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[The Smiler] Construction Updates and Ride Speculation

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Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

We all know that staff read these boards and have used what is posted here to their benefit without so much as a thank you in the past.

If the hotel page statement regarding the 16 March opening date were left in error, you can be sure that they will have been removed shortly after being mentioned on here.

Confusing about what telephone staff are saying though!
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

As I said on Facebook earlier on today, it's good that we finally seem to have some staff acknowledging the fact and stating that it could well be delayed, as so far that's what all the signs and information we are getting point towards! However, all information has to be treated with caution as who knows, they could be the ones giving the false info and the hotel line could be correct. Though I personally see that as highly unlikely and fully believe that there will be some sort of delay in the opening!

I however have no problem with a delay if it means that we get a finished product that I believe will be truly worth the wait and worthy of the SW title! :D

I honestly do think that Towers management need to recognize this fact, that none of us are bothered (well the majority) about a delay, if it means a good end product! The sooner they see that and publicly announce that it is going to be a tad on the late side and stop potentially misleading and risking upsetting a large proportion of early season guests, the better! Otherwise, I can see the headlines in the Daily Fail already ;)
 
Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

To be honest I'm not majorly bothered about a delay but with a 3 hour journey to towers it would be nice if it opened when advertised :p
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I imagine they will release an updated opening date around the same time as the advertising for the ride starts.

There is going to be a group of people that have booked stays / tickets for the opening day that will lose out, but I'd imagine its a relatively small number at this stage.
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I think the app may be legit, given that he refers to them as a "client" on his twitter. Any thoughts?
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

haydn! said:
If a SW7 app was in the works, I'd expect it to be done by the same people behind the Scarefest app. http://appsforattractions.com
Click to expand...

Indeed they did a great job with the Scarefest app and they know the industry so i hope they are behind any Alton Towers based apps.
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I reckon those app images are legit.

Having worked for a creative agency in the past I can safely say designers are very creative, but aren't fussed about spelling!

The images are probably initial designs created to fit a brief given by AT. It'll give them an idea of what the app could look like before any development takes place. I very much doubt they're designs for real adverts, just the app designer showing what his designs could look like if screenshots were used.
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

It's possible that these would have a spelling mistake in as they would only be used to sell the designs to towers/merlin, not advertise, as by the looks of this, the guy is just a designer, not a developer.
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I think the reason there has been so little in the way of an official word yet on if it's going to be delayed or not is because they need to decide on a new date. They can't really announce 'It's delayed and we don't know for how long'. They will come out shouting about the 'grand opening date' and not even mention a delay. Just act like it was the plan all along.

The fact they haven't announced anything officially yet means one of the following:
-They still have their fingers crossed they can do it and are working to the deadline
-It's currently gone so balls up it's difficult to say what the new date is going to be. They would have to be very confident in the new date before they announce it.
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

rightbackgranty said:
I imagine they will release an updated opening date around the same time as the advertising for the ride starts.

There is going to be a group of people that have booked stays / tickets for the opening day that will lose out, but I'd imagine its a relatively small number at this stage.
Click to expand...

Having spoken to the hotel in relation to this last week, they did say that bookings for these dates can be changed for later dates free of charge as long as this is done in plenty of time (providing the nightly rate is the same).

As most on here are probably aware, there is 30% off hotel bookings made before the end of Jan so I'm just hoping there will be some official word on the situation (if indeed there is one) before then.
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Sku said:
I think the reason there has been so little in the way of an official word yet on if it's going to be delayed or not is because they need to decide on a new date. They can't really announce 'It's delayed and we don't know for how long'. They will come out shouting about the 'grand opening date' and not even mention a delay. Just act like it was the plan all along.

The fact they haven't announced anything officially yet means one of the following:
-They still have their fingers crossed they can do it and are working to the deadline
-It's currently gone so balls up it's difficult to say what the new date is going to be. They would have to be very confident in the new date before they announce it.
Click to expand...

I'd imagine this could be a big factor. There's every chance they don't know exactly when they are going to be finished. You've got to think that sometime in the next month or so we are going to get some snow, going by the last few years anyway, and this could set things back further. They won't want to announce a new opening day and then find it's not ready for that also. I'd imagine they'll have a better idea of a potential opening date in a couple of weeks. I also think they'll want it open in March, there has been a lot of promotional material stating that it will opening in March 2013.

:)
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I don't know if it's been mentioned, but all references to SW7 have disappeared completely from the website and from the book a short break page. I'd suggest this means that we'll be waiting a while before both the marketing heats up and the ride construction begins to speed up.
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I can still see the SW7 side button and the mention of SW7 under the thrill section of midweek breaks. I think Towers will take their time to announce anything as the whole subject is very complex at the moment.
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Anyone actually wondering why this is taking so long? Yes there has been a lot of water about and that would have stopped an awful lot of the concrete from being done, but the concrete in an aweful lot of the areas has now been laid and yet vertical construction is still very, very slow. I have a feeling that its not the fact the concrete is not ready, but something else.

Water could have made the concrete set incorrectly, the water may have weakened the ground the concrete was poured on, water building up behind a concrete wall has caused it to crack, vibrations from the construction and excess water may have caused damage to the nearby Oblivion tunnel.....

Of course I may be wrong, but it seems that there is a reason why this is running so behind and Im certain its nothing to do with Gerts. They are probably only bringing track bit by bit because Alton have told them they are behind and don't have much room to store the track. Gerts would have made the track and even put most of it together somewhere to ensure it all fits properly months ago.
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Has anyone else taken the survey that's on the home page? It's very focused towards the new ride, but only refers to it as 'rollercoaster' has this been there for a while? It asks a lot of questions about the marketing of the ride.
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I'd take a wild guess the secret element has been dropped - and they've had major problems with the roller coaster design, resulting in ground works having to be altered substantially and sections of the ride to be redesigned.

Plus there may have been other incidents on site that we're unaware of that may have caused delays.

There's a lot of factors to take in really, and anything could be happening behind the scenes, all we can do is hazard a guess at what is actually causing such slow progress. There must be a good reason, as I'm certain Alton Towers will not have wanted this to happen with such a major new ride.
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

James said:
I'd take a wild guess the secret element has been dropped - and they've had major problems with the roller coaster design, resulting in ground works having to be altered substantially and sections of the ride to be redesigned.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say dropped but maybe slightly changed or other elements adapted if this is the issue of course.
 
Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

TST@1 event this year so we get the chance to ask what the hell has gone wrong? ;)
 
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