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Major Ride Closures 2016

matthewgcole said:
Great pictures RoyJess, that's how I remember the flume on my first trips to the park in the 80's.

Some of the younger ones on here may not miss it as they will mainly see it as ducks, bath tubs and peeled off imperial leather stickers on an ageing and decaying ride that had been surpassed by other flumes and water coasters over the years.

But at one point this was a magical ride in the eyes of a kid and seeing that lake, the last drop with logs hurtling down proudly displaying the park name on the front and the view of the carousel station was an iconic Alton Towers view to me. Over the years, even after the removal of the dinosaurs and the retheme the ride was one of those things that remained relatively the same and a constant fixture and experience in the park as cinema domes, the park railway, the black hole etc where removed, and as Katanga, Nemesis, Oblivion, hotels etc where built around the place. A lot of the park changed beyond recognition, but the flume was still as I remember it in my mid 30s taking my kids on as it was when I was 5 riding with my dad.

The Flume needed replacement and has had a good innings, its just those childhood memories I'll miss.
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I personally think we are very much spoilt with what in on offer at the Towers today. Back in the 80's all we had in the way of rollercoasters was the cork screw, the black hole, the 4 man toboggan ride the beastie/dragon coaster and the Log flume was also classed as a top white knuckle ride. The second drop in the dark used to be pitch black and unexpected, this is how I like it. In later years, that drop became semi lit which kind of spoilt it.

I hope that they replace this ride with something bigger and better. I do love the idea of something as immersing as the Valhalla.

However I will be happy if they just repair and re-theme the existing flume, but make it decent with some awesome animatronics. With all the new TLC program this could quiet easily be done over the next years closed season.

Mind you the Flume has lasted a good few years, it goes to show you that they don't make/build them like they used to....
 
I think it'll be a mack water coaster, or an indoor water ride replacing the flume,if it's an indoor, I reckon it would take up the area by the man made lake, am I right in thinking the wood meandering section is quite hard to gain planning permission for. Water ride Next season and wooden coaster in 2019? Seems viable to me.
 
Not happy with this, I liked The Flume, and it soaked up crowds well in summer. Although it obviously has been coming ever since they didn't retheme it with the rest of the area when the IP ran out. Flumes should be staples of all big parks so hopefully a modern, well themed replacement comes along soon that integrates it into Mutiny Bay.
 
The flume is beyond repair, it needs re-troughing, which is not worth it...

Was saying it was unavailable today XD

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Sad times :( so many happy memories on the Flume. They could have kept it running if they looked after it. The money spent on Battle Galleons would have been better spent on the Flume in my opinion.
 
Question.......

How come both the The Flume and The Rapids had their water effects turned off due to Health & Safety saying they couldn't recycle the trough water because it was dirty, yet its perfectly fine on Battle Galleons to be squirting everybody with dirty water from the lake?
 
PeteB said:
Question.......

How come both the The Flume and The Rapids had their water effects turned off due to Health & Safety saying they couldn't recycle the trough water because it was dirty, yet its perfectly fine on Battle Galleons to be squirting everybody with dirty water from the lake?
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The galleons are filled from a mains water source, not the lake.

They have a tank inside that's filled from the pipe in the station that pours mains water into the top of their masts.
 
I believe that BG refills the tanks with clean mains water while the boat is in the station.
EDIT: Beaten to it.
 
I would rather see the woodie stay in Forbidden Valley, and The Flume site with a water ride.

Do we know if they need planning permission to build something on The Flume site, or does it come under the GDO?

I'm hoping the area isn't left empty for too long and we see something in the near future, 2017 ideally.
 
James said:
I'm hoping the area isn't left empty for too long and we see something in the near future, 2017 ideally.
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we all know that after the Black Hole was removed, it's area was left empty for a long time until The Smiler was built, so i won't be surprised if the same happens with The Flume's area.
 
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I know about the Black Hole site. :p That why I hope the Flume site doesn't end up the same. It's a good chunk of land and it would be a shame to see such a large space stay empty for years to come.
 
You'd think that with that Merlin guy's profile from the other day saying that he's working on 2 projects for Towers for 2017 & 2018 that we'll see something of interest happening around either FV or Flume site at some point this season, however minimal. Obviously I understand that the Smiler incident may have altered things, possibly. Look out for balloons and stuff :)
 
James said:
Do we know if they need planning permission to build something on The Flume site, or does it come under the GDO?
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Shameless plug! ;)

The lake, queue and station areas are covered by Permitted Development Rights but not the wooded area where most of the ride took place. So if they planned to venture out into the woods with a new ride they would require planning permission.

It's now just two weeks and one day until the season starts and Towers still haven't confirmed their full 2016 ride line-up despite saying they would do so during January. What are they up to? Afraid to admit more closures or negotiating back tracks with the finance people?

:)
 
I'm thinking AT may have presented a case to Merlin for opening more rides. I hope.
 
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