bit difficult to say no!
I spent a massive amount of time in the nemesis, oblivion and air queues at the time of opening...and Blackpool with the Big One obviously.
One day in the three hour early queues...boys on nemesis in the morning, girls on nemesis in the afternoon.
2 rides all day, full day at work, absolutely fantastic outing.
 
Here's a 2 controversial opinions I have.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Ride was really underrated mainly because of what it replaced, and was one of Towers best experiences as you essentially got 2 experiences in one attraction. I do miss the slow pace that ride had

Th13teen is the smoothest most reridable coaster on park.
 
DistortAMG said:
Tell me you never went to Alton Towers in 2002 without telling me...air was a HUGE success.
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You're right that I didn't go when it first launched in 2002; I remember it being built in 2001, but I didn't ride it until 2004.

DiogoJ42 said:
At the time, everyone I knew was disappointed by Air. The advert implied it was a launched coaster. A friend called it "Nemesis for babies".
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When I first rode Air in 2004, I went with some people who were generally afraid of rollercoasters; one of them reluctantly agreed to ride Air with me at the end of the day and he surprisingly ended up loving it, and I remember thinking "You should have come with me on Nemesis this morning, as that is even better!".

I didn't think Air was a bad ride - just not as good or comfortable as Nemesis.

I also remember wondering why the flying trains weren't simply added to the Nemesis track, instead of a dedicated new track being built - although that probably wasn't possible, anyway (sidenote: I also remember wondering why the Nintendo Wii remote wasn't simply an add-on to the GameCube - similar to the EyeToy for the PS2 - instead of an entirely new console being required alongside).
 
Secret Weapon said:
When I first rode Air in 2004, I went with some people who were generally afraid of rollercoasters; one of them reluctantly agreed to ride Air with me at the end of the day and he surprisingly ended up loving it, and I remember thinking "You should have come with me on Nemesis this morning, as that is even better!".
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When my daughter gets tall enough she wants it to be her first "big" coaster because it doesn't look as intense.

She best get a wriggle on with that growth spurt though as we're going to Universal Florida next year and she is already tall enough for Velocicoaster and Stardust Racers. That weird no-man's land of height where ultra-thrill rides like that she can ride but at the same time can't ride the Rattlesnake at Chessington because this country is rigidly attached to 1.4m as the "golden height"...

I guess that's another opinion of mine, don't know how controversial though. The height restrictions across Towers and other parks seem out of kilter with the wider theme parks worldwide. At least Hyperia is a more sensible 1.3m. Isn't that white elephant called Falcon's Flight slated to be a 1.3m ride too..?
 
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dave___ said:
When my daughter gets tall enough she wants it to be her first "big" coaster because it doesn't look as intense.

She best get a wriggle on with that growth spurt though as we're going to Universal Florida next year and she is already tall enough for Velocicoaster and Stardust Racers. That weird no-man's land of height where ultra-thrill rides like that she can ride but at the same time can't ride the Rattlesnake at Chessington because this country is rigidly attached to 1.4m as the "golden height"...

I guess that's another opinion of mine, don't know how controversial though. The height restrictions across Towers and other parks seem out of kilter with the wider theme parks worldwide. At least Hyperia is a more sensible 1.3m. Isn't that white elephant called Falcon's Flight slated to be a 1.3m ride too..?
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They don't choose the height restrictions it is done based on forces, train design and other factors.

They could do what Drayton did with the Wave give them new restraints with Lap Bars.

If there is a common factor with Hyperia, Stardust Racers and Velocicoaster all have OTSLB.

Rattlesnake hasn't really got any head support for how sharp the laterals are on it
 
Hid said:
They don't choose the height restrictions it is done based on forces, train design and other factors.

They could do what Drayton did with the Wave give them new restraints with Lap Bars.

If there is a common factor with Hyperia, Stardust Racers and Velocicoaster all have OTSLB.

Rattlesnake hasn't really got any head support for how sharp the laterals are on it
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The parks do choose the height restrictions to some extent.

If they didn’t; why, for example, does Saw have a 1.4m height restriction when Speed only had a 1.25m height restriction? Why does Swarm have a 1.4m height restriction when Mandrill Mayhem has a 1.2m height restriction? Why does The Walking Dead have a 1.4m height restriction when X, and pretty much every other Vekoma family coaster out there, had a 1m height restriction?

It does seem as though the UK Merlin parks have historically had very high height restrictions for some types of ride compared to other parks even within the same country, with Hyperia being the only real deviation from that. Given that other similar rides operate safely with lower height restrictions; the parks must have some say in that, surely?
 
Matt N said:
The parks do choose the height restrictions to some extent.

If they didn’t; why, for example, does Saw have a 1.4m height restriction when Speed only had a 1.25m height restriction? Why does Swarm have a 1.4m height restriction when Mandrill Mayhem has a 1.2m height restriction? Why does The Walking Dead have a 1.4m height restriction when X, and pretty much every other Vekoma family coaster out there, had a 1m height restriction?

It does seem as though the UK Merlin parks have historically had very high height restrictions for some types of ride compared to other parks even within the same country, with Hyperia being the only real deviation from that. Given that other similar rides operate safely with lower height restrictions; the parks must have some say in that, surely?
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The Walking Dead, Saw the Ride may have 1.4m mainly because of their themes attached to the ride.

The Swarm and Mandrill Mayhem difference may be due to the force on the rider some forces are not suitable for younger peope
 
dave___ said:
i'd prefer it if the secret weapons/new coasters were not always something new and never-seen before.

Oblivion, Rita, Air, 13 are all basically one-trick wonders because they were first-of-type and there is so much more that could be done with those designs if they held off a couple of years for someone else to be "first".
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Rita was not a first-of-type. It was at least the fourth hydraulic launch coaster, with Top Thrill Dragstar being one of the first notable ones https://rcdb.com/r.htm?order=-8&ot=2&el=12166

13 yes had the world-first drop element but the rest of the ride is pretty standard.

Oblivion was a world-first but that didn't really cause any issues.

Air however, yes it was clear its a prototype given the problems in the first year.

But also look at Smiler and Hyperia, a tried and tested rollercoaster model, but a layout it struggles with.
 
Hid said:
They don't choose the height restrictions it is done based on forces, train design and other factors.
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Height restrictions are based on the insurance company say so in the end, on a great number of occasions...often higher than the manufacturers guidance.
 
jon81uk said:
Rita was not a first-of-type. It was at least the fourth hydraulic launch coaster, with Top Thrill Dragstar being one of the first notable ones https://rcdb.com/r.htm?order=-8&ot=2&el=12166

13 yes had the world-first drop element but the rest of the ride is pretty standard.

Oblivion was a world-first but that didn't really cause any issues.

Air however, yes it was clear its a prototype given the problems in the first year.

But also look at Smiler and Hyperia, a tried and tested rollercoaster model, but a layout it struggles with.
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The Smiler was the first Infinity model, so a mild prototype. From Wikipedia:
The Infinity Coaster is a roller coaster design by Gerstlauer. A variant of the popular Euro-Fighter model, the Infinity Coaster allows for higher capacity through longer trains. The coaster also features a magnetic rollback system on rides with lifthills, to allow for easier evacuation of riders in breakdown situations. The ride car can now roll backwards with the magnetic fins deployed and the lift motor in reverse.

The first Infinity Coaster was The Smiler at Alton Towers in the UK, opened in 2013.
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And wasn't Hyperia Mack's first attempt at a hypercoaster?
 
Matt N said:
It does seem as though the UK Merlin parks have historically had very high height restrictions for some types of ride compared to other parks even within the same country
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I got lucky in 1994, because I was just about tall enough to ride Nemesis (which was only 1.2m at the time), but I was unfortunately too short to ride Shockwave (which had been increased from 1.2m to 1.4m by the time that I went).

Part of me wonders whether Merlin now put the height requirements higher than they need to be in order to keep queues a bit shorter by diverting children to other rides instead, and also hoping that it might encourage children to return to the park when they're older in order to visit the other rides?
 
Secret Weapon said:
I got lucky in 1994, because I was just about tall enough to ride Nemesis (which was only 1.2m at the time), but I was unfortunately too short to ride Shockwave (which had been increased from 1.2m to 1.4m by the time that I went).

Part of me wonders whether Merlin now put the height requirements higher than they need to be in order to keep queues a bit shorter by diverting children to other rides instead, and also hoping that it might encourage children to return to the park when they're older in order to visit the other rides?
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I would imagine the height limits are set by their insurance companies.
 
I also imagine some of it comes from simplification. B&M Inverts are 1.37m or something like that as they use Imperial measurements, but if you have parkwide height limits rounded it makes it easier to inform about and group rides.
 
Poisson said:
I also imagine some of it comes from simplification. B&M Inverts are 1.37m or something like that as they use Imperial measurements, but if you have parkwide height limits rounded it makes it easier to inform about and group rides.
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I think part of it is historical too. For example AT is full of old rides and harness technology has moved on a lot.

I don’t believe Merlin have built a coaster in the UK with a 1.4m height restriction since Swarm in 2012 and I’d be surprised if they ever do again.
 
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