The Smiler - Speculation

[seanyboyuk]

Whos to say x sector may no longer exist in 2013? With the 2 flats being closed its the right time to bring a new theme to the area and breathe new life into the place. Something with a future/industrial theme is almost certain to happen i think and i cant see Merlin having theme clashing, look to thirteen and rita the beginning of things to come.

[Poison Tom 96]

ATLurker welcome in

No is the answer. they are usually like Nemmy or Oblivion, in one side out the other. also the different levels is a new thing.

(p.s. i would go to the introduce yourself thread and tell everyone who you are at this linky: http://forum.towerstimes.co.uk/corner-c ... here!/675/ )

[Blaze]

Whos to say x sector may no longer exist in 2013? With the 2 flats being closed its the right time to bring a new theme to the area and breathe new life into the place. Something with a future/industrial theme is almost certain to happen i think and i cant see Merlin having theme clashing, look to thirteen and rita the beginning of things to come.

They've just gave the new diner an X-Sector theme, and there's no other way to theme Oblivion, really. This new ride has pipes, satelite dishes etc, which all fir the existing theme. It's pretty unlikely there'll be a retheme, just a rehash if anything.

If that higher level isn't just for aesthetic purposes, I guess it'll be used to get around the fact there is very little room in the ride area. Possbly fitting in a steep drop and the inversion Gerstlauer have been putting in the dark sections of themed eurofighters recently.

[ATLurker]

So, within the station the car will have to turn around and maybe go up a level and then drop down 2 levels? Interesting...

[Blaze]

Well we already knew it would have to turn around and go down a level. The prospect of an extra level makes it all th emore interesting.

Wonder if there will eventually be a document showing the interior of the building? Thirteen had several, so I'd imagine this would have to as well.

[seanyboyuk]

I hope it is a magnetic/LIM launch so there is now delays on dispatching the trains so it can be a constant flow or this would make the dispatch and throughput slow which i think would be a problem if they do only use 8 per car style trains. Hopefully they will use this system as it will make the ride flow better too.

[Nemesis94]

Thought you might be interested to see what the "spider" looks like in my No Limits model. I only saw the new plans earlier today, so this is a very rough representation of it, just to give you an idea of the general scale of the thing. If Alton Towers pull this thing off, it could truly be an amazing ride.

From the platform:


From just passed the entrance archway:


From outside the ride entrance:


It is going to add a few head choppers to the experience:


The hill before the final cobra roll should be amazing:


And this is the one after the first two inversions:


I am indifferent to the station building designs at the moment. I think a lot will depend on the back story they go for with this ride. Maybe an experiment that went wrong, hence all the bricked in windows. The semi-circular gift shop sort of blends in to X-Sector with its clean concrete walls, as do the smaller theming elements around the base of the batwing/cobra element. Maybe the "spider" has turned rogue and the coaster is an attack on it to bring it back under control...

Anyway, that's all just speculation for the moment. Only 2013 will tell...

[Dormiens-Dave]

Okay i've been away all weekend (at the rather splendid TTF half term meet) so i have read the comments on here but i havn't been able to throw my thoughts into the mix until now.

I don't fully understand the logic of those who hate the theming plans for this ride, however we are all unique so i don't want to mock or argue. This ride does however seem to have major theming elements and actually fits quite closely with the existing theme if you look at the peripheral elements... let me explain

Firstly the station: Its not Oblivions... THANK GOD. The last thing we need is a carbon copy theme of an existing ride, now in the past we have had similar situations where they install a rolercoaster and dont want to copy the theme but instead completely go opposite and end up with a theme that doesnt in any way fit with its neighbour (Air and Nemmie, Rita and Thirteen). I personally can see this almost as an X-Sector "Attacked" sort of backstory which fits in with the quite frankly huge metal spider thingie. If i was designing the ride i may have included a few scraps of broken theming that looked like Oblivion esque cladding had been torn off the walls but its a minor point.

The Spider thingie: Will quite possibly be the largest theming object in the country. It is HUGE and damn impressive, and will really make an impact on the area as it stands taller than the station building itself. It certainly suggests a sort of "attacked" futuristic war theme (maybe something trying to get the secret weapon "oblivion"). This certainly makes Swarms Plane look puny in comparison.

The secondary theming objects: Who doesn't love a head chopper and here we start to see soom x-sector touches with the black and yellow chevrons. And a monotor vehical which again fits in with the general idea of an attack. At the end of the day a so-called "secret government facility" would be at huge risk of being attacked so why wouldn't x-sector.

I'm not one for indepth backstories but i think the above ideas suggest how the whole area can link in much closer than was done for Air and Nemesis or Rita and Thirteen, yet give each ride its own unique identity. Also for those comparing with Swarm, here we have a much larger station building, a frankly huge theming element and 2 other mid size theming elements... Swarm has a smaller station, a decent sized primary theme element one medium element and one small. They are at least on par.

Just my thoughts though.

[Johno]

Is it just me, or does the excavation work around the station mean the station is around 4-5 stories high, of which it is entering at around story 3 leaving at 2?

[Morgano]

Is it just me, or does the excavation work around the station mean the station is around 4-5 stories high, of which it is entering at around story 3 leaving at 2?

Technically but no, the ground is just uneven, the plans show the left side of the station is almost ground level. The far right of the station is almost a level below ground because of the natural hill.

Technically the ride enters floor 2 and exits on ground level (or what will be essentially excavated ground level).

I've noticed that the new plan showing the station in greater detail omits the maintenance shed entrance. My understanding from the original plan was that the track would split before entering the station with one track leading to the maintenance. For some reason this door is missing now (i think in error) although the track was never shown.

I strongly believe the station will be above the retail shop on the floor 2. There is no floor 3 as such probably just a high ceiling. The emergency exit stairs on floor 2 really confirm this, there is no emergency access for any floor above this so it's probably just empty space and electrics etc...

The train will take a sharp right with a steep curved drop down to ground level where it will barrel roll before leaving the building (akin to what Gerstlaurer always do these days) before meeting the lift.  Don't expect too much from the station other than what will hopefully be some great themeing

[Nightfall]

Just to bring conclusion to what I said before:
The issue for me is just that I don’t like the look of the station. But I also disagree with the suggestion that it looks ugly and that’s ok because the ride’s theme will explain why.

You see this idea is giving me a dreadful sense of Déjà vu. It reminds me of when they announced the name for Th13teen. Some of us liked it; others (including me) thought it was a terrible use of grammar and not a very good name. But we were told to calm down because the ride probably had some deep back story which gave the name proper meaning... then it turned out that it didn’t.

So because of this I’m less inclined to agree that there will be a back story which actually makes things clear. While at the moment it is easy to say they’ve made it look old and rundown for some type of story we can't be sure this is the case. And in reverse Th13teens scaffolding anyone?

But my concern also goes deeper than that. It’s my opinion that however good a ride’s theme is I don’t believe it should be treated as a valid reason to make the station aesthetically displeasing. Like I said before I find the building ugly but I’m normally quite easy to please. I feel that The Swarms station looks good as a smashed up church. I even quite like the design of Saws Warehouse because it has lots of little details. But this concrete Warehouse just feels devoid of detail, not to mention that Alton is naturally more beautiful than Thorpe Park.

I don’t know, maybe I was just hoping for something with the magic factor. I know that in reality Military Facilities are just concrete buildings but when I visit a theme park I’m not looking for authenticity. The original X-Sector used to be just like a classic James Bond film. It was symbolic of what we wanted a mysterious scientific facility to look like, complete with over the top bad guy and threatening doomsday devices. But like what happened to the James Bond films I feel this is being stripped away for a more realistic feel. While the results will still be good I don’t think it’s anything we’ll look back on in 10 years time and say “this area defines Alton Towers”.

Of course everything I’ve just said is concerning the main block of the station and that alone. The different themed elements are another story completely. I’ll get back to discussing them at another time as this post has already gone on far too long. Just assume everything I haven’t mentioned is radiating awesomeness I’ll try and shut up about the station from now on.

[mezza]

I do think it's interesting that the big spider thing is described as 'an important component of the attraction' - strongly suggest that it's not merely there to fill some space and add some theming, but that it really needs to be there for the ride to have its full effect.  Yes, that's partly some nice head-chopping action, but I suspect there's more to it - that it is absolutely central to the ride's theme and that there may be further interaction between the ride and the big spider thing

[Brett]

Nemesis94... is the spherical seciton to your robot a 3D? if not then how did you make it using supports

This is my start on it, using nolimits supports and catwalks :P (thought id show you all)

[swfcjambo]

Has anyone considered that this giant "spider" object may actually be some form of animated monster, and move / interact (in some way) with the rollercoaster surrounding it?

[smudge.]

Has anyone considered that this giant "spider" object may actually be some form of animated monster, and move / interact (in some way) with the rollercoaster surrounding it?

It say's on the planning documentaion;

"The theming complements the industrial nature of the station/maintenance building and comprises a 'spider like' structure with siz legs that extend from the central core (the legs are fixed and do not have any movement). The coaster track winds through the themed structure and is a important component of the proposed attraction."

this doesn't mean there cant be effects perhaps interacting with the ride, but I can imagine it being very limited due to the speed riders will be travelling. Perhaps more for aesthetics and onlookers than riders.

[Stelios7]

Has anyone considered that this giant "spider" object may actually be some form of animated monster, and move / interact (in some way) with the rollercoaster surrounding it?

At the speed you are travelling on the ride, I doubt that you wouldn't see it moving anyway.

[Nightfall]

I don't think it's physically possible to animate such a large structure anyway. At most it could dip and rise along that central pole but then they’d have to increase the clearance between it and the ride.

[AstroDan]

I still love it. Really, really cannot wait. Not been as impressed by a new ride plan for the park in any of the time I have been a proper enthusiast of the place.

I can't see it ever getting much better than this under Merlin either, so I feel for those who don't like it!

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[Dormiens-Dave]

Just to bring conclusion to what I said before:
The issue for me is just that I don’t like the look of the station. But I also disagree with the suggestion that it looks ugly and that’s ok because the ride’s theme will explain why.

You see this idea is giving me a dreadful sense of Déjà vu. It reminds me of when they announced the name for Th13teen. Some of us liked it; others (including me) thought it was a terrible use of grammar and not a very good name. But we were told to calm down because the ride probably had some deep back story which gave the name proper meaning... then it turned out that it didn’t.

So because of this I’m less inclined to agree that there will be a back story which actually makes things clear. While at the moment it is easy to say they’ve made it look old and rundown for some type of story we can't be sure this is the case. And in reverse Th13teens scaffolding anyone?

Just to clarify i don't think there will be a huge back-story i was merely indicated the sort of Mis-en-scen that would allow for the intergration of the two rides much more coherently than has been done in the past with the likes of Nemesis and Air.

I quite like the station building but obviously these things are very subjective, hence why i have no issue really with people not liking the building from a personal taste point of view. It just perplexed me how people couldn't see how the theme could intergrate with X-Sector.

As i said if i was designing this ride i would have taken the basic style of a 1998 X-Sector building and then gone about making that look damaged and neglected as i feel it would have had a better effect than the current building but its certainly not ugly as it is. These sort of grunge themes have always been used for imposing negatively themed rides. Other than the fact you have a red alien in the middle of it Nemesis primarily features a similar sort of theme structure, with run down buildings and scattered detritus underneath the station. It just uses a more rusty metal based approach where as SW7 seems to be going for the concrete look.

At the end of the day the number of unique themes that would still fit into X-Sector are limited so i'm really happy they are actually making a good effort at linking in the themes.

[Morgano]

Everyone seems to be missing the point, personally I think this ride will fit in fine, the building itself is actually quite far away from Oblivion therefore won't clash at all.

Also who's to say that Alton won't do a slight retheme to the entire area based on the new ride, it wouldn't be hard to make things look damaged and run down after an attack or abandonment. Some fake rust here and there and some dull coats of paint, with the two flats already gone for now it won't be hard at all to theme the entire area around this.

Also here's a picture illustrating the missing maintenance return section.



Is it now on the other side? Or was it accidentally forgotten about when the textures were added over it. Or was it always supposed to be on the other side and it was drawn in by mistake. It makes a lot more sense to have it on the other side however in terms of access and getting the train in and out of the station.