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2019: General Discussion

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Themed accommodation coming soon via Merlin...

Lets take a look the left to do
A and E trauma centre
This was scrapped after that incident
Mother's Theresa's home for the dying
That would be a decorated in a nice way.
Victorian Work House
That what they will turn the dungeons into when it fails as a pay extra ride
DHSS office
Is that to make the jobless deal chavs feel at home
Death Row Holding cells.
Isn't that the security office?


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I'm going to join the hat eating squad... There is no way the waterfalls are coming back.

Imagine how much money they saved by leaving them off? This is how Merlin think.

They don’t really save any money by leaving them off from a day to day point of view, but the waterfalls were rotting so I suspect the excuse of people standing up is a welcome reason to explain why they are not spending any cash on refurbishing them.
 
They don’t really save any money by leaving them off from a day to day point of view, but the waterfalls were rotting so I suspect the excuse of people standing up is a welcome reason to explain why they are not spending any cash on refurbishing them.
Towers are on an un-metered electricity supply, so there is no energy cost saving in not running the waterfalls.

As to them rotting - the base of them is obviously the concrete trough of the rapids & from what I remember the rest of the waterfall structure is breeze-block type construction. Neither material tends to rot.
 
The pumps would still need regular tinkering and replacement parts though.

Frankly, I'm amazed they can be bothered to open any rides at all. I mean, they'd make a lot more profit if they didn't. After all, their T&Cs make it clear that they don't have any obligation to do anything but [BLEEP] us in the [BLOOP].
 
Was the Drayton incident even related to water effects though? If not, then again Alton Towers have drawn attention to something that was not a problem in the first place, like the debate around putting back the Smiler audio.

But if Alton Towers had an existing problem with people regularly standing up in the waterfalls, that makes more sense to stop it until a better solution could be found. But I don't think they are interested in finding a better solution, I think theyd rather cut the water effects permanently because it's the easiest option. All those kinds of decisions is what amounts to a lacklustre park
Yep, i've definitely seen people stand up and lean out of the boat to avoid getting soaked - or even the other way round, when they've stood up and tried to touch the waterfalls.
 
Towers are on an un-metered electricity supply, so there is no energy cost saving in not running the waterfalls.

As to them rotting - the base of them is obviously the concrete trough of the rapids & from what I remember the rest of the waterfall structure is breeze-block type construction. Neither material tends to rot.

Theming and the pumps is where the money needs spending. I have no idea if they will turn them back on or not, I was just pointing out where money is saved if that is a concern for Towers.
 
Yep, i've definitely seen people stand up and lean out of the boat to avoid getting soaked - or even the other way round, when they've stood up and tried to touch the waterfalls.
The waterfalls definitely encouraged riders to stand up in the boats to avoid the splashing. The wave machines have been switched off too as these areas also caused guests to stand to avoid the splashes.

Until the HSE report on the Drayton incident is out there is practically zero chance of Merlin allowing Alton to turn the waterfalls back on. Only if HSE issue a report absolving Drayton 100% of any blame is there any chance the Alton waterfalls will run again.
 
It’s funny how Thorpe still boat share and have their water falls on, yet visit Alton Towers and there is zero chance of boat sharing last season even if the queue reaches 90 mins.

As for those new boats, all the current boats are still sat in the car park and haven’t been modified.
 
Thorpe rapid works on a different system, they need the waterfalls to run in order to help with creating the water flow. (or that's what they told the H&S/Merlin )
Not sure I buy that one personally. Given that Thorpe's waterfalls are in the darkened section of the ride, you could argue this makes them even more of a hazard as it's harder for riders to work out it the boat is possibly about to jolt / hit the side of the channel etc.
 
It's a more serene experience these days. If there's not much of a queue i'll go on it as it's a chance to have a nice sit down.
 
It's been a year or two since I rode the Rapids... I wasn't aware they'd stopped boat sharing. This surely can't be related to the Drayton accident...? :confused:

I can't think of a good reason for this being policy.
 
It's been a year or two since I rode the Rapids... I wasn't aware they'd stopped boat sharing. This surely can't be related to the Drayton accident...? :confused:

I can't think of a good reason for this being policy.

Is it not to do with the boats being lighter? Though surely that would make them more likely to bounce around.
Very curious.
 
I went on the rapids with littledelta last year. And shared with 2 other people.

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