Alton Towers Secret Weapon 7 (SW7)

[Bubbles1]

Thought I'd post the new TV advert that had its debut today! Very... different:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6jGA3nXH9s

 

[UK-Trigg]

After 33 visits to Alton Towers and 1000s of photos this it, my final update.

The ride is looking good and from what I hear is ready to go all that is going on on site is training, and a few final touches.

Game Stand

Few shots of the Smiler Game

This guy couldn't resist The Smiler

Support

They have been up and down the cherry picker working on "that" support

They also seemed to be working on these sensors in the same area

This was on the crane

Evac Training

Evacuation training was on-going on the Vertical lift

Close ups of train on the lift hill

Half way screens

Half way screens were testing

Closer

Closer Still, was hard to shoot these but you get the idea from these pics.

Bits & Bobs

New signs

More theming has appeared by the queue line kiosk

and more on the way

Hard to see from this but more theming has been installed down in the pit

Last few footers get a lick of paint

Working under the Marmaliser, I think they were putting extra drainage in.

Hypnotiser get some attention

Close up of a camel hump trim

So thats it folks, thank you all for reading over last few months I hope you have enjoyed the updates as much as I have enjoyed bringing them to you. Of course I will do a full report from opening day but as far as construction updates go this is Roodlesnouter over and out.

I look forward now to being on park over the opening days and of course riding the Smiler as many times as I can, I need correcting after all those trips.

Be sure to look out for tt live over at http://forum.towerstimes.co.uk/ where myself and the rest of the team will be bringing full coverage of The Smilers opening LIVE from the park. We will be going LIVE on Wednesday to bring you the build up on the eve of the big day and of course you will be able to see all the action, as it happens, from opening day itself.

The tt live link can be found at http://forum.towerstimes.co.uk/ Join Us.

See you all there and remember Smile. Always.

 

[Hatetofly]

Excellent Job Roodles, one of the best series of updates I've seen for an attraction. Looking forward to your review and opening day report!

 

[bobwadd]

Great job on all the updates from beginning to end.

Thanks

 

[Brervixen]

Oh. My. God.

I'm a bit scared to be honest. It looks so intimidating, especially with all the themeing... A barrel roll before you even get to the lift hill... Seriously. :O :O

 

[Felipe]

Awesome final construction update, Roodles! :thumbs: Thanks so much for ALL your updates! It's been really interesting to see this go up, and a lot of fun

I can only hope to ride this sometime in the future, but for now I'm looking forward to your ride report!

PS: I'm not scared to go on any big coasters and love all sorts of scary thrill rides, but I think I would really freak out if I was stopped and had to evac from a 90-degree lift hill... :yikes:

 

[UK-Trigg]

Bad news guys. n Towers have pulled the plug on tomorrow's opening. No news from towers but I'm hearing it has not been signed off on health and safety. I've booked four day's off for this so am gutted to say the least, more news as I have it.

 

[Hatetofly]

Sorry Roodles that sucks, can't say I'm shocked though as the rush on this was insane at the last minute. Lets hope this gets resolved quickly.

 

[Bubbles1]

Thanks for the updates and the live feed roodles, even though things haven't gone to plan. It's a shame.

I'm just wondering, is the insane extended queue still up, or have they taken that down now? I get the feeling they're unlikely to use that anytime soon.

 

[UK-Trigg]

Queue and ride are ready to go they just need H&S signing off. Word from towers that it won't open tomorrow.

 

[Felipe]

That sucks, Roodles :down: Hope it gets signed off soon!

 

[UK-Trigg]

So what should have been a review has turned into another construction update, how sad!

The Smiler has some troubles over the last few days which have lead the ride not opening on time . Here is what I think has caused this latest delay.

Part 1

The ride was not signed off by health and safety, looking at the pics below the reasons would be no safety netting and a problem with queue line fencing. These are just my theories from what I have seen an read and are by no means conclusive.

Fencing still going in under the Marmaliser

Instead of netting we are getting wire mesh over the queue line, I think this will look much neater than net once finished.

Part 2

This did not originally cause the delay and is a totally separate incident to the health and safety issue.

One of the cars did indeed stall and valley, the position of the crane in x sector was down by the Batwing/Cobra roll. The crane was used to pull the train through and remove the (possibly damaged) car from the circuit. I believe this as today we saw new trains being place on track (pics below) and all trains were already on track before this incident. I am uncertain as to what caused the train to stall and valley.

I believe the X Sector was closed and sectioned off on Friday as AT didn't want us seeing a stalled train on their £18M investment.

Again this is just my theory and I cannot proove this is what happened but you will see from the pics below that a new train was indeed put on the circuit today. The train was lifted in in 3 sections just like we have seen before, then coupled together on the transfer track. The park must have had at least one spare as this has happened really quickly.

New train sections waiting coming on track.

Getting it ready to lift

Lifting onto track

Placing on track

Coupling the train together

The following track section show quite severe marking which I am sure are new and are signs of problems with the train. This starts after the camel hump and ends after the Cobra roll, I believe this is an indication of where the train lay to rest.

Can someone check these markings against an older photo? like I say you are looking at the Cobra roll section.

Other Bits and Bobs

Chance would be a fine thing :roll:

Back up the lift hill

Theming and signs

I know its hard but remember to Smile. Always

Oh and one last one

 

[Brervixen]

It's still not open and won't be over this Bank Holiday weekend, Alton Towers says "won't be open 27th May"

Sucks.

 

[UK-Trigg]

It's still not open and won't be over this Bank Holiday weekend, Alton Towers says "won't be open 27th May"

Sucks.

Indeed it does suck.

Im not even hopeful for this month anymore, Alton have strung us to keep hopes up and customers coming. They let us know 20 hours before it was due to open that it wouldn't and then drip fed us info day by day. What a waste of 4 days holiday :down:

Never mind off to Port Aventura in Spain on Friday to ride their latest B&M hyper Shambala and you never know The Smiler might, just might open before I leave.

 

[Hockeyman55]

Thanks for all the great updates Roodles. Sorry about your holiday to Alton Towers but glad you are able to get over to Port Aventura

 

[bobwadd]

Another great update Roodles :thumbs:

Don't worry, you'll be riding soon enough

 

[Hatetofly]

Another great update Roodles :thumbs:

Don't worry, you'll be riding soon enough

Well it's never really soon enough

 

[Brervixen]

Well it's never really soon enough

We wont even get to party with slums mckenzie at the end either...

 

[bobwadd]

Well it's never really soon enough

Point taken :wave:

 

[Felipe]

Sorry about the continued delays, Mark! :down:

Hope you enjoy Shambhala and PortAventura! Looks awesome! :thumbs: Would love a trip report of that too, if you're up for it! I have some family in Madrid, and if I ever get the chance to travel to Spain, it would be awesome to visit a theme park there. I'd never even heard of PortAventura before, so it's always cool to find out about new parks and coasters around the world!