SW6 Ride Discussion

General discussion regarding the UK's No.1 Theme Park. Talk about anything and everything Alton Towers here.
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Craig

Welcome to the SW6 ride discussion topic. As the name suggests, this topic is solely for discussion surrounding the ride itself. For example, this could include manufacturer or element discussion.

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Oblivion_
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I'm not sure if this will be "worlds first but I have an idea for the start.

Look at the first image on the TT SW6 site:

[url=http://sw6.towerstimes.co.uk/plans/" target="_blank]http://sw6.towerstimes.co.uk/plans/[/url]

This, if not comfirmed already, could be the station buildin and the queue line.

The ride would start on the higher part. It would be a stand-up, and have a vertical drop, not like Blivvy, but like Detonator at TP

[url=http://media.photobucket.com/image/deto ... onator.jpg" target="_blank]http://media.photobucket.com/image/deto ... onator.jpg[/url]

It would drop you through the queue, blocked off from sight, obviously, and bring you into the ride.

This would also fit in with this article, though it's unconfirmed that it's AT:

[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/m ... lercoaster" target="_blank]http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/m ... lercoaster[/url]

Here's a little picture I put together:

Image
Confirmed \'09:

Alton Towers, April 7th
Thorpe Park, Summer
Alton Towers, Scarefest

Unconfirmed \'09:

Wicksteed Park (D:)
Chessington, WoA
SAM93

That article is really interesting, that could be quite an interesting feature for the ride to have...

Thanks for posting that :D .
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Jon
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Recently I skimmed back through some of the pages of the older topics, as I knew there would be nuggets of information that get lost in a sea of spammy replies. Right at the start of the topic, I found this.

"The Rollercoaster ride could incorporate a Switch / Tilt mechanism where a section of track the length of the train tips, tilting the train to a 45 degree angle. The train is then released, possibly backwards, and drops underground by its own weight. It is then held at a dead end, from which it is then released forwards, before diving off through a tunnel. "

I'm not saying it's new information, pretty much everything in there has been speculated anyway. By this, I meant to say that in their own words they have described in fairly explicit detail what could happen in the mystery section.

I think its just refreshing to refer back to orginial sources, anyway, as you can get lost in what's confirmed and what isn't.
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Formerly "Dagoo"
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Oblivion_
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[quote=""Jon""]"The Rollercoaster ride could incorporate a Switch / Tilt mechanism where a section of track the length of the train tips, tilting the train to a 45 degree angle. The train is then released, possibly backwards, and drops underground by its own weight. It is then held at a dead end, from which it is then released forwards, before diving off through a tunnel. "
[/quote]

I can imagine that, and it would be quite good.

A 90 degree drop would be even more pwnage though [/hopefulthatitstrue]
Confirmed \'09:

Alton Towers, April 7th
Thorpe Park, Summer
Alton Towers, Scarefest

Unconfirmed \'09:

Wicksteed Park (D:)
Chessington, WoA
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Mikey
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The ride enters the building at quite a height, and the building itself is very small in perspective, so in my opinion there are two options for what will happen:

1. A simple backwards tilt, either by the track physically tilting (like Gravity Max) or a switch track (like Everest)

2. A drop tower section of track. This would be a world first I believe, and would be a fantastic experience. The drop itself doesn't even need to be huge, like the drop ride in the London Dungeon. This fits in with the article that has been previously posted.

I'm going for the drop tower section myself. This would also fill AT's lack of a tower ride!
If you\'re reading this post it means I have emerged from my TTF cave during my annual forage for food.
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AltonThorpe
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I hope it isn't too extreme!
England 38-21 New Zealand - 1st December 2012

Twickenham Stadium
Dormiens-Dave

I was pondering the idea that the train drops in the fashion of a drop tower and then that article really suggested that it could be the answer. You would however, need some sort of launch mechanism to get round that last helix because a drop tower element would lose all the rides potential energy.

I also think you enter the final switch back quite slowly and leave it at a walking pace (it would probably act as the final break run, as there really is no more ride track after this element.

Its getting very exciting.
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billyrae
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I think the quote 'riders will have to brace themselves in an upright position' is a possible clue.
Could it mean a stand up type coaster?.
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billyrae
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Just stumbled on this a Vekoma thrill lift concept

[url=http://www.coastersandmore.de/rides/eas04/eas6e.shtml" target="_blank]http://www.coastersandmore.de/rides/eas04/eas6e.shtml[/url]
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And.
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[quote=""billyrae""]I think the quote 'riders will have to brace themselves in an upright position' is a possible clue.
Could it mean a stand up type coaster?.[/quote]

No - it most likely means sitting up straight.
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Rob L
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I'm still sticking by my original idea that there will be a drop section in the station building at the end of the ride. I think it will be a lot easier to do than a tilt mainly because of the limited space available in the building, a drop is just straight down. The track just suddenly dropping would also be more unique in my opinion, and certainly more unexpected.

So you could enter the building at a high level, there could then be some effects and something could happen which causes the track to suddenly drop down, as if if the structure is collapsing. There could then be a backwards launch out of the building before the train goes around the helix which is possibly underground, and that is then the end of the ride.
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Image
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Sam
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In another topic I've posted an article asking a few theme park related people their favorite theme parks. The interesting thing is the answer of Brendan Walker, who is the "thrill engineer" frequently linked to this ride around here.
Brendan Walker
Roller coaster expert and 'thrill engineer'


Brean Leisure Park in Somerset is a quintessential British seaside amusement park. It's fairly unknown, but has one of the scariest ghost trains in Europe. It's called Terror Castle and was designed by one of the owners, Richard Cadell, who is the face of children's TV show Sooty and a member of the Magic Circle [the worldwide organisation for magicians]. It has references to The Exorcist and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and features animated figures, superb sound effects and things dangling in your face. It's terrifying.
This could be nothing, I'd just thought I'd post it since it seems to be a bizarrely obscure park and ride to mention. He obviously has an interest in dark rides and theming, could any of the things mentioned above give a hint to SW6 or the mysterious indoor section?
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CoasterCrazyChris
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^I have been to Brean leisure park recently, its not that far away from me. The Ghost train to me had nothing that really stood out particularly (although riding on my own in a car was quite a daunting prospect). The park itself really isn't up to much however.
:o
How this has anything to do with the developments at AT I do not know.... :?
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Kaz
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Im going to throw a spanner into the works here... Some new track has been spotted at the B&M plant as seen below:

Image

The guys over at coaster force have made a suggestion that this may have something to do with Altons new coaster.

Any thoughts :wink:
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haydn!
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Alton Towers would never get away with those colors, and the intended theme! It's location will call for more 'muted' colors at the very least.

I'd put my money on either black or brown.
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Kaz
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Ignore the yellow track, thats been sitting around for awhile, its this red track that has recently started to roll out.
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havaska
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That track is nothing to do with Alton because it's at B&M's manufacturing plant in Ohio, USA. If it was for Alton it would be in their manufacturing plant in Switzerland.
Craig

Track posts moved from construction topic to ride discussion :D
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Kaz
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[quote=""havaska""]That track is nothing to do with Alton because it's at B&M's manufacturing plant in Ohio, USA. If it was for Alton it would be in their manufacturing plant in Switzerland.[/quote]

Not necessarily, it all depends on the amount of orders on the books at any one time.
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