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2017: General Discussion

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I thought some of the rides control interfaces ran off things like XP, isn't it Galatica's that is ancient?

Same thing still applies, anything not patched will be infected if just one other computer on the same network gets compromised, 'good job that doesn't do that' is probably the reason why the ransomware has spread so wide, assumptions can be dangerous.
 
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I appreciate it was not only respectful but also the right thing to do from a ride safety point of view, to close the Rapids until the cause of the incident at Drayton was confirmed - in case of any underlying problems with the ride system, but to be suddenly making major changes to the experience in a knee-jerk way is ridiculous.

What is turning off the water falls and water pistols going to do exactly? The ride has operated perfectly fine, safely for 3 decades.

There are fatal car accidents on the roads every day. Do we just suddenly stop driving or close all the roads in response? No.
 
PeteB said:
I appreciate it was not only respectful but also the right thing to do from a ride safety point of view, to close the Rapids until the cause of the incident at Drayton was confirmed - in case of any underlying problems with the ride system, but to be suddenly making major changes to the experience in a knee-jerk way is ridiculous.
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'Fault' is an awkward word to use here, but it's fair to say that due to a idiosyncrasy with the ride system, there is a chance that a rider who has chosen to stand could be ejected into the drink. That problem is as old as the hills with these rides, but rarely does it have such tragic consequences.

Therefore, in the short term - perhaps longer, they have removed elements of the ride that typically make people stand.

Just imagine the front of the papers if the same accident happened again this summer, or even if someone was seen outside of a raft in the channel. You have to show that you understand the risk of operating your attractions, seek mitigation where you can and demonstrate that you have done so.

PeteB said:
There are fatal car accidents on the roads every day. Do we just suddenly stop driving or close all the roads in response? No.
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As ever, you're missing the point. Roads don't have reputations in the same way that theme parks do. Roads are a functional entity within your life, a theme park is a luxury that you can choose to visit and pay for based upon its brand and reputation, that as an operator you try to maintain, uphold or indeed increase.
 
IanSR said:
Too much javascript in Merlin websites, not to mention all the big brother twitter/facebook/instawhatever crap, my dad was trying to book the hotel yesterday and gave up after 3 hours and phoned them instead.

The best one is the legoland qbot website, it's aimed at the mobile phone market but is written entirely in Javascript, a language most mobiles used to disable by default because of it's numerous security flaws :lol:

Thorpe's site is the worst, sooooo many overlay layers.
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alton's website uses hot jar analytics which can record literally every mouse movement click and keypress. so you could (if they have it turned on) draw shapes with the the mouse cursor and that would be recorded.
 
I think chances are with the Rapids, we will see the waterfalls off for the remainder of this season and then some more substantial changes made over the close season (seatbelts, netting over the openings), and have the waterfalls back on for next year.
Unless this is wishful thinking and Merlin just decide to completely remove the most iconic feature of one of their major family rides....
 
I think once full details come out about the Drayton accident then we will see changes with the Rapids at towers. At the moment they are being over the top, but they don't know how the girl died.

I can't see the staff stood around the ride lasting, especially if it's had no issues for the past 30 odd years, it's had a whole new CCTV system this season, but we'll probably see more cameras added so that every inch of the ride is covered and I bet we will see more remain seated signs dotted around the ride and even queue.

Hopefully the waterfalls will come back, they look awful at the moment.
 
I'm a little worried about Scarefest tbh. I'm picturing bright white floodlights along the entire duration of the course so that it is fully visible to cameras. May be a bit of a mood killer

Fingers crossed I'm wrong though
 
Andrew said:
I'm a little worried about Scarefest tbh. I'm picturing bright white floodlights along the entire duration of the course so that it is fully visible to cameras. May be a bit of a mood killer

Fingers crossed I'm wrong though
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Alton put an end to night time riding in the dark on the rapids (rapids closing at 4pm) for last year scarefest and I presume it will be the same for all future scarefest's.
 
RoyJess said:
Alton put an end to night time riding in the dark on the rapids (rapids closing at 4pm) for last year scarefest and I presume it will be the same for all future scarefest's.
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I think this was put in place around halfway through scarefest, I was there 2nd weekend in and got a dark ride. It's a real shame as it's such a better experience at night.
 
Andrew said:
I'm picturing bright white floodlights along the entire duration of the course so that it is fully visible to cameras.
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If it has had a new system then it will certainly have a night vision capability, all new CCTV systems do. I'm not sure if CCTV was the only reason it closed at night before though.
 
Andrew said:
I'm a little worried about Scarefest tbh. I'm picturing bright white floodlights along the entire duration of the course so that it is fully visible to cameras. May be a bit of a mood killer

Fingers crossed I'm wrong though
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At the rate Towers are going, they're probably too scared to operate anything in the dark.

Heck, they're too scared to operate anything in daylight these days.

My vision of the future will be Towers turning in to a huge outdoor museum, where you can just walk around and look at these big old machines people used to ride and play on. They'll all have massive fences around them, with little windows you can peep through.
 
Towerslover said:
I think this was put in place around halfway through scarefest, I was there 2nd weekend in and got a dark ride. It's a real shame as it's such a better experience at night.
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That was correct, the rapids were running after dark during the first half of last years scarefest and then that suddenly change during the scarefest event and also closed after dark for the fireworks. I don't know if this was in reaction to last years Australia rapid ride accident or not
 
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Disappointed to see that the waterfalls have been turned off but I do understand the reasoning behind it. Let's be honest, we have all stood up or leaned in through the waterfalls to avoid being soaked and Towers will not be wanting to take any risks at the moment, they really cannot afford to.

Hopefully it is a temporary measure though as they always have looked awful when turned off.

:)
 
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