Attraction Source Forum

Sky News are reporting that Alton Towers has had a Power Cut.

Alton Towers theme park has been hit by power cut: all rides halted and hotel blacked out.

@skynewsbreak

Whoaa.. again? by the way.. its the 13/4/10

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

I'm watching it at the moment. It must be quite serious if its their braking news. It's only a power cut, but usally the only people who need to know are the current visitors.

---- Post Info Added ----

Looking at the quote I can see why it's serious...

Quote:
Alton Towers theme park has been hit by power cut: all rides halted and hotel blacked out.



Halted, stuck call it what you like but if Submission or Ripsaw were upside down when the power cut happened that is not good news.

[quote=""RR Elliot""]http://news.sky.com/skynews/

I'm watching it at the moment. It must be quite serious if its their braking news. It's only a power cut, but usally the only people who need to know are the current visitors.[/quote]

What are you watching? I can't see anything on the Sky News page?

It has a tab. One with 'top stories' the other says 'Watch Sky News TV Live'

Ah crap, going there tomorrow.

I thought Alton Towers had some sort of backup generator to stop these things from happening

Either way, hope it's sorted out soon. Being at a theme park when the power cuts would be hell! getting stuck at the top of Oblivion, being held upside down on Enterprise or Submission, or getting stuck in the dark on Duel, not really things I would find pleasant.

Call me a weirdo.. a psycho.. or even a plain old nutcase.. the idea of breaking down on a ride sounds like great fun, and wouldnt mind seeing what it's like.. can only wonder what TH13TEEN would be like if it was half-way[spoiler:1fejvob4]down the drop[/spoiler:1fejvob4] or on HEX with the doors above you.. then what?

[quote=""RUBIX-KUBE""]or on HEX with the doors above you.. then what[/quote]

Been there done that in the Haunting at DMP :P

Sounds like this could be quite a serious issue though. I just hope no ones been injured, and nothing damaged in all this

I wouldn't like to be stuck upside down, but I wouldn't mind being stuck on Air, Nemmy or Spinball.

[spoiler:3mj483o2]But I would truly love to be stuck at the top of the drop on Th13teen, front row just staring the Wraiths in the face,[/spoiler:3mj483o2]

Also I would love to be stuck on the top on Oblivion, but that can't happen unless the reverse chain gets jammed, because if the power cut started when you were moving across to the drop at peak hight, you wouldn't even stop on the top as the chain would've already lost the power, and if you were on the top when it occurred then you would just drop as the chain would lose the power.

[url=http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/ne ... ticle.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/ne ... ticle.html[/url]

Not serious. All sorted now

[url=http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/ne ... ticle.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/ne ... ticle.html[/url]


--EDIT--

Damn you just beat me to it

Well at least they have had the desency to make up for it, by extending the opening times

[quote=""Begining Of The End""]Well at least they have had the desency to make up for it, by extending the opening times [/quote]

Yeah, Alton Towers are good with customer service when it comes to things breaking down. I remember going a few years back and the monorail broke down, then they gave us a free ride pass. Then we went on Oblivion, that broke down, so they gave us another one

[quote=""RR Elliot""]Halted, stuck call it what you like but if Submission or Ripsaw were upside down when the power cut happened that is not good news.[/quote]
These rides all have emergency generators which are enough to get people off, though not enough to continue operating.

[quote=""RR Elliot""]



Halted, stuck call it what you like but if Submission or Ripsaw were upside down when the power cut happened that is not good news.[/quote]

[quote=""Alton Towers""]No one was left hanging upside down though, a spokesman said, as the rides were designed to stop at the lowest point to safely evacuate any unfortunate punters.[/quote]

[quote=""Alton Towers""]In an unusal move the park has extended its opening times by an hour and will now be closing at six thirty this evening.
[/quote]

Not really that unusual in such circumstances, but very good of them to extend opening. By an hour is rather good though.

Yep, all rides have these fail safes. Coaster brakes are kept OPEN by power and when the power is cut they close. Spinning rides are spun by motors, so when they die they fall back with gravity. They also have back ups to provide enough power to safely stop it. Enterprise automatically lowers as people would fall out if there was no speed to provide the force that stops you falling out. Ripsaw does it with gravity and a generator may be present aswell, and Submision I think has a generator, but may be gravity assisted aswell. Common sense, really, but it is obvious why people worry about it and why.

Ride close was supposed to be 18.00pm tonight anyway.

One of the very few rides that can 'get stuck' upside down is Slammer. It happened a few years ago.
But 99.99999999999993% of rides will come to a 'natural' rest in the event of power loss.