Re: New "world's first" coaster at Alton Towers 2013
nadroJ said:
Still not 100% happy with the suggested location for this, it'll definitely steal Oblivion's thunder, which is well lame.
Is that as relevant these days though? Is Oblivion still such a huge thing? I think for most people, it'll still be the first thing you see heading that way and still as imposing. I can't see the new ride being much "taller" than the Blackhole tent, otherwise they may hit planning issues. It's easy to replace a ride that is the same height or smaller than the current one there.
nadroJ said:
Thing with most coasters nowadays anyway is there's so much new technology available I'm sure they'll create some way of quietening the thing down, so maybe it's not THAT much of an issue where it goes?
I agree, and you also have to remember that if Oblivion running is say, 60 decibels, then as long as the new ride doesn't go over that level, then X-Sector wont be any noisier anyway. If it's completely enclosed, then it could be near completely sound proof. The Blackhole was exceptionally noisy, easily louder than Oblivion ever was. The tent did very little, but I don't think we're looking at a tent here are we, but a properly constructed building? So the louder bits happen inside and nobody really notices?
I'd always written off the Blackhole site as there was no way the tent would/could be reused for a new coaster, and the area is 'delicate'. By enclosing it in a solid structure, Alton easily get around that issue.
In terms of size though, the site is roughly the same size as the Nemesis site, but I think that it's not quite as big as it'll be harder to make a building and queue line, unless the queue interacts with the ride inside. Is it usual in indoor rides to have the queue separated? I guess Space Mountain is under the ride, so maybe?
As I said above, I can't see it being much higher (if higher at all) than the current tent, which is what? 50 or 60 foot tops? They've got
some leeway though as Oblivion does tower over the site, I guess it depends on how confident they are about getting a much larger replacement through planning.
BTW, thanks Sue, glad that somebody reads this stuff :lol: