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Thirteen: General Discussion

Matt N said:
Do you mean something like an animatronic that jumps forward slightly, in place of the wraith that currently blows air at the train?
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I didn't even notice the wrath currently blowing air at the front of the train. Then again, I haven't visited Towers since March 2019, so... :p And yes, an animatronic moving forward a bit is what I was on about.
 
RoyJess said:
Thirteen is like marmite...

...I love Thirteen.

Despite being just over 10 years old, as a single rider, I still come across many first time riders that have absolutely no idea about what happens inside the crypt, and their reaction is just priceless
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I’ll never forget when I took my Nan on Thirteen in 2019. We’d done the first section, and we were heading up the second lift hill. When I said to her “did you enjoy the first bit?”, her face was an absolute picture! I don’t think she was expecting anything more than the fairly sedate outdoor section, and looked very perturbed when I implied there was more to come... she enjoyed the ride, though, and she even came on it again during that trip!
 
Jonathan said:
I still think one thing that could've improved the drop section is having a wraith start to 'chase' the train as it leaves & goes backwards. Possibly a bit clichéd, but it may add something.
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I was just thinking about this suggestion and while I agree it would be a great idea I don't think it would be physically possible as a practical effect. Anything that chased the train would interfer with the drop section of track. It couldn't be suspended from the ceiling or come up from the floor because the drop track takes up both spaces. Even if it was mounted to the far side of the crypt it would have to reset and perform a clearance check before the drop could reset. Tying an effect to the ride is always risky as it can cause unnecessary downtime (and makes it a prime target for maintenance to abandon it if it is frequently a problem).

But I would love to see the wraiths play a bigger part in the ride. I've always loved the idea of them being like the Weaping Angel from Doctor Who. Lights Flash off and suddenly they've all moved type of thing. Maybe a few in the tunnel briefly lit up to create the illusion of being chased.
 
Maybe some UV painted wraiths in the backwards section, like the mummies in the coaster section of the Revenge of the Mummy coasters, would work well for this kind of effect?
 
Skyscraper said:
Expedition Theme Park did a fantastic video on Thirteen's marketing failure. Really worth a watch.
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No it isn't, and Im dead bored of seeing TPE or similar videos treated as if they are some sort of authority on park history. No more authority than anyone else who's read a few articles online and thrown together a slideshow just to get views and sell merch.

Unfortunately I remember ride's entire marketing campaign and the hype around it, and I remember the ride in its opening year. You can pretty much forget that Thirteen's marketing campaign ever happened, it couldnt be further removed from the ride.

The ride is underwhelming, badly devised and not what the park needed, but is flukey good fun for the second half
 
OilyWater said:
The ride is underwhelming, badly devised and not what the park needed, but is flukey good fun for the second half
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the theme is a bit scary for the ride and the marketing was a load of bull poop, but the coaster was exactly right to replace the corkscrew. It’s a reasonable family coaster. They just tried to market it as more than it is.
Yes the outside section should be longer, but overall it’s a decent coaster to fill the line up of family coasters with Spinball and now Wickerman. For full thrills there is Nemesis, Smiler and Oblivion.
 
You can't say it was exactly right, then admit the outside section should have been longer!
They made a decent short coaster, but it would have been a far better ride with a second "circle" round the woods, under the first circle to minimise tree damage.
Easy and inexpensive overall.
 
rob666 said:
You can't say it was exactly right, then admit the outside section should have been longer!
They made a decent short coaster, but it would have been a far better ride with a second "circle" round the woods, under the first circle to minimise tree damage.
Easy and inexpensive overall.
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I don't think they would've been alllowed to do that, as they were only allowed to put as little track as possible in the woods ("run-off track" they called it, according to JW). That's why the station and drop stack bulding is located outside of the woods.
 
rob666 said:
You can't say it was exactly right, then admit the outside section should have been longer!
They made a decent short coaster, but it would have been a far better ride with a second "circle" round the woods, under the first circle to minimise tree damage.
Easy and inexpensive overall.
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Yes I know, I was more addressing the comment that it was not what the park needed, when I meant it was what the park needed as it’s a 1.2m restriction family coaster. They didn’t need another big thrill coaster. But it can be the sort of thing that was needed and also at the same time it could be similar but a better version.
 
Th13teen is a bit of a joke at the moment - I haven't yet been on and I have been to ATR three times since it opened.

Not that I much like it. WM and Spinball satisfy this level of coaster much better for me.
 
AstroDan said:
Th13teen is a bit of a joke at the moment - I haven't yet been on and I have been to ATR three times since it opened.

Not that I much like it. WM and Spinball satisfy this level of coaster much better for me.
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Well WM is arguable the best overall attraction in the uk so I'm sure that's not much of an insult to th13teen
 
One of my friends was there today and reckoned it was quite busy to start off with despite most queues dying off around 3pm apparently, with most rides being walk on/close to walk on after 4pm due to inclement weather.

EDIT: Sorry, just realised I've actually posted this in the wrong thread :sweatsmile:
 
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