Alpine Coaster for Snowdonia in 2016
- Thread starter Tomatron
- Start date
Yeah totally. "Coaster" won't have a Welsh word, and they'd be stupid not to use English for "Zip World". "Zip", as in "zip line", won't have a word anyway. "Fforest" is clearly just "forest", so it's the only "Welsh" word they can actually use, which makes the whole thing look stupid.
Thekingin64
Strata Poster
Nothing particularly special but new teaser advert for the ride has been released:
Will
Strata Poster
My siblings bought me a ride on their zipwire for my birthday, but I shall delay the trip to deepest, darkest Wales until the alpine coaster opens.
Obviously, I went on the one in Stoke way back when, but it was nothing special really - this looks to be on a larger scale and considerably better landscaped.
To be honest though, the zipwire looks bloody terrifying...
I shall be doing this on 18 May.
Obviously, I went on the one in Stoke way back when, but it was nothing special really - this looks to be on a larger scale and considerably better landscaped.
To be honest though, the zipwire looks bloody terrifying...
I shall be doing this on 18 May.
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Thekingin64
Strata Poster
Ride opens tomorrow. Not the greatest quality video in the world but a POV has been released, hope the slowness in parts is down to the guy filming and not the auto braking system in place:
(ride starts at ~2mins in if you want to skip lift hill)
(ride starts at ~2mins in if you want to skip lift hill)
Pink Cadillac
Giga Poster
I think it will go faster. The guy looks like a keen brake user.
Thekingin64
Strata Poster
from: http://www.dailypost.co.uk/whats-on/everything-you-need-know-zip-12787158Daily Post said:
I'm taking that quote to mean there's an auto braking system in place for health and safety reasons. Max speed is supposedly around 25mph.
TilenB
Strata Poster
I was just about to post something on the matter. Most of the newer Wiegand coasters have the auto braking system installed to prevent crashes. As you can see, there is a small fin in the middle of the track in the video, which isn't present on the older models...
https://flic.kr/p/NJqxho
(Sorry for not embedding, I believe Flickr has made that impossible on the mobile devices...)
Thekingin64
Strata Poster
SAM_4541
davidm
Strata Poster
another POV;
Guess now its open there will be a few of these popping up
Guess now its open there will be a few of these popping up
CrashCoaster
CF Legend
Can I see a lift hill POV of this! 
Thekingin64
Strata Poster
^I believe there is an auto-braking system present. As discussed earlier, there is an additional fin in the track to accommodate the brakes.
CrashCoaster
CF Legend
I think all the future Wiegand alpine coasters will have the auto brake system, because all the newer ones do have the system I believe!
Will
Strata Poster
So, I did this today en route to the zipwire place, and... it's an alpine coaster. I've not been a huge fan of bobsleds since falling off that one at Oakwood in 2005, but obviously, people that do like bobsleds will like this. It has a nice feel of speed to it, but quite clearly, as has been discussined, also has some kind of automatic braking on to stop disasters occuring at every corner; I think the problem comes when the automatic braking and the manual braking are combined, because psychologically, it's incredibly difficult keeping the lever all the way down when you're heading towards a corner. Personally, I'd have enjoyed it more without the controls, but I guess that's what essentially makes these different from a real rollercoaster.
It's worth a go if you're in the area anyway, and it's probably done that bit of Snowdonia a lot of good (all the staff were very excited about it), but to be honest, I wouldn't make a special trip. As an aside, £15 for 3 rides is quite steep too; a ride's about 5 minutes, but more than half of that is lifthill.
This, however, looks interesting...
[youtube]
TilenB
Strata Poster
I think it's rather comparable to some of the European ones. But yeah, considering the (short) length, it's quite pricey...