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Future of the Congo River Rapids

CRR needs major work on it. I love the sound of a new style Log Flume however with this type of attraction naturally being more thrilling than a Rapids ride, the park would probably need to invest in a high capacity attraction that all the family can enjoy - a flying theatre perhaps or something similar.

A log flume in that area wouldn’t need as much work doing as you might think. There’s already water ride infrastructure there and a large capacity queue line. CRR takes up a huge area of land and you could fit a pretty epic Log Flume, or even dare I say it, a water coaster in there.
 
After just getting back from EP and then visiting towers and doing both rapids, you realise how awful our rapids is now. At EP there is very little signage or messages (you might see one or two signs in the queue and the odd message played but that’s it), everything is how it was, complete with wild wave machines (much worse than what towers used to be), waterfalls and water effects.

The towers rapids are now a waste of time, the turntable is slower than before, all the wave pools are off, the waterfalls have gone, and you are surrounded by safety signs.

The one thing I don’t get though is the Thorpe rapids still have their water falls on and also their wave pool. So why can’t towers have theirs on? Even if it’s just the wave pools.
 
djtruefitt said:
The one thing I don’t get though is the Thorpe rapids still have their water falls on and also their wave pool. So why can’t towers have theirs on? Even if it’s just the wave pools.
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3 words...The Smiler Incident.

Towers - rightly or wrongly - are clearly hyper-sensitive about safety now and in some instances could be seen as going a little over the top - the lack of effects on the rapids when Thorpe's are unchanged is the prime example. It also highlights how each park is largely responsible for its own safety protocols. And I think a lot of the what's seen as the over the top response is due to the potential negative press they'd receive from the media. You only have to look at [social] media to see videos of when Oblivion stops for 5 milliseconds, or someone posting a video of one of the coasters going up its lift hill and claiming the clicking noise is the coaster broken - and so many idiots (who have probably never even visited Towers) commenting on them calling it unsafe.

That video clip of the dummies falling out of the new coaster at Flamingo Land the other week - if that was Towers, that would've made the News At Ten, with calls for the park to be closed or even tighter safety restrictions on things!
 
One of the main reasons the signs are there (and so many of them) is to cover Alton Towers' back should there be an incident. Going back to the court case from the Drayton Manor accident, one of the reasons the blame was piled onto Drayton was due to the lack of signage around the ride. I agree with everybody else in this thread, the signs are a huge mood killer, and take all of the fun out of an already unexciting attraction.
 
The ‘Making Thorpe Park’ book details an incident in the Rumba Rapids opening year where a boat capsized throwing 6 guests into the water, this was deemed to be due to insufficient water flow that caused the boat to get stuck, meaning other boats slammed into the stuck boat pushing it upside down.

The ride was closed and reopened a month later after modifications. Could this be why Thorpe continue to run the waterfall and wave sections - to ensure the water flow is sufficient to stop boats getting stuck?

The book specifically references a quote from Alton Towers at the time saying their rapids was not designed in the same way and so would not suffer from the same issue.
 
Brad97 said:
Maybe they could get new boats like the ones on Splash Canyon?
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I’m not sure that would make any difference. Drayton’s rapids were no wetter than Alton’s when I rode on Thursday, possibly even drier.
 
Can we please be careful when it comes to posting unverified speculation about an incident as serious as one like described above would be.

As far as I am aware the Rapids was closed at the end of last season due to a major technical issue that could only be resolved over the closed season.

Thanks.
 
Rob said:
Can we please be careful when it comes to posting unverified speculation about an incident as serious as one like described above would be.

As far as I am aware the Rapids was closed at the end of last season due to a major technical issue that could only be resolved over the closed season.

Thanks.
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That's what I heard too. I think if it was what was suggested above, it would've made it to the forums, Twitter, FB, instagram etc even if it didn't get to the mainstream media.
 
AT86 said:
The ‘Making Thorpe Park’ book details an incident in the Rumba Rapids opening year where a boat capsized throwing 6 guests into the water, this was deemed to be due to insufficient water flow that caused the boat to get stuck, meaning other boats slammed into the stuck boat pushing it upside down.

The ride was closed and reopened a month later after modifications. Could this be why Thorpe continue to run the waterfall and wave sections - to ensure the water flow is sufficient to stop boats getting stuck?
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Not quite. Unless we are talking about a separate incident which isn't recorded by any media I've ever seen (which would beg the question why would AT be commenting on it), the boat did not capsize, the boat struck a rock in the centre of the chanel immediately before the cave with such force it catapulted a kid out of the boat onto the rock, which sliced his ear off. The amendments made during the closed month were removal of rock and some reconfiguration to prevent at speed bumps.

Regardless, I believe Thopre effects are required for safe operations; without the waterfall creating a buffer of water the boat could hit that wall hard, and without the wave machines the boars would all stop and congregate in the area.
 
The effects are also slightly different on Thorpe’s rapids; the waterfall isn’t nearly as forceful as Towers’ was and doesn’t actually cause wetness.
 
I normally avoid schools weeks like the plague, so I’ve only recently become aware of the no unaccompanied under 18s rule. I think that this is pretty poor, and very unfair on school kids who are paying to get into the park.

The boats are different now, they have more spotters, more people watching CCTV and better rescue procedures. I really think they have enough measures in place to remove this rule now.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
I normally avoid schools weeks like the plague, so I’ve only recently become aware of the no unaccompanied under 18s rule. I think that this is pretty poor, and very unfair on school kids who are paying to get into the park.

The boats are different now, they have more spotters, more people watching CCTV and better rescue procedures. I really think they have enough measures in place to remove this rule now.
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The ride has new Boats now? Like the ones at Drayton manor?
 
Enter Valhalla said:
I normally avoid schools weeks like the plague, so I’ve only recently become aware of the no unaccompanied under 18s rule. I think that this is pretty poor, and very unfair on school kids who are paying to get into the park.

The boats are different now, they have more spotters, more people watching CCTV and better rescue procedures. I really think they have enough measures in place to remove this rule now.
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I think most rides shouldn't allow unaccompanied children, unless they can be watched from off-ride (such as some small kids rides such as carousels etc).

Things like Hex also have a lot of scope for children to get up to things they shouldn't be doing as well. With an adult present it cuts down on that risk.
 
I don’t understand why they don’t change to the same version of Drayton manor boats and switch majority affects back on. Or copy similar simple water effects Drayton have installed, Does Drayton copy the age limit rule during the summer holidays too?


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