Earlier this week news broke in the enthusiast community that the X Sector area of the park was due for a makeover, including a full repaint of Oblivion.
TowersTimes has been authorised by Alton Towers Resort to reveal the news from the confidential staff magazine ‘The Pulse’.
This week, the Pulse can exclusively announce that our classic Secret Weapon coaster Oblivion is set to debut an amazing makeover this Theme Park season, as work will begin on a full repaint of the track on Monday!
“Securing a repaint for Oblivion is brilliant news – it’s certainly long overdue, so we’re all incredibly excited to have the oppertunity to return it to its former glory”, comments Technical Services Directory Terry Dunn. “This time around we’re using a specialist satin finish paint that will be much more durable than the previous matte; and the colour we’ve chosen is identical to that used on SW7, so they’ll look even more fantastic together! We’ve also got loads more plans in the pipeline to enhance the appearance of the ride, including the shuttles themselves and the harnesses, which will hopefully be confirmed shortly.
With X Sector set to be a massive Resort hotspot for 2013, it’s essential that everything looks its absolute best, and I’m a firm believer that maintaining our existing assets is just as important as adding new ones such as SW7. With that in mind we’re working on a wider plan to develop the look of the area as a whole, such as taking ownership for the planting around the new ride, and refurbishing the toilet building at the top of the area. We’ll keep you posted of the progress in the Pulse – the repaint alone is due to be a six week job, so it’s no small task, but I’m sure you’ll agree that all the hard work will definitely be worth it!”
In addition to the X Sector revamp, Alton Towers Resort also announced to its staff that the popular scarefest attraction ‘The Sanctuary’ – which shares its storyline with the new SW7 ride, will also reopen in March.
Not one exclusive, but two for you this week – the Pulse can reveal that our epic new-for-2012 scare maze, The Sanctuary, is set to return for the start of the new Park season! Starring the enigmatic Dr Kelman and his eerie staff, the maze went down so well with guests that it even won ‘Best Scare Attraction’ at last weeks ScareTOUR awards, and as the gruesome experience hints at the background of our new coaster SW7, The Sanctuary has certainly earned its place at the starting blocks of our biggest season yet.
“We’re delighted to be bringing The Sanctuary back!”, comments our Operations Development Director Mark Kerrigan. “The uniqueness and detail of the experience clearly had a huge impact, with guests still talking about it months after Scarefest ended – and it’s all down to the incredible dedication of our Entertainments Team, who worked so hard to create and run something entirely new. Operating a maze during the season will be a really interesting challenge, as we’ve never tried it before, and have certain other considerations to make, as we’ll need to establish new routes in and out of the Towers to keep them open for guests who might not fancy a scare. Combining our history with such a compelling 21st century attracrion is also a great way to introduce more of our guests to the Towers’ incredible past, so it really is a win for us on so many levels!”
TowersTimes would have to agree with Mark Kerrigan on that last point. This season is certainly shaping up to be one of the best in recent years, with a new Secret Weapon on the way, an entire area refurbishment as well as the additional bonus attraction of The Sanctuary we simply cannot wait for the park to reopen.
That’s not all folks, tonight at 6:30PM TowersTimes will have an exclusive aerial construction update of the SW7 site. You must be a member of TowersTimes Forum in order to view the update so we recommend signing up now. There has never been a better time to join the largest and friendliest Alton Towers community. Here’s a little preview of what’s to come!
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