[The Smiler] Construction Updates and Ride Speculation

[Alastair]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

The B&M lapbars are by far the best, with Maurer's X-Car's being the worst (although of course their spinning coaster restraints are quite decent. Never tried a Gerstlauer with lapbars but I would hope they are better than Maurer.

 

[Johno]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I seriously don't think anybody would be able to 'mess about' in the types of lap bar we are all suggesting here. I'd like to see anyone try and worm their way out of a harness that is holding you in tightly across your waist as opposed to just loosely keeping your legs in a car.

@Johno: A lap bar wouldn't allow much difference in movement in relation to the clearance window so I doubt that has a bearing on the decision.

Those in the outermost seats, could surely lean out of them from the waist, much more so than with OSTRs.

 

[Scott]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Not necessarily Whilst that may look possible in a standard Eurofighter design such as Iron Shark's on the previous page - if the safety envelope were an issue then it would be easy enough to design the seats in such a way that sideways movement is not possible like that. Blue Fire's seating (shown a few posts up) would be a great example of that! We are presumably seeing a new kind of train for Gerst and so a different seat design would be possible.

What is also important to remember is that, at speed and when under G-Force, your body is unlikely to be able to lean out the 'wrong' way and be in the wrong place anyway.

 

[Fredward]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

If leaning over is so much an issue with lap bars, just do something similar to what B&M does with their wingriders, only at the waist and arm not the leg

 

[Rob]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

This post probably isn't going to go down well with some but oh well, I make no apologies!

I have just read this on TTF, Alton Towers, look out:

The word on the street is that MI7 is back from his holiday vacation. he has informed me today that he will be up at every opportunity in his spare time surveying the SW7 area. We also have construction workers taking shots when they can.

If that is true, then I hope said workers get found out and relieved of their duties. I hope Towers are able to crack down on this. The aerial shots are fair enough, not breaking any rules there. But if construction workers are taking photos for TT, that must be a breach of contract and not something Towers will be wanting.

I know mods are going to say this has nothing to do with this topic, take the issues up with TT etc. But if it's true I feel Towers need to know, as it's wrong. And they probably can't see it on TT with their members only SW7 section so why not post it here.

 

[TheMan]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

At least it would prove they actually have some construction workers!

;D

I was right against this at first, but now I feel we must, as a community, monitor this so they don't mess anything else up! ;D

I'm joking of course, I'd imagine Towers used Non-disclosure agreements for the staff as standard, break that and Towers actually have legal recourse.

 

[Fredward]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

And what do you plan to do if they are messing things up?

 

[Jonathan]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

If what you're saying is indeed true, Rob - and I have no reason to doubt you - then I'm pretty sure that Towers would have the ability to relieve individuals of their duties. Personal feelings about the helicopter/plane and photographing the SW7 site aside, there's nothing legally wrong with that, although it's not in the spirit of the marketing campaign. This, however, crosses the line, and I hope that Towers do something about this once they find out.

 

[TheMan]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I just don't understand why you would even want to do this to someones £18m project.

You would think though for sure, that Alton would have methods of recourse in place for issues like this, and if indeed there are, then really TT could show more ethics - and also this persons job.

That being said, if Alton Towers haven't covered themselves for this, then once again, technically nothing is being done that could be classed as wrong.

 

[Fredward]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I just don't understand why you would even want to do this to someones £18m project.

money

 

[Wilsy]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

As I'm sure most of you are aware, everyone who works for Alton Towers Resort have a contractual obligation to not take photos or share company information. And anyone who takes photos of a barnd new £18 million top-secret roller coaster during it's construction would definitely be breaking their contract.

If people wish to risk their jobs over a few photos I guess that is their decision. I certainly wouldn't recommend it!

However for now guys I'll have to ask you to get back on topic, as the TT team and their sources ethics don't really relate to the topic at hand.

Many thanks

 

[Harv]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Before everyone goes back, I'll just add for non-experienced members that OTSRs are "Over the shoulder restraints", restraints on coaster trains that hold in the upper torso, coming down from the top of the seat. Just adding that in case anyone couldn't understand recent discussion.

 

[Osaka12]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Inverting with lap restraints makes me slightly nervous.... Which is a very good thing!

 

[Benzin]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Plus OTSR stop people messing about

Go on then, explain that one please, I'm interested in how that makes a difference...

Ok - simple example - Hydro in Oakwood. Lapbars - girl manages to stand up and it catapulted head first out of the ride and dies. Now its fitted with OTSR's. Both are safe but the OTSR's stops people, especially over excited teenagers from trying to fool about on the ride. Happy?

Wasn't that incident deemed to involve some level of staff failure to correctly check the bars? Either way, other incidents involving lap bars have not simply been done to people 'messing about', that's an unfair generalisation, as many other issues such as not having legs and demanding to ride and being incredibly fat have been a problem (notice as well only Intamin lap bars catapult people off their rides, which is the reasoning behind their influx of OTSRs on any Accelerator after TTD)...

Just because there aren't lap bars won't stop people messing around either... It's a really poorly generalised post that... As any well designed lap bar will actually prevent just as much movement (see Blue Fire and B&M's designs) anyways to stop any 'messing around'...

 

[morgano]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

Plus OTSR stop people messing about

Go on then, explain that one please, I'm interested in how that makes a difference...

Ok - simple example - Hydro in Oakwood. Lapbars - girl manages to stand up and it catapulted head first out of the ride and dies. Now its fitted with OTSR's. Both are safe but the OTSR's stops people, especially over excited teenagers from trying to fool about on the ride. Happy?

Wasn't that incident deemed to involve some level of staff failure to correctly check the bars? Either way, other incidents involving lap bars have not simply been done to people 'messing about', that's an unfair generalisation, as many other issues such as not having legs and demanding to ride and being incredibly fat have been a problem (notice as well only Intamin lap bars catapult people off their rides, which is the reasoning behind their influx of OTSRs on any Accelerator after TTD)...

Just because there aren't lap bars won't stop people messing around either... It's a really poorly generalised post that... As any well designed lap bar will actually prevent just as much movement (see Blue Fire and B&M's designs) anyways to stop any 'messing around'...

I had typed a reply regarding the ability of rumours to easy spread. Living in Wales I knew about the incident clearly and was under the impression that the incident could have been averted had the ride been checked correctly before dispatch.

However a brief overview and history of Intamin suggest that Intamin have had a large number of failures when it comes to lapbars, so many in fact that the list is pretty big and many rides were retrofitted with OSTR. The examiner clearly states that in most cases he was able to open the restraint once it had been locked. Clearly the issue only affects Intamin but looking over the history it's incredibly shocking.

http://www.s104638357.websitehome.co.uk/html/2006/05/hydro-intamin-restraints-unacceptable.html

I still want Lap bars though.

 

[Plastic Person]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I just don't understand why you would even want to do this to someones £18m project.

I would fully understand Alton firing somebody for taking a photo they had been contracted not to, but come on man, they're part of a multi-billion pound conglomerate, it's not a surprise peace garden for a local altruist. Well, not as far as we know...

 

[TheMan]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I just don't understand why you would even want to do this to someones £18m project.

I would fully understand Alton firing somebody for taking a photo they had been contracted not to, but come on man, they're part of a multi-billion pound conglomerate, it's not a surprise peace garden for a local altruist. Well, not as far as we know...

Yeah so one of the things they do, that is not completely geared towards profit, and actually represents the best bit of what the park does, someone feels it would be a great idea to spoil for everyone else who might actually enjoy the surprise element of it.

It's wrong, unprofessional, and unethical no matter how you look at it. Even just unprofessional career wise, should be enough for people to look at these actions less than favourably.

Anyway, I agree with Wills in the large part here, that this isn't really something we should add more debate too on this site. I'm not what you would call, a follower, but have to agree with them entirely with this one.

 

[Plastic Person]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I just don't understand why you would even want to do this to someones £18m project.

I would fully understand Alton firing somebody for taking a photo they had been contracted not to, but come on man, they're part of a multi-billion pound conglomerate, it's not a surprise peace garden for a local altruist. Well, not as far as we know...

Yeah so one of the things they do, that is not completely geared towards profit

Yeah, I don't want to take this any further either, but everything Alton Towers do is geared towards profit. Which is fine, but in one way or another, it is.

 

[Dar]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

An advert for scare actors has appeared online. Now, I know they could just be the Sub-Terra maze, but maybe they are for the Sanctuary?

We know it's still in the ruins, and it's being used in March for a "conference", so maybe it's going to be a permanent fixture for this season. I think it would be good to introduce the Ministry of Joy in this way, make people experience the queueline videos instead of watch them.

It could also be helpful if the ride itself is delayed, something extra to distract from the ride, and maybe X-Sector, being unavailable.

Thoughts?

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion Continued

I really hope it is a permanent fixture for this season! Although I think it may effect Scarefest as it was a paying maze.