RITA - A.T - What do you think of this?!?

Hey what do you think of this!

?????????8M RIDE TO FEED TOWERS' ADRENALIN JUNKIES

DAVID ****

12:00 - 15 November 2004
Work has begun on a new multi-million pound adrenalin-pumping ride at Alton Towers. The theme park is building a new roller-coaster which will launch people from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in less than three seconds.

Park bosses have confirmed the ?????????8 million investment in its latest white-knuckle experience is part of a continued drive to attract visitors.

The ride, which has not yet been given a name but is codenamed Rita, will be the fastest at the theme park and is due to be finished by Easter next year.

A spokesman for Alton Towers said: "

We have got to keep up with the game because people like to experience new and different rides and we have to make sure we offer people new experiences.

"They expect a variety of rides and that is what keeps people coming back.

"It's got very high acceleration and will be one of the fastest rides we have got on the park."

The ride will be based in Ugland, home of the famous Corkscrew.

Thrillseekers will sit in four-man cars and will be shot from a station by a hydraulic ramp along a piece of straight track, before racing round sections of Ugland.

It has been designed by Swiss-based roller-coaster specialists Intamin and park bosses say the new ride will meet with any sound restrictions placed on it by a noise abatement order following the court battle with Stephen and Suzanne Roper, of Farley.

The spokesman added: "This is a low-profile ride which means its height will not increase noise.

"The designers are aware of the issue and will be building it into the design of the ride."

The latest news follows ground-breaking rides such as Nemesis, the first suspended 'legs free' ride which opened in 1994 and Oblivion, the first 'face first' drop coaster which opened in 1998.

Its latest roller-coaster, Air, led to a 20 per cent increase in visitors after its launch and a new attraction is expected to draw thousands of thrillseekers back to the theme park.

The theme park will reopen to the public following the winter break on March 12 and the new ride should be finished by the Easter holidays at the end of March.

Ugland will also be re-developed and landscaped as the new ride becomes the central attraction.

Meanwhile, Alton Towers bosses have stressed the landmark case against them, made by Mr and Mrs Roper, poses no immediate threat to the park's business in 2005-2006.

But, a spokesman added: "We must recognise that we are just one part of The Tussauds Group - which owns a number of other theme parks both in the UK and mainland Europe.

"It is already clear that in the longer term, beyond 2006, this case and local attitudes may well adversely affect decisions regarding the future growth and investment strategy for Alton Towers - to the detriment we believe not only of the attraction but also to all those local businesses which rely on it."

Mark Mellor, joint owner of The Star Caravan Park, in Oakamoor, and Farley parish councillor, said: "Speaking as a businessman, this new ride is good news for the local economy. Alton Towers' reinvestment is going to attract more customers and businesses such as mine benefit from the spin-off. I understand the ride is going to be a European first and very exciting."

Alton and Farley parish councils have been fully briefed about the development by the theme park's management.

Farley Parish Council chairwoman Claire Head said: "The parish council is endeavouring to see that the new ride fits in with all the environmental regulations."

This was found at http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/

It contains some strange info. Firstly, "Thrillseekers will sit in four-man cars and will be shot from a station by a hydraulic ramp along a piece of straight track". It says hydraulic ramp!!!! Does this mean we will see a launch like on the Hulk at IOA, or am i interpretting this wrong? Also, four man cars, four man cars in a train, or just 4 man cars on there own?

The last thing it says ug land will be re-developed, meaning it may be rethemed. I dont know. What do you lot think?
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topic moved by wws pending a bug in topic moderation in the coaster news forum.

Hulks launch is no different than any other launch...Except its more angled than the rest.

Intamin launches are all on angles to provide a way back to the station/launch area incase of rollback or e-stop during launch. So techincally, its a ramp. Hulk launches with tires, but other than that, its just a launch. I think the term "ramp" is just a UK term, something that would be said differently elsewhere. I wouldnt read too much into it.

Well the people who write those colums dont know much about coasters so they would call it a launch ramp, its not a UK term that ive heard off

4 man cars? YAY! 4 hour queues!

Maybe not a "term" but I know quite a few terms that are used mostly in the UK (like queue...i use it, but most people in the states call em turnstyles or just lines)


But yea, dont read much into it. If its hydraulic, chances are itll be the same as they have been building.

I do hope the car thing...I hope its 4 cars per TRAIN, which would be 16 riders, other than 1 car per train at 4 riders...that would be pretty crappy.

Yeah it would be. It would be another Spinball, with a huge queue, that hardly ever moves. lol

hm.. i've never heard "turnstyle" before lol... i have heard it refering to the spinny thing you go through but never refering t the actual line. but queue and line are about as popular as eachother over here in RI. the four riders thing: i think they were talking bout the actual cars... four per car, they didnt say how many cars per train. or mabey i got it wrong?

yeah, thats what i originally thought, but its just a funny way of putting it, in that article i mean

[gouldy]

The people who wrote that clearly have no idea what the hell they are talking about

"The latest news follows ground-breaking rides such as Nemesis, the first suspended 'legs free' ride which opened in 1994 and Oblivion, the first 'face first' drop coaster which opened in 1998."

A 'Legs free' coaster??? I think thats pretty funny to be honest, but 'Face first' drop coaster is just poor

Still though, I'm pretty sure its gonna be a TRAIN with x amount of cars that hold 4 people each, rather then just one car of 4 people.......that would suck major ass.

It does look like Ug-land is going to get a re-theme aswell, I guess it'll probably be a racing theme or something like that, could be bike themed, or ASCAR (UK's version of NASCAR.......just much worse haha) themed. Only problem with Ug-land being re-themed, is that it won't have that crazy Ug-land music playing in the background while you're queueing for corkscrew anymore [V] that music is the whole point of my trips to Alton Towers AHAHAHAHA........no

stupid Ropers.

Gouldy's got it....I'm sure it just means that each car can hold 4 riders and there will be a number of those cars, like TTD, Xcelerator, and every other Intamin hydraulic launcher...