X-Sector refurbishment?

Got an idea of how the Alton Towers Resort may develop over the coming seasons? Discuss it here.
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RoronoaZoro13
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I think it would be cool to see some new soundtrack being added in the area and a bit of theming around the place.


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xylyx
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Oblivion has one of those soundtracks that lives in the corners of your mind, waiting for an inopportune moment to slither out and latch on like an earworm. I often did myself humming that and the soundtrack to the Smiler at work. Leave the music alone it's great :)
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RobHand
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The chances of oblivion's track being changed is probably 000001/100, but if they did I think they could possibly update the track from the point after you exit the second hole. I have made an image with Full credit of TOWERS TIMES as it was from their website, and an image of Oblivion the black hole.
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I know there is so many limitations as one they would need to submit a full planning application. Also x-sector is on the edge of the park so they wouldn't be able to build out of the boundaries like it is here. But still I think even a loop/inversion after the exit would keep even more an interest to the public in the long run. The ride to me is perfectly fine as it is, but If it ever were to get to the point to change the track I would love so see something like Oblivion the black hole has.

Would love to hear your thoughts
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NemesisRider
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Whilst I think any change to Oblivion's layout could also be structurally impossible, that's a really cool idea! If anything, major layout changes are not really common on rides. The only times I can think of a change being made is to tame the ride (for example reprofiling Intimidator 305's drop or removing Maverick's super intense heartline roll).
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Adam.W
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The only problem with this is that it would never get approved - there's a house not even 100m away from the lift hill and you can see it on your right as you go up the lift. The other problem is that the car will never have enough energy to make it all around the circuit - it barely gets to 30mph at the turn, let alone into an immelman.
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S.J_O'Grady
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Adam.W wrote:The only problem with this is that it would never get approved - there's a house not even 100m away from the lift hill and you can see it on your right as you go up the lift.
That house is just a staff building
Life is a roller coaster. You can either scream every time you hit a bump or you can throw your hands up in the air and enjoy it.
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Adam.W
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S.J_O'Grady wrote:
Adam.W wrote:The only problem with this is that it would never get approved - there's a house not even 100m away from the lift hill and you can see it on your right as you go up the lift.
That house is just a staff building
Oh :lol

Although there is still another house very near by, I'm pretty sure that's part the reason they removed the 'Don't look down' audio due to people complaining about the sounds of the screams.
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Max
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The house in question is in the area of woodland between The Smiler and Spinball Whizzer.
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Benjsh85
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Oblivion doesn't need any changes to the layout. It's never going to happen anyway but for argument sake, let's say an immelman was added or some other kind of Inversion. Would it really enhance the ride experience that much? Would it be worth the hassle? Not one bit.

All they need to do (if anything) is to make sure the effects in the tunnel are great. The rest of the ride looks after itself for me. Still gets you nervy after 100 rides. Would love it if the "don't look down" audio was restored to the drop too.
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Justin
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The mist has been strong these past few days. The Smiler also has smoke indoors too. Something which hasn't been operational for a while but adds so much!
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12344321
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Max wrote:The house in question is in the area of woodland between The Smiler and Spinball Whizzer.
That house has been the offices for the Entertainment department for the past 2 or 3 years. If you look to your right when driving up to the resort from Alton you can see the parking area around it and sometimes they have entertainments theming around.
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Liam.W
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Justin wrote:The mist has been strong these past few days. The Smiler also has smoke indoors too. Something which hasn't been operational for a while but adds so much!
Yea, last week I was on the first public train of the day on oblivion, so the mist hadn't been 'disturbed' by cars for awhile, meaning it had all built up inside the tunnel like an extremely dense fog. It was INCREDIBLE, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face!
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Azi889

I agree that it's about time some of the towers TLC was put into this area. I really enjoy the water spray on oblivion and think it adds to the ride experience, and all the projections inside the smiler building.

I think the space where submission was should be ulitlsed for a flat as they always work so well in this area as an alternative to long ques for the smiler and oblivion when it's busy. Nothing huge just something to fill the time and bring the ques down. Also I love that idea for the restraint seats update to enterprise and think stylised to similar colours to the smiler and oblivion would look great! Hopefully they will look at tidying up this area in the next couple
Of years. Plus I think the Matt black paint they use doesn't weather well at all
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Justin
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It would be nice if The Smiler received some TLC in the queue line and exit. Some of the paint needs a touch up and the projection room needs work. It would be nice to see all three projectors working correctly and aligned. They also need a good clean and this is probably the reason why they fail. I bet the filters are clogged up with dust, causing the bulbs to blow more frequently. It isn't nice looking up!

I'd also like them to edit the audio in the projection room too. There is one point in the track where the 'Ha, Ha Ha' part abruptly cuts before restarting!
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Tom170499
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Justin wrote:I'd also like them to edit the audio in the projection room too. There is one point in the track where the 'Ha, Ha Ha' part abruptly cuts before restarting!
Didn't they remove the 'Time to get corrected' part when the ride reopened? This could be the cause of the abrupt stop.

I agree that The Smiler needs work. To say it is a three year old ride that was closed for most of its third season, it looks terrible. I would really hope for a general clean of the queue line, a refresh of the station paint, marmaliser effects cleaned and fully working but above all (and the most unlikely), a full track repaint but I doubt Merlin will pay for it considering how much the ride has cost them.
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Justin
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Yes, they edited the track after the incident last year, however it is such a simple fix. I really don't know why they released it in its current form, which is such a shame.
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Tom170499
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Justin wrote:Yes, they edited the track after the incident last year, however it is such a simple fix. I really don't know why they released it in its current form, which is such a shame.
I agree, it could have been so easily edited to transition smoothly. The same thing happened with Oblivion when they muted out 'This ride is perfectly safe'.

Correct me if I'm wrong but did that phrase return to Oblivion?
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Stan.H
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Update - Ok top of rehydrator yheres now a speaker that says 'don't look down!' evey now and then (not in sync with the ride) and oblivions soundtrack.

Smiler's queue though, its just dirty. My friend asked if the mould (where your judt about to go into the projection room) and spiders web in the projection room was theming!!!


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Justin
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Tom170499 wrote: I agree, it could have been so easily edited to transition smoothly. The same thing happened with Oblivion when they muted out 'This ride is perfectly safe'.

Correct me if I'm wrong but did that phrase return to Oblivion?
I'm not sure?
I know "There is no happy ending to this story!" still plays. I think that was removed lasy year too.
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Liam.W
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Stan.H wrote:Update - Ok top of rehydrator yheres now a speaker that says 'don't look down!' evey now and then (not in sync with the ride) and oblivions soundtrack.
Yea this has been happening for quite a while now. It also plays the old Black Hole music. The "Don't Look Down" actually used to feature when the ride first opened and I think it would play when the ride was about to drop, but after complaints from neighbours about noise levels, it was removed.
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