Sunday 3rd September 2017
Lots of work has happened on site since our last visit to the park. Much more bent have been put in place and the ride is starting to look a lot more like a rollercoaster with several pieces of the bents having wooden tracks being laid which will eventually hold the metal track for the train to sit on. There has also been several log walls build around the area of the ride.
The corner near the queue line shop has continued and a tunnel appears to have started, which according to the plans the sound tunnel will go round the corner.
The queue line path has continued down the bottom of the site and has started to take shape and give us some idea on the queue line route.
SW8 Love it when a plan goes together
Sunday 13th August 2017
Another week another time checking out the SW8 construction, there has been again, a lot of changes on the site. The main difference is the fact that they have extended the white sheet hiding the theming element, hiding more of the theming element however, photos taken further down the path reveal what has been done to the "spikes" of the theming element.
As you could see in the photos there seems to have been some spraying / the start of some rock work for the element. Another change comes with the addition of more bents just before the shed. This shows an element of airtime that we are going to have on the ride before we go through the theming element. The shed is coming along, the roof has been covered since last time we visited.
There also seems to be the start of a path being formed near the construction wall. On the lift hill there has been planks added in going up the lift hill and more work has been done on the pre show building, with wood now starting to around the metal structure.
SW8 All changing on the site
Sunday 6th August 2017
It's all changing on the SW8 site at the moment with lots going on up and down the site with lots to see. Although there was no work on site with it being a Sunday there was still lots to see since our last visit last week.
The bents we saw being prepped for placement are now in place and shows the degree of the banking on that section of the ride, below where the bents have been placed a lot of dirt seems to have been removed, the dirt itself can be seen on the site outside of the park. More bents have also gone up halfway up the site that start to go into the pit.
Near the new bents the new building has appeared which seems to look like a queue line shop, as it has a rear entrance and a big window.
The pre show building frame has now gone up and looks impressive at the back of the site, and some of the station building walls have gone up.
Work continues down the bottom of the site
Saturday 29th July 2017
Work continues down the bottom of the site, TV's are now in place along the pathway and on site bents are being prepared ready for being put in place in a few days time. We noticed before entering the park that Universal Rocks were on site, who have done work on Taron, as well as several areas of Europa Park. We noticed them under the currently covered theming structure, could the theming structure be made of / surrounded by rock work?
Work has stalled at the top end of the site at the moment however, we noticed one man working on the lift hill carrying wood up the lift hill, although are unsure what the reason for that is.
Since last visiting the station building has progressed rapidly however, no visible work was taking place on our visit.
Wicker Man Lift Hill Complete
Wednesday 12th July 2017
With the lift hill now complete work on the first turn and drop is now in progress. It would seem GCI arn't standing around waiting for the grass to grow with this project. When the lift hill was completed the highest point of the ride was completed in GCI style of putting the flags of all of the teams involved up.
Sunday 2nd July 2017
After the manic week that has been the SW8 site, we visited today to find the site deserted after those working on site have a well deserved day off! Not much has changed due to this fact but it does allow us to see where all that hard work has gone. A little more work has progressed during our last update but not much. Mainly just more for the first drop section.
SW8 First Drop Construction
Friday 30th June 2017
In the last of our daily updates of this week yet more of the lift hill for the ride has been constructed. And the first wooden struts of the first drop have been put into place. More concrete walls have been added to the station building and foundations continue to be poured in the pit. With more metal rebar yet to be filled it's still a long way off.
Wednesday 28th June 2017
Work on the lift hill of the new rollercoaster continues again today despite the rain.
Tuesday 27th June 2017
We arrived at Alton Towers today and the lift hill for SW8 has started to go up. We will update with more information and photos as we get them.
Saturday 17th June 2017
The Sun was shining and construction was in full swing on the wonderful Saturday at Alton Towers. The site has progressed a lot since our absence from the park due to us galavanting around Europe. The theming structure we reported on a few months ago and coming along nicely.
The site is starting to come along with several areas of the site starting to come together, mainly near the station area with most of the building taking shape and wooden track structure coming out of the station.
There was lots of activity on the site with around 20+ people on site and towards the end of the day several identical track pieces were moved from the car park onto the SW8 site. After investigating the track pieces and comparing to other wooden coasters these pieces highly resemble a transfer track.
It is an exciting time at Alton Towers at the moment and I'm sure when we next look at the site there will be much more to report on as process seems to be moving at a rockets pace.
