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Secret Weapon 7 Discussion

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If by Feb Half Term we don't see a completed track, with building work and theming going into place I shall be worried.

Hopefully they're going to have a spurt on in the coming weeks to try and get the remaining footers down and the support bases fixed in. If they leave it too much longer they run the risk of the site being too cold to work with, what with ice and frost on the ground, and cement not liking the cold (Especially as parts of England are already receiveing snow forcasts and sleet - We are here in Worcester, and we're about 1:45 hour drive away). If you take out time over Christmas and New Year too it all edges even closer to the deadline.

In theory the track should go up rather fast, but we assume they won't have delays for weather, and other things beyond their control. All it's going to take is for them to have a few days where they can't do anything and it'll really throw a spanner in the works.

I am still a little on edge about the project at the moment, and also wonder if that's why the hype seems to have died off from the park. With Th13teen we'd have numerous marketing campaigns and stories to talk about. This time, when we actually have a ride which warrents the hype, the park are being rather quiet. Are they possibly concerned about time, and don't want to do an all out campaign, hyping it all up for X date, only for it to reach that day and not be ready/finished?.. ???
 
Ian said:
This time, when we actually have a ride which warrents the hype, the park are being rather quiet. Are they possibly concerned about time, and don't want to do an all out campaign, hyping it all up for X date, only for it to reach that day and not be ready/finished?.. ???
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I'd not thought of that...

I don't recall when other marketing campaigns started, it would make sense to get started though if you want to create a storyline? Not sure though, don't remember the times other coaster adverts start.
 
I don't just mean adverts. I mean all the silly publicity stunts and alike too (Remember the disclaimers and underware?). It seems during the season the park were keen to get the hype going, with the graffiti faces, The Sanctuary, and alike. But now when, I would say, they should be pushing the ride more than ever to make people aware of it, and look forward to it, they have gone rather silent on it...

Even their social media seems to be pushing it less than in the season if you ask me.
 
Hmmm, I'm not sure that in the run up to Christmas I've seen much effort being put into advertising a ride for the next season. I'd be interested if anyone had any examples, but I don't remember any. I'd be happy to be proved wrong from any new ride such as this in recent times. I'd think that the publicity machine usually gets going in the first 2-3 months of the new year? Am I wrong?
 
I would have thought that by Feb half term the ride should be testing with just a few finishing touches to do. Not just completed track.
 
I see there have not remove the fencing from x sector, just put a second access to x sector in it.
 
delta79 said:
I see there have not remove the fencing from x sector, just put a second access to x sector in it.
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According to someone on TT they have removed the fences and those pictures are out of date. Doesn't really matter either way, we'll see on the next update regardless.
 
I think a genuinely credible update is needed here. I'm not overly worried about the schedule just yet. I'm really no expert but there are still over 4months to go until they open the ride and like others have said it's the initial ground work that will take most time to complete.. Still, I guess when you consider the size, complexity and amount of theming and building work they have to get done I can totally understand the concern :/
 
Love the way we are all planners now and saying the project is behind schedule.... according to who? Us? Maybe its on schedule, stuff going on we are not seeing, electrical work, underground work, landscaping work, things that need to be done before the track goes up perhaps?

I'm not in the least concerned at all, the track will probably be going up next year and will be done in a few days, they need to get all the foundations, footers, wiring etc etc all in place before they do this. No doubt the planners have accounted for delays due to bad weather, and I doubt the project is (if at all) running considerably behind schedule at this stage.

Now if we were to have a bad winter however........
 
Looking at TTs photos it looks like there's been a lot of earth being moved around the site. So they have been doing something. It's a bit hard to judge what with the camera angle being from above but by the looks of it the top part of the site has been more flattened and neatened in preparation for more concrete pouring.

I would assume they are going to get concrete poured for the top part of the site now asap, then track will follow. Much like Ian said though, if there's no track by Feb half term then I'll be worried. In fact if track is not completed by then I will be worried.
 
GaryH said:
Love the way we are all planners now and saying the project is behind schedule.... according to who? Us? Maybe its on schedule, stuff going on we are not seeing, electrical work, underground work, landscaping work, things that need to be done before the track goes up perhaps?

I'm not in the least concerned at all, the track will probably be going up next year and will be done in a few days, they need to get all the foundations, footers, wiring etc etc all in place before they do this. No doubt the planners have accounted for delays due to bad weather, and I doubt the project is (if at all) running considerably behind schedule at this stage.

Now if we were to have a bad winter however........
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We may not be planners but we have our own experience in this field. How many planners do you think have watched a ride as opposed to a normal building being constructed from start to finish before? And how many of them have seen as many as we have?

Sure we can only give an opinion based on what we see but in this case that’s enough to say that something is wrong. Nearly every other major coaster that is planned to have a spring opening will have started track construction by now; most will have already been completed. They should not still be working on Basic infrastructure such as electrical connections, plumbing or major landscaping if it is delaying the next phase.

It is this all important next phase that things are likely to go wrong and can hold the project up for several months. Even if everything goes smoothly it’s also the stage that is most underestimated because there are so many small tasks that need doing that can all add up to a fairly long period of time. Remember that we are talking about a Secret Weapon with a likely Worlds First element so if anything this phase should take longer than something like Saw which was based on the already successful Mystery Mine.

Believe me I'm normally one of the first to reassure people when they are unnecessarily worrying about a project being behind schedule, but on this occasion it does appear to be far behind what we are used to seeing. And as I said before this won’t be a problem as long as they concede that it is behind schedule and don’t try and open a half finished ride like they did with Sub-Terra.
 
smudge said:
If opening is delayed, will the 'Secret Weapon 7 meet' be also?
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I'd assume that there would still be a meet on the opening day of the season, and if necessary, another one would be arranged as soon as possible for the opening of SW7. :)
 
Hmm. I may not be an expert, but to me this looks behind schedule. Spinball Whizzer had vertical track and half a station by the last day of the season and Thirteen was very well progressed in terms of track and station. Bear in mind that SBW had next to no themeing or substantial landscaping to complete - SW7 has loads! Think of the size of the SW7 station alone. :eek:

I'm not trying to scaremonger but if you put it in perspective, there is potential that it is running over.. ???

EDIT: Looking over old Rita photos, I might be tempted to tone down what I just said.
 
Those that are saying they'll be very worried if we don't have any track up by Feb half term; I'll be worried if we don't have a fully functioning coaster with the station building and a fair amount of theming up by Feb half term. The time between Feb and opening will fly by, especially when the plan is to hand the ride over at the start of March, somehow I think this may end up being pushed back. Track needs to start going up in the next couple of weeks in my opinion. When you compare the progress of this to that of Thirteen, it is extremely concerning, and this is a much larger coaster than Thirteen.

:)
 
rusty said:
I wouldn't worry to behonest as long as the track is complete by half term everything should be okay if not worry.
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You say that, but lets say they finish putting up the track just before Feb half term on Friday February 15th. That then leaves them with 4 weeks until March 15th to set up and test the coaster, build/theme the station, install all electrics etc in the building, build/install all other ride theming, complete queueline and other landscaping works and get staff trained on the ride. That quite simply wouldn't be anywhere near enough time. Now I know some things can be done at the same time as track erection, such as stating work on the station building, but a lot of work will have to be left until once all of the track is up. Track needs to be up ASAP in my eyes.

:)
 
To go with what Rob said Th13teen was pretty much complete at Feb-Half Term. The ride was actually testing during the event and externally it looked ready to go. And yet it still only just managed to open in time.

aru said:
EDIT: Looking over old Rita photos, I might be tempted to tone down what I just said.
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I could be wrong but I don't think Rita opened with the park. The TS site gives a date of the 1st of April which could of been when the park opened but it depends when Easter was that year. But given that Rita was just dumped into UG Land without a station on any major themed structure It's not really comparable to this.

It might be worth noting though that Tripsdrills new Gerstlauer hasn't seen much work at all (landscaping or otherwise). However we have no idea when that ride is set to open, it might not be until early summer.
 
I am assuming there is a groundworks contractor and a specialist contractor to do the lifting / track install? Either the groundworks contract is running behind schedule or there is some sort of delay with the other contractors which has put them on a go-slow. :-\

You're right about Rita - it was just plonked with the most simple station imaginable. SW7 is a different league with a station/ show building and more complicated landscaping. It is a bit worrying that the footers are not even in!
 
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