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2018: General Discussion

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Why do Alton Towers shut rides when it is below 5°C (or whatever the limit is)? Literally no other park in the world has this insane rule.

I for one have been on Nemesis in harsh snow during freezing contitions in past years.
 
John said:
It'll be the manufacturer restrictions, they actually follow them now.
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B&M's manufacturer restrictions allow the coasters to be run at temperatures colder than 5°C, I can guarantee you that.

If I recall correctly, we had a behind the scenes tour of Montu (another B&M invert) at Busch Gardens Tampa this summer and the minimum temperature set by B&M was -5°C and the guy was joking about how irrelevant it was in Florida.
 
Connor98 said:
Maybe they are looking at it from a rider comfort point of view? Freezing wind in the face whilst stuck on oblivion brake run?? No thanks
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Rather that than trek to Towers and choose between 2 hours for Wicker Man and nothing
 
MakoMania said:
B&M's manufacturer restrictions allow the coasters to be run at temperatures colder than 5°C, I can guarantee you that.

If I recall correctly, we had a behind the scenes tour of Montu (another B&M invert) at Busch Gardens Tampa this summer and the minimum temperature set by B&M was -5°C and the guy was joking about how irrelevant it was in Florida.
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Actually not sure they do, Silverstar at EP tends to shut down below 5 degrees and they are quite liberal in opening their rides in the cold. Maybe there is an oil and wheel combination that allows colder running but you are unlikely to do a full oil and wheel change for one or two days where the temperature goes below 5 degrees for a couple of hours.
 
^Possibly, all I know is that we were told -5°C at Tampa and I havd ridden Nemesis many a time in icy & snowy conditions during Feb half term.
 
Doesn't sound much fun at towers today. I would be interested in finding out why below 5 degrees means ride closure. I would understand if it was in the minuses.
 
adamw90 said:
Doesn't sound much fun at towers today. I would be interested in finding out why below 5 degrees means ride closure. I would understand if it was in the minuses.
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When I worked at Towers I am sure it was temperatures below 2C that were stated in the Nemesis manual as a reason for closing the ride - it was to do with brake performance if my memory serves me right.

Clearly in years gone by, Towers did run Nemesis in somewhat cool conditions at February half term in particular. For reasons obvious, the park is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. They don't want to shut rides if it's a bit cold, but the nanosecond anything went wrong and certain sections of the press (OK, The Mirror / Daily Mail) picked up on the fact the ride was operating outside manufacturers guidelines... you can imagine the headlines. "Riders almost FROZEN to death 2ft off the ground on Nemesis" etc...

I would imagine that for the above reasons, Towers have probably added a couple of degrees onto any minimum operating temperature set by the manufacturer so they can say they are playing things safe.
 
Oblivion can definitely operate in temperatures down to 0*c. Bizarre it was one of the last rides to open unless the cold temperatures were combined with very high winds?
 
I remember a freezing February half term (early 2000s) where Nemesis opened late due to snow and ice. When it did eventually begin testing an hour later we stood and watched as the first train obliterated icicles hanging from the tight helix before the zero-g. Musta been pretty damn cold that day.
 
Rode Air in below freezing conditions at Half Term Hullabaloo in years gone by. Either they were operating it outside of its guidelines back then or something has changed.

Interestingly, although in previous years it had been closed, Silver Star operated for this past Winter season at Europa-Park. Although it did close in very cold temperatures.
 
Does anyone know why on ridetimes Thirteen is showing as “closed”, yet wicker man is showing as “Currently Unavailable”?
 
WL18 said:
Does anyone know why on ridetimes Thirteen is showing as “closed”, yet wicker man is showing as “Currently Unavailable”?
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It look like Thirteen has closed for the night, probably due to the low temperatures. Unless they decided to add thirteen to the list of rides that can't be operated after dark. That's the M£rlin way for you :rolleyes:
 
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