Alton Towers: What Ever Happened to...?

[CogWork]

Does anyone know when and why the poles on this bridge over the river rapids were removed? They seemed like a nice detail.

http://old.towerstimes.co.uk/attraction ... pids01.jpg

[ATJoseph]

Quote from the baby coaster article in the sun
"and Oblivion, the world's first vertical drop rollercoaster,opened in 1980."

What i didn't know was oblivion opened in 1980

[Cariba]

Try reading the whole sentence;

"Alton Towers, home to Nemesis, Europe's first inverted rollercoaster and Oblivion, the world's first vertical drop rollercoaster,opened in 1980."

It states the park opened in 1980, not Oblivion.

[Squiggles]

Does anyone know when and why the poles on this bridge over the river rapids were removed? They seemed like a nice detail.

http://old.towerstimes.co.uk/attraction ... pids01.jpg

I can't tell you why, but they would have been removed at either the start or the end of the 2006 season. There is a pic of the same bridge on TT from 2007 without the poles, and since the picture with the poles has a yellow rapids boat it can't be earlier then 2005.

[CoasterCrazyChris]

Does anyone know when and why the poles on this bridge over the river rapids were removed? They seemed like a nice detail.

http://old.towerstimes.co.uk/attraction ... pids01.jpg

I can't tell you why, but they would have been removed at either the start or the end of the 2006 season. There is a pic of the same bridge on TT from 2007 without the poles, and since the picture with the poles has a yellow rapids boat it can't be earlier then 2005.

I thought the boats were replaced around 2001/2?

Katanga Canyon remains a solid area at Alton Towers, but unfotunately it hasn't been immune to the damage inflicted by the management over the last 10 years (that horrid games stall comes to mind here).

The poles were a great touch but probably became loose and would therefore have posed a great risk. It's likely they were too lazy to fix them and instead decided it would be easier to remove them.

Speaking of the rapids boats, I really hope they are reaching the end of their life. The current bright yellow ones are very ugly and loo cheap with the stickers on them. They need to get some decent ones with high sided seats - hopefully a job lot to include Rumba at Thorpe too.

[Squiggles]

Sorry, got my start date wrong, the yellow boats were phased in between 2003 and 2005, so that pic could be earlier.

[BigHairJoe]

I think they went as early as possible because i remember slightly the red boats but mainly yellow ones and i don't  ever remember the poles
:sus:

EDIT : Is it possible that the were there for maybe one season when the boats were replaced in an effort to spruce up Katanga Canyon?

[NastyPasty]

What happened to the Bouncing Bugs after they got removed? I always thought they'd be better suited to somewhere near the Dung Heap which has those interactive bugs anyway... it seemed like a nice filler attraction.

[LordOfDarkness]

Talking about the rapids, Aren't they just the red boats with a yellow cover put over them with the seats removed? Thats what I always thought as there is always some red still visible.

[Stelios7]

What happened to the Bouncing Bugs after they got removed? I always thought they'd be better suited to somewhere near the Dung Heap which has those interactive bugs anyway... it seemed like a nice filler attraction.

They were used for the Elves Playground in 2009, so are probably still in storage or sold on for scrap. I would of liked to of seen it return in Adventure Land or in The Dungheap.

[WillPS]

Talking about the rapids, Aren't they just the red boats with a yellow cover put over them with the seats removed? Thats what I always thought as there is always some red still visible.

The rapids boats are in two parts - the plastic shell and the rubber float. The rubber floats are original, the shells were the bit which was replaced. I think there's some red on there because at some point (when they still had the comfy red shells) they were resprayed with the float attached.

They did take a while to introduce - I seem to remember in 2001 there was a trial with a 9-seater boat, then one appeared in 2003 and there were still red ones about when the Flume got its retheme. At the time it was massively unpopular - aswell as being bloody uncomfy, to start with they didn't even have a grab ring! Many feared that it meant the Rapids would loose their edge (as Thorpe's Thunder River had undergone a similar transformation coined the Drybena Rapids).

[Bote]

Personally I'd like to see a return to the old boats, or at least something similar in design. They looked much more comfortable then the.current ones (I base that off Drayton using ones with backs still on them).

There are a lot of little touches that have vanished over the years, including the wood beams on the bridge. It's all the little touches that made the areas so wonderful. The bridge looks very plain without them if you ask me. A lot of these small details could be restored with little expense.

[LordOfDarkness]

Doesn't look like they will be returning any time soon...

[Shockadelica]

The red boats had a far classier look than the horrible, garish yellow ones of today.

[Mi-Nigle]

Ahhh the blue and orange swirl branding on the side there Good times.

[WillPS]

Ahhh the blue and orange swirl branding on the side there Good times.

Reminds me of the original TowersTimes logo and the infamous "Sorry, this Vending Machine has lost its magic" sign.

[Rita 2005]

The red boats had a far classier look than the horrible, garish yellow ones of today.

Looks like there is a single survivor!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[WillPS]

The red boats had a far classier look than the horrible, garish yellow ones of today.

Looks like there is a single survivor!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

When's that photo from? I've not seen it in a long while now...

[Squiggles]

I think that's a photo from early 2005. It looks very similar to one on the closed season gallery from that year.

[CoasterCrazyChris]

Is there actually a reason why they replaced the tops of the boats? Seemed pointless to me.