[The Smiler] Construction Updates / Ride Speculation Part 2 *SPOILER FREE*

[BigDave]

cage is a bad idea. Nets, yes, cage, no. Imagine the carnage if anyone panics or if there was a fire. Everyone would panic and it would be a nightmare.

 

[MattH]

cage is a bad idea. Nets, yes, cage, no. Imagine the carnage if anyone panics or if there was a fire. Everyone would panic and it would be a nightmare.

I'd expect some form of fire escape doors every so often to stop this from happening, if it doesn't, then H&S are going to have fun telling them to not open it further.

 

[DiogoJ42]

cage is a bad idea. Nets, yes, cage, no. Imagine the carnage if anyone panics or if there was a fire. Everyone would panic and it would be a nightmare.

Hehe. Tragic as that would be, maybe it would force some kind of legislation to ensure cattlepen queue lines must never be built again? All new queues would have to be spaced out rather than crammed together, with emergency exits, which would surely be a good thing? There's a silver lining after all!

EDIT:

I'd expect some form of fire escape doors every so often to stop this from happening, if it doesn't, then H&S are going to have fun telling them to not open it further.

LOL!

Actually, thinking aout it, a fire exit in a queue is just asking to be queue jumped. They'd probably end up padlocked (which I'm pretty sure is illegal for fire exits).

 

[Ben]

Agreeing with BigDave, if they had to empty the queuelines in a rush it has the potential to be a very dangerous situation with hundreds of people trapped in narrow boxes with lids on.

Is it along all of the queue or just specific sections? I must admit Im abit claustrophobic and if its all enclosed it would make me consider not riding if the queue was long. *shudder*

 

[Novas]

Personnally if the concrete suddenly caught fire, or they needed to evacuate the queue line in a hurry then I'd be pretty equally screwed with a roof or an 8ft fence.

 

[JAMMY_Jaunts]

Looking at photos from various sources, you can see where they have added beams to the tops of sections of queue line where meshing will be added and from what I can see, meshing will only be added to sections of queue line that pass under inverting track section, such as the corkscrew by the giggler leg and the double barrel roll in front of the station.

Everywhere by the looks will have shorter, more exposed fences with no meshing.

 

[Dave]

Just to clarify a few points, they are not replacing any track, its not needed, they have however removed some of the trim fins. Also the current delays HAVE been dictated by external H&S as far as we can gather. A lot of companies (towers more than most) blame H&S for lots of things but rides do have to pass an ADIPS test which is completely external and any new building requires fire safety testing ect.

That doesn't excuse the delays as Towers should be experienced enough to predict what H&S want and allow time to rectify any H&S issues highlighted. The queue cages look a big icky at the moment but there was a guy painting a lot of the queue so once its painted it wont be too bad. The queue is under a huge roller coaster so i can understand covering the close bits.

 

[Rob]

There were always plans to have mesh over parts of the queue where the track is low down and close to the queue. Why it has only been added now is more of the problem. There is then meant to be netting in other areas where the track is not as low.

I have photos that I shall be posting later on once I've sorted and uploaded them!

 

[TheMan]

OK some photos from today - This will be my last update of photos for a while.
This guy sat there for ages feeding little bricks into that hole.

Now that made me chuckle...

But this?.....

Here we have one of the staff praying to the god of grey boxes to make the ride work.

He was soon joined by his friend, who corrected his praying method.

THIS was just comic genius.

Everyone including me has fallen over themselves to thank Rob, but I have to say Stretchy whilst Rob has captured many fine details of the ride that I appreciate greatly, you bring something different, you add a character and humour to the updates that have made me chuckle time and again.

Rob has gotten a deserved amount of plaudits, I want to put on record how absolutely brilliantly entertaining and funny (as well as informative) yours have been.

It's amazing really but the both of you managed to almost capture totally different aspects of the build, both as appreciated by me as the other.

Well done Stretchy. That got a PROPER belly laugh from me and a couple of others I've shown.

:twirly:

 

[marky.com]

Bear in mind Merlin is a business - would you invest such a sum again in the future? A few days' delay is one thing, but the potential knock-on effect is far more worrying.

I am not entirely sure of exactly how it works, and agree with the majority of your post, but that last bit makes it sound a bit like Merlin would not consider such investment again. I don't think that would be the case at all. Alton is the flagship park, & I believe Merlin's team are heavily involved in the project (could be wrong).

It was more of a question than a statement, but return on investment is what's important in a business. So far, this has returned nothing and we're nearly halfway through the season. My worry is that it could potentially affect future investment in ground-breaking rides and see a return to many more 'family' years. I am a worrier though and as I say, it's just a question.

 

[Rob]

So, I said Tuesday was my final update. Turns out I was wrong, yay for delays!

This probably (hopefully (maybe) ) is my final update though! I know Stretchy has posted some great photos from today as well but I thought I'd still post what I have to show. Enjoy!

Let's start by looking at one "unforeseen teething problem"; the installation of aiphones:

And at the top of the first lift:

And on the brakes before the vertical lift:

And at the top of the vertical lift:

And for good measure, here is the one at the ride entrance:

Here you can see that fins have been added to the trims on the first airtime hill:

The fins on the second airtime hill, there are considerably less than on Tuesday, I wonder why:

Lots of mesh being added over the queue, an unforeseen teething problem, naturally:

Hopefully it will be painted black, I'm sure it will be:

You can see where more mesh is going to go:

More mesh:

It looks like most of the fencing for the queue/ride area is now up, although as you can see there is still some waiting to go in:

This sign means we can't climb up the Marmaliser, sad times:

Sounds about right! Shame the LEDs aren't yellow:

The start of the queue is now complete:

Another look through the entrance into the queue:

Black and yellow anti-slip surfaces over the steps, fits in rather well:

A general look at part of the queue area:

The gates have been installed to block off the steep hill:

A look at the new white markings. Not too sure what their point is, especially as they are white and not yellow:

Lets hope they don't forget to put a piece of fence in here:

I quite like this photo:

It looks like painting of Rehydrator is complete:

These signs could be seen at all entrances to the building. I understand that the inside is totally complete and they don't want it getting at all dirty:

A wall being built near the evac steps:

A bin sosche, hopefully these won't end up in the queue as getting past could be a squeeze:

Part of a train being lifted onto the track:

On the track:

And another part. There are now at least 4 trains on the track:

No eating indoors:

Here's another angle of the meshing:

It looks like this could be a recycling bin:

Here you can see that more footers have been painted black:

More meshing, because today was all about meshing:

Painting the fencing black:

There we go, I hope you enjoyed. To be fair to the construction workers, they seemed to be working their socks off today. It's just a shame they never seemed to be doing quite so much work at the same rate in the previous months. I've never seen the site as busy as it was today.

As usual, all photos were taken from areas of the park fully accessible to the public. Please do not replicate photos without permission. TowersStreet may use them if they wish.

Also, thank you all for the kind words about my updates, I really appreciate them!

 

[MattH]

Great photos Rob.

While it annoys me that they have simply been nothing short of lazy, it's good to see that its almost finished now, hopefully they can really work on it over the next couple of days to get it sorted for Tuesday

 

[JAMMY_Jaunts]

Looking at photos (great update again Rob), it seems that once the meshing, remaining queue and painting is complete, the ride will be able to open. I have a feeling they will add additional grating onto the bottom of the gates on the slope though as there appears to be a considerable gap that could easily be a H&S problem when the gate is closed.

Aside from that, I believe opening is FINALLY not long off.

 

[LiamC]

The meshes over the queue line are really worrying me, quite a lot.

As someone who gets extremely anxious in small spaces, even looking at it sets me on edge. Without the mesh it looks cramped and tight as it is, with two people standing side by side looking as though it could be a squeeze. Add the mesh roof onto that and it really does just resemble a cage. I'm really not looking forward to spending the best part of 2+ hours in there. Does anyone know why they haven't just gone for the straight netting type of stuff they have in Dark Forest?

 

[Martin]

Given the state of things, it would probably be best to wait until next Monday, after half term, to open it, when the park is less busy.

The last thing they want is to open it too early and get a load more bad press for it failing.

Give it a week after it's finished just to hammer it in testing to make sure it's all sorted.

 

[JAMMY_Jaunts]

On the plus side, the mesh roofing will not be over the whole queue line, mainly just areas where there is inverting track above. I imagine elsewhere will just be netting if anything at all.

 

[Rob]

The meshes over the queue line are really worrying me, quite a lot.

As someone who gets extremely anxious in small spaces, even looking at it sets me on edge. Without the mesh it looks cramped and tight as it is, with two people standing side by side looking as though it could be a squeeze. Add the mesh roof onto that and it really does just resemble a cage. I'm really not looking forward to spending the best part of 2+ hours in there. Does anyone know why they haven't just gone for the straight netting type of stuff they have in Dark Forest?

As far as I am aware it is just H&S. They have to have mesh where the track comes close to the queue. Then they can have netting in other areas. I don't think they particularly want any of it, but they have pretty much no choice.

 

[jmc]

Great updates

Is it just how it appears in photos or is the ride area really quite ugly? I wish there was a little more greenery.

I think the retaining walls around the top of the site look terrible with the concrete blocks not being joined up.

 

[Dave]

Just to be slightly positive (shock horror), we always go on about details beyond what is needed and one thing i am very impressed with is the painting of the footers black. Its hardly needed but does improve the look of the thing.

With the exception of that bloody station building i am really liking the look of the site, i would like a casing above the screens on the Marmaliser though.

 

[JAMMY_Jaunts]

I'm still puzzled by the presence of that unused concrete footer casing by the onride photo camera. They've even bothered to paint it black but why is an empty concrete footer case there?