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[2024] Alpenexpress & Tiroler Wildwasserbahn Rebuild

John said:
The ride programming looks to be different to old Alpenexpress from that POV - the train comes into the station much faster at the end of the ride than it used to.
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Aren't the Mack mine train speeds fully controlled by the operator? Could just be the operator rather than anything with the control system.
 
The old one certainly had manual speed control but my assumption (admittedly based on zero evidence) was that it would have been changed to fully automatic operation as part of the upgrade/rebuild/replacement.

Either way, the operator always used to slow the train down a crawl well before the station on the final lap. The video shows it coming into the station much faster than I've ever seen it
 
I just hope they don’t have the full “attention please, the train is leaving” announcement in French, German and English for every dispatch.

Just send it like the good old days!
 
Yes I can imagine that the announcement has been a placeholder used during testing. And as they weren’t expecting this to open today, it hadn’t been removed!
 
I see the point about the rockwork being formed into very artificial looking shapes to accommodate the number of tunnels. I suppose there’s very little way around this when there are so many tunnels in such a tight space. It would be good to see a little more than just rockwork as well - it needs breaking up with something to add some more interest. I suspect that will arrive in the coming weeks though.

That aside, it’s been ten months and 6 days since the area was gutted by the fire. To have it open again in that time is absolutely incredible.
 
Rob said:
Yes I can imagine that the announcement has been a placeholder used during testing. And as they weren’t expecting this to open today, it hadn’t been removed!
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I doubt it's even there for testing as that'd probably be a klaxon. I can picture somebody being sent at speed to the cabin to add the first announcement they could lay their hands on.
 
Attendees to the Voltron media event the other day were given a sneak peek at the Austria Adventure Trail;

Spoilers


From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_P3TfAXOug


Have to say, it looks great! Nice views from the top as well. Not quite finished yet though of course.

Also, AlpenExpress and Tiroler wildwasserbahn aren't officially open yet and aren't quite finished. Press event attendees got exclusive rides on them.
 
I can pinpoint the exact start/end of where the old Diamond Mine used to be 😔.

That being said, it is still incredible how in less than a year they can rebuild two substantial attractions amongst a new walkthrough. Unlike a particular park on the border of Greater London.

The amended landscape feels more beneficial to the Wildwasserbahn than Alpen, however I’ll hold off full judgement until the official opening.
 
Both rides soft opened yesterday for the ResortPass holder previews. Since they've also opened today too, I'd imagine this will be the case for most days leading up to the opening now. Judging by the posters up in the flume's queue line which @Pedro kindly grabbed a picture of yesterday, this has been the plan for a while as they add finishing touches over the next two and a bit weeks. I'd expect downtime on off peak weekdays to finish off larger scale work, as well as continuing work overnight:

flume_poster.png
Still ridiculously impressive how fast they've got to this stage!
 
Realise I posted a Voltron review but not an Alpenexpress or Tiroler review. So in brief!

Alpenexpress

Unfortunately, Alpenexpress is noticeably not as good as it was before. Turns out what really made the ride reasonably exciting was Diamondmine, and the juxtaposition between being outdoors and indoors. Without that it's just a bit dull – as a veteran Alpenexpress rider I was actually taken aback by how bland the ride is revealed to be once it's outside. A part that used to feel exciting – the plunge into the tunnel – is now such a non-event that I didn't even notice it the first (and only) time we went on. None of this is a huge tragedy as it was pretty average before, but it's now gone from being a coaster that I'd usually do once a day, to once a trip. A bit of a shame.

Edit: someone said while we were there that it was slower than it was before. Not sure if this is true (?) but I could believe it.

Tiroler

Tiroler on the other hand is a bit of an improvement. Because you're lower down and moving slower than on Alpen, you actually notice the rockwork and have a sense of moving through it. There are also a few nice little effects. All in all pretty much the same ride, but a slight upgrade.

Adventure trail

If you're expecting something like the Deep in Africa trail at Phantasialand, it's nothing like that at all, sadly. Primarily for kids, and is actually quite a confusing layout (there's loads of different tiny routes rather than one linear path, but it isn't really clear where you're supposed to go or what you're supposed to do. The rock and gem shop at the end is as nice as it was before.
 
It's a shame to hear that Alpenexpress is slower than the old one.

While I've often found powered coasters to be a bit hit and miss, I found the pre-fire Alpenexpress to be up there with Alton's Runaway Mine Train as another surprisingly excellent powered coaster; it seemed to be really nippy around that layout and take the corners with a surprising amount of speed!

The new area does look very nicely finished overall, though, and what they've managed to accomplish in less than a year is truly incredible!
 
Sam pretty much summed up my thoughts from watching POVs. The track layout may be identical, but without the sense of speed from being in an enclosed space, it seems a lot tamer than before.

Kinda proves what we've always said about Nemy: An identical track plonked above a car park would be pants.
 
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