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Controversial Alton Towers Opinions

Skyscraper said:
The Smiler (2013) is 1.4.
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Ha, ok well same difference, 12 years and nothing on the Horizon…

Ride to Happiness has the same forces as Swarm so I can’t think of any reason why the ride is still 1.4m (and personally I think RtH is far more intense) but there’s no real incentive for the park to reassess.
 
Bowser said:
Ha, ok well same difference, 12 years and nothing on the Horizon…

Ride to Happiness has the same forces as Swarm so I can’t think of any reason why the ride is still 1.4m (and personally I think RtH is far more intense) but there’s no real incentive for the park to reassess.
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Different restraints first off and more force they don't want to take any chances. Why take the risk isn't the aim to remove any hazard. Also it might be different forces applied.

Also if they made it any less than 1.4 all you'll do is inflate the queue time, time
 
Hid said:
Different restraints first off and more force they don't want to take any chances. Why take the risk isn't the aim to remove any hazard. Also it might be different forces applied.

Also if they made it any less than 1.4 all you'll do is inflate the queue time, time
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The restraints are the same as Mandrill which is 1.2m restriction so that’s not the issue and the forces referenced are the same so technically there is no reason.

Inflate the queue time or reduce Hyperia queue time?

Anyway moot as it won’t happen.
 
If anything, I imagine queue times would fall on things with lower height restrictions, because smaller people could spread around more rides.

So instead of all the thrill seekers under 1.4m crowding around Hyperia, they would be spread between Hyperia, Swarm, Saw et al.
 
Jb85 said:
I’m with you on this one
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I'm not well versed in manufacturer arguments but.. why?

Surely the Smiler has to be one - even the most ludicrous theme parks don't have 14 loops and despite the accident it has insinuated itself into theme park culture - you see all sorts of people dressed up in Smiler themed gear but I have yet to see someone mooching round the park looking like an extra from Braveheart in Wicker Man themed clothes
 
I wonder..... with hight restrictions being higher for "bigger" rides of the same type....

Could that be in case of an evac? Doesn't matter if a kid is tall enough to be safely held in by a restraint, if they aren't mature enough to stay calm should they have to walk down a lift hill.
Taking that B&M example, Swarm has the potential for being harnessed up to climb down a steep staircase, 127' in the air. Mandril should return to the station for a nice easy detraining. One of those is going to be a lot more stressful on a youngling than the other.

So even if the restraints and G forces are the same, the evacuation procedure could be a big part of it. It's not that a younger kid couldn't physically do it, but they might be much more likely to freak out in that situation, putting themselves and others in danger.

(I'm guessing, but it would make sense?)
 
DiogoJ42 said:
I wonder..... with hight restrictions being higher for "bigger" rides of the same type....

Could that be in case of an evac? Doesn't matter if a kid is tall enough to be safely held in by a restraint, if they aren't mature enough to stay calm should they have to walk down a lift hill.
Taking that B&M example, Swarm has the potential for being harnessed up to climb down a steep staircase, 127' in the air. Mandril should return to the station for a nice easy detraining. One of those is going to be a lot more stressful on a youngling than the other.

So even if the restraints and G forces are the same, the evacuation procedure could be a big part of it. It's not that a younger kid couldn't physically do it, but they might be much more likely to freak out in that situation, putting themselves and others in danger.

(I'm guessing, but it would make sense?)
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Hyperia with a lower ride restriction has the potential to be evacuated down a 240' staircase so i don't think it's that.

I'd imagine there are plenty of adults who would be less mature than children in that situation too.
 
dave___ said:
I'm not well versed in manufacturer arguments but.. why?

Surely the Smiler has to be one - even the most ludicrous theme parks don't have 14 loops and despite the accident it has insinuated itself into theme park culture - you see all sorts of people dressed up in Smiler themed gear but I have yet to see someone mooching round the park looking like an extra from Braveheart in Wicker Man themed clothes
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At the time these rides just felt world class. Like Alton were truly pioneers

I know the others have some unique elements but nothing at this level
 
Bowser said:
Agree although I think Thirteen qualifies too. They were quite literally pioneers with that one.

The Smiler was the end of it for me. Most inversions always felt like a cheap gimmick in comparison to what preceded it.
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I can agree with Thirteen - the tech in that was revolutionary but hasn’t been used yet to its full potential in my opinion.

Smiler does nothing unique - just a lot of inversions

In fairness, not a lot new or unique can be done now surely?
 
Secret Weapon said:
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).
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Apparently, the Wii motion control concept did actually start life as this.

Nintendo made the concept way before they decided on the Wii. The GameCube was Nintendo's last serious attempt to be a major top-end console competitor and a lot was invested into it's development. The PS2 gets a lot of attention as it not only dominated the generation, but is the best selling console of all time. By quite a considerable margin.

Yet, contrary to the marketing guff, the PS2 was quite underpowered for it's time. The Sega Dreamcast kicked off the generation and hit the shelves in Japan in 1998, and despite numerous architectural nuances between them, the PS2 hardly delivered the 2 year technological leap (I own all the 6th gen consoles and the PS2 delivers the ugliest and most sluggish performance of all of them) as seen between NES-Master System, Mega Drive-SNES, PlayStation-N64. But, it had full backward compatibility with it's market leading predecessor, a strong brand, was the cheapest DVD player on the market, had a stylish design, and the full weight of one of the biggest tech firms in the world behind it.

By comparison, the Dreamcast was a cleverly designed, ahead-of-its-time, efficient, and versatile machine.

So too, in many ways, was the GameCube, delivering all round excellent performance, fast load times, and was solidly reliable.

The Xbox was the absolute powerhouse out of the 4. Effectively the latest gaming PC of the time made up of powerful off the shelf parts stuffed into an ugly black plastic box with a DVD drive on it.

Sega and Nintendo, who dominated the market just a few years earlier, threw everything and the kitchen sink at the Dreamcast and GameCube. The last roll of the dice for Sega, with one of their executives (only in Japan!) even bailing the company out with his own personal wealth out of honour. Nintendo only ever sold hardware that either made a profit or broke even.

Sony and Microsoft however, being 2 of the biggest tech companies in the world at the time, were perfectly happy to use their massive scale to absorb financial losses on hardware to muscle out competitors.

So when it came to the next generation, Microsoft were busy stuffing yet more PC parts into a plastic box that ended up cooking itself, and Sony were wasting millions developing Cell Broadband processors, harming both companies. They both sold their consoles at massive losses.

Nintendo just re-released the GameCube, their last gen console, in a new plastic box with motion controls and called it the Wii. They sold every unit at a profit, and sold over 101 million of them, outselling the Xbox 360 and PS3 by quite some margin.

Now that @rob666 has mentioned it, 1998 was a washout of a summer. But the season at Alton Towers also came with large price increases, and I remember it as being the point in time when the resort became an expensive place to visit. So there's far more busines nuance behind these stories than just comparing visitor numbers or what coaster could have done what.

There's a reason why everyone drove Ford Escorts that broke down all the time in the 90's, just like there's a reason why there's a McDonald's profitability selling poor quality slop that everyone knows is bad for them from almost every street in the entire country. Look at the financials, come up with a good business model, brand and market it well, and jobs a good 'un.
 
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).
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Have you got a source which shows Nemesis previously had a 1.2 height restriction?

Older models of B&M inverts have always had a minimum of 1.37m (which have been rounded up to 1.4 at most parks for ease of measuring riders.

I’ve never heard what you’ve said before so would be interested to see where it was stated to be 1.2m.
 
An Opinion I think Alton Towers is so negatively slagged off now that it has become an underrated park, it is a really good park with lovely landscaping and an excellent Coaster Lineup and a Solid Dark Ride Lineup.

It seems to get way more criticism than other parks
 
Hid said:
An Opinion I think Alton Towers is so negatively slagged off now that it has become an underrated park, it is a really good park with lovely landscaping and an excellent Coaster Lineup and a Solid Dark Ride Lineup.

It seems to get way more criticism than other parks
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You haven't popped your head into the Blackpool Pleasure Beach or Drayton Manor Park and Zoo threads in a while, have you?
 
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