Bluey the Ride: Here Come the Grannies! Development
Plans & Concepts
In December 2024, Alton Towers announced their intention to build a new coaster in CBeebies Land ready for the 2026 season. The full planning documents state that:
The proposal is for the removal of an existing attraction and to replace it with a new attraction and ancillary buildings (station and maintenance buildings) within the CBeebies Land area of Alton Towers.
Shortly afterwards, documents related to ‘Project Sunshine‘ were uploaded to the Staffordshire Moorlands Planning Portal, and have since been significantly updated in April 2025. The planning documents confirmed that the new attraction would be a coaster and was set to be built on the site occupied by Postman Pat Parcel Post.
In the plans, the new coaster looks to have a reasonably basic layout, but the plans didn't include a secret element, and during construction it was revealed that the coaster would also have a pair of helixes in the middle of the course. The lift-hill will take the ride to a high point slightly above the height of the station building, before the coaster swoops down into the figure-8 helixes and back into the station.
To accommodate the new coaster, the park completely removed the existing Postman Pat ride along with all the existing buildings on the site and the new coaster’s track will mainly occupy the end of the site where the former ride’s station and queue line were located. The end of the site nearest to the entrance to CBeebies Land, including the former Corner Coffee terrace, will be used for queue lines and associated theming.
Get Set Go Treetop Adventure also passed through the site of Postman Pat Parcel Post and would have clashed with the new development, resulting in the ride being shortened during the summer of 2025 to make space for the new coaster.
Whilst Postman Pat is arguably one of the more famous faces on CBeebies, due to his familiarity with multiple generation, the current iteration of the popular IP, Postman Pat’s Parcel Post, is no longer shown on the CBeebies TV channel and the final episode was made in 2017. The character was therefore prime for removal to bring fresh IPs into CBeebies Land.
Postman Pat Parcel Post was one of the headline attractions of CBeebies Land when it first opened in 2014, and was a new ride system reusing the path of the former Old Macdonald’s Tractor Ride. The ride system is therefore still relatively young, sparking speculation that it may end up in storage pending a retheme and relocation somewhere either within Alton Towers or one of the other Merlin theme parks.
Original Plans
The plans for Project Sunshine were resubmitted on April 11th 2025 in a scaled back form. Whilst the ride itself appears to be identical to the original intention, the major change came in the removal of the proposed maintenance structure, which would have linked into the backstage area between CBeebies Land and Towers Street.
The original plans, including maintenance shed:
As a result of the change, the coaster was relocated closer to the centre of the site, resulting in reconfiguration of the various queue lines and exit paths, simplifying the overall plan. The relocation also allows for more of the existing greenery to be retained, with fewer trees removed along the back of the site. It is understood that the retention of the trees on the site was one of the driving forces behind the decision to update the plans.
The loss of the maintenance structure is accompanied by a significant reduction of the size of the station itself and a reconfiguration of the layout. Notably, a large pair of windows have replaced the original location of the ride's exit path, which now crosses back over the track and out through the other side of the building. The overall height of the building is also lower, though it is still tall enough to contain three floors, including a new maintenance bay underneath the station.
A view of the original station with maintenance building:
Compared with the new, smaller station building:
The other significant change seems to result in less theming opportunities for the ride. The original plans had 11 Theming Areas, most of which are still clearly present in the updated plans. However, several of the queue line theming areas have been lost, with the theming in the queue now focused in three areas, one of which seems to have had a significant redesign, as it does not correspond with any of the theming areas of the original plans.
Overall, it would seem that the changes were in part at the request of the local planning authority, but also include clear cost efficiency savings for the park as well.
Construction
Postman Pat Parcel post closed on June 2nd 2025, and construction immediately got underway for Project Sunshine. On the first day after closure, all figures, signage and other IP related to Postman Pat were removed from site ahead of demolition beginning. By the end of the week, the site was then surrounded by a construction wall, which was built as the soundtrack to Postman Pat Parcel Post still echoed from the speakers around the site.
The work on Get Set Go Treetop Adventure could also swiftly get underway, as the foundations for the new supports had been poured over the previous Winter and covered in wood chippings until needed. It therefore only took a single day for the now unnecessary track to be removed from Get Set Go, along with several supports. And by the end of the week, much of the new course had already been installed, using a mixture of original track pieces, connected by new fabrication.
The work on Get Set Go was completed within a month and ride reopened in early July. During that time, the main entrance to CBeebies Land was closed, whilst work is being carried out overhead. Whilst this work was carried out, the entrance to CBeebies Land was through the tree next door, a little closer to Spinball Whizzer with guests entering the main part of the rest of CBeebies Land through Big Fun Showtime. This also meant that CBeebies Land Photo Studio was closed and the entrance to Something Special Sensory Garden was through the exit.
Groundwork for the new coaster continued throughout the season, including laying the foundations for the supports and the framework for the station going up. This mean the site was ready for the track to start construction as soon as the closed season started. The first track elements were installed in late November, and by Christmas the entire track had been completed, revealing that the coaster had an additional helix below the lift hill, which had not been included in the original plans.
Work continued in the new year, and by February Half Term the train had been installed on the track, and the ride took its first test runs in front of the crowds visiting the park for the 2026 Pirate Takeover.
Marketing
Ever since the park first revealed they intended to build the new coaster, there had been much speculation that the new coaster would be themed to Bluey, currently one of the most popular shows on CBeebies. Bluey had originally arrived in CBeebies Land at the start of the 2024 season, but the park had yet to make much use of the IP, other than a small-scale show in Big Fun Showtime and accompanying Meet and Greet.
It was of little surprise therefore when, on September 8th 2025, the parked confirmed the new ride would indeed be a Bluey-themed coaster.
Over the coming months, as the ride was installed along with the first theming elements, it became apparent that the coaster would be set in Bluey's backyard, with the entrance through her house. And in January 2026, the park revealed that the coaster would be based around the Grannies characters, as played by Bluey and Bingo. On January 21st 2026 the ride's name was revealed as Bluey the Ride: Here Come the Grannies!
Before the February Half Term, the park shared a first look at the lead car for the coaster train, featuring Granny Janet and Granny Rita. This preceded the first test runs, which drew crowds to watch during the 2026 Pirate Takeover.
After half-term had wrapped up, the park announced that the ride would officially open on March 28th 2026. For the reveal video, Alton Towers used 11,000 cans of beans to create a giant image of Bluey as Granny Janet on the front lawns of the Towers. (We are reliably informed that this makes sense if you're a fan of the show!)