Thirteen, Intamin ''psychoaster'' - Alton Towers 2010

[Blaze]

Over at Towers Times there are some images what appears to be the station building going up round the back of the park visible from the towers.
Credit goes to who ever took this image.

It looks flat but if you zoom in enough you can see it is 3d. Also, foundations are being poored ready for footers and there is a large trench in the trees for th epart of the ride that blasts through the woods. Current rumours are that the ride will have an accelerated hydrolic lift like Tornando at Bakken and that the track will drop like a tower ride, and possobly bounce a few times before launching out of the building, and the helix and switch-back will be hidden from guests.
Rita is now almost certain to be rethemed and painted green, maybe with a station building.
I also expect the witch from the legend to feature, following the story from Hex. I see it going something like this: after the experiments on the tree, the Earl sends his men to find and kill the witch and he buries her in a crypt underground to try and stop the curse. The Hex vault's story is that it was found by workers, so the story this time could be that when removing Corkcrew they found the crypt. The witch, pissed with being killed, goes ape and sets about trying to kill everyone or something. A member of TT said a staff member told them the ride will feature things like vampires and werewolves, and if that is true that links in to the theory of the witch, she goes mad and sets all these dead creatures on you. Would make the forest section more exciting with things jumping out at you. The 'werewolf' in the leaflets gives strength to this. If it's a werewolf that is. But admitedly most of all this is just speculation for now.

 

[Ollie]

I can't see anything that shows that that's the area where the ride is being built. What are those buildings and if the park is still open why didn't they just go into the area to take the picture?
Unless it's an out of bounds area. But then why build a station back there only to move have to move it? It all seems a bit pointless.
Also when building the station building. Won't it be the same like they did with Saw? With the main steel structure/frame of the building going up and then the themeing? In that photo it just looks like scaffolding and some cheap cardboard set.

 

[marc]

The picture does not even look like its come from the Corkscrew sight.

I thought the station was going to be near Rita, well I can not see Rita in them pictures. Can not even see the cable car cables.

If anything it looks like pictures from the maintance area at the back of the park.

 

[furie]

That's at the studios behind Cloud Cuckoo Land. I wonder if it's for Terror of the Towers rather than the new ride?

I hope it's not for the new ride, because it looks piss poor. I though the new ride was going to be a proper pretend building?

If it's like that, it will look like the outside of Charlie which is a bad thing for this ride.

So fingers crossed this is for the Scarefest!

 

[marc]

^I would agree.

I am looking at it as much as possible and it is 100% not in the building sight for the new coaster.

So I would say this has nothing to do with the new coaster at all, its in the wrong area.

 

[furie]

They could still be building a fascia to add onto the building when it's ready - just bolt it onto the front of some breeze blocks.

That would be dreadful though and smells of cost cutting of the "Alton is a piece of ****" scale. Sigh...

Will check the building application and see what it says about the building...

 

[marc]

I dont think it is Furie, it looks like its part of that other building.

They are making quiet a big deal about the new coaster, I do not think they will cost cut on this like they done with Saw.

 

[Rach]

I can't see anything that shows that that's the area where the ride is being built. What are those buildings and if the park is still open why didn't they just go into the area to take the picture?
Unless it's an out of bounds area.

If you've ever climbed up the Towers and stood on the roof and looked in the direction of Cloud Cuckoo Land and that sort of way, they tend to do a lot of work there. It's like a dumping ground for things they've removed but don't want to chuck away.
It's an out of bounds area to the GP, but from the top of the Towers or on Twirling Toadstools (providing the trees have no leaves on) you can get a pretty good overview of that area.

I'm pretty sure as well that the area in question is round the back of the CCL/Charlie and the Towers. And I'm also pretty sure that there is something round the back of Charlie/BK and thus meaning it can get into the site.

I have my doubts about whether that is actually going to be used on the ride itself once it's built.
It doesn't really look like the station building. Arguably it could be this, but I don't think so.

But as we like speculation in this topic, it could possibly be for marketing of the ride during the Scarefest period. It's pretty obvious that Scarefest is going to play a part in this as it does definitely seem that it's going to link in with Hex and thus linking with the Towers.
And we know the Towers holds Terror of the Towers during Scarefest, it could be a part of that as well. Or something else for Scarefest.

Or, it could not be a part of it at all and just be something for the Towers or nothing of importance to the ride at all.

 

[marc]

Its times like this I wish Google maps updated every day

 

[Uncle Arly]

It'll be for Terror of the Towers/Scarefest.

 

[marc]

Just had a look at Google Maps anyway, they are so out of date.

Anyway that building is not new, its been there for years. No idea what they are building but that building is 100% not the station.

 

[furie]

Marc - it's just a fascia built on a scaffold. It could be moved easily and bolted onto any building. It's being built there at the Merlin Studios.

It doesn't look like the station, but it's bloody big whatever it is.

I've gone through the plans. There's no mention of the way the station is to be built.

It says with regards the window and wall bits "Imitation Sandstone effect". That could really mean anything.

I'd assumed that they would build using the same technique as Battle Galleons (Breeze block covered in a spray to make it look like stone and then painted).

However, I now have my doubts. Looking closely at the plans, the parts of the ride that are out of site appear to be left as "crinkly tin" (like the back of NI). If the entire building is crinkly tin, then it's cheap ass and it's actually likely the building WILL be just a painted facade bolted on

So I don't know as of yet - nothing in the plans that confirms anything either way. I'd still say, looking at time scales, it's unlikely to be for the new ride - but who knows?

 

[Blaze]

Could just be to promote the ride. If they are building it there to see if it fits, they could have just built it on the floor, so it probably is for promotion or for Scarefest. Or it could be for the ride, maybe the inside of the station or the indoor section?

 

[Emmett]

From that photo it appears to be some sort of church tower or headstone type structure on the board which is attached to the scaffolding. So it could easily tie in with the Scarefest event.

 

[Martyn B]

^ But then could also tie in with the new coaster, though I hope not.

They are making quiet a big deal about the new coaster, I do not think they will cost cut on this like they done with Saw.

Yeah I agree with that. From what I've seen so far, this seems like a 'classic Alton' attraction. Hopefully the days of Spinball and Flume are over.

And yay for Terror of the Towers returning

 

[coasterdude_1]

^I would agree.

I am looking at it as much as possible and it is 100% not in the building sight for the new coaster.

So I would say this has nothing to do with the new coaster at all, its in the wrong area.

The massive ship for Battle Galleons was built at exactly the same location.

Tussauds Studios is the area we're looking at, which is where they build most of the theming for the rides. The location of what's being built isn't relevant at all here, as it's outside of the conventional park grounds, and thus would have to be moved for any halloween event also.

Unlike Thorpe, there's no practical reason for building the themeing on site. Why? because it puts more pressure on construction deadlines and there's a perfectly well stocked workshop in the location it's being built.

Look at Harry Potter at IOA- VERY LITTLE of the themeing is being produced on site. All the pictures of finished walls, turrets and snow-capped buildings anyone may have seen online, are in fact being built at a themeing studio a fair distance away from the construction site.


I doubt here we'll see a breeze block building because there's going to be alot of track (station, maintenance, brakes, 'mystery track') inside the building which would be a nightmare to build around with blocks. A steel structure with themed cladding is the most likely option.

This doesn't mean it's going to be bad, because it's built from a metal structure with cladding- almost everything is built out of that.

Look at the Harry Potter construction (occuring offsite) for an example of how good a steel frame with cladding can look:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/ ... G_1118.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/ ... G_1121.jpg


It's too early to become negative about this project anyway.

 

[Blaze]

If it is for the coaster, we have only seen part of one wall, so it is too early to say what it will be like.

 

[marc]

Yeah I knew about the IoA stuff being built off site.

That could be for the new coaster then if thats where they normally build stuff, I thought though people were talking about the whole building so that is the park that confused me.

 

[Screaming Coasters]

They could still be building a fascia to add onto the building when it's ready - just bolt it onto the front of some breeze blocks.

That would be dreadful though and smells of cost cutting of the "Alton is a piece of <img src='http://www.coasterforce.com/forums/images/smiles/icon_censored.gif' />" scale. Sigh...

Well thats how Merlin built Mammut at Gardaland. It's just a bunch of 2D fiberglass rocks, glued together.

 

[Ormerod]

Seriously how can that be SW6 themeing?
I've seen better at pantomines...