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First SW to be Removed?

I honestly think it could be oblivion, not that it's not a great ride it still gets me every time but the track in the tunnel must have taken a good beating by now. I'm not sure how access would be to replace track in there but it must be difficult and maybe for that reason they may do something drastic when the time comes
 
I agree in the short term as they are spending money on other areas of the park to improve. And if any that are going to go first it's likely it's going to be spinball or Rita but we all no they aren't sw's. Which one if u had to pick from the sw's would u choose to go?
 
Nemesis looks like it's shaping to be the first SW to be removed in my eyes anyway. It's starting to look like Nemesis in name and layout only. They may as well just build it in X Sector next to the other black tracked coasters with sinister organisation themes.
 
richr87 said:
I honestly think it could be oblivion, not that it's not a great ride it still gets me every time but the track in the tunnel must have taken a good beating by now. I'm not sure how access would be to replace track in there but it must be difficult and maybe for that reason they may do something drastic when the time comes
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We disscused this exact thing previously, you may have missed it, so here was our sort of rundown. Tunnels last a long time anyway, they just do with modern engineering. The track in the tunnel is probably very well supported as it almost sits on the tunnel base. Meaning stress loads are dissipated quite well.

While pure speculation on our part, the general consensus was that this will mitigate any of those sorts of issues in the tunnel.
 
DistortAMG said:
We disscused this previously. Tunnels last a long time anyway, they just do with modern engineering. The track in the tunnel is probably very well supported as it almost sits on the tunnel base. Meaning stress loads are dissipated quite well.

While pure speculation on our part, the general consensus was that this will mitigate any of those sorts of issues in the tunnel.
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Yeah fair one I just didn't no if the track would take a good beating from all the drops. There must be some wear and tear of some sort but maybe not as much to worry about it in the near future
 
richr87 said:
Yeah fair one I just didn't no if the track would take a good beating from all the drops. There must be some wear and tear of some sort but maybe not as much to worry about it in the near future
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Potentially yeah, reality is we just do not know.

But the question has to be asked, if they did remove it. What would they replace it with, with such a big tunnel.

I am pretty sure they could figure out a way to replace track if they needed to. I personally hope they would, I see Oblivion as one of the most iconic rollercoasters at Alton Towers.

Even though there is an identical mirror image version of Oblivion operating in Japan, just that it doesn't go underground, I would hope they keep Oblivion.
 
DistortAMG said:
Potentially yeah, reality is we just do not know.

But the question has to be asked, if they did remove it. What would they replace it with, with such a big tunnel.

I am pretty sure they could figure out a way to replace track if they needed to. I personally hope they would, I see Oblivion as one of the most iconic rollercoasters at Alton Towers.

Even though there is an identical mirror image version of Oblivion operating in Japan, just that it doesn't go underground, I would hope they keep Oblivion.
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I agree I would be sad to see it go. It's still a great ride and if it did come down I couldn't see them adding more to the ride like other dive coasters out there now. What ever they did do the tunnel would definitely be a head scratcher
 
richr87 said:
Which one if u had to pick from the sw's would u choose to go?
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If it was entirely down to the SW I like least, I'd vote for The Smiler.

However, I accept that The Smiler is popular and hard to replace. It has a Nemesis-type factor about it in that it's both iconic and likely quite hard to replace with anything more exciting. I'd say that The Smiler is perhaps the park's most popular ride at present alongside Wicker Man; people may speak about Nemesis, but I don't think it is/was the park's most popular ride, whereas I think Smiler could stake that particular claim quite solidly.

So if I were combining both my own personal preference and practicality-based factors, I'd pick Galactica. It's my 2nd to least favourite SW, it takes up a huge area (the largest of any coaster on park, I believe), it's not that popular or iconic (as I said before, the fact that they rethemed it and tried the VR speaks volumes about its popularity and iconicity, in my view), and things like the restraint sensors do appear to be growing somewhat unreliable as the ride gets older.

I do feel that Spinball and/or Rita will probably be removed before any of the current SWs, though.

As for Oblivion, I could possibly see it being retracked. A potential retrack job would be cheaper than Nemesis, and purely based on practicality, I think it would be a similarly tough ride to replace. On the flip side, however, I don't think that it's one of the park's more popular rides nowadays, and I also think that while it was very popular in the 1990s, it's rightly or wrongly seen as somewhat second tier within the modern day lineup. It pains me to say it, because I absolutely love Oblivion, but I do wonder if it is popular enough, iconic enough or remarkable enough to be deemed worth saving.
 
Matt N said:
If it was entirely down to the SW I like least, I'd vote for The Smiler.

However, I accept that The Smiler is popular and hard to replace. It has a Nemesis-type factor about it in that it's both iconic and likely quite hard to replace with anything more exciting. I'd say that The Smiler is perhaps the park's most popular ride at present alongside Wicker Man; people may speak about Nemesis, but I don't think it is/was the park's most popular ride, whereas I think Smiler could stake that particular claim quite solidly.

So if I were combining both my own personal preference and practicality-based factors, I'd pick Galactica. It's my 2nd to least favourite SW, it takes up a huge area (the largest of any coaster on park, I believe), it's not that popular or iconic (as I said before, the fact that they rethemed it and tried the VR speaks volumes about its popularity and iconicity, in my view), and things like the restraint sensors do appear to be growing somewhat unreliable as the ride gets older.

I do feel that Spinball and/or Rita will probably be removed before any of the current SWs, though.

As for Oblivion, I could see it being retracked. A potential retrack job would be cheaper than Nemesis, and purely based on practicality, I think it would be a similarly tough ride to replace. On the flip side, however, I don't think that it's one of the park's more popular rides nowadays, and I also think that while it was very popular in the 1990s, it's rightly or wrongly seen as somewhat second tier within the modern day lineup. It pains me to say it, because I absolutely love Oblivion, but I do wonder if it is popular enough, iconic enough or remarkable enough to be deemed worth saving.
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I do like smiler but it's not my favourite and I think your right it's the one coaster that's packed all day it seems to have a following. I can't see that going anywhere. Galactica I do like and when I take the kids they love it but it takes a age to get on the thing. It's so slow to load people on and off and the seats locking don't get me started u could be in the station 10 minutes some times. It pains me to say but if they get rid of Galactica they could use the area for more and maybe expand into the car park maybe. Could see a very good blitz coaster in the area
 
I didn't even consider the Galactica car park... that offers even more potential in the event that they replaced Galactica! The combined area of Galactica and the car park behind it is huge.

That combined area would be larger than any other coaster area on park by a considerable margin...
 
Matt N said:
I didn't even consider the Galactica car park... that offers even more potential in the event that they replaced Galactica! The combined area of Galactica and the car park behind it is huge.

That combined area would be larger than any other coaster area on park by a considerable margin...
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Even if they used half of the carpark it could be a massive themed area it does open up more opportunities and room for the park that's struggling for extra room
 
If you go back to the first post in this five year old topic, Galactica was going to be replaced two years ago!
These rides are very expensive, landscaped and quarried out even, why do you think they are likely to go any time soon?
Do you see any coasters with zero queues?
Massive capital outlay to renew or replace, recessionary times, full management programmes for H&S, can't see anything changing as far as the big rides goes for a decade.
 
Matt N said:
As for Oblivion, I could possibly see it being retracked. A potential retrack job would be cheaper than Nemesis, and purely based on practicality, I think it would be a similarly tough ride to replace. On the flip side, however, I don't think that it's one of the park's more popular rides nowadays, and I also think that while it was very popular in the 1990s, it's rightly or wrongly seen as somewhat second tier within the modern day lineup. It pains me to say it, because I absolutely love Oblivion, but I do wonder if it is popular enough, iconic enough or remarkable enough to be deemed worth saving.
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As a child, the one ride I'd also associate with Alton Towers before I'd ever been, was Oblivion. For me, it was the recognisable ride that everyone was talking about, that you just knew where it was. My first visit wasn't until 11 years after Oblivion had opened, so I'd say it's pretty iconic. That might be subjective, but even online now (Twitter in particular) random tweets searches nearly always seem to mention Oblivion. I think it's another one that's worth saving when the time comes.
 
Danscott22 said:
As a child, the one ride I'd also associate with Alton Towers before I'd ever been, was Oblivion. For me, it was the recognisable ride that everyone was talking about, that you just knew where it was. My first visit wasn't until 11 years after Oblivion had opened, so I'd say it's pretty iconic. That might be subjective, but even online now (Twitter in particular) random tweets searches nearly always seem to mention Oblivion. I think it's another one that's worth saving when the time comes.
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I know this is a very individual case but we're taking a friend who is his first ever time to a proper theme park since he loved Hyde park WW so much and I asked him what he was most excited for and oblivion was the first thing that popped up.
 
Thought of this topic when I started making my plans for the Beach this year...
Big Dipper could be considered a secret weapon in its day, big drops, fast speed.
Hundred years old this year, we had a really nice night at the 90th party.
Considering it is made from dodgy wood and not better wearing steel, I would guess that the secret weapons at the Towers could be around for quite a while yet.
Don't think there is any chance of pulling out any big stuff until the little stuff has been sorted, any removal will probably be decades away.
 
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