Alton Towers | The Smiler | Gerstlauer Infinity

[nadroJ]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

^^In what way is it? Its short yes but its the best they could put on that footprint.

It's just incredibly dull, but it shouldn't be. But it is. Helix before drop.....for why? It's like, the slowest thing ever, and just........crap. Really crap. Misleading too, because it doesn't look crap.

 

[blivvies biggest fan]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

^Well it is not very tall either, and I think the helix was either there for space issues involving the drop or to kill speed to make the inversions tighter and smaller. Its how it is.

 

[Ethan]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

What a thoroughly stupid comment!! :roll:

And if you knew the slightest about engineering, you would know that AT would never build underground if the ground would 'cave in' in the future, whether if they constructed underground nearby or not.
'What a thoroughly stupid comment!!'...

 

[Martyn B]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

This is becoming more and more like a Thorpe topic...

 

[Ethan]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

My bet's on an Intamin...

 

[blivvies biggest fan]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

^^^Well he did say that he didnt know much soo... what a thoroughly stupid comment! :shock:

 

[FaceYourNemesis]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

What a thoroughly stupid comment!! :roll:

And if you knew the slightest about engineering, you would know that AT would never build underground if the ground would 'cave in' in the future, whether if they constructed underground nearby or not.
'What a thoroughly stupid comment!!'...

I've already said I don't know anything about engineering, and no doubt AT would be able to pull off such a project anyway. It was a silly throwaway line that you read too much into.

Argue amongst yourselves, I'm done!

 

[Jools]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

People keep going on about space, is it not possible that they could make the coaster go outside of the X Sector Area, there's lots of space infront of the towers, although that would probably create one massive eyesore. Plus there is lots of room in the Horseshoe woods too. Or am I missing something?

 

[rollermonkey]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

^The planning documents that are available show the exact area where the ride will go. It doesn't stray too far from the X Sector / Black Hole tent area.

 

[Smithy]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

I'm lazy and it's almost 4am (and as said this is turning into a forp topic), can someone link me to these documents outlining where the ride is going given that seems to be an assertive line of discussion now?

 

[marc]

New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

^The planning documents that are available show the exact area where the ride will go. It doesn't stray too far from the X Sector / Black Hole tent area.

Which is what I noticed as well, people seem to think they will use more land and that's not in the current plans. The area really is not that big as some have said and it is pinned in due to Oblivion.

 

[furie]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

I'm lazy and it's almost 4am (and as said this is turning into a forp topic), can someone link me to these documents outlining where the ride is going given that seems to be an assertive line of discussion now?

I've tried, but the map system on the council planning website hates me and never works properly. I can describe it, but you need to see it really.

It covers the Black Hole area and the bit leading up to Enterprise. It covers the queue line at the top too and then it heads off into the woods to the side of Black Hole almost doubling the width of the site. There's then a kind of jutting out bit that heads from the exit area of Black Hole across X-Sector to Oblivion's entrance.

Daemonen would just squeeze into the area, so it's going to be either a small "big" coaster or a medium sized smaller coaster (Gerstlauer, MS, et al)

What a thoroughly stupid comment!! :roll:

And if you knew the slightest about engineering, you would know that AT would never build underground if the ground would 'cave in' in the future, whether if they constructed underground nearby or not.
'What a thoroughly stupid comment!!'...

I'm with FaceYourNemesis here... While they obviously wouldn't build if the ground would cave in, they also would build if it wouldn't cave in. They will know how much ground movement there is in the area and would be able to create an underground coaster if they wanted and if the ground was stable. The chances are, as we live in England and not California that it is.

It's not like they have a team of moles burrowing out the earth, holding up lollipop sticks and using spit and hope that the roof stays up. These are engineering projects and they can work if enough money is spent. To even use the phrase 'cave in' shows a complete lack of understanding of engineering. If we can have massive underground tunnels weaving through the dirt of London, and one heading out under the channel to France, then a couple of hundred square meters of Staffordshire soil really isn't an issue at all - IF they wanted to spend the money on doing. I suspect that the engineering required to do that would cost more than the budget proposed for the coaster, so it's not happening.

 

[nadroJ]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

^Well it is not very tall either, and I think the helix was either there for space issues involving the drop or to kill speed to make the inversions tighter and smaller. Its how it is.

Yes, and it is ****.


I wonder if Alton would go down the Gerstlauer route? I've been wanting to see another Anubis/Lynet in England for SO long now, and it would work if you think about it. I know that Corkscrew was many people's first inversion because on the whole, it's an unthreatening kind of ride. Similarly with Anubis/Lynet, they're small little coasters, so look fairly tame but they really do pack a punch and are really fun rides! I know we were expecting something big for 2013, but the space we're looking at just doesn't seem like it will cope with a monster.

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

I just LOVE Anubis, but surely Alton could do so much more with 15M squid

 

[nadroJ]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

Maybe keeping with the underground idea? I'm sure excavation costs a lot, so maybe it could be Nemesis style landscaping/theming with not very much spent on the coaster itself? Just a thought.

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

I've no idea about these things, but how difficult would it be to dig that area? Surely the fact that it's small and enclosed by other rides would make it difficult to get big machinery in there. It just seems a little too complicated an idea too me. Also, my geologist brain thinks Alton is in a 'limestoney' area which means that excessive excavation could be problematic in terms of the water table - but that's a huge guess.

 

[furie]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

If there's any digging, it'll be into the hill under the old queue line.

Here's an image stolen from adsyrah on Towers Times ( http://forum.towerstimes.co.uk/alton-to ... art-2/105/ ):

I think the work into the woods at the top is probably fine in terms of planning for removing trees. The rest of the work? It goes up to the top of the hill, and then probably marches down again...

Also on that image, you can see just how big Oblivion's hole actually is, there's not really an issue with excavations in the area

 

[spicy]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

Its a really strange plot of land, it is quite a large area but none of it is flat and the part that comes out in front of Enterprise and Submission is really strange.

Maybe the station could actually be were the old BH queueline is and they could make use of the 10-15ft..? drop that is already there and build the coaster essentially in BH's 'pit'.

X-Sector next season is going to be a complete building site, you should be able to get a nice view of the construction site from the top of Oblivion though.

 

[Uncle Arly]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

Well, I saw a post on TT that compares the SW7 site with Nemesis, Spinball and Air.

He overlay the plans over aerial images on the coasters, and kept the google maps zoom level the same for all.
It makes you realise that it's really not as small an area as everyone thinks...

Spinball

Nemesis

Air

(Credit to adsyrah http://forum.towerstimes.co.uk/alton-to ... art-2/105/)

 

[furie]

Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013

Remember, Nemesis is a small B&M and it only really fits in that area because of the way it's landscaped. Daemonen also fits and is also a small ride.

Air is still quite a small coaster too but is well beyond the boundaries. So as I said, you'll get in a small B&M or a medium sized "other".

I do think that the images are really useful though and give a great idea of roughly what we could expect. I also think that the track over the "knobbly bit" that heads into X-Sector is probably on the ball too, with that being track that comes out over X-Sector (thanks RollerMonkey for the idea).

Do we actually know for definite this is a "world's first" by the way? Or is it just assumed?