[2024] Nemesis Reborn: Construction and Speculation

[John]

It surely depends on the amount.of groundwork required. If they just bolting onto the existing foundations then they could do the whole job in a few months. If foundations need major work then it becomes a much bigger job

 

[Squiggs]

I suppose that's what's confusing me. The application stated that all the foundation anchors have been tested and are to remain, with a limited number of the concrete bases due to be strengthened. There's only one entirely new concrete foundation planned across the whole site, so it really does sound like it is simply a case of bolting the new coaster onto the existing anchors.

 

[Dave]

My personal opinion is they will “plan” for it to be out all of 2023 season in case we have a really bad winter, as others have mentioned it’s fairly restrictive what can be done when the park is open as you have car park to the top of the site, paths at the bottom and obviously monorail
and Galactica complicating things.

I suspect though they won’t keep it closed for longer than needed so if the winter is mild and the project goes well it will open in 2023 if they can.

 

[Altonadvocate1]

Nemesis remains my all time favourite rollercoaster and even with age she remains phenomenal. I was lucky to go on her within a week of opening day in 1994 and she was even better then.

I don't think there is a chance that Merlin will mess this up. They know that Nemmie remains truly iconic and I believe there is a genuine love for her in AT management. They know how important she is.

I bet a certain Mr Wardley would be happy to invest a few days of his well deserved retirement to act as ride consultant to ensure it is done right. There is no way, he would allow his baby to be be ruined.

I suspect he will be there to ride on the first day of reopening (Fan Heaven).

Updated book tile, Recreating My Own Nemesis,

 

[Sambiasso]

Rumour has it John Wardley was seen riding Nemisis with the original sketchbook....

 

[Jb85]

For me it will take as long as it takes the two exciting things are:
1) Merlin are actually prepared to do this
2) Getting close to Nemesis track in the car park
3) B&M track at AT again

 

[Sazzle]

I noted the station theming is looking worse for wear during my visit on Saturday. We're 6-7 years on from the last TLC programme touch-ups; I hope to see it back to that standard! I think the planning documents note 'localised maintenance where needed', so here's hoping

 

[Dave]

For me it will take as long as it takes the two exciting things are:
1) Merlin are actually prepared to do this
2) Getting close to Nemesis track in the car park
3) B&M track at AT again

The 4 exciting things for me are:

1) There will be a year where the park has no reason for me to do a ride during fireworks

.

 

[QTXAdsy]

When it comes to effects and surrounding scenery, as much as everyone is wanting to see the blood waterfalls return in which I do as well, am I the only one who'd love to hear the Nemesis theme and story narrated by Tom Baker playing out again? Don't think I heard it when I was there and I feel it adds to the build up to the ride.

Also, I have already mentioned this many times already but I feel the Nemesis station building could be rebuild to be not only twice the size to look more like the alien crab design as appose to the (and I'll be bluntly honest here which I know I'll get stick here) alien blob thing with googly eyes.

It would be nice if they can bring out some original design proposals such as one of the Nemesis legs threading it's way through the loop and perhaps something new in which the queue line enters through a bloody cut in the side of the beast to explore the gruesome interior of Nemesis with a heartbeat sound being the only thing you hear which adds to the tension before you board.

Actually, will they design to add a single rider queue for the ride in which the current queue snaking past the front of the beast would become that and the old queue that went round the banked curve prior to the loop could become the main queue once again?

I know many will say that the current plans are set in stone and no major theming change can happen, but didn't Towers actually change parts of Smiler even after they gained planning approval such as theming and adding extra inversions?

 

[Dave]

When it comes to effects and surrounding scenery, as much as everyone is wanting to see the blood waterfalls return in which I do as well, am I the only one who'd love to hear the Nemesis theme and story narrated by Tom Baker playing out again? Don't think I heard it when I was there and I feel it adds to the build up to the ride.

Also, I have already mentioned this many times already but I feel the Nemesis station building could be rebuild to be not only twice the size to look more like the alien crab design as appose to the (and I'll be bluntly honest here which I know I'll get stick here) alien blob thing with googly eyes.

It would be nice if they can bring out some original design proposals such as one of the Nemesis legs threading it's way through the loop and perhaps something new in which the queue line enters through a bloody cut in the side of the beast to explore the gruesome interior of Nemesis with a heartbeat sound being the only thing you hear which adds to the tension before you board.

Actually, will they design to add a single rider queue for the ride in which the current queue snaking past the front of the beast would become that and the old queue that went round the banked curve prior to the loop could become the main queue once again?

I know many will say that the current plans are set in stone and no major theming change can happen, but didn't Towers actually change parts of Smiler even after they gained planning approval such as theming and adding extra inversions?

They have never in the history of the ride played the Tom Baker legend in the queue line. It was a piece of merchandise that you could purchase in the shops.

 

[QTXAdsy]

They have never in the history of the ride played the Tom Baker legend in the queue line. It was a piece of merchandise that you could purchase in the shops.

Huh...I'll be dammed, must be a Mandela effect for me. Still, suppose in theory it could be added for the queue line if they still have the original audio lying round in the archives by adding something new that won't cost much.

 

[Alsty]

Most people would not care about hearing the story in the queue line. Me included, to be honest.

Just get the original soundtrack back, remaster it and upgrade the speakers to do it justice... all that's needed.

 

[Jb85]

The 4 exciting things for me are:

1) There will be a year where the park has no reason for me to do a ride during fireworks

.

For an accountant that is possible poor maths by me

 

[Poisson]

SRQ won't return I don't think. Nowhere on the loop side of the station to put it. Is a negative on the side where it was.

 

[Skyscraper]

SRQ won't return I don't think. Nowhere on the loop side of the station to put it. Is a negative on the side where it was.

Am I right in thinking the baggage cage is in front of the stairs where it used to be?

 

[Poisson]

Yes it is. Because it's wrong side, it slows throughput.

 

[Squiggs]

Sometimes you just have to ask yourself WWCD? (What Would Craig Do?)

I've just moved all the posts discussing cross valley coasters and alike to their own thread. We were covering a lot of topics... but none of them were really related to Nemesis. Let's stick to talking Nemesis here... and other topics in other threads.

 

[pluk]

Across the forum I keep seeing it stated as fact that the retrack will cause Nemesis to be closed for a season. Has that been confirmed anywhere in planning documents, or even just by those reliably in the know?

Even with some of the supports needing attention, it's still work that I'm sure could be completed over a closed season if they wanted it to be.

....

To do it properly they will need the whole season

I guess it also depends on how much extra work they are doing on top of the re-track. I would like to hope they are going to get the waterfalls all working again (I'd be very disappointed if they didn't) but it has been so long since they did work that it probably isn't a simple job.

Hulk at IOA closed in September 2015 for its re-track and re-opened in August 2016, so that also gives you an indication of timescales. I think it would be nigh on impossible to replace all track and supports on Nemesis over a closed season with the weather we often get in the UK in the winter. Also worth baring in mind that is not exactly the easiest site to deal with when it comes to getting in cranes to access various parts of the layout.

I think it bears repeating through that Hulk's rebuild was a much more expansive job than Merlin are planning for Nemesis in many ways. And even then the track had been replaced by the start of April, so the rebuild took around 7 months, followed by 4 months for installation of the all-new effects and testing.

It would therefore seem strange if the Nemesis work took anything like as long as Hulk because a) not all the track is being replaced, and in particular the parts remaining in situ are the parts that have most of the mechanics, and b) from the application it doesn't sound like they will be adding anything significantly different to the ride, so there are fewer unknowns to be tested once the ride is rebuilt. And the other factor to take into account is that there is minimal foundation work planned, which is likely to allow things to move much quicker.

All in all, it would seem quite likely that if Nemesis was to close at the end of the season, the work could be completed in time for a 2023 summer season opening in late May. It really doesn't seem like it would be financially sensible to have the ride closed for any longer than it needs to be, considering that they are likely to receive a nice attendance bump whenever it comes back, so it doesn't need to wait for the start of a season or alike to maximise the effect of its re-opening.

I guess it depends on the scale of the overhaul. I would like to think they would overhaul the control system and replace (or at least overhaul) all of the electrical, pneumatic and mechanical components while they're at it, otherwise you're not making the most of the opportunity to reduce future downtime. That could be done in parallel with the track and support renewals though.

It might be done before the whole season is over, but from an advertising point of view I cant see them opening it back up part way through and missing out on a good marketing campaign.

EDIT: spelling mistake

Another factor to consider is how much work they can realistically do during the season whilst the park is open. Both the monorail and Galactica go over Nemesis which could pose potential problems. It could be a case of do a lot of work this closed season, then relatively minor work during the 2023 season before a lot of work again over the next closed season.

Just depends what the best way of managing the whole project is. Also re-opening for the 30th anniversary in 2024 does make sense.

Also need to consider that they won't know for sure what state the footers are in until they excavate them. Or other areas of the ride for that matter. So there will probably be some time built into the overall project to allow for the unknowns too.

It’s been assumed that Nemesis will be closed for the whole season but no one really knows apart from those involved. I’m quietly hopeful it won’t be shut for the entire season as it’s probably my favourite ride at towers and there will be a huge hole in the line up without it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was and it reopened for its 30th birthday, with maybe a soft opening around scarefest (wishful thinking). Guess it depends on a lot of factors.

The monorail running directly over is a bit of an issue, it wouldn't surprise me if we see a phased approach and the ride closed for the entire of 2023, reopening in 2024.

Maybe they could remove the track required over the 2022/23 closed season. Throughout 2023 tidy up the pit and existing theming, sort the footers out and look at effects such as the waterfalls. Closed season 2023/24 install the new track, paint it and test the ride. Make a huge fuss out of a reopening in March/May 2024.

It's going to be an absolute pain to install some of the new pieces. Removing the old? Easy, you can cut it up. Trying to install the new final corkscrew? Rather them than me.

I'd imagine nothing can happen beneath either Monorail or Galactica without closing them. The thing with the redesigned footers would be if they go in smoothly or need a tweak in design upon installation etc. With the waterfalls, the one that runs next to the queue and drops into the pit washes over one of the knackered footers which might explain why they're off.

I'm still not seeing anything that would stop the retrack happening within a reasonable timeframe - all the issues people seem to be worried about are project management concerns, so should be relatively easy to plan around. And given that it's a project they've already done once, they're probably already ahead of the curve in their understanding of solutions to potential challenges that might arise.

The only reason I could see it taking twice as long as needed is if Merlin wanted it to take twice as long as is needed - they could certainly take a leaf out of Disney's book if they wanted and 'do a Tron' if they wanted. However, I suspect it makes financial sense to get the project completed as quickly as possible - the longer the project drags on the more expensive it will be. Plus the whole reason the retrack is happening is because Merlin recognise the value of the ride being operational, so they're not going to leave it closed longer than needed.

So not fact then, pure conjecture.

I squarly remain on the side that this does not have to take more than a closed season if they don't want it to.

 

[Alsty]

Of course it's conjecture. Isn't everything on this forum? Not sure why you felt the need to quote everybody in this thread

 

[pluk]

Of course it's conjecture. Isn't everything on this forum? Not sure why you felt the need to quote everybody in this thread

Because some things aren't conjecture, they are known from comment in planning documents, press release, or simply known to those reliably in the know whoes word I trust.

Quoted because all those comments directly responded to my question and collectively answer it.