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Alton Towers | Nemesis Reborn | B&M Retrack | 2024

VonRolland

Hyper Poster
Just incase its posted or anyone decides to watch it, TPW have openly stated in their latest update that they are now going off park to get a drone up and proceed to show what some may deem spoliers for some unknown features to the area.

It's garnered a bit of attention from Merlin/Towers
As much as I'm not a massive TPW fan, He's well within his right to do so as long as its under 250g & he can maintain visual with it (other T&C's apply). John's just p*ssed because Shawn's been dissing his prison cell fencing
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
Just incase its posted or anyone decides to watch it, TPW have openly stated in their latest update that they are now going off park to get a drone up and proceed to show what some may deem spoliers for some unknown features to the area.

It's garnered a bit of attention from Merlin/Towers

And I agree with JB 100%... Problem is that with the latest UK drone code, the people taking drones up and over theme parks are no longer breaking any laws provided:

  • It's the right size drone. (Under 250g)
  • It's flown from public land, or private land with permission.
  • You're not in an airport or prison NFZ.
  • It's registered to an operator with the op I.D clearly visible.
  • It's flown within direct line of sight from the pilot. (You DO need a clear view of the drone with your own eyes, NOT 'just' through a controller / screen, and they're clamping down on this.)
  • You do not exceed the permitted height ceiling.
  • You remain vigilant to dangerous obstacles such as power lines, railways, motorways etc. (Nothing to say you cannot actually fly near or over these things, just that you take care.)

All of which are very easy to achieve at most private sites of interest in the UK. Even flying over people is no longer a problem, so long as it's not a crowd so dense as to make escape / movement difficult.

I've recently taken my CAA drone pilot test, registered as an operator, and I'm studying for my A2 C of C qualification. So I know the rules pretty well. I wouldn't have needed either of those qualifications to fly the DJI minis these Youtubers are using, the qualifications (and stricter rules) are only for heavier drones.

Drones are a very useful tool, and it's refreshing that our government recognises this and has taken a common sense approach to regulating them. The problem is that, if we want to keep these freedoms, it needs a common sense attitude to flying from drone pilots. Just because something is 'Legal' doesn't mean you should do it, if you know it's going to upset people / organisations, then just don't do it.

I expect the rules to be tightened again soon, purely because of the amount of stupid, and / or, inconsiderate things Youtubers are doing with the sub 250g drones. More the so called 'auditors' than anybody else, but these other content creators, getting their drones out for reasons like this, certainly won't be helping the cause.
 

spicy

Giga Poster
Find it pretty pretentious John Burton referring to himself as an artist revealing his work anyway.

The Nemesis theme and alien isn’t his work and was dreamed up before he was even born. It has not changed drastically enough that he can call it his own work and be mad at some images shot from a drone imo.
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
Find it pretty pretentious John Burton referring to himself as an artist revealing his work anyway.

The Nemesis theme and alien isn’t his work and was dreamed up before he was even born. It has not changed drastically enough that he can call it his own work and be mad at some images shot from a drone imo.
I don't know where Swats reply went, did he delete it? He had pointed out that there's so many changes spoiled in that video, including footings for completely new theming pieces, buildings etc, that JB has good reason to be upset.

If it was just the basic theme and colour scheme then I would agree with you. But the list of things, which could have been nice little surprises, but have been spoiled by drones, seems to increase each week on the Nemesis site.

On the other hand though, isn't that what threads like this, and this section of the forums in general, has always been about? If people didn't want to 'spoil Christmas' then they wouldn't watch construction updates or visit threads like this.

I honestly don't know where I stand on this, I can see it from JB's POV, and I totally agree that drones have given the public a way of spoiling surprises like never before. But Shawn is definitely not the first person to reveal spoilers on an attraction build. He is just giving his viewers what they want, doing his job. If people want to avoid spoilers and keep things a surprise, then they still have the option not to watch his updates.
 

JoshC.

Strata Poster
Just to throw in my two cents, it's all well and good saying "Just don't watch spoiler updates", but in the age of the internet, those updates can get shared far and wide. And with social media bring smart enough to know if a person has an interest in theme parks, they'll show more theme park content, it's easy to avoid the original source of spoilers and still end up seeing them.

I haven't seen that yet, fortunately. But it's something that has happened in the past for me, and will no doubt happen again.
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
Just to throw in my two cents, it's all well and good saying "Just don't watch spoiler updates", but in the age of the internet, those updates can get shared far and wide. And with social media bring smart enough to know if a person has an interest in theme parks, they'll show more theme park content, it's easy to avoid the original source of spoilers and still end up seeing them.

I haven't seen that yet, fortunately. But it's something that has happened in the past for me, and will no doubt happen again.
Yes good point, I agree with this. Perhaps it would be a nice touch for Shawn and others to include (Spoilers) at the start of their video titles if they're going to be revealing unknown things. Just so people really can make a choice on a per video basis, rather than avoiding all Nemesis related videos.

Or maybe even better still, edit the word into the top corner of each spoiler clip, a few seconds before and during, that way the video and images would still show it if shared by others.
 

toofpikk

Mega Poster
Frankly - If Towers' marketing team were quick and creative enough, nerds wouldn't feel the need to do this. furthermore, if they were desperate for things to stay under wraps, they should literally do that, so when inevitably geeks start pushing boundaries like this, there's very little skin off the parks shoulder. Finally, yes, as talented as JB is, this seems a bit pretentious. That 'an artist' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that tweet - and it just doesn't sit well with me considering the volume of people needed to make projects like this possible. Agree with Josh, in the age of information, it's very odd to moan about this kind of stuff publicly where as far as my understanding goes, nothing illegal is being conducted?

An obvious comparison is how open Thorpe are being with the colossus refurb and hyperia, and how apart from people making content from monks, I'm not seeing much noise otherwise? Obviously, different kind of project, different scale, so on - but the point remains, if the park were being more open with certain bits of development, maybe a) people wouldn't feel the need to do this, and b) they could keep certain things covered up until opening for a grand surprise.

Personally, I haven't seen any spoilers. I'm not fussed if I do, but also it's quite easy to avoid if you just mute certain outlets. All a bunch of smoke without fire if you ask me.
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
Frankly - If Towers' marketing team were quick and creative enough, nerds wouldn't feel the need to do this. furthermore, if they were desperate for things to stay under wraps, they should literally do that, so when inevitably geeks start pushing boundaries like this, there's very little skin off the parks shoulder. Finally, yes, as talented as JB is, this seems a bit pretentious. That 'an artist' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that tweet - and it just doesn't sit well with me considering the volume of people needed to make projects like this possible. Agree with Josh, in the age of information, it's very odd to moan about this kind of stuff publicly where as far as my understanding goes, nothing illegal is being conducted?

An obvious comparison is how open Thorpe are being with the colossus refurb and hyperia, and how apart from people making content from monks, I'm not seeing much noise otherwise? Obviously, different kind of project, different scale, so on - but the point remains, if the park were being more open with certain bits of development, maybe a) people wouldn't feel the need to do this, and b) they could keep certain things covered up until opening for a grand surprise.

Personally, I haven't seen any spoilers. I'm not fussed if I do, but also it's quite easy to avoid if you just mute certain outlets. All a bunch of smoke without fire if you ask me.
I've seen lots of drone footage from the Thorpe work, being open hasn't protected them from flyovers at all. But I don't think they care too much, it's a completely different kind of build. Hyperia isn't exactly a well themed, story driven experience, so there's really nothing to protect. I can't imagine there's going to be many secrets, if any at all. Nemesis on the other hand seems to be shaping up to be much more than just a 'track replacement.'

Again though, I'm not saying that what people are doing with drones is wrong, I'm so on the fence that I am possibly trespassing myself. I'm just playing devil's advocate here.

You're right though, nothing illegal here, nothing Alton Towers can even suggest is against any terms and conditions, as they do not own the airspace, and the drone was launched from public land, and apparently following the CAA drone code.

I'm also a bit confused, if this was about protecting surprises and not looking for attention for himself, then why didn't JB just message Shawn and ask him to remove the video or cut things out? I don't know Shawn well enough to be certain, but I'd like to think that he'd comply if asked in the right way. If for no other reason than protecting his relationship with the park. The more you think about it, the more JB's chosen response seems a bit 'odd.'
 

Swat

Hyper Poster
I don't know where Swats reply went, did he delete it? He had pointed out that there's so many changes spoiled in that video, including footings for completely new theming pieces, buildings etc, that JB has good reason to be upset.
I deleted it as I don’t want to fuel a witch hunt or anything but yeah, it’s just one of those things where no one has technically done anything wrong but I can see why JB and towers are upset given what they’re doing.

I can see the intention to give everyone full access to hyperia and divert from this so when people go in thinking it’s just a simple repaint with a few new bits tacked on they’re going to be very surprised.
 

Jamesss

Hyper Poster

Hutch

Strata Poster
I haven't been following this story or anything (honestly can't be bothered to look more into it), but is any of this actually spoiler-worthy or worth keeping as a surprise? It sounds like it's just new scenery items right?

I mean, unless they're putting in a new pre-show or adding a drop-track, this is still essentially the same 30 year old ride.
 

JackFish

Mega Poster
It looks faster, but it would be great if it had the same or faster speed than what it used to be. Also, do we have info on the blood rivers? And the trains are refurbished I know that, but what parts are new and whats the same?
 

VonRolland

Hyper Poster
It looks faster, but it would be great if it had the same or faster speed than what it used to be. Also, do we have info on the blood rivers? And the trains are refurbished I know that, but what parts are new and whats the same?
Doesn't look faster that the OG Nemesis at all, looks slower that use to be. Still lots of time for it to speed up tho hopefully
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
I haven't been following this story or anything (honestly can't be bothered to look more into it), but is any of this actually spoiler-worthy or worth keeping as a surprise? It sounds like it's just new scenery items right?

I mean, unless they're putting in a new pre-show or adding a drop-track, this is still essentially the same 30 year old ride.


Pretty much yes, here's what was revealed in the video. There looks to be a new entrance portal into forbidden valley as new foundations have been poured, there's huge new foundations for whatever is replacing the cannon, a new queue line shop, a new retail / merch shop (we saw this in planning, but we weren't 100% sure it was for Nemesis, as the planning went in much later. But the video shows that it's actually being built now.) Other things like the coffee place are getting a retheme. all new fencing around the station. New queue line fencing (we knew this,) new helicopter theming item (we'd already seen this in other drone footage.)

Ultimately it looks like the whole area upto and excluding Galactica is getting a retheme and some love, to the extent that it may have been a nice surprise for people if it weren't for all of the drones that have been over (not just Shawn's, the ones that revealed the helicopter etc too.)

The area next to the new shops is also suspiciously cleared as if for a new flat, if it's not this year, it's 100% soon.

I also wonder if JB is trying to warn people off before those new foundations at the entrance and where the cannon stood get completed, to keep them as a surprise.

It looks faster, but it would be great if it had the same or faster speed than what it used to be. Also, do we have info on the blood rivers? And the trains are refurbished I know that, but what parts are new and whats the same?

The trains aren't refurbished, they're brand new, with just a "small proportion of recycled technical components." I don't think we know exactly what.
You will have now seen our new-look Nemesis trains with their black and red design! Another milestone in the project development. The trains have travelled from France and since arriving on-site have been admired by the team. The new-look trains actually have a small proportion of recycled technical components from the former trains. So, for me, there’s something really special about this, as it means there will always be some of this original classic featured in the rebuild as we move forward. They look great and I cannot wait for them to thrill the next generation of coaster-lovers.
 
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