What? Wait! That's not a bad piece of publicity for Alton Towers. What's going on? When will the world end???

Great idea and I imagine that a lot of people are currently struggling to read this with clean pants

Luckily, I haven't showered today yet. So I'm not that fussed.

Damn it.
Why do I have to be so young?

The terms and conditions states "A place on the Design Council for the design of the new 2013 rollercoaster at the Alton Towers Resort. Prize includes involvement to be arranged by the promoter including discussions, focus groups and other activities deemed necessary by the promoter."

Any idea what they mean by promoter? Does that just mean Alton Towers?

Yeah it means Towers, who are the promoter of this competition...

For this, I applied, cos it is an interesting prize for anyone with some form of interest in the industry, even if it's a bit of a fib that the winner will have actually any say into the ride design itself... But probs with stuff to do with the name, theme, merch and a few other odds and sods...

I dont know if I could handle the pressure of winning. Threre are alot of people who would expect a coaster enthusiast to make some thing good, so what if it wasnt to their expectations?

Also, what if it isnt as good as it sounds, you end up on tv pretending to be part of it, when really you just choose the colour of the new ride and be patronised?

I dunno...either way, I think I wont be part of this. I can just sit back, and enjoy what someone else (hopefully a coaster enthusiast) makes. (Hopefully Loefet wins after seeing "Mission to Mars" )

I'd say it's probably for the best if anyone thinking of entering this doesn't harp on about being a coaster enthusiast; it's more likely to put them off than interest them.

Suck up to AT, and have big tits.

I would say sucking off AT would be a more apprioriate comment in some cases

It's annoying that I can't enter as I have what I think a great idea for a new Alton ride.

Inverting Drop tower

What I have in mind here is a drop tower like Sky Drop at Adventure Island, where all the riders sit in one big line, but the seats can rotate, flipping the riders around. Have a badly drawn picture:

And that's why it's 18 and over...

^ Think, It's doesn't need to much height to be fun, another world first and it's a style of ride that IMO Alton is missing (Drop tower). It's almost perfect for Alton. For the inverting bit, It doesn't always have to flip right over. It could turn the riders so they're facing directly down.

^There's no way on earth they will be asking people for a new ride concept. They know exactly what ride they're getting for 2013. This is a publicity stunt, plain and simple.

I recon it's a stunt too, however I think there is some sneaky reason behind it all. I recon the reason it's 18+ isn't to do with quality of ideas, it's that the target audience of this attraction is adults. They did say it's going to be a thrill-seeker ride. I recon the winners (yes plural) will be a team of people who will be used like a market research panel with regard to name, marketing and some theming aspects.

It's hardly going to actually be anything to do with designing the ride... I've entered on the basis of why not? It's a good opportunity to get to talk to, meet and greet people within the company for whoever wins


I always thought that, but you'd be surprised. I've found that working knowledge actually really interests them. There are a lot of enthusiasts working in the industry, it's just that most aren't typical enthusiasts, they are people who are "enthusiasts" of the leisure industry in general, or of themed spaces in general. It goes back to what you said in the other topic though, there's a difference between types of enthusiast. "I go to alton towers 50 times a year and I love Nemesis!" won't impress them, but I recon that generally showing a working knowledge and interest that's not so specific might?

Though, if I'm right about the 18+ thing, playing a wild card of "I'm just your average 20 year and I'm a thrill seeker" might also work.