DaveB

Driving past at about 1:30pm today I noticed that the top part of the SP has been removed; I am quite sure it was intact when I drove by in the morning. No photos unfortunately. Daveb.

Whether or not she saw the coaster being tested (a possibility I suppose), any references to bags being thrown overboard were more likely just a recount of the old story about bags being thrown overboard during a test run. These stories are just that: stories (ie urban myths). I would discourage promoting them. Cheers, Daveb.

Why did they even bother maintaining the park for the 3 months? There doesn't seem to be any commerical gain in doing so, other than perhaps keeping it looking nice for potential buyers of equipment.

As of this morning it was still there. The arms are horizontal (both sets of gondolas are in half raised) so it doesn't stand out like it used to, but is still visible from a distance (before the M7 construction work) as you drive Westbound on the M4. Cheers, Dave.

On the topic of the Demon rollercoaster... Driving along the M4 today I noticed a large crane in place alongside the rollercoaster, though the coaster structure did not appear to have had any sections removed so far (as best I could tell from a distance travelling along a motorway!). Presumably they are beginning to take it down for transport to the US, as Wonderbus has previously informed the forum. DaveB.

I agree that this was quite obvious. The land clearly has the potential to be very lucrative industrial land. The location says it all: on the intersection of the main East-West transport link (M4 motorway) and the soon-to-be main North-South transport link (Weslink M7 motorway). With the Weslink M7 currently under construction, clearly the time was right to "cash in on their investment" (ie the now prime industrial real estate Wonderland has sat on since well before the M4 was even in its current state), and this is obviously what has happened. Daveb.

On a tangentally related note... A month or two ago I noticed the Zodiac either in operation (ie gondolas actually moving) or having recently operated (ie different arm raised cf last time) when on my frequent morning drives westbound along the M4. I note that previous discussions here suggested that such operations were likely related to maintenance. However, driving along this week (after a break of a few weeks) I have noticed that the Zodiac appears to be permanently part-raised... of course it's difficult to tell at 100+ km/h, but the Zodiac doesn't seem to have the same height profile and the higher arm seems to be in a less vertical plane. Daveb.