Wicker Man - General Discussion

Thu Jun 12, 2014 8:10 pm

UK's first could work better. A world record breaker (or even just one that ranks highly) is better than features which the ride centres around, only to be made in Germany and the US even better.

As for Oblivion, it could be made popular by keeping its drop, but adding stuff to happen before and after that. I love the drop, but it puts me off and makes me dislike it as it is so short.

Keep the drop, add some other elements (make the ride a good minute or two, perhaps with track over X-Sector itself), and rename and retheme it and it is pretty much a new ride with an old favourite in.

Thu Jun 12, 2014 8:50 pm

Could they TRY to add an inversion to Blivvy, maybe for the 20th anniversary? That would be cool near the end, at the curve. Blivvy, though, might not have enough speed to do a full circuit and could seem to similar to The Smiler.

Thu Jun 12, 2014 9:59 pm

nemesisrider wrote:Could they TRY to add an inversion to Blivvy, maybe for the 20th anniversary? That would be cool near the end, at the curve. Blivvy, though, might not have enough speed to do a full circuit and could seem to similar to The Smiler.

That would be cool. I'm sure that it'd have plenty of speed, and nothing would seem similar to The Smiler really. Even if it is, there's nothing wrong with adding something that wasn't there, and being similar to The Smiler isn't really a problem, seeing as how popular it is!

Thu Jun 12, 2014 10:24 pm

If oblivion got old and and needed replaced or something I'd love it if they done it by replacing some track and extending it to make it a new ride basically

because then it won't be missed like corky when it goes, cause it will still be there just bigger and better!
It could come out the hole and into a half loop then twist over x-sector and then a sort of drop and curve around the Vdrop the an airtime hill over where submission was then round an up hill helix towards the break run

Fri Jun 13, 2014 6:59 am

But, Oblivion was meant to be themed as a discreet experiment. Would track over X sector ruin that? An inversion would be cool.

Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:50 pm

RCandrew wrote:If oblivion got old and and needed replaced or something I'd love it if they done it by replacing some track and extending it to make it a new ride basically because then it won't be missed like corky when it goes, cause it will still be there just bigger and better!
It could come out the hole and into a half loop then twist over x-sector and then a sort of drop and curve around the Vdrop the an airtime hill over where submission was then round an up hill helix towards the break run

Exactly what I think!

nemesisrider wrote:But, Oblivion was meant to be themed as a discreet experiment. Would track over X sector ruin that? An inversion would be cool.

As I said before, it would need completely retheming to advertise it as a new ride properly, and perhaps the entirety of X-Sector could be renamed and rethemed.

Fri Jun 13, 2014 3:22 pm

I don't know about anyone else, but would an X sector retheme cause the Smiler to be rethemed? The Smiler has a great theme, I would not like to see it changed.

Fri Jun 13, 2014 3:24 pm

nemesisrider wrote:I don't know about anyone else, but would an X sector retheme cause the Smiler to be rethemed? The Smiler has a great theme, I would not like to see it changed.

To be honest I reckon an X-Sector retheme would be centred around The Smiler itself. So much money was (presumably) spent on The Smiler theming I definitely cannot see that going

Fri Jun 13, 2014 3:30 pm

X sector is now Ministry of Joy! It has been corrected...

:lol

They could do so much with the Ministry of Joy theme. Dark ride would fit perfectly, maybe to rejuvenate the area when The Smiler is about 10.

YouTube · Sat Jun 14, 2014 3:06 pm

By the way I think that Oblivion would have enough speed to do a larger circuit. Oblivion is the fastest roller coaster at Alton Towers; at 68mph compared to Rita's 61.1mph. But I suppose due to the Dive Coaster cars, Oblivion is affect by wind resistance a lot more then other rides.

Sat Jun 14, 2014 3:11 pm

The thing that limits oblivion in size is cost. Dive machine track is amazingly expensive. Also it has to take large turning circles and takes up a lot of space to just change direction. They will not change oblivion for many reasons but cost would be the main one. SW8 will be in the air car park or the flume site. The x-sector will only see a flat ride join it next year and then after that I believe the next activity there would be the removal of oblivion.

Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:00 pm

I've always thought that oblivion could be used as a test track for B&M 4d cars they is really only 3 ways to make a car swing during the ride the zac spin way. Just let it do it it's self. The S&S way with a second track. Then they is the way where computers take over as it pass a sensor. So you leave the track as it is. Change the trains to something more like a wingrider train with lots of motors and computers in the middle. Then put sensors around the track to let it spin at points on the track. Would cost a lot yes but could take the ride to the next level.

Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:10 pm

It would be easier to just make a new ride than convert an old one. Also to have motors on the train would make it very heavy and if there was a power cut the ride would be ruined. Heavy trains would need dive machine track which is very very expensive. Also for Alton towers case the hole which would have to be dug for a 4D or a wing rider would be massive. I would imagine Alton would conclude it would not be worth the money.

Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:30 pm

I understand they would need a big hole this is why I said use oblivion as the ride. yes the trains are going to cost a lot but what half a million each. so 8 that's 4 million so a medium investment year to bring her back to life. You have ways of sorting power now so if the power dose fail the train can still make it around the track with no problem. The ideas are limitless with this you could have the sensors on random settings so sometimes the drop is as it is now or sitting like a drop tower even on your back. You could be spinning forward or backward as you are leaving the hole. this would make it so much more rerideable.

Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:35 pm

But so much more unreliable and the whole would need widening. The seats would have to go at the side of the track so the entire tunnel would need redoing which wouldn't be able to be done with out digging the entire hole again and paving it over. The hole may be wide already but no wide enough for a wing rider to run on that track. Its a nice idea but entirely impossible and even more unlikely to happen.

Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:39 pm

if you use the wing rider trains that are on swarm yes. But think about it real could they be turned in to 4d trains themselves I think not. You get trains designed that would fit in the hole I said trains like a 4d train.

Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:43 pm

Yeah i more meant that for a 4d train they would have to have the seats at the side of the track in order for them to spin. They would have to be a minimum of 2 seats either side for it to be practical and it has to contain the spinning mechanism. Once all of those are in place the required clearance between the outer seats and the hole wouldn't be large enough.

Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:53 pm

yep but do they real need to be that far out you use the train as it is, but just take out the four middle seats of each and fit in the motor computers and the spinning arms it would be easy in the space they have got you just got to try and keep it in the weight limit of the track I'm sure they could do that The seats are already very high off the track and the two outer seats are past the edge of the track.

Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:56 pm

If you have a high centre of gravity from the train then you start running into problems. The train becomes unstable and the forces in the corners become dangerous. Im not saying it is impossible to have a train in your layout it is that your design of train has more downsides than a wing rider type layout. That is a reason why the wing rider is directly at the side of the track, its so the center of gravity is in the track so it has the best support.

Sat Jun 14, 2014 5:06 pm

the seats are in the same place as they are now so as long as the spinning arms are designed to take the same forces that should not be a problem real. The forces on the humans will be the same as the seats are in the same place. well just about because you will be different positions but you make sure it dose not spin in places where it will rip the thing apart if you look at it. It really is a lot simpler than you think. you got to get strong spinning arms as you might get a wobble which would be really bad for ride comfort. But you should not be that far from the center of gravity. So this should not happen.