Future of the Congo River Rapids

[Skyscraper]

I’d say both those examples aren’t comparable. Nemesis retains its iconic status since opening in 1994 and would be difficult to fill the space with, and Chessington were forced to change elements of Dragon Falls as they were in disrepair and unsafe

And what causes things to become unsafe and in disrepair? A lack of maintenance.

 

[rob666]

Of course they are comparable.
You stated Merlin would not spend on an existing investment without an IP.
Both are clear, obvious examples of them doing this!

 

[tayspru]

Of course they are comparable.
You stated Merlin would not spend on an existing investment without an IP.
Both are clear, obvious examples of them doing this!

I love pedantry

 

[rob666]

More School of the Bleeding Obvious.

 

[tayspru]

More School of the Bleeding Obvious.

My point was that there’s rarely a time when an attraction in safe working order has large amounts of money spent on it to retain the existing theme. Even as far back as The Flume and Haunted House, a gimmick was used to justify the budget spent on an attraction that could technically have continued to operate as was

 

[Trooper Looper]

My point was that there’s rarely a time when an attraction in safe working order has large amounts of money spent on it to retain the existing theme. Even as far back as The Flume and Haunted House, a gimmick was used to justify the budget spent on an attraction that could technically have continued to operate as was

I totally get the Flume, it had a typical Log theme, and the Bath retheme is actually superior to the Log theme to me, and that music!

The Haunted House on the other hand? That thing couldn't operate any longer from how the park Botched it to death before its even worst retheme to Duel. It received rarely any good changes apart from making the Giants Fingers into Monsters. They literally gave the Spider scene jumping jellyfish jumpscares, which by the way, anyone can make in their home easily if you know what you're doing.

 

[Trooper Looper]

Sorry for the double uploads lately, but since I returned from Friday, I noticed something different about the Waterfalls rockwork, it looks to be a fresh coat of paint. Maybe they are actually bringing back the Waterfalls ever so slowly over the season.

 

[Danny]

Or they're just carrying out their usual method of painting over rot; World of David Walliams. (2021).

 

[AstroDan]

I rode Congo River Rapids today for the first time in absolutely ages, and it has left me thinking about its role in Alton Towers moving forward. Obviously, I have no idea if the park intend the present situation with the ride to be the status quo - or whether they intend to enhance it but, after my ride today, I am starting to lean towards the the opinion that Congo River Rapids should, in due course and with a re-development plan in place for the area, be removed from Alton Towers. I never thought that I would come to this opinion given the ride used to be a staple of mine on every visit to the park, I have had some hilarious times on the ride and some of the most memorable night time rides of any attraction at Alton were on it. Unfortunately, the ride experience is now so poor on so many different levels that I fail to see a way forward for the ride,

I do not especially blame Alton Towers for this. Whilst I am sure they could be more confident to restart some of the ride's effects, I know they are between a rock and a hard place with the absurd, fun-destroying and wholly unreasonable HSE enforcements following the accident at Drayton Manor Park but also with the UK media in the post-Smiler landscape.

I would also add that I am pretty sure that young children probably still enjoy the ride - but fundamentally, a river rapids is designed to thrill and excite all ages. The ride is decreasingly doing this and, as it gets worse, it gets ever more expensive to operate. The lack of waves and features have been widely discussed. However, there is a new reason why I no longer think the ride should remain and it is this:

The sheer quantity of Health & Safety signage, and requirements placed upon Alton Towers by the HSE, mean that a ride on Congo River Rapids is now subconsciously one of the most negative experiences on any ride I have ever had. I cannot think of another attraction I have ever been on where you are met with signs reminding you of the chances of death 50, 60 or 70 times. This is not escapism, this is not enjoyment and this is certainly not what you want at a theme park. There are, quite honestly, dozens upon dozens of signs in the queue line, in the station, all around the ride's channel and multiple in the boats. Add in the now mandatory verbal reminders about safety from the ride host to every single boat before dispatch (that includes ride staff gesticulation as CCTV evidence should there be an incident), staff in several locations around the ride AND the abrupt tannoy announcements and, quite honestly, it's miserable.

Typical signs looks like these:



It is no exaggeration to say there are 50 to 100 of these signs. Maybe more even than that.

I would have the attraction removed and a new generation log flume installed (simialr system as Chiapas) which has leg restraints to secure riders. This way, we can have a water attraction fit for the modern era without reminding guests that they could die at any given moment.

 

[BigShadowtinytree]

We only go on CRR because it’s one of the few rides outside of CBeebies that my family group can go on together but it’s always a bit of a disappointment nowadays. My children enjoy it but they never went on it in its original form. Last time there was audio playing in the station that mentioned the waterfalls which got my hopes up that they were finally back up and running but it turns out it was just old audio from a different time.

Agree about the H&S signage, it’s too much. I get the need for some signage but it doesn’t need to be literally everywhere you look - it’s immersion breaking on a ride that already isn’t very immersive. Most people know not to stand up on a rapids ride especially after the Drayton Manor accident, we don’t need to be beaten around the head with it constantly.

If anything all these signs and stuff reminds me of the Splash Canyon accident because that’s why they’ve been put up in the first place, which isn’t what you really want to be thinking about on a theme park visit. I’ve heard the accident be mentioned plenty of times by others whilst queueing up as well, people know. Rapids rides have been around for decades with little to no issue, why after one isolated (albeit tragic) incident has everyone lost their mind? I’d happily see it go in favour of something else, it’s just not the same anymore.

 

[Matt N]

Out of interest, what exactly are the HSE enforcements that have been imposed upon parks with rapids rides?

Surely there must be a way that these can be enforced that isn’t so on-the-nose and doesn’t have such a drastic impact on the ride experience? (e.g. taming of waves, deactivation of effects etc)

I do think it is hard to operate a rapids ride in the UK in this day and age, however, and I don’t think any party is really in the wrong here.

• The HSE are only trying to keep park visitors safe and prevent accidents, and I do feel that it is important to inform people of potential risks involved in not following safety advice. As much as “risk of drowning” signs and the like may seem futile to some, and as though the park is stating the blatantly obvious, that will not be blatantly obvious to everyone. There will be some who will think “Oh, the water isn’t that deep” or “Oh, the current isn’t the strong”, so offering that guidance ensures that everybody knows the risks and can keep themselves safe accordingly.
• Alton Towers (and other UK parks operating rapids rides) very much have their hands tied by the HSE guidance as well as the general safety culture that has arisen since the Smiler incident. Anything they are able to do to the ride likely won’t improve the issues you and others specify, because doing anything that does attempt to improve these issues risks disobeying the HSE guidance, or at best receiving substantial backlash and negative media attention.

The problem is that I think rapids rides, by very nature, are some of the riskiest theme park rides out there.

Now I do not want to infer for a second that rapids rides are inherently unsafe by any means, but compared to other types of attraction, they are certainly more unpredictable, and somewhat of a “loose cannon” from a safety and incident prevention standpoint.

If you take something like a roller coaster, incident prevention on coasters is very easy, and the machine and the staff operating it are entirely responsible for keeping people safe. Many failsafe mechanisms can be implemented; restraint sensors ensure that everyone is secured adequately and the ride cannot be sent if a restraint is not closed, block systems stop two trains from being in the same area of the ride at once, upstop wheels ensure that the train cannot fly off the track; I could go on. These mechanisms are close to 100% foolproof, and the park can very easily enforce safe procedures to ensure that everybody is safe.

Rapids rides are different, however. They are much cruder ride systems; if you think about it, they literally entail getting into a boat with no form of wheels or mounting to the channel and floating freely down a river with very little in the way of failsafe mechanisms to manage this; the most you encounter is the odd set of rollers every now and then to stagger boat flow. You can’t ensure that a rapids boat stays upright and on the track like you can on a roller coaster. You can’t ensure that every boat is being sent with all riders fully restrained and with no potential for standing up like you can on a roller coaster. The boats are not tethered to any sort of computer system; they can just freely flow down the river however they see fit regardless of the state of the riders in the boat. As such, incident prevention on a rapids ride is a lot harder.

Unlike other types of theme park attraction, rapids rides transfer some responsibility for keeping guests safe to the guests themselves, and I think that means that they are not totally foolproof. Due to the rather low-tech way they operate, there’s only so much that can be applied in terms of failsafe mechanisms; a substantial amount of the responsibility is ultimately transferred down to those in the boat, and that will naturally compromise how foolproof any safety measures are. People will act in unexpected ways that no safety system can fully compensate for, so ultimately, the best way to reduce risk is probably to make the ride less inherently risky and reduce the desire to act in unsafe ways rather than apply failsafes.

 

[John]

This has all come about because the HSE has basically decided that rapids rides as they existed prior to 2016 were totally unsafe. A guidance note was issued towards the end of last year outlining all the things parks should do to make them safer. The full document can be found online: https://www.hse.gov.uk/entertainment/pdf/health-safety-river-rapids-rides.pdf

An extract, relevant to Dan's post above:

Ride controllers should ensure that clear signage is displayed at regular intervals in the queueing area leading to the station. Signage should also be present on the station, in the boats and at various and numerous conspicuous locations around the trough. The signage should, as a minimum, emphasise the need to remain seated and hold on throughout the ride duration. Signage should also clearly display any passenger limitations such as minimum height, minimum age, health restrictions etc.

Signage should make clear the potential consequences, ie falling out and drowning if passengers leave their seats during the ride. This is important because passengers may not have a full appreciation of the risks. Signage must be maintained to keep messages clear and obvious.

Ride controllers should consider using automatic audio/video messages at the station and in the queue to reinforce the information provided by the signs.

Station attendants should brief passengers about the safety requirement to remain seated and to hold on. The safety briefings should be a key part of their training with the ‘script’ of what they should say recorded in training and operating documents. Supervisory monitoring should check that attendants are giving appropriate safety instructions. Ride controllers should ensure that station attendants have sufficient time to fully brief passengers.

 

[Thameslink Rail]

I would be happy to see a flume style ride on that site to get away from the ridiculous number of warning signs. The park might as well save money by reusing parts of the rapids alignment, (I would like to see the tunnel stay because of the interaction with the mine train).

 

[Matt N]

Interestingly, I can’t see anything in that document about the removal of effects being mandated or part of the guidance.

The only thing I see that could potentially be spun in a way that necessitates effect removal is:

Research confirms that some passengers are likely to leave their seats during the ride especially when passing features such as ride cameras, water pistols etc. An unseated passenger is far more likely to succumb to the ride forces, and either fall over within the boat, or be ejected from it. The basis of passenger ride safety is that they must always remain correctly seated.

Could this quote have been interpreted by the parks to mean that “having effects on rapids rides is unsafe”? Particularly the section in bold?

 

[IanB]

be removed from Alton Towers.

I got to this point, and was like no way, the Rapids are one of the funniest family rides at a Theme Park, but by the end of your post I was agreeing with you.

Sitting opposite each other, and seeing everyone's reactions is what makes the rapids so special and fun, even with strangers.

Could a pre-show with all the health and safety information delivered in that, remove the need for all the signage on the ride and queue line?

A new log flume style ride would require a significant amount of landscaping changes to the area, and would need to be capable of easily adjusting the wetness level to suit the UK weather. Maybe re-do both rides in Katanga Canyon, and refresh the entire area as part of one of the large capex spends?

 

[Matt.GC]

The HSE seem to be mandating doom signage and staff warnings to guests, all centred around trying to keep people seated when riding. The other measures ensuring a miserable experience are all Towers themselves and not HSE. Even within Merlin there are other rapids that operate with water features.

Meanwhile, elsewhere around the world, more modern rapids have whirlpools, steep drops and features that give you a complete soaking. Some of them have more modern boats with high backs and nets to prevent anyone silly enough to stand from falling out. Could Towers not just modify their boats (not just putting on a flimsy door and a pointless rail like they did), crank everything up to 11, add a load of water features and some theming and jobs a good 'un?

I strongly suspect however that the reason we are left in the current situation is that Towers think the current ride is good enough as it is.

 

[John]

There was a previous guidance note from the HSE (that I don't think is online) which advised against features which might cause passengers to stand up. This was almost certainly the reason for the loss of the waterfalls and wave machines.

 

[Jb85]

Its become a bore and a waste of a space

It’s like the theme park gods are coming together to ensure wardleys genius is removed

 

[jon81uk]

Some of them have more modern boats with high backs and nets to prevent anyone silly enough to stand from falling out.

Drayton Manor now has these new Intamin boats.
Although it’s likely that the higher back on a ride not designed for those boats is why DMs rapids don’t get you wet anymore.

However the higher back boats can then have seatbelts, as with the higher back the risk of capsizing is reduced. But on a rapids without a steep drop a belt does seem a bit overkill.

Most people know not to stand up on a rapids ride especially after the Drayton Manor accident, we don’t need to be beaten around the head with it constantly.

Unfortunately people not realising the impact of standing is what lead to the incident, also many people won’t even know that incident took place. So yes groups (particularly of children with no adult present) are stupid and a group doesn’t register risk as well as a single person would.
I do think the much bigger issue that caused the incident at DM was unsupervised children, it’s probable that had an adult been on board things may have gone differently.

As to should they be removed, I think I would still prefer another ride in addition, but I think Dans point about the signage killing the mood is valid.

In regards to the wave machines still being off on the rapids at Alton but others such as Thorpe still using them, my guess is that it’s the proximity to the on ride photo. People might try to stand/move for the camera in the area of the waves. Might not be the reason but makes sense to me.

 

[Rob]

I completely agree with Dan. The Rapids always used to be one of my favourite rides at Alton Towers, it never failed to deliver good laughs and a fun ride experience. Yesterday was the first time that I had ridden them since 2018 (I think) and they were truly terrible in every way. The lack of waves/waterfalls etc. means the ride is basically a glorified lazy boat ride. But it is the sheer amount of severe warning signs plastered all over the ride, the boats and the queue that are most damaging.

If you see all of these signs, your first thought is that the ride must be unsafe. Why else would you be reminded every few meters that you are at real risk of drowning? This is not what a theme park is all about.

I love rapids rides, they are often one of the highlights when visiting parks abroad. You never know what to quite expect from them; will you get wet, could you get soaked, who's going to come off worst. They are always fun. The Congo River Rapids are far from this.