SW6 Construction Part Two

Tue Oct 20, 2009 11:46 pm

I think they are putting the effort into SW6. However it is still classed as family at the end of the day, so it's a different kind of effort, if you know what I mean (Probably not :P ). By that I mean there putting the effort into making it appeal to it's target market "familys". To them it seems great but a thrill seaker views it a different way saying "Well it's got no inversions, so they've clearly put no effort in." but they have. The efforts gone on making familys want to ride it.

Anyway I seem to have mentioned everything but construction and I'm posting in the construction topic

Wed Oct 21, 2009 1:00 am

At the end of the day Alton towers/Merlin will invest money in what will best retain and attract new customers which will help them grow their business and earn them more money, if that means they add family based attractions as thats what will help them grow their business more than a thrill ride then thats what they will add even if it means no all out thrill ride for the next 10 years. However what we do know is the pack have said they will add thrill rides as part of the next 10 years plan and also SW6 will be clased by the park as a thrill ride. Its a world first and until we ride it we don't know what the ride experience will be like.

Going back ontopic the lattest contsuction photos show that the first drop looks great especially as it drops into the trees at the back of the site and certainly looks good esp as you go straight into a helix at the bottom of the drop.

Anonymous · Wed Oct 21, 2009 6:03 am

After a view of the plans for sw6 I can reveal that it is a vertical drop coster same as Oblivion, but with a twist,

It drops you down backwards but before you will be dropped down backwards the car will move on to a separate track to give you the imprestion your going forward, then droping you down in to a double helex, backwards underground.

The trains I can't confirm. I hear they could be the size of the recent Corkscrew and I hear that they could be the same as Spinball Whizzer. But for sure the coaster will be a reverse vertical drop coaster with a reverse double helix.

In the photo you can see the shed being built is were the drop will be and also the station. I'm awaiting photos on the plans and will in the next few weeks be adding these untilthen if any one is going to the towers please take pics to show the current status of our recent addition.

Website · Wed Oct 21, 2009 6:05 am

The plans have already been seen by everyone.

Also, can I again remind everybody that this topic is for construction discussion and updates, not Ride discussion.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:09 am

Couple of Pictures from yesterday (20th Oct)

Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:31 am

Looks like they are starting on the rest of the station now, yay.

The construction site has really changed from what I saw back in August. And, everything does look much bigger than it does in the photos.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:31 am

That building is fudging massive!

Excitement!

Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:43 pm

[quote=""Evostance""]

I think he's reffering to the "good old days" when Nemesis was constructed. Nemesis was constructed with a good theme, a ground hugging ride, something to always keep you awake - sharp turns followed by fast inversions, near misses and unexpected inversions (last corkscrew as your pulling into the station)

Recently all the newer rides have just been "slapped down" with no thought to the theme or the thrill.

Air for example. Yes its a worlds first and yes it is a good ride, but theming wise it could have been done a lot better. The concept is like your meant to be flying so the ground hugging element isn't important.

Spinball - lets not even go into that. Its just slapped down in a daft place with a crap theme.

Rita - Same again..

Oblivion - Great concept of a ride for a worlds first, the whole area got a brilliant retheme, however Alton seem to have abandonded this area as the queue system has essentially fallen to bits and the track has faded.

Alton are renown for their lack of space and height, and thats what made Nemesis so good. The fact that it cost £2million less than Air and SW6 shows a lot - remember Nemesis had massive amounts of theming and excavation to be done.

When was the last time Alton had a proper inverting rollercoaster?

Rita - Nope
Oblivion - Nope
Spinball - Nope
Thunder Looper - Yup, but thats gone
Air - Nope
Nemesis - Yup

Thats over 12 years ago, and 12 years on Nemesis is still the most intense and exciting ride in the park[/quote]

I completely agree with this.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:54 pm

[quote=""Disco Ball""]And, everything does look much bigger than it does in the photos.[/quote]

The building and lift hill look pretty big in the photos so if they are even bigger 'in the flesh' then they must be very big.

Size-wise, it almost looks like they are building an office block rather than the station for a coaster!

Wed Oct 21, 2009 2:15 pm

What surprised me about the lift hill was that you can see a decent amount of it from Fountain Square, which I wasn't expecting.

Once the building is fully constructed and has some walls it will look very impressive.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:06 pm

Some fantastic pictures have just been added to ThemeUK as well as a video:

[url=http://www.themeuk.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.themeuk.com[/url]

I'll just pinpoint a few pictures taken from there:

In the next image, you can clearly see the turnaroud/helix directly after the first drop.

There are more pictures on the site which are definately worth checking out.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 5:56 pm

If you look at the 2nd photo from the bottom you can see the thing that stops the train just noticed it :P

Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:38 pm

TowersNerd have a nice photo of the first turn out of the station at night - just the atmosphere for this ride:
[url=http://www.towersnerd.com/gallery/?image=1387" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.towersnerd.com/gallery/?image=1387[/url]

Anonymous · Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:31 pm

[quote=""Andrewroom""]TowersNerd have a nice photo of the first turn out of the station at night - just the atmosphere for this ride:
[url=http://www.towersnerd.com/gallery/?image=1387" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.towersnerd.com/gallery/?image=1387[/url][/quote]

nice picture, also Rita is looking a black=y colour, which looks great if she gets a re-theme.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:27 pm

I've only ever riden Rita at night and to be honest it's not that impressive. Would be nice to see some kind of luminous paint like they use on Stealth. Haven't been to AT for a whole year.
=[

Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:36 pm

[quote=""EdwinOkli""]I've only ever riden Rita at night and to be honest it's not that impressive. Would be nice to see some kind of luminous paint like they use on Stealth. Haven't been to AT for a whole year.
=[[/quote]

Those lights should be green, purple and blue.
Wish I could get put in charge of scarefest next year with a decent sized budget. Dark Forest would be amazing :P

Big Dave · Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:39 pm

Ok a few quick things I picked up on that you might not know. Seems like the backwards helix goes directly under the maintenance area. Also it seems like the station platform will be a few feet higher than the track so the wheel assembly will be hidden from view has you board. Pretty standard for most coasters I know, but means the station will be fairly substantial and not just steel like on Rita.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:19 pm

The lattest photos show the first hill after the main drop (the one after the helix) and the photos show just how low that hill is compared to the main drop. You are going to go over that hill with alot of speed which will should result in some good airtime and be very thrilling. You follow this with another airtime hill which again is lower, i think this part of the ride should be very good and a very thrilling start to the coaster.

Website · Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:40 am

All of the track, apart from this special feature in the building, is now complete. I should have some photo's from today up tomorrow, and I'm hoping that you'll be able to see the helix after the drop on one of them!

Website · Thu Oct 22, 2009 6:47 pm

Looking at the picture of the lift hill and part of the first helix, the train will fly around that part. All that the ride will need is to have very open and exposed trains. This would make the ride thrilling in its self with the proximity of the trees etc.

Looking at the steel work for the mystery section, it quite substantial and looks like it will be used to help support the drop section or whatever it will be. This to me tells me there will be some force going on for this section of the ride.