If you actually gave us a reason to believe it, other than 'We are ECC, we know where to look, we are right', then maybe people would give it a bit more belief.
I believe he was just clarifying that, on the previous 3 occasions, the ECC (not the RCCGB) have been the first to publish articles/plans/photos of new Alton Coasters, so whoever said the RCCGB were on better terms with Alton, I would not necessarily say that this is true.
As a previous subscriber to the ECC, as of about a year ago, some of their news and information was always a month or so ahead of it being even mentioned on online forums. The ECC were the first to announce Daemonen at Tivoli Gardens and were given exclusive access to the plans before anybody else. The editor of the first Oblivion article was allowed to take photos of the drop a week or so before the secrecy agreement was over (and was trusted to keep these secrets).
On another spin, could Alton be releasing vague plans to keep us enthusiasts palated?? I mean, before this, we were all wildly speculating the worlds first element... and now, now, several people have said 'we've got the layout, we'll just have to wait to see the world first element in the trains' and now seem happy to wait and sit tight.
Every time (excluding Saw), the layout is released, topics usually go dead. If Alton are planning a mass 'secret' marketing campaign on this one, they want everything to go quiet, so they can realease it with a bang, rather than bit by bit... (like they did with Saw- where the enthusiasm, I would say, is slowly decreasing as time goes on as everyone wants more information- and now theres little left to give...). So perhaps, by giving us a vague idea, they can get on with things themselves without having to worry about enthusiasts leaking information to the press and the 'reveal' being destroyed.
I have some faith in this plan. LOOK AT THE PLANNING APPLICATION on the Staffs website. Then click property details. Then look at the map. The map shows all the planning applications and locations of the last 30 years. Go over to Ugland. Look at the shape of the 2010 project site... it mimics that first helix and out and back shape almost exactly...
I'm not saying it's real, i'm not saying it's fake... I'm just laying down a few facts.
With regards to the World's First element, however, if we turn our minds back to the concept art posted a while back, it showed both a tilt coaster and a backwards vertical drop...
How about this- normal-ish first half... rushing into the building onto a flat straight of track. The track tilts, but such that the back of the train drops. In the vertical postion, the train is released into the world's first backwards vertical drop, (hence explaining the helix in a trench which rises back to ground level). The switchbacks seem to be the Expedition Everest style ones... so if Vekoma, why not a backwards tilt coaster???
There's a world's first that fits in with the layout and concept art...
