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2017: General Discussion

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Diogo's post made me chuckle because it's true. We've been waiting years for an expansion to the Waterpark, then out of nowhere a tiny little slide appears. Hardley what we were hoping for.

Humour aside I do think this is a nice little addition. A small slide for kids which in both name and design adds to the Paradise Pluming Theme. no complaints from me.
 
On the subject of "why name such a small slide", I have no problem with that. Giving it a name makes it sound like a bigger deal to a small kid, and they'll probably be chuffed that they "conquered" it.
 
Forbidden valley desperately needs a ripsaw replacement end of. It can't rely on just 2 coasters. Galactica's downtime just demonstrates the issue more so! !

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They must feel it can work.

Dark Forest has been just the two coasters ever since the transformation to Dark Forest.

X-Sector is pretty much a two coaster area with the removal of Submission (As if was ever working anyway) and I wouldn't categorise Enterprise as a thrill ride as much as The Blade is.

And now Forbidden Valley's thrill selection has been brought down to just the two rollercoasters.

Even for a park that are struck for cash; a second hand Top Scan for example which doesn't even need to be well themed - a lick a paint is all that is necessary, would do wonders for the thrill lineup.

We have been talking about this topic even way back when Th13teen was introduced. I wouldn't expect much change anytime soon unfortunately.
 
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Yeah the flat ride line up is atrocious. The removal of flats has left most areas rather lifeless and relying only on a couple of coasters.

We need:
  • Ripsaw replacement
  • Blade is on its way out, so replace that too.
  • Submission replacement
  • Enterprise is ancient, so replace that too.
  • Toadstool either reopen or replace.
So that's 5 flats just in replacements. Then there's the lack of any in Dark Forest since the Ugland days, which is really just a despressing part of the park to be in. It has a general lack of atmosphere I think. A new flat and maybe something else like an indoor cafe to tart up the area a bit.

Plus 3 closed dark rides is making for a real lack of variety at Towers these days.
 
ID is now required to ride the rapids if you are/look under 18. Unless with supervised with an adult.

Absolutely ridiculous.

Obviously they're trying to cautious with the recent tragic accident at Drayton Manor and the Smiler accident still at the back of their minds.

But the rapids have been open since 1986 without any real trouble and all this with the features still turned off - if you're going to force ID requirements to ride at least turn the features back on.

A 17 year can drive to the park, be a member of the military, drink in some circumstances, but can not ride the rapids without supervision.
It's way over the top.
 
This surely carries only some kind of legal protection for the park and is nothing to do with real H&S?

Seems desperate although to be honest I can't really think of an alternative at this point. Hopefully it gets reverted once time has passed otherwise it will kill the rapids.
 
I can understand why Towers have gone to an extreme like this. The media is latched on to rides at Towers right now (what will The Smiler and Galactica standard breakdowns being reported as huge safety issues) so making a rule like this is fair enough. There are individuals out there that will try things to sell a non story too, so Towers are trying to be very cautious, understandably.

I hope they can drop this in a season or two and get those waterfalls back running. Rapids Rides are family rides. It's sad that the media (and health and safety to an extent) is ruining the fun of theme parks.

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The Daily Mail/Mirror/A N other **** rag will probably hire a bunch of 17 years olds to tag themselves in on some social platform.

"Horror as Alton Towers let underage children on Death Boats!" -esque headline.

Hopefully AT/Merlin haven't painted themselves into a corner with this.
 
Not sure why you are all making a huge fuss. All under 16s really should have an adult with them at all times anyway, under 18 might be extreme but I guess they are covering themselves.
There are too many large groups of kids during school trip season riding unsupervised and the chances of something like the incident at Drayton happening is increased with a large group of unsupervised school children without parents around. If I remember right that was the circumstances of the incident there?
School trips probably should have one adult for 7 kids anyway just to monitor properly at the park so the only group that lose are 16/17 year olds going to the park without parents or school guardians.
 
Towers haven't really got into a corner if they're 'properly' implementing the rule...

Thorpe stating on Twitter that it's an advisory rule are screwed should something akin to Drayton happen though...
 
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