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Opens with John deciding The Smiler would be the last ride he works on. Mentions the 2011 "All Time Greats" poll and how Nemesis, Oblivion and Air were the most popular despite their age and how he felt it was wrong that the most up to date rides hadn't won, (although he was pleased that his rides won
). Design team agreed 2013 would be "big, different, spectacular and thrilling".
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Brain-storming, I'll summarise the really interesting bits -
+ debated if the new ride had to be a roller coaster, decided yes because they "capture the public's imagination and where considered the signature attractions of the park".
+ He mentions stand-up but only to say they aren't as thrilling as people imagine
+ Also mentions a wing coaster but rules it out because of The Swarm the year before.
+ states that a wooden coaster would be perfect but also notes the public's pre-conceptions made them very hard to market... however he thought Alton's new marketing director (did we know there was a new one?) was talented enough to pull it off but the majority went against him.
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Blue-Sky approach for off-the-wall ideas -
+ Ball coaster (not what you think, like a marble)
+ Trackless coaster guided by... something
+ double-decker trains, one above the track, one below.
+ Trains with different seating positions
But they were running out of time and budget (mentioned that based on past experience it takes 18 months from breaking ground to completion) so instead turned to looking at where a ride could go that would cause the least planning issue.
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Chose the Black Hole site, but still needed a unique selling point. Knew that the park needed another inverting coaster so decided to go with that. Chose 14 to beat the record in style and ensure it wouldn't be beaten by anything already in development.
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How to fit in that many inversions? Worked out 14 inversions would require a lift height of over 50 meters. As Alton could never manage this they split the ride in two half’s, each half having its own character and lift type to match.
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Using balloons to find the sits height limits, followed by creating the design. Not much of interest from this bit but he does mention it was him and Candy that created the version seen in the planning document with some of the inversions taken out.
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Once the layout was done John stepped back from the project, as with Th13teen this was when Candy’s team and the marketing department took over.
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The 18 months had long passed leaving a very tight schedule. Construction hit several problems; the one he mentions is the coldest and hardest winter in Staffordshire’s records.
John then mentions how he was brought back 2 months before the ride was supposed to be completed to do PR work as the rides “creator”. Although he makes it quite clear that this is more of a role than the truth as other were a lot more involved than him.
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Continues to talk about the delays, and how they missed opening date. Then he mentions that on the 10th of May (after this book came out, hence why this section was originally missing) they had an interview with the ITV weather presenter. That morning the ride got its safety certificate allowing them to ride it.
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He talks about his first ride and how he (like us) was concerned about it being really rough. After riding it however he came off completely satisfied, and to quote “we arrived back in the station two very happy guys. Keith had supervised the construction and I had helped conceive a ride that would undoubtedly knock Nemesis off the number one spot”.
He then finishes the book off by telling his thoughts on the journey home and how he decided to write this book... although as I’ve previously noted the book was already out when this happened so it’s a bit of a lie