Rita Tunnel

[T]

I know this has been discussed briefly in the 2013 General Topic, however I thought I'd open a new Topic. Feel free to 'Merge' this post, if it's needed to be moved back there.

After visiting yesterday (Good Friday), I saw the Rita tunnel for the first time, in it's full 2013 glory. I have to say, it's an eyesore. It's much bigger than last season, and generally looks shabby. No themeing at all, and has multiple 'padded' bars. Yuck!

Also, can anyone enlighten me as to why this piece of track & mechanics seemingly doesn't require the tunnel to run under it?

Edit: apologies for the 'T' in the images. It appears that a fellow enthusiast decided it would be nice to replicate this post, complete with direct link to the above images (that reside on my Facebook account), without my permission, nor credit. It may seem 'small', but the image policy over on TTF is one they take very seriously, and as such, I believe I have the right to, also.

 

[Dave]

Tempted to wonder if H&S doesn't have to make sense so long as it's keeping people in a job.

Though maybe i'm just cynical.

 

[Tom]

Alton Towers is to blame for this, generic "health and safety" swipes are misplaced (as they always are). The dangerous occurrence of the cable snap and the scaffolding measures are both down to them and no one else.

 

[djtruefitt]

Espeically when at Thorpe Park you walk under Stealth twice in the queue line and you are often stood along the whole of the launch for most of the queue. And that has had no changes applied to it since the Towers cable snap.

 

[Dar]

Towers were probably instructed to make sure it doesn't happen again and someone, somewhere deemed this the best way to cover their posteriors.

 

[pluk]

Espeically when at Thorpe Park you walk under Stealth twice in the queue line and you are often stood along the whole of the launch for most of the queue. And that has had no changes applied to it since the Towers cable snap.

I believe Stealth has had changes, just sensible ones though!

 

[AstroDan]

The whole thing in Dark Forest is a joke.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[T]

The whole thing in Dark Forest is a joke.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

I completely agree. It looks a mess, and is generally an eyesore. I just don't comprehend how half of the launch track is allowed to be 'visible', and indeed, if you so wished, within touching distance, yet the rest has to be completely covered with this awful tunnel, and inside the actual queue line, avoided completely, and only passable when the train is loading.

Someone. Anyone. Please, please, please, enlighten me!

 

[James]

Since the day Rita was built Ug Land/Dark Forest has been an utter mess. They could have fixed this in 2009/2010 with Ug Land being rethemed but instead they went for a half arsed job and the area is probably in a worse state now than it was a few years ago.

Quite sad really as this area is likely to be left for a very long time now.

 

[LiamC]

It's an eyesore and the way Rita is operated at the minute is completely unnecessary, it's such a shame.

 

[QTXAdsy]

Forget Air's tunnel, we now have Rita's tunnel!

 

[Thomas]

If anything it looks more dangerous now I've the opportunity to be hit by a cable and a plank of wood?

 

[Tom]

If anything it looks more dangerous now I've the opportunity to be hit by a cable and a plank of wood?

I must admit the same occurred to me. When you find yourself studying pictures of scaffolding to see if it has been put up properly, you have to question why...

 

[Thomas]

The only place Alton Towers should have scaffolding is in the middle of The Smilers construction site. There is nothing magical or UKs number one theme park about scaffolding

 

[Alastair]

The only place Alton Towers should have scaffolding is in the middle of The Smilers construction site. There is nothing magical or UKs number one theme park about scaffolding

Ironic that it's integral to the theming of two rides (Thirteen, Hex) and is used substantially in another (Sub-Terra). Maybe the Ministry of Joy staff will serve double lives as pole fabricators?

 

[Ben]

I wonder if the H&S bods would implode if someone walked into the scaffolding and hurt themselves.

 

[josht]

Seeing above quote and start dismantling Rita so the scaffolding isn't a problem

 

[Laura]

Oh dear, when I went I assumed that the tunnel thing was temporary while work was being done. It never even occurred to me that that it was a permanent feature.

 

[BigDave]

Take out Rita you say? Now there's an idea! Replace it with a Mack megacoaster please. They can remove Spinball while they are at it.

 

[Thomas]

I understand that scaffolding is used to enhance the theming on Hex and 13, but I don't believe that Rita's theme lends itself well to scaffolding, or anything for that matter.