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Oblivion: General Discussion

AT86 said:
What is your source for this?
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I found the post/quote - see below

It was further back in time than I'd thought (March 2025)

Thank you to @Alphe86 for bringing this to my attention, as - one year later - it turned out to be true!

P.S. I have e-mailed Renny Ruprinski to tell him the good news about the return of his audio clip! He responded and said that it's amazing

(Hopefully he gets paid royalties each time that it's used)
Alphe86 said:
Few people on twitter say they’ve been told the noise order which prevented the “don’t look down” audio has now expired and the speakers are now fixed? Could be nonsense but something to keep an eye on.
Is it holding at the edge longer?
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Sorry for going off topic as such yet the house thats kinda under the oblivion lift hill/brake run into station, is this staff usage i assume ?
 
Burner said:
No significance, no link to Oblivion itself. Just a building for break rooms/lockers for staff, that hasn't been updated since the 80s, and is just a bit grim.
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A lot of the "back of house" facilities all date back to the early 1980's (or older). Portakabin were a regular supplier and they still exist. When Air was being built, we lost the two Portakabin green rooms we had in the Valley (one for smokers, one no-smoking) and got a gleaming Portakabin behind the Ripsaw arcade / photo unit. Not long into the 2001 season fungi was growing through the floor - and Towers went on to use it as a food storage unit for the Ripsaw Cafe in 2002!

But back to Oblivion - great to hear the "don't look down" audio has returned. If the noise abatement order has expired, it will be interesting to see if Towers revert back to their 5 fireworks days again. It was always the Sat & Sun of the second to last weekend of season, then the Fri, Sat & Sun of the last weekend of season. It was the noise abatement order that limited them to just 3 fireworks days a year. Whilst there is some anecdotal evidence that guests are cutting back on visits (cost of living etc), when there are notable extras [such as a big firework & laser display] as en extra draw to visit, it's a good money-spinner.
 
Kraken27 said:
If the noise abatement order has expired, it will be interesting to see if Towers revert back to their 5 fireworks days again.
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My worry is that many of the staff who worked at AT during the 5-day fireworks era may no longer work at AT today, and so many of the current management may not even be aware that the decision to only run 3 days was due to a restriction - not a choice (I myself only discovered this recently).

It might be worth e-mailing AT and asking whether the 5-day fireworks will return? It may be a gentle way of informing / reminding them about the issue, if they are not already aware.

(Although the difficulty with contacting large companies such as AT is that there are so many staff there that you may not speak to the correct person; Bianca would have been a good person to ask, but she is no longer there)
 
Secret Weapon said:
My worry is that many of the staff who worked at AT during the 5-day fireworks era may no longer work at AT today, and so many of the current management may not even be aware that the decision to only run 3 days was due to a restriction - not a choice (I myself only discovered this recently).
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Alton Towers will have in-house or on-retainer legal staff who are fully aware of all significant existing restrictions and abatements enforced on the park. This is especially true of those that could hinder potential profit, ie, an additional two operating days/nights with fireworks. You do not need to email them.

I personally don't anticipate the park reverting back to a five-day schedule for the event. They don't have the staff and capacity of twenty years ago, nor the ambition.
 
They could have had it back much sooner as it was irrelevant when the Ropers used their Staffordshire home as their second home.

My guess is they're looking at small plussing measures they can undertake and they found this to be one that's possible. It's a good sign
 
LLCorkscrew said:
I'm in X Sector now and it's not playing. 😞

Edit: It is playing, it's just very quiet.
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It's funny that Oblivion's audio was apparently problematic, but yet The Smiler’s obnoxiously loud music and sound effects were not (this is the one time where I would actually agree with the Ropers if they had complained about it*)

I think the Smiler music volume was turned down during COVID (to prevent people from having to shout over it, which shows how loud it was), but it was unfortunately turned back up again afterwards, I think

(*I think the Ropers may have left Alton by the time that The Smiler was built? Somebody please correct me if I am wrong)
 
Secret Weapon said:
Hopefully he gets paid royalties each time that it's used
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Actually - I somewhat retract this statement, as thinking about it now, Alton Towers would probably be less likely to play the audio clip if they had to pay Renny each time

If this was the case then they might've got Nick Varney or John Wardley to record the clip instead, which probably wouldn't have sounded as threatening
 
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