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Altons major coasters - How long to they have left?

optimus prime steak said:
They outdo themselves every time with new ride concepts,

You reckon?

1994: Regarded as their best ever coaster by around <75% of people (guesswork) who visit the park.
1998: An iconic (world's 1st as well) coaster, that's reliable and has a good capacity. Debatable if they outdid themselves.
2002: World's 1st (that isn't actually a world's first) with dodgy ride system in terms of reliability. I don't think many people would say they outdid themselves this time.
2005: Off the shelf coaster with poor capacity. Not even close to outdoing themselves.
2010: What is essentially a kids coaster, with a gimmick for the world first. Only outdid themselves because the last coaster was crap.

Hardly out doing themselves every time, if you ask me.

;)
 
Adam said:
optimus prime steak said:
They outdo themselves every time with new ride concepts,

You reckon?

1994: Regarded as their best ever coaster by around <75% of people (guesswork) who visit the park.
1998: An iconic (world's 1st as well) coaster, that's reliable and has a good capacity. Debatable if they outdid themselves.
2002: World's 1st (that isn't actually a world's first) with dodgy ride system in terms of reliability. I don't think many people would say they outdid themselves this time.
2005: Off the shelf coaster with poor capacity. Not even close to outdoing themselves.
2010: What is essentially a kids coaster, with a gimmick for the world first. Only outdid themselves because the last coaster was crap.

Hardly out doing themselves every time, if you ask me.

While I get your sarcasm I disagree.

With air, I dont get the hate? Why, its the best of it's type and compared with others (manta specifically) extremely reliable.

Rita, fair play, but its not a SW.

And 13 again, a great little coaster, with an interesting worlds first, just marketed wrongly.
 
How is the drop a gimmick? A gimmick is a meaningless distraction thrown on to something to create the illusion of something being better than it is.

Thirteen is built around the drop. It's crucial to the ride. If anything, the coaster section is the gimmick.

But it's 'cool' to call it a gimmick so people will.
 
Blaze said:
Corkscrew lasted 28 years. Its replacement surely has to last longer?

I'll be shocked if Thirteen isn't there in 2040.

and corkscrew was only removed due too it being condemned .. While ever people ride them, they shall stay .. amen
 
LouieMacDJ said:
Blaze said:
Corkscrew lasted 28 years. Its replacement surely has to last longer?

I'll be shocked if Thirteen isn't there in 2040.

and corkscrew was only removed due too it being condemned .. While ever people ride them, they shall stay .. amen

Was it condemned? I don't think it was, I think maintenance was becoming expensive and it had become quite old as it is.

Surely condemned means being deemed unsafe to operate by someone outside of the park itself?
 
Surely it must have been safer to operate than the one at Flamingo Land? :p
 
Was it condemned? I don't think it was, I think maintenance was becoming expensive and it had become quite old as it is.

Surely condemned means being deemed unsafe to operate by someone outside of the park itself?

i can assure you it was made too be removed. As it was so old it had pretty much next too no safety features. Although still secure i dont think rolling until the ride stops when emergency stop button is pressed is the correct procedure if there was some kind of emergency. Thats why it wasn't sold or anything like that.
 
The 3 bespoke B&M designed coasters should go on for ageeeeees yet
The two Intamins should be there for a while too (barring a major issue)
Sonic? The Mourn-a-son should be there for a little while longer at least (deffo until contract expiry)
RMT should be good for a while unless there is some problems that I don't know about. MACK!
 
LouieMacDJ said:
Was it condemned? I don't think it was, I think maintenance was becoming expensive and it had become quite old as it is.

Surely condemned means being deemed unsafe to operate by someone outside of the park itself?

i can assure you it was made too be removed. As it was so old it had pretty much next too no safety features. Although still secure i dont think rolling until the ride stops when emergency stop button is pressed is the correct procedure if there was some kind of emergency. Thats why it wasn't sold or anything like that.

I'm sorry but nothing in this post this is true. Corkscrew had perfectly adequate safety features that would still comply with today's regulations. Many examples of the same ride model operate around the world today. The reason Corkscrew was closed was because it wasn't popular enough to justify the maintenance costs and it didn't fit in with Alton's modern day image.

Emergency stops work that way on all non-powered coasters. There's no point in having the train grind to a halt in the middle of the layout as it would be very difficult to evacuate and would mean that hours would need to be spent winching the train to a point where it could complete the course.
 
CGM said:
LouieMacDJ said:
Was it condemned? I don't think it was, I think maintenance was becoming expensive and it had become quite old as it is.

Surely condemned means being deemed unsafe to operate by someone outside of the park itself?

i can assure you it was made too be removed. As it was so old it had pretty much next too no safety features. Although still secure i dont think rolling until the ride stops when emergency stop button is pressed is the correct procedure if there was some kind of emergency. Thats why it wasn't sold or anything like that.

I'm sorry but nothing in this post this is true. Corkscrew had perfectly adequate safety features that would still comply with today's regulations. Many examples of the same ride model operate around the world today. The reason Corkscrew was closed was because it wasn't popular enough to justify the maintenance costs and it didn't fit in with Alton's modern day image.

Emergency stops work that way on all non-powered coasters. There's no point in having the train grind to a halt in the middle of the layout as it would be very difficult to evacuate and would mean that hours would need to be spent winching the train to a point where it could complete the course.

Also the train can theoretically stop upside down if it stopped as soon as the button was pressed. Also the train would need brakes fitting to itself which would make it even heavier and more expensive. Nemesis, Oblivion, Air, Rita, Sonic and TH13TEEN (don't think RMT) would all have to be removed if E-Stopping on the brakes was changed to instant E-Stop wherever it was on the circuit.
 
Thing is here, there are rides in the world (including this country) that are around 100 years old. Most of them being wooden. If they can remain for that long, why couldn't nemesis? Ok, in 70 years time nemesis would look old & feel old & considered a "Clasic". But people will still ride it, even for the fact that its so old!

Steel coasters should last far longer than wooden ones, & considering how bespoke & well designed alton's coasters are, Nemesis & Oblivion should stay for many decades to come.

;)
 
Blizzard said:
Thing is here, there are rides in the world (including this country) that are around 100 years old. Most of them being wooden. If they can remain for that long, why couldn't nemesis? Ok, in 70 years time nemesis would look old & feel old & considered a "Clasic". But people will still ride it, even for the fact that its so old!

Steel coasters should last far longer than wooden ones, & considering how bespoke & well designed alton's coasters are, Nemesis & Oblivion should stay for many decades to come.

;)
I agree, providing they have enough room to expand still. I know they do now, but in decades time, if there are coasters that are better there, and it's a question of removing one of those or Nemmy, I would still rather they removed Nemmy, even if it were a classic, to make way for a new and better ride.
 
CupCakeMonster said:
Blizzard said:
Thing is here, there are rides in the world (including this country) that are around 100 years old. Most of them being wooden. If they can remain for that long, why couldn't nemesis? Ok, in 70 years time nemesis would look old & feel old & considered a "Clasic". But people will still ride it, even for the fact that its so old!

Steel coasters should last far longer than wooden ones, & considering how bespoke & well designed alton's coasters are, Nemesis & Oblivion should stay for many decades to come.

;)
I agree, providing they have enough room to expand still. I know they do now, but in decades time, if there are coasters that are better there, and it's a question of removing one of those or Nemmy, I would still rather they removed Nemmy, even if it were a classic, to make way for a new and better ride.

HOW CAN YOU GET BETTER THAN NEMMY!!!
 
Blizzard said:
HOW CAN YOU GET BETTER THAN NEMMY!!!
Well, for starters, Oblivion ;) But, I'm sure in the future, there will be coasters that outshine them.......... both (oh that was hard to say) residing at Alton Towers.
 
CupCakeMonster said:
Blizzard said:
HOW CAN YOU GET BETTER THAN NEMMY!!!
Well, for starters, Oblivion ;) But, I'm sure in the future, there will be coasters that outshine them.......... both (oh that was hard to say) residing at Alton Towers.

I think you're very much in the minority in Preferring Oblivion. It is essentially just a drop. A very good drop it has to be said but for me, there's no coaster at Alton that's out-shone Nemesis in all of its years of existence. There's also nothing quite like it anywhere else which isn't true of Oblivion. Out of the two, Oblivion is the more expendable for me but it would be a painful choice to make.

If Nemesis were to go, the park would feel empty without it. If oblivion were to go, it would still be a huge shame but it wouldn't be quite as bad. Either leaving would leave a huge hole in the park (literally).

I hope that both remain operating for many years to come and I don't think there's any cause for concern yet. I can't see any coaster at Alton topping Nemesis in the next ten years or so. They just don't build them like they used to. Not unless the cross valley wooden coaster miraculously happens...
 
CupCakeMonster the door is on the right ;) ---------------------------------------------------->

In reality though, removing either Nemesis or Oblivion would be a very, very unwise move on the parks behalf.
 
HALO117 said:
Why do people hate Rita? I think it's a awesome ride

Because it's too short, has ridiculous uncomfortable and pointless restraints, has an uninspired layout, not particularly fast launch, isn't themed whatsoever and has the single lowest throughput of all the major coasters on park.
 
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