Random Memories

[Error]

Holy crap the colour of Air there.

 

[Kraken27]

Nothing was ready on Air's opening day - believe me!

Scaffolding towers were being removed minutes before guests arrived in Forbidden Valley - even bin-liners were only being put into the queueline bins less than half an hour in advance.

This was, of course, a project expertly managed by Alton Towers over a 2yr period.

Oblivion - 1998 - opened on time, but with hideous reliability problems in first year.
Air - 2002 - opened on time, but with hideous reliability problems in first year.
Rita - 2006 - opened in time (I think), but 1 train only. 2nd train took a while to follow.
Smiler - 2013 - opened well later than planned due to "a bad Winter" [the park started construction too late - anyone with a brain could work this out].
Wicker Man - 2018 - will let the park off a bit here, as the ride was ready, but the weather was horrendous on opening weekend. It did have reliability issues at first too.

When it comes to opening new rides on time & keeping them running reliably - particularly in that all important first season - Alton's history is certainly best described as chequered.

 

[rob666]

The weather in the five months before the smiler opened was horrendous.
You obviously weren't working outside through that period, or you would remember it vividly, like I do.
The worst spring in twenty years.

 

[Thameslink Rail]

Rita was 2005

 

[Jb85]

Thirteen was the same - I saw them painting the fences myself hours before opening. I believe the queue was only properly tarmaced a day before opening....

Seems they forgot to take the scaffolding down as well ;-)