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X-Sector Developments (Including Oblivion)

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This has been needed since they shut the black hole. Also, now I sit here and at last, AT LAST!!!!, I feel like I WANT to spend money with Merlin again.

I don't know if it is great Towers management, which is likely, however it must have the backing of Merlin also. No daft opening, no silly budgets, let the rides and revamps bed in, and give people chance to get through the doors both ways, without giving them easy things to moan about!

We will also get to find out how right we are as enthusiasts to request changes like this. Will it really make a difference? We all believe it will do, and this is the first time I can remember where they have done something on this scale for a good while - and I visited this place before it had Nemesis remember.

(This is why a small few of you annoy me at times, I've been going to the place for longer than some of you have lived on this Earth, so I have seen vast, vast changes, I just about remember Corky being built! ;D)

Anyway, most of you probably don't give a monkeys about that! I am just extremely pleased for the Towers, and us of course, that such a fantastic and widespread renovation is taking place.

Now an annual pass looks great value again. They care, I care.

EDIT:
rightbackgranty said:
One thing is for sure - they have an awful lot to do in the next 3 months! Hopefully this repaint will get going along side the work on SW7.
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Cor mate, they don't half lol!! If they get all that done by opening, I'll be absolutely stunned, God Speed Alton Towers ;D
 
A lick of paint will please many people here, personally I'm not too fussed *shock horror* but it is going to be nice to see a smartly painted Oblivion.

As far as The Sanctuary goes I'm not massively fussed, scare mazes don't really appeal to me, but so long as it makes money for the park that's fine by me. Even if it serves as a late SW7 make up tool, it's nice of them to make the effort!
 
I think a repaint and a spruce up of the area will make a massive difference. One thing that struck me about walking around Disneyland Paris is that almost everything looked like it had been built in the last few months. The constant updates, repaints and renovations that are done have such as positive effect on the park. For anyone that has been - just look at Main Street when you enter the park. It is spotless, and as first impressions go, is one of the best!

The best bit about constant renovations is that over time they save money, as less has to be done. I'm not going to get ahead of myself here, but if Alton were to try and do half of the work that Disney do on an annual basis I would be over the moon.

It has been a while since I walked around the park with a sense of pride that it was my local Theme Park, not since the early 00's at least, and moves like this make me more hopeful!
 
I just hope they've fixed the Marmalisation room so you don't get soaked! otherwise im defiantly happy its returning and at last Oblivion is getting the TLC it deserves!

Well done Merlin! Fair play!
 
I'm under the impression Oblivion's track will be painted grey after seeing a few images, though any form of refurb is a surprise!
 
Are we likely to see a name change? I don't necessarily feel X-Sector is the most appropriate name for the area if links to the sanctuary are correct?
 
Very very VERY pleased by this. I'm so glad they've decided to do this, it would have looked so meh sat next to a spanking new ride. This and what they're doing to Submission and Enterprise, two fairly average and oldish rides, shows that they're serious about this whole area being top of the pops come March.

I'm so excited and giddy. To the point of having butterflys hahaha :D :D
 
I'm liking these nice 2013 news articles a lot more than the budget cutting, reduced opening and ride hour 2012 ones, more of these please. ;)
 
And you all laughed when I said Oblivion was getting a repaint. ;)

A big thank you to Merlin for giving Towers the money to clean and renovate the rides. I can see 2013 already looking like a great year!

And the toilets! Could they be themed?!
 
Good news at last I really can not wait to see Oblivion in a clean looking state and I also hope they clean the outside of the station up also.

It would also be nice but I doubt it but if they were to jet wash the floor around x-sector.
 
Fantastic news but I'm not going to go overboard or begin to feel grateful for essential maintenance that should have been happening from the beginning. They make enough to maintain the original standard of all the areas of the park all the time.
 
thisisruss said:
Good news at last I really can not wait to see Oblivion in a clean looking state and I also hope they clean the outside of the station up also.

It would also be nice but I doubt it but if they were to jet wash the floor around x-sector.
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I think that's compulsory considering that it's covered in loads of dirt. ;)
 
Just out of curiosity, has anyone experienced the re-painting of another major coaster? I was wondering how it is achieved technically. I would imagine that when new metalwork is painted as part of manufacture it would be powder coated, but to repaint in situ I imagine a different technique would be needed. Is it sprayed or hand painted?
It's great if a re-paint does happen, I was just intrigued! 8)
 
Muttlee said:
Just out of curiosity, has anyone experienced the re-painting of another major coaster? I was wondering how it is achieved technically. I would imagine that when new metalwork is painted as part of manufacture it would be powder coated, but to repaint in situ I imagine a different technique would be needed. Is it sprayed or hand painted?
It's great if a re-paint does happen, I was just intrigued! 8)
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Coaster Painting

I can imagine it will be done something like this by a UK company :)
 
It will be one hell of a job repainting the entirety of Oblivion, if only because of the difficulties of getting onto the drop and into the underground section. It's truly great news though, can't wait to see how good it will look come March, especially with the restraints getting overhauled as well!~
 
LiamC said:
Muttlee said:
Just out of curiosity, has anyone experienced the re-painting of another major coaster? I was wondering how it is achieved technically. I would imagine that when new metalwork is painted as part of manufacture it would be powder coated, but to repaint in situ I imagine a different technique would be needed. Is it sprayed or hand painted?
It's great if a re-paint does happen, I was just intrigued! 8)
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Coaster Painting

I can imagine it will be done something like this by a UK company :)
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That's an interesting blog, but I was more interested in the actual mechanics of it, thanks for the link though! :)
 
Muttlee said:
LiamC said:
Muttlee said:
Just out of curiosity, has anyone experienced the re-painting of another major coaster? I was wondering how it is achieved technically. I would imagine that when new metalwork is painted as part of manufacture it would be powder coated, but to repaint in situ I imagine a different technique would be needed. Is it sprayed or hand painted?
It's great if a re-paint does happen, I was just intrigued! 8)
Click to expand...

Coaster Painting

I can imagine it will be done something like this by a UK company :)
Click to expand...

That's an interesting blog, but I was more interested in the actual mechanics of it, thanks for the link though! :)
Click to expand...

Wasn't Spinball hand painted when that was done? I should think with Oblivion they'd have to clean back the current layers of paint so that they've got a good surface to paint onto. No point redoing it if they're just going to paint onto peeling and flaking paint in the first place :p

This is all brilliant news though, that's long over due. Well done to Towers for securing the funds to deal with all these jobs they're going to be doing. I have a feeling that the whole park is going to look and feel incredible for 2013 :D
 
With the painting, I assume they'll strip it all back to the bare metalwork before re-painting it with the new stuff. Hopefully the durability will be good, as we don't want to see it fading again too soon! If it works well, maybe Merlin will take attention to other coasters that need cleaning and painting - hopefully this could be the start of something better for the park.

As an aside, does anyone else think that some of the costs of this have come from money-saving measures introduced last year?
 
At least all this cleaning will give the ride staff something to do over feb half term :p Awesome news! Can't wait to see what it looks like :)
 
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