I hate it when newspapers go "GUESTS LEFT DANGLING UPSIDE DOWN IN RAIN FOR AN HOUR!" when the reality is that Galactica E stopped on the lift hill because somebody had their phone out and they were there in drizzle surrounded by trees in comfy foam harnesses for not even 10 minutes.
This is an old comment so I apologise but I want to highlight the stupidity of some of the media; on one of the days when Galactica stopped it was pouring with rain and the newspapers were making it out to be this horrifying event and, as always, bringing up the Smiler accident. In reality, The people on the ride were dryer and safer than I was being smothered in the coffee shop nearby by people trying to stay out of the rain and who were panicking over a misheard announcement about Nemesis still being open. It just highlights why we need videos like this for the general public so they are able to gain a better understanding against the media's fearmongering.
Thanks Merlin - its very annoying when you hear GP members going on about how the rides aren't safe just because they e-stop. Those newspaper headlines were enough to prove that! Great job!
This weird idea of us and them with "the GP" and "enthusiasts", you're all guests at the park, you're all just punters going on rides, yes some people know more than others but no need to get annoyed.
would much rather an e-stop than an accident. as an enthusiast even before i learned what they do, i knew that they wouldn't just stop the ride for fun. I'd much rather a worse ride experience because the workers are diligent in making sure we're safe, then an accident.
which has prevented me from riding. I have an extreme fear of roller coasters and I know the possibility of getting in an accident is very low but I still get scared. Learning about roller coasters how they are built, tested, and operated has helped somewhat but I still fear that 1 in million chance. I can handle water coasters/ Water rides but dry coasters are a huge no for me.
Thank you for making this video. That's two parks (I think) that have done this and it hopefully will stop the fake rumours and fears going around with the general public!
Finally, a video that clearly explains why rides E-STOP for the public who aren't enthusiasts like us, and don't know how rides work. Very good job Merlin, looking forward to seeing more of this in the future :)
In response to the camera issue, I totally understand. But I don't feel like the in-ride photo booth is really a good alternative for the customer. It's already a high (but not too high) price to get into Alton Towers, then you're expected to pay anywhere from £7+ for each picture of you on each ride? Perhaps charge what is a reasonable price for printing out pictures onto paper and people will be less inclined to bring cameras onto rides. If my local Tesco can print me 8 portraits at £1.50 per portrait, there's no excuse for Alton Towers to be charging £7 for a 6x4 mini picture.
Great job Alton Towers! You show the media who's boss! This video was well made, informative and looks great! A real 'F' you to anyone who, like the media, refuse to believe that ride stoppages are routine and for safety! See you in August! ✌🏻️🎢
Last August at Alton towers my partner and 3 year old son was nearly hit by an iPhone that someone had in there hand and dropped it when going through the hole on the Galactica ride,just missing them both by literally a couple of inches,my partner was obviously furious and my son was quite upset.One good thing was that the iPhone was smashed and was handed over to staff in the Galactica shop. Problem is now my son is worried to stand near any rides,which is a shame,and all because some fool didn't think the rules applied to him.
Thank you for such a great video! I hate how the media reports rides stopping as if it's a horrible accident. Rides stop all the time, in every theme park in the world! It's totally normal, and necessary for the safety of the guests!
Thank you for making this video. as an MC at Legoland California this is one of my most frequently asked questions so this really helped. I work in the education department so my knowledge of the attractions is limited so I just wanted to say thank you.
hopefully this marks the end of speculation and panic about rides (after 'the accident') things happen, things do go wrong and although everything is perfectly save, sometimes you can't do anything about it when it still goes wrong. I think you set a perfect example on how you should inform your guests on how much effort goes into safety procedures when operating a ride. I hope that Alton Towers and Merlin Entertainments are able to overcome their losses and are ready to start anew!
that's kind of true, first when I said sometimes I didn't refer to the smiler incident (just to make that clear). and indeed it's pretty weird that they didn't foresee this. and the computer couldn't stoped it due to the manual overwrite by the technicians. but then again to my point... what I sort of ment was that after an accident, the rides itself are (most of the time) still 100% safe. only a mistake of ride operators can go wrong and most people confuse that thanks to the overreacted attention from the media.
The algorithm working its magic, this video was recommended to me just days after oblivion had to stop due to what I’m guessing was extreme temperatures.
hi I have merlin passes and enjoy them a lot and since it's spring break I'll be going a lot as well but I have a question if you get in touch with the staff or something like that would you be able to tell them about wanting to make a video and get an OK?
They should do one about why the coffee offers disappear when it's busy and why they need to close before tea time and how the car park charge goes towards providing great public transport alternatives.
Surely if you can't hold a camera, then you can have a chesty for GoPro or something. You won't be able to drop it unless you fall off the ride, right?
So what went wrong during the ride i was on. I was on the universal escape from gringotts. Right at the part where we were suppose to escape (lmao) the screen didnt open and froze on the molten lava background. It took 30 minutes to start back up. Im just curious to why it did that. We're indoors, the ride requires attention and is too fast to be on phones plus we had lockers to put our belongings in...idk it just seemed weird
Aw man... We're going to the park the day after tomorrow and it calls for rain, but we're also spending sometime tomorrow as well so I hope the weather won't cause to many rides to stop.
I went on the sherika at Busch gardens (front row) and when it dangled for a few seconds but instead of getting back going, it stalled for a few hours. Let's just say I haven't been to Busch gardens since then.
Love the vid, could you explain to us why when your looking at a ride and it's moving at full speed. How come it looks like the metal is flexing under the weight?
I was at the front of oblivion, queuing for 2 hours, and as soon as I got on, someone dropped their phone, so we had to get off! No refund, or nothing, never visiting again!
On my bday, I had unlimited fastrack (luckily) and went on Nemesis Inferno, it broke down but we only waited 5 minutes and they gave everyone a fastrack. But chessington is the best for that. Rameses revenge broke down and only got swung around (which I loved) and they gave a fastrack!!!!
After the newspapers disappear about rides stopping and the drone goes over the Galactica portal, look at the nemesis final turn, the train is going backwards
I remember today, our ride inside duel stopped in the middle, positive, we stacked up lots of points, negative, we kept getting jumpscared as we stopping in the middle of the house, then an old man had to push our ride for a bit, then the cart went slow, and they said, sorry for the delay, and I was like, ain't nobody got time for that, and was like, fancy being stuck in a haunted house, almost died clause it went cold 😧
Can someone answer my question, I have a phobia of sick I would say quite bad and I am planning to go to thorpe park in 2022, if I am on a ride next to a stranger I get extremely uneasy and uncomfortable (especially if its a loop ride etc.) because I am scared that they will throw up. What do I do about it and how common is it?
i have a sickness problem too, no matter what i eat or drink i always throw up every couple of minutes or so. i've learned to deal with it and hold the puke in and its difficult on coasters but its possible. im not sure how i do it.
The trouble is when I've gone to Chessington you've usually got the ride operators in the booths on the phone to each other rather than monitoring the ride. Scary.
This isn’t really a reason why rides stop but as well if your in the queue and you’re sitting in it for ages and you see a cart going with no one on it, it’s usually them setting up a third cart to make the queue quicker but they forgot to tell you.
Last week when I was there, I was on oblivion and we stuck just before the edge for like 10 minutes because some asshole was filming, luckily we all got 1 fast track. Of course the lines were short as it was a school day but we got to thirteen quicker.
So if the rides have so many sensors how did no one notice that there was a stationary cart on the smiler and why did it not stop another cart from going into it then
I was queing for oblivion once and was at the station. And it stoped at the top and it went over the speakers saying it was stoped to get what they where filming on
Guys,please don't blame these guys for what happened to the smiler blame the people watching it they could have told the smiler people before they happened 😕just letting ya know!
Nemesis don't stop for no bad weather, my first rollercoaster in heavy rain and massive hailstones hitting me in the face. (Massive for England anyway)
The ride has a certain wind threshold that if it reaches it must stop. If it was still operating under those conditions, it was still below the threshold. The reason the Smiler keeps stalling is because it has quite a low threshold (I think 20-30mph winds) so can stall more often than the other rides.
funny that everything he says what operaters do for safety but on 2015 the operator did nothing on the smiler (operate during high wind, didnt check cameras, override the failstop) ofc i think this will never happen again and the people got kicked out of their jobs.
I hate it when newspapers go "GUESTS LEFT DANGLING UPSIDE DOWN IN RAIN FOR AN HOUR!" when the reality is that Galactica E stopped on the lift hill because somebody had their phone out and they were there in drizzle surrounded by trees in comfy foam harnesses for not even 10 minutes.
Liam H yeah. it's stupid and puts a bad name on the parks
Liam H cough cough wsj
They weren't even upside down they were lying down 😂
This is an old comment so I apologise but I want to highlight the stupidity of some of the media; on one of the days when Galactica stopped it was pouring with rain and the newspapers were making it out to be this horrifying event and, as always, bringing up the Smiler accident. In reality, The people on the ride were dryer and safer than I was being smothered in the coffee shop nearby by people trying to stay out of the rain and who were panicking over a misheard announcement about Nemesis still being open.
It just highlights why we need videos like this for the general public so they are able to gain a better understanding against the media's fearmongering.
Still absolutely terrifying, you’re upside down. It’s an awful ride. I can deal with most rollercoasters, but not that one!
This is a fantastic video and very informative. Fantastic shots of the rides at the park also!
Theme Park Worldwide Hello!!
Theme Park Worldwide hi Shaun! Big fan!
Theme Park Worldwide hi
Some nice shots of Tidal Wave at Thorpe Park, too
Hi Shawn,
Ur channel is epic.
But stop being silly and invite me along with you.
All I want is coaster time 😉
I wish the parks were that empty when i go.
DigitalDan too true
lmaooo0000oO!!
Go on a weekday, Oblivion and Duel were on walk-ons we I went on a weekday
ThemeParkNation duel is always a walk on
tru
Thanks Merlin - its very annoying when you hear GP members going on about how the rides aren't safe just because they e-stop. Those newspaper headlines were enough to prove that! Great job!
This weird idea of us and them with "the GP" and "enthusiasts", you're all guests at the park, you're all just punters going on rides, yes some people know more than others but no need to get annoyed.
@@jeeedel2491 SIMP
would much rather an e-stop than an accident. as an enthusiast even before i learned what they do, i knew that they wouldn't just stop the ride for fun. I'd much rather a worse ride experience because the workers are diligent in making sure we're safe, then an accident.
which has prevented me from riding. I have an extreme fear of roller coasters and I know the possibility of getting in an accident is very low but I still get scared. Learning about roller coasters how they are built, tested, and operated has helped somewhat but I still fear that 1 in million chance. I can handle water coasters/ Water rides but dry coasters are a huge no for me.
Thank you for making this video. That's two parks (I think) that have done this and it hopefully will stop the fake rumours and fears going around with the general public!
Love the drone footage of the coasters, looks great!
Pleasure Beach Experience Do you have a drone ?
Me? Not at the moment, have been tempted by getting one but would be worried about crashing it or breaking rules with the use of it.
Pleasure Beach Experience Well your videos are still good and I'm Going To Blackpool Pleasure beach in July
Pleasure Beach Experience I love that there is so many shots of nemi
Pleasure Beach Experience lol it's so ironic that commenting on an Alton towers vid and your username is Pleasure Beach Experience
Finally, a video that clearly explains why rides E-STOP for the public who aren't enthusiasts like us, and don't know how rides work. Very good job Merlin, looking forward to seeing more of this in the future :)
Just a shame that the media will still attack Merlin for any ride stoppage :(
+ThemeParkNation next they should do one about why rides have to be evac'd and how it's done safely (us enthusiasts already know).
Ahhh, ok, thanks for telling me :)
+alex davies Cool, which rides did you operate?
the park has shot itself in the foot because at 00.50 people will say why didn't the op see the train on the smiler the day it crashed.
In response to the camera issue, I totally understand. But I don't feel like the in-ride photo booth is really a good alternative for the customer. It's already a high (but not too high) price to get into Alton Towers, then you're expected to pay anywhere from £7+ for each picture of you on each ride?
Perhaps charge what is a reasonable price for printing out pictures onto paper and people will be less inclined to bring cameras onto rides. If my local Tesco can print me 8 portraits at £1.50 per portrait, there's no excuse for Alton Towers to be charging £7 for a 6x4 mini picture.
Fantastic video with some beautiful shots of the park. The couple of Tidal Wave seemed a bit out of place though.
Yea, I was wondering the same thing, why a video uploaded on this channel had a ride from Thorpe Park
I assume it's because it's about all Merlin parks, but it still doesn't explain why it's on the AT channel
Great job Alton Towers! You show the media who's boss! This video was well made, informative and looks great!
A real 'F' you to anyone who, like the media, refuse to believe that ride stoppages are routine and for safety!
See you in August! ✌🏻️🎢
Last August at Alton towers my partner and 3 year old son was nearly hit by an iPhone that someone had in there hand and dropped it when going through the hole on the Galactica ride,just missing them both by literally a couple of inches,my partner was obviously furious and my son was quite upset.One good thing was that the iPhone was smashed and was handed over to staff in the Galactica shop.
Problem is now my son is worried to stand near any rides,which is a shame,and all because some fool didn't think the rules applied to him.
uptheduffagain I have a fear of standing by rides for fear of things falling on me
Thanks for this, it was desperately needed. Could you upload a video of just the drone footage? That would be awesome!
Hopefully this video will shut the media up
Hopefully
Thank you for such a great video! I hate how the media reports rides stopping as if it's a horrible accident. Rides stop all the time, in every theme park in the world! It's totally normal, and necessary for the safety of the guests!
Thank you for making this video. as an MC at Legoland California this is one of my most frequently asked questions so this really helped. I work in the education department so my knowledge of the attractions is limited so I just wanted to say thank you.
hopefully this marks the end of speculation and panic about rides (after 'the accident') things happen, things do go wrong and although everything is perfectly save, sometimes you can't do anything about it when it still goes wrong. I think you set a perfect example on how you should inform your guests on how much effort goes into safety procedures when operating a ride. I hope that Alton Towers and Merlin Entertainments are able to overcome their losses and are ready to start anew!
Sadly, I think the newspapers will continue to shit on theme parks when a ride breaks down. All they care about is making a good story. The bastards.
that's kind of true, first when I said sometimes I didn't refer to the smiler incident (just to make that clear). and indeed it's pretty weird that they didn't foresee this. and the computer couldn't stoped it due to the manual overwrite by the technicians. but then again to my point... what I sort of ment was that after an accident, the rides itself are (most of the time) still 100% safe. only a mistake of ride operators can go wrong and most people confuse that thanks to the overreacted attention from the media.
Captain_LIZZEARD The system stopped the ride but the operator and maintanance guys ignored the computers warnings and overrode the system.
Thank you, Alton Towers I went during scarefest 2018 BEST TIME EVER! You should differently go if you are thinking about going!
I definitely had a great day out and I'm SO excited to go again and my favourite ride is galactica or th13teen . I'm so glad Alton towers exists !
good video - more like this please :)
The algorithm working its magic, this video was recommended to me just days after oblivion had to stop due to what I’m guessing was extreme temperatures.
Fantastic video.
I think this is a great way to show people that there is nothing to worry about when a ride stops .
Good video for the general public, but even better shots of the park!
Thank you for this Merlin! great video!
I love your park and rides best time of my LIFE thanks for making it
Really good video, Is the guy Australian or a New Zealander??
Every single person in the whole world needs to see this video and understand that accidents happen
Sure it's great and safe.. as long as employees don't manually override the "stop system". *cough* Smiler *cough*
Just got roasted!!!!!!
Excellent video! The press do tend to over dramatize these things!
hi I have merlin passes and enjoy them a lot and since it's spring break I'll be going a lot as well but I have a question if you get in touch with the staff or something like that would you be able to tell them about wanting to make a video and get an OK?
I met Francis Jackson he gave me a free fast track for runaway minetrain
They should do one about why the coffee offers disappear when it's busy and why they need to close before tea time and how the car park charge goes towards providing great public transport alternatives.
Great video and amazing video footage 👍🏽
Surely if you can't hold a camera, then you can have a chesty for GoPro or something. You won't be able to drop it unless you fall off the ride, right?
So what went wrong during the ride i was on. I was on the universal escape from gringotts. Right at the part where we were suppose to escape (lmao) the screen didnt open and froze on the molten lava background. It took 30 minutes to start back up. Im just curious to why it did that. We're indoors, the ride requires attention and is too fast to be on phones plus we had lockers to put our belongings in...idk it just seemed weird
Triggered me so much how you've included only some Thorpe Park footage, You should've included an equal amount to Alton Towers, or none at all.
.--.
EVILBUNNY28 ... This is an Alton towers video
Exactly... So why was there any shots of Thorpe Park added in in the first place?
EVILBUNNY28 I saw no footage of Thorpe park
So you're saying you never saw 1:01 and 2:23 of the video?
Joecake Gamedev This is Alton Tower's TH-cam... not all the Merlin parks
Aw man... We're going to the park the day after tomorrow and it calls for rain, but we're also spending sometime tomorrow as well so I hope the weather won't cause to many rides to stop.
What a great idea from Merlin sharing this information. Hopefully it will go someways in settling mass hysteria from the press when a ride stops.👍🏻
I went on the sherika at Busch gardens (front row) and when it dangled for a few seconds but instead of getting back going, it stalled for a few hours. Let's just say I haven't been to Busch gardens since then.
K man is a coaster enthusiast he says it's very good and important to get knowledge
Great informative video, you might add that no one, and I mean NO ONE, should EVER override a Failsafe device.
Correct.
I’m sort of late to the comments, but I’m glad to know that people stop the ride for those reasons. reassured me a bit
Love the vid, could you explain to us why when your looking at a ride and it's moving at full speed. How come it looks like the metal is flexing under the weight?
Danarius M. I’m late but coasters do this to make sure a coaster track can’t snap do to stress :)
I was at the front of oblivion, queuing for 2 hours, and as soon as I got on, someone dropped their phone, so we had to get off! No refund, or nothing, never visiting again!
On my bday, I had unlimited fastrack (luckily) and went on Nemesis Inferno, it broke down but we only waited 5 minutes and they gave everyone a fastrack. But chessington is the best for that. Rameses revenge broke down and only got swung around (which I loved) and they gave a fastrack!!!!
They would give you a priority pass for that, and anyway it’s safety reasons and it was the persons fault for taking their phone on
I want more videos like this, It great👌
Amazing video
JamieButler190 are you bringing your videos back?
Very informative 👍
Great Video Guys!
Can't say I'm surprised this is coming from Alton Towers
Why is there somethings from Thorpe park instead of stuff just from Alton Towers?🤷🏻♀️
After the newspapers disappear about rides stopping and the drone goes over the Galactica portal, look at the nemesis final turn, the train is going backwards
FRANCIS YOU LEGEND
I remember today, our ride inside duel stopped in the middle, positive, we stacked up lots of points, negative, we kept getting jumpscared as we stopping in the middle of the house, then an old man had to push our ride for a bit, then the cart went slow, and they said, sorry for the delay, and I was like, ain't nobody got time for that, and was like, fancy being stuck in a haunted house, almost died clause it went cold 😧
Missing school injections and English test to come here tomorrow!!!😂😂😂
Can someone answer my question, I have a phobia of sick I would say quite bad and I am planning to go to thorpe park in 2022, if I am on a ride next to a stranger I get extremely uneasy and uncomfortable (especially if its a loop ride etc.) because I am scared that they will throw up. What do I do about it and how common is it?
i have a sickness problem too, no matter what i eat or drink i always throw up every couple of minutes or so. i've learned to deal with it and hold the puke in and its difficult on coasters but its possible. im not sure how i do it.
This is filmed like an airport safety information video lol. Great video though!!!
Do you have cameras in the cabin to see if someone is ill?
Thank you 🙏
I was on a ride called freedom flyer at Alabama which was one of those tall swing rides and it got stuck at the top
i remember when i was on the vertical lift hill on the smiler and it stopped halfway up, it hurt my neck so much 😭
The media should learn from this
It would have been nice for you to explain what brake runs are or at the very least how a ride can’t be stopped on a loop
The trouble is when I've gone to Chessington you've usually got the ride operators in the booths on the phone to each other rather than monitoring the ride. Scary.
Toby Wilson They have monitors for the ride in front of them...
Good marketing What a way to come back from the crash,
This isn’t really a reason why rides stop but as well if your in the queue and you’re sitting in it for ages and you see a cart going with no one on it, it’s usually them setting up a third cart to make the queue quicker but they forgot to tell you.
wdym
Frank has returned
Big up Francis Jackson
ATR: so what coadter do you want to show in the next park video
Merlin Magic: NEMESIS, GALACTICA AND MOST IMPORTANTLY OBLIVION AND SMILER
If anyone’s wanting to learn more about roller coaster safety, Coaster Bot has a great video on it!
Nice to see Thorpe Park at 1.03....
When he said the Operator can see all of the ride, what happened with the Smiler Surley you can see it had stalled??
David Allen Lack of communication, misunderstandings, lack of training, could have been any of them. Everyones human.
Fantastic
Imagine being on a ride and getting hit by a drone lol.
Francis Jackson is just our god, anyone else agree?
Last week when I was there, I was on oblivion and we stuck just before the edge for like 10 minutes because some asshole was filming, luckily we all got 1 fast track. Of course the lines were short as it was a school day but we got to thirteen quicker.
so what went wrong with the smiler & why wasn't that one stopped?
jason adams The ride op. overrode the system.
CAN I ALSO ASK HOW CAN THE DIRECTOR SEE PEOPLE THE WHOLE TRACK IN DUEL?
So if the rides have so many sensors how did no one notice that there was a stationary cart on the smiler and why did it not stop another cart from going into it then
Matt Ryder The sensors stopped it. The operator of the Smiler at the time overrode it
From 1:01 to 1:04 it was at Thorpe park
I was queing for oblivion once and was at the station. And it stoped at the top and it went over the speakers saying it was stoped to get what they where filming on
MY BOY FRANCIS JACKSON
Also why show tidal wave that ride isn't even at Alton towers? Yeah I get that Marlin own both Thorpe park and Alton towers but still ...
1:03 what ride is/was that?
Luna Music Tidal Wave at Thorpe Park, bit weird they've used a ride that's not at Alton Towers :P
‘They will stop the ride if they see a phone/camera in there hand’
I had someone snap video selfi the whole ride on the smiler
Guys,please don't blame these guys for what happened to the smiler blame the people watching it they could have told the smiler people before they happened 😕just letting ya know!
the picture booth im guessing costs?
Yep they will charge you a lot of money probably
Nemesis don't stop for no bad weather, my first rollercoaster in heavy rain and massive hailstones hitting me in the face. (Massive for England anyway)
bad weather means high winds or lightning
The winds were also very high. (Sorry I forgot to mention that)
The ride has a certain wind threshold that if it reaches it must stop. If it was still operating under those conditions, it was still below the threshold. The reason the Smiler keeps stalling is because it has quite a low threshold (I think 20-30mph winds) so can stall more often than the other rides.
Not as bad as stealth, my lip blead when I rode it in the storm!!!
Pick fav theme park
Alton Towers-Legoland-Disney Land
I would love to work at Alton towers being ride operates are stuff based around rides it would be cool I would just struggle getting to Alton towers
At 1:04 that’s tideawave and it s at Thorpe Park not Alton towers
So?
If I owned a theme park I'd name fun island and starter roller coaster would be a wooden coaster called the hectic
Good Vid!
im sorry but heavy rain it was fucking hailing on the Smiler and we still went on and enjoyed it
1.04 was thorpe park
Love this theme park love this so much
'Stay Safe' Look Up The Smiler Mate.
Big Brother is always watching.
I remember when we are on the monerrail and my dad said "somebody dropped their phone on Rita ”
This had to be the education video used after the Smiler crash
funny that everything he says what operaters do for safety but on 2015 the operator did nothing on the smiler (operate during high wind, didnt check cameras, override the failstop)
ofc i think this will never happen again and the people got kicked out of their jobs.