Corkscrew

[Secret Weapon]

Given that Corkscrew was apparently ground-breaking in 1980 (I am too young to remember), I am surprised that more parks didn't commission their own version of Corkscrew - especially given that, unlike Nemesis etc, it is apparently a standard off-the-shelf model (similar to the Boomerang), and AT probably didn't have any kind of exclusivity agreement with Vekoma or Arrow?

I realise that Flamingo Land eventually bought a Corkscrew, but this was a long time after (1990).

I am specifically surprised that Drayton Manor chose to buy Python instead of Corkscrew during the 1980s? I assume that the Python was cheaper, but I am not sure.

I believe that there were at least three Boomerangs in Britain (American Adventure, West Midlands Safari Park, and Pleasure Island) but only two Corkscrews, so did parks simply prefer Boomerangs to Corkscrews? Alton Towers presumably had to build a Corkscrew rather than a Boomerang due to the Boomerang's height, but what about other parks?

P.S. I'm not sure if this is true, but I heard a rumour that Corkscrew was originally supposed to open at AT in 1979 (either before, or alongside, Revolution at Blackpool), but - for whatever reason - it didn't open until 1980.

 

[jon81uk]

Given that Corkscrew was apparently ground-breaking in 1980 (I am too young to remember), I am surprised that more parks didn't commission their own version of Corkscrew - especially given that, unlike Nemesis etc, it is apparently a standard off-the-shelf model (similar to the Boomerang), and AT probably didn't have any kind of exclusivity agreement with Vekoma or Arrow?

I realise that Flamingo Land eventually bought a Corkscrew, but this was a long time after (1990).

I am specifically surprised that Drayton Manor chose to buy Python instead of Corkscrew during the 1980s? I assume that the Python was cheaper, but I am not sure.

I believe that there were at least three Boomerangs in Britain (American Adventure, West Midlands Safari Park, and Pleasure Island), so did parks simply prefer Boomerangs to Corkscrews?

P.S. I'm not sure if this is true, but I heard a rumour that Corkscrew was originally supposed to open at AT in 1979 (either before, or alongside, Revolution at Blackpool), but - for whatever reason - it didn't open until 1980.

Other than Blackpool I don't think there was so many big parks, so its probably that no others could really afford it. I imagine boomerangs were cheaper too.
Also why get the same thing as somewhere else, why not look for a point of difference?
Look at 1994, three big new rides all opened but all completly different, therfore encouraging visits to Drayton, Alton and Blackpool.

 

[Trooper Looper]

Inversion Mayhem

🎢 Alton Towers FANS… IT’S OFFICIAL! 💛 Baker Street Coasters has confirmed that the iconic Corkscrew track at the Alton Towers entrance is back YELLOW bringing back the classic colour from its 1980...

www.facebook.com

New Picture of it fully completed!

 

[Secret Weapon]

Look at 1994, three big new rides all opened but all completly different, therfore encouraging visits to Drayton, Alton and Blackpool.

That's true, although I remember hearing that Drayton Manor were unaware that AT were building Nemesis in 1994 (and that - in hindsight - they regretted building a stand-up rollercoaster), and I'm therefore not sure whether Shockwave was intentionally meant to be an alternative?

I wonder if Drayton Manor would have attempted to build an inverted coaster rather than stand-up if they had known about Batman / Nemesis further in advance?

My guess is that AT would have attempted to build a tall rollercoaster similar to The Big One at some stage if planning permission had allowed it (although perhaps not instead of Nemesis).

I think AT kind of got lucky that Nemesis landed in their lap at the perfect time (1994), as it helped to steal some of the thunder away from the other parks.

Also why get the same thing as somewhere else, why not look for a point of difference?

I totally agree with this, although it could be argued that Corkscrew was a better ride than Python (I suppose it's subjective); my guess is that Python was simply cheaper and smaller?

 

[Bowser]

Inversion Mayhem

🎢 Alton Towers FANS… IT’S OFFICIAL! 💛 Baker Street Coasters has confirmed that the iconic Corkscrew track at the Alton Towers entrance is back YELLOW bringing back the classic colour from its 1980...

www.facebook.com

New Picture of it fully completed!

I think AT kind of got lucky that Nemesis landed in their lap at the perfect time (1994), as it helped to steal some of the thunder away from the other parks

I don’t think putting it down to luck is giving John Wardley enough credit. He demonstrated repeatedly having a fantastic mind for the business, seeking out innovative rides and combining them with immersive theming. It didn’t land in their lap, he actively sought it out.

 

[Matt N]

Inversion Mayhem

🎢 Alton Towers FANS… IT’S OFFICIAL! 💛 Baker Street Coasters has confirmed that the iconic Corkscrew track at the Alton Towers entrance is back YELLOW bringing back the classic colour from its 1980...

www.facebook.com

New Picture of it fully completed!

With it finished, I maintain my opinion from before.

I think that looks absolutely awful and I don’t think it fits the plaza at all, particularly with the gold supports remaining. If they’re going to have bright yellow track, I think the supports should go darker to have a nice contrast of colours.

I get the nostalgia angle, but I thought it looked way classier and more fitting with the purple track and gold supports. In my view, it just looks odd in yellow!

 

[Secret Weapon]

I don’t think putting it down to luck is giving John Wardley enough credit. He demonstrated repeatedly having a fantastic mind for the business, seeking out innovative rides and combining them with immersive theming. It didn’t land in their lap, he actively sought it out.

He definitely deserves credit for the great theming and layout.

I’m not sure how the Batman ride first came to his attention (e.g. whether he searched for it, or simply stumbled upon it); in the interview below, he says around the 3:45 mark that he had heard about it, but he doesn’t specify who told him, or why (I think he said in another interview that he saw a drawing of the loop, but - again - I don’t know who gave it to him, or why).

I suppose AT deserve credit for having good industry connections, though, because he says later in the interview that B&M refused to discuss the subject with him, but Six Flags agreed (by contrast, Drayton Manor apparently had no idea about Nemesis when they agreed to build Shockwave).

Within a few years, he had become a close confidant of B&M and managed to secure first dibs on many of their new ride types (dive, flying, and wing).

I think the drop-track on Thirteen was an idea that he himself created (and helped Intamin to develop), and so AT definitely deserve full credit for that ride, though.


From: https://youtu.be/sGiN_0KmVko?t=225

 

[MaxPower]

I have no idea if this is still there as it's been a few decades since I've gone to Towers by train, but this wonderful mural was/is in the Stoke train station.

Just emphasises what a big part of the parks identity the ride was back in the day.

 

[Secret Weapon]

Part of the problem with Nemesis is that, even though the ride is very popular, it is partially buried below ground level and so it doesn't have the same visual impact as Corkscrew and the Thunder Looper - especially to non-riders.

The Corkscrew's bright colour scheme may also have helped to make it more memorable as well!

 

[Matt N]

After seeing a post from CoasterTog on Facebook about the Corkscrew repaint that shows the plaque underneath, I have a question about Corkscrew:

My question is; was it repainted in 1999 when Ug Land opened? I always thought that the cream colour it had during the Ug Land years was just the original yellow faded from lack of repainting, but Alton seem to imply here that the ride was specifically repainted to cream when Ug Land opened, which I didn’t know had happened if true.

Was it repainted for Ug Land?

Incidentally, I saw the new colour scheme in person at the end of last month, and while it does look better finished, I still don’t like it in the context of the plaza and still think the purple and gold looked way better…

 

[Secret Weapon]

My question is; was it repainted in 1999 when Ug Land opened? I always thought that the cream colour it had during the Ug Land years was just the original yellow faded from lack of repainting, but Alton seem to imply here that the ride was specifically repainted to cream when Ug Land opened, which I didn’t know had happened if true.

Was it repainted for Ug Land?

I'd also assumed that it had faded as well (or that the old VHS footage had worn out to make it appear paler), but a previous poster said that it had been repainted in 1999

 

[MaxPower]

It was repainted to look more like a skeleton in that pale cream and the supports had a wood effect painted on some of them.

The original 80s colour was the more vibrant yellow that you see now.

 

[Secret Weapon]

It's funny, because dinosaurs and cavemen were never even around at the same time (they were separated by over 60 million years), but yet the Flintstones and Alton Towers continued to pretend otherwise (which surely should have damaged the perceived educational value of AT during school trips when Ug-Land was there)

 

[AT86]

(which surely should have damaged the perceived educational value of AT during school trips when Ug-Land was there)

You cannot be serious?

 

[rob666]

It's funny, because dinosaurs and cavemen were never even around at the same time (they were separated by over 60 million years), but yet the Flintstones and Alton Towers continued to pretend otherwise (which surely should have damaged the perceived educational value of AT during school trips when Ug-Land was there)

There is this thing called fiction.
It is quite popular.
Very different to "non fiction".
Pretending is permitted for entertainment.

I understand Cinderella and her castle are factually incorrect too...sort it out Disney.

Your stretch of perceived educational incorrectness is beyond credulity.

 

[Secret Weapon]

@AT86 @rob666

Fiction is still supposed to be somewhat rooted in reality, if it is referencing real historical events

The Nemesis creature is different because it is clearly fictional, and there is limited information available about 'real' aliens upon which to base it, anyway

But - for instance - I remember people criticising the African cannibals in the Drayton Manor Jungle Cruise for reinforcing negative ethnic stereotypes, even though the characters in the ride are entirely fictional

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

@AT86 @rob666

Fiction is still supposed to be somewhat rooted in reality, if it is referencing real historical events

The Nemesis creature is different because it is clearly fictional, and there is limited information available about 'real' aliens upon which to base it, anyway

But - for instance - I remember people criticising the African cannibals in the Drayton Manor Jungle Cruise for reinforcing negative ethnic stereotypes, even though the characters in the ride are entirely fictional

I must have missed the GCSE syllabus where "Ug Land" was listed as a primary historical source.

Are you genuinely attempting to equate the very valid critique of harmful, real world racial stereotyping with... a plastic dinosaur standing next to a caveman?

If we're really strictly adhering to historical accuracy, I'm fairly certain Paleolithic man didn't build double inverting Vekoma coasters out of yellow tubular steel either.

If a school child's grasp of the Cretaceous period was genuinely damaged by a ride on the Corkscrew, the theme park is the absolute least of our educational worries.

If anything, the inability to distinguish between an offensive racial caricature and cartoon cavemen with pet dinosaurs is the real indictment of the national curriculum.

 

[Secret Weapon]

I must have missed the GCSE syllabus where "Ug Land" was listed as a primary historical source.

Are you genuinely attempting to equate the very valid critique of harmful, real world racial stereotyping with... a plastic dinosaur standing next to a caveman?

I'm probably straying off-topic here, but there are some similarities in that - as with Africa during the colonial period - cavemen have long been portrayed in fiction as primitive and unintelligent, when - in fact - some of them must surely have had an almost genius-level intellect when you consider the major advances in agriculture that were made during that time period (with no Google available to help guide their research)

In terms of racial equality: you are correct that negative or inaccurate portrayals of cavemen in Ug-Land are not necessarily all that harmful, given that cavemen no longer exist in modern society (and thus they cannot be discriminated against) - but it's worth remembering that they are often portrayed as lighter-skinned, when recent research shows that many were actually darker-skinned (see: Cheddar Man), which could perhaps have unintended consequences in the modern world

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

I'm probably straying off-topic here, but there are some similarities in that - as with Africa during the colonial period - cavemen have long been portrayed in fiction as primitive and unintelligent, when - in fact - some of them must surely have had an almost genius-level intellect when you consider the major advances in agriculture that were made during that time period (with no Google available to help guide their research)

For someone so deeply concerned with the educational value of a theme park, your own historical timeline needs a rather urgent review. The stereotypical "cavemen" were hunter-gatherers and didn't make "major advances in agriculture". The Agricultural Revolution occurred thousands of years later, during the Neolithic period.

In terms of racial equality: you are correct that negative or inaccurate portrayals of cavemen in Ug-Land are not necessarily all that harmful, given that cavemen no longer exist in modern society (and thus they cannot be discriminated against) - but it's worth remembering that they are often portrayed as lighter-skinned, when recent research shows that many were actually darker-skinned (see: Cheddar Man), which could perhaps have unintended consequences in the modern world

Criticising a 1990s theme park land for failing to accurately predict the 2018 genetic sequencing of Cheddar Man is a level of retroactive pedantry which even I think is a step too far.

Your continued attempt to draw parallels between the brutal, real world legacy of colonial stereotyping and a fibreglass caveman standing next to a dinosaur, however, isn't a profound sociological observation. It's frankly insulting to actual historical grievances to use them as a rhetorical shield in a debate about a defunct Vekoma coaster.

Ug Land was a pastiche of The Flintstones, not an anthropological thesis.

Go outside and touch some grass, or eat it, it's rather lovely.