[The Smiler] Construction Updates and Ride Speculation

[TheMan]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

It's not that close to opening, we still have over 2 months left! Technically we're still closer to the end of last season then the start of next season

Is it your sole intention to depress everyone on here with comments like that Josh?

Honestly, wash your forum mouth out with carbolic soap!

What was released about Thirteen at this point in 2009?

A load of construction shots, secret weapon delivery promo and the name from memory.

Sounds about right, and it was way too much, but remembering the fact the cars kept over running the brake run and being "too fast" made me smile ;D

THIS DARN COASTER IS TOO GOOD! SLOW THE THING DOWN!

Well since people like mentioning other rides so much, I'm not sure how many have had virtually nothing this close to opening.

Like people here say, in this Country, winter opening is when they charge you a fortune for a couple of goes on some of the crappy kids rides that you queue for hours for (from what people have told me, I never go!) - Theme Parks are Spring/Summer/Autumn attractions, and thanks to dumbing down of the general populous, of which I seem to be experiencing much of first hand presently (another story, present company excluded), the GP attention span is very, very short indeed!!

Christmas, New Year, and Sales then back to work is plenty for most people to think about, coaster marketing for anyone other than us utter nerds is absolutely pointless, and it can be argued that with the TS competition, they have recognised that and given us something to chew over and be excited about.

I have also learned to trust info that comes from site mods here that's for sure, whether I agree with it all is one thing, but if they say construction is/isn't on schedule etc usually it's a bit more than an educated guess, no matter what they may say in public.

That's not to stifle debate of course, but I do respect their knowledge and contacts they must surely have, as demonstrated by information/competitions. Self evident as it were.

 

[Tom]

Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I'm not satisfied by claims of it being behind schedule even if they are reportedly coming from people who are typically reliable. Companies are contracted to have things handed over to Alton Towers by a certain date and I doubt anyone at any of the relevant businesses is concerned ten weeks from opening - but that's my view and I don't want to constantly keep going over it.


-Sent from a mobile phone-

 

[Alastair]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I don't think they'd be so brazen to put a giant countdown timer on the 2013 minisite if they weren't pretty confident in it opening on time. I personally think it will open on the 16th although will be subject to numerous technical problems due to lack of testing/tweaking time.

 

[Tom]

Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Indeed, it would be funny if days were added on or it was removed entirely all of a sudden.


-Sent from a mobile phone-

 

[Rob]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I'm not satisfied by claims of it being behind schedule even if they are reportedly coming from people who are typically reliable. Companies are contracted to have things handed over to Alton Towers by a certain date and I doubt anyone at any of the relevant businesses is concerned ten weeks from opening - but that's my view and I don't want to constantly keep going over it.


-Sent from a mobile phone-

They were categorically behind schedule, I am 100% certain of this. What I can't be certain of is whether or not they are currently behind schedule. I would imagine that they are but I also think they will have caught up a decent amount. Why is up for debate, I think there are many contributing factors which I have previously stated. The fact that they had to get special permission to carry out work on Sundays and past the 5pm cut off time, two things forbidden when planning permission was granted, to me adds further proof that they were/are behind schedule.

 

[GaryH]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Personally I dont think any of us are in a position to assess if the project is behind schedule or not and I find the whole debate on this particular topic and the heated convos going on quite amusing.

None of us have access to the Project Management documents detailing the timescale
None of us are working on the site or have access to it
None of us know in what order they are installing parts of the ride, foundations, etc etc
None of us know how long it will take to put up the track or finish laying paths

There are still nearly 3 months left yet, and a lot can happen in three months. We know how quickly houses are knocked up these days on new estates, i'm sure Alton will be having the ride up, tested, and ready by opening day as they nearly always do.

Maybe its cos the whole SW7 thread has currently gone stale due to lack of any new developments but the whole "is it on time, no its not, yes it is" has been debated to death!!!!!!! Lets wait until end of Feb before people start making these accusations!

And like I said, Alton is a Magic park - it will be open on time.

 

[TheMan]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Glad everyone took my post as it was meant ;D

The countdown timer thing is hilarious ;D

 

[mitchellcollier]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

A family member works in Hotel maintenance for Alton Towers Hotel, talk among the staff is at this point its around 2-3 weeks behind however at the start of November it was around 4-5 weeks behind. They are catching up but due to server rain groundwork has delayed the project.

 

[Dan!]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

A family member works in Hotel maintenance for Alton Towers Hotel, talk among the staff is at this point its around 2-3 weeks behind however at the start of November it was around 4-5 weeks behind. They are catching up but due to server rain groundwork has delayed the project.

All this overnight work they are doing is really helping catch up on the delays to the project because of Weather!
I'm keeping very open mind on this and really looking forward to see the finish Product!

 

[Prometheus]

Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

If the weather up at Towers has been anything like down here in the south then that would be an impressive amount of time caught up on. You couldn't even get a bin out over the last few days let alone use a crane for track lifting. Fingers crossed eh!

 

[BigDave]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Its been bad, but luckily no major flooding. The dug out bit is still likely to flood though.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Reece]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

None of us know for definite whats going to happen we can just assume, either way this going to be such an immense ride its going to be unreal cant wait to ride it in march HOPEFULLY

 

[Rob]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

A family member works in Hotel maintenance for Alton Towers Hotel, talk among the staff is at this point its around 2-3 weeks behind however at the start of November it was around 4-5 weeks behind. They are catching up but due to server rain groundwork has delayed the project.

This I would imagine is spot on and fits with what I have heard myself. A big reason as to why a lot of people are saying it has been behind is that staff themselves have said so. They are no doubt catching up though and I am confident that it will open on time.

Personally I dont think any of us are in a position to assess if the project is behind schedule or not and I find the whole debate on this particular topic and the heated convos going on quite amusing.

None of us have access to the Project Management documents detailing the timescale
None of us are working on the site or have access to it
None of us know in what order they are installing parts of the ride, foundations, etc etc
None of us know how long it will take to put up the track or finish laying paths

You make a good point, no doubts there, we don't know any of that stuff. However we are in a decent position to assess construction and compare time scales with all other coasters that are built. SW7 started going up a lot later than most other major coaster projects in relation to their opening date. That's one reason why I feel we are in a good position to say things like they are behind.

Anyway I agree that the whole is it behind isn't it behind thing has been debated to death and I am partly guilty of this. Hopefully once marketing picks up in the new year we will have plenty of other things to talk about.

 

[Maya]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I was thinking, and I know its far too late now, howecer the book Divergent would make an amazing theme for SW7! Anyone who has read will understand, but imagine getting injected into a simulation, and having to face your fear landscape, loads of different themes, of well known fears- hights, spiders, speed, animals. It would just fit perfectly with all this hypnosis stuff! Divergent will get really big in the comeing years,as the film will be out 2014, and its already immensly popular!
Its a shame Towers had other ideas in mind...

 

[BigAl]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Personally I'm glad they opted for an original theme for SW7. X-Sector has an original theme and I think that introducing an IP would ruin the area and detract from Oblivion's overall impact. Hopefully the theme that SW7 has been given won't do that job and the place will remain great (even though it has seen much better days ).

 

[Dave]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

It's closed season and there isn't anything to talk about so I'm not surprised this debate is ongoing, its not as bad as the madness we had when Th13teen was being built.

There's no reason they can't open on the 16th of March, they where definitely about 5 weeks behind when steel started going up but they are working like mad at the mo to get it done and generally the weather has been kind to them upto now (wet is better than ice). I can't see how they will do it but as I have said I'm no builder so I will just happily raise a glass to the builders in the hotels on the 16th of March if it opens.... But I'm not holding my breath.

Now just to send an e-mail to Alton Towers marketing department begging them to release something before geeks go completely loopy

 

[Jordan]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Remember that "not finished" does not mean "not ready to open". I think it would be the result of exceptional circumstances if the park could not open the ride on the date they've widely advertised.

Yes, there's been delays of around a month, but that does not mean that there won't be a working, safe and tested ride built by 16th March. Sure, it might not be the finished product with theming, landscaping and other touches, but I don't think 95% of guests really care about that all too much.

I think the constant suggestions here that the ride won't open on the 16th is damaging to the park. It's starting to be talked about wider than this forum, yet the park has not said anything at all to suggest that they are falling so dangerously behind schedule as the discussion here would have you believe.

I think we should stop worrying about the opening date here and let that be the park's problem to deal with in the unlikely event that it cannot open on the advertised date.

 

[Rob]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Remember that "not finished" does not mean "not ready to open". I think it would be the result of exceptional circumstances if the park could not open the ride on the date they've widely advertised.

Yes, there's been delays of around a month, but that does not mean that there won't be a working, safe and tested ride built by 16th March. Sure, it might not be the finished product with theming, landscaping and other touches, but I don't think 95% of guests really care about that all too much.

I think the constant suggestions here that the ride won't open on the 16th is damaging to the park. It's starting to be talked about wider than this forum, yet the park has not said anything at all to suggest that they are falling so dangerously behind schedule as the discussion here would have you believe.

I think we should stop worrying about the opening date here and let that be the park's problem to deal with in the unlikely event that it cannot open on the advertised date.

This is how I'm starting to feel now also. I am 100% sure they will have a fully working ride come 16th March and I think they will also be able to build the station building and get most of the theming in place. I'm not confident that the product will be 100% complete on opening day, details may be missing and so on. But I will be very surprised if they don't have something that they can't open, as not opening it on time would be very damaging for Towers.

 

[CupCakeMonster]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I thought the themeing was being done separately though.. so there's no reason why that won't be done in time as well... surely if it's done separately then the construction of the ride itself has next to no effect on the themeing... I mean I know that if themeing is put somewhere where track will be placed then it may make it harder for the builders to place the track, but if they work from where the track has been fitted, and then during the testing the last sections of themeing can be put in.

 

[BigDave]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

The big bits will be in place, but its the little touches they might skip in order to save time.