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2016: Theme Park Developments

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stretchy said:
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but one of the things that JW mentioned eons ago, was now that Merlin was growing into a larger company there was more chance of them being able to split the cost of a large dark ride, such as spider man (his example), between a number of parks, the majority of the costs are on the programmiing and films, so only need doing once. So why not have a 50M ride going into Alton, and 10 other merlin parks around the world?
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There isn't 10 other Merlin parks though but they are already putting similar rides in other parks.

Gardaland and Thorpe Park both go wing coasters 1 year apart, Alton Towers and Chessington both got spinning coasters in the same year (that was Tussaud's not Merlin). For Legoland, it is even more obvious they do this as they already have the same themes in the parks, for example the Haunted House that opened in Denmark is also trying to go into Windsor.

Trouble is, other than the Legoland parks, Merlin don't have a strong "brand" of theme parks, Alton, Thorpe, Chessington, Gardaland and Heide parks are all very different places. But I am sure if they did go for something on the scale of Spiderman, at least 2 parks will get it (probably Gardaland and Thorpe again or Alton Towers and Heide park).
 
Sorry to correct you Jon81uk, but Merlin do indeed have more than 10 parks.

In total Merlin own 14 parks (3 of them aren't open yet) 6 (9 including not opened) are Legoland ones. 5 are 'resorts' .
There is no rule that a ride cant go in a legoland park AND a 'Resort' park.

So something based around the Lego games could possibly go in all 14 parks (even though it would be daft putting it in Towers, Thorpe and Chessy)
 
stretchy said:
Sorry to correct you Jon81uk, but Merlin do indeed have more than 10 parks.

In total Merlin own 14 parks (3 of them aren't open yet) 6 (9 including not opened) are Legoland ones. 5 are 'resorts' .
There is no rule that a ride cant go in a legoland park AND a 'Resort' park.

So something based around the Lego games could possibly go in all 14 parks (even though it would be daft putting it in Towers, Thorpe and Chessy)
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Sorry I should have said, excluding Legoland parks, they don't have 10 parks :)

I expect there is a rule with Lego that they can't put the same thing in Lego parks and Resort parks (otherwise they would have already used a Lego 4D show at AT). The rules on how the Lego IPs can be used will be quite strictly set out.

Also as you pointed out they are opening more Legoland parks but non resort parks, therefore worldwide I don't think non-lego resorts are their focus.
 
I'm not sure what the IP laws are concerning Lego but forgetting IP's that doesn't stop them developing a ride set-up that is used across all parks. For example the initial Research and Development costs for Atlantis at Legoland must have been quite high. However now such a ride exists there's nothing stopping them giving it a slight re-theme and rolling the concept out across all there parks.

In fact you could say this has already happened with ABC Drop Towers and Sea Life's now appearing in most Merlin owned attractions. The Ghosts ride in Denmark's Legoland is a child friendly version of Sub-Terra.
 
I think a dark ride system rolled out across Merlin parks wouldn't be out the question. Maybe a unique theme for Towers, different theme for Thorpe, then other Merlin parks carry the same UK themes in different styles. Would cut costs for developing different ride systems/layouts in different parks.
 
One of the best things about Merlin is the potential for them to invest in common ride technologies which they could then pull from when designing attractions for individual parks (they definitely shouldn't be carbon-copying rides or IP).

I guess it's a bit like how Disney invested in trackless dark ride technology which they have since used in multiple rides, but each ride has been completely different.
 
I think I have a pretty decent plan for the next 5 years at Alton Towers. I think at the end of the 2015 season Ripsaw needs to be moved to X-Sector and rethemed into a hypnotic device that could pair well with the smiler. That opens up that place. Then here, for 2016, an Inverted (dont ask why out i think it would look good)Wing-rider should be put in the area behind Ripsaw, with the queue starting roughly where Ripsaw is now, and going down into the valley. In 2017, I feel RITA must be removed, as it isnt even greatly fast compared to other Coasters of its type. I think a couple if flat rides should be placed here in 2018 and maybe 2021, which perhaps makes the area more like a Dark Forest with 13 and some pretty highly themed flats. The 2019 rollercoaster should be a more supreme RITA, and with Ring Racer likely being shut down, this opens up the market for 'Europes fastest Rollercoaster'. It doesnt have to reach speeds of TTD or KK, but it should be fast. It doesnt have to be really high either, it can just dip through and over rocks to make it a really good coaster. Where this should be put? I don't know. The Air carpark is a possiblity, but then 4 coasters would be in 1 area, and that isnt great. Maybe a new area can be opened up? AT have a lot of space to work with, I'm sure they can find room. Another thing as well, do you think if Alton Towers continues at its current rate for the next 20 years, assuming all coasters are still around, do you think all queue times would be under 30 minutes? Considering the amount of rides
 
Hey everybody. Over at TowersTimes, a guy named Karnan is claiming to have a LOT of information, but cant back any of it up. Don't shoot the messenger, this is just what he has said-

In 2017, Alton Towers will receive an RMC launched wooden topper-track coaster. This coaster will feature an inclined launch (LSM) up a hillside to a top speed around 80 kph. It will feature a high-speed in-line-twist, a zero-g-roll, and a wave turn (similar to Outlaw Run) over the station. I have not heard anything about the supposed location of the coaster in the park or any theme/name.

I've said pretty much all I can remember. I didn't get many specific dimensions, as they weren't on the images I saw. Again, these drawings also did not have a park location or theme/name with them. They were merely titled, "Alton Towers 2017 launched wooden coaster" or something to that extent.
This is what I can confirm from memory:
-Station at the bottom of a hillside.
-Left hand turn out of the station.
-Heavily inclined launch up hill
-Airtime hill down maybe 7m to top of hill
-Speed up to maybe 80 kph
-Straight into in-line-twist
-Flat turn around (to the left)
-Airtime bump
-Zero-G roll down the hillside (under the lift)
-Wave turn over the station.
The rest I don't remember for sure, it made pretty much one larger loop without going up the hillside again, possibly one more inversion. I only saw these two images for a minute or so (one being a No Limits rendering that RMC made themselves, the other an AutoCAD drawing).

Now- take this all with a large inch of salt. A few of us believe that Karnan could potentially be Alton Towers posting themselves under an alias, we aren't sure. Obviously Karnan is a German park, so in theory bears no resemblance to AT in any way, but who knows? Just curious for your thoughts. If you want, there's a link below so you can see for yourselves
http://forum.towerstimes.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31149&start=2060
 
*yawn* this always happens.

It's a plausible idea, but I don't think an anonymous user posting on TowersTimes gives it any more credence than any of the suggestions in this thread. This happens for every Secret Weapon: do you remember when Shawn 'revealed' that SW6 would be a B&M? Or that person who fooled TowersTimes into thinking that SW7 would have the Washing Machine?
 
I've heard there's going to be a 2000 ft drop tower with a massive hard shaft supporting the ring and two new b&m coasters In 2016

My source is betch who is a very reliable source he's just told me there's new lodges being installed but it's still top secret
 
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Jordan said:
*yawn* this always happens.

It's a plausible idea, but I don't think an anonymous user posting on TowersTimes gives it any more credence than any of the suggestions in this thread. This happens for every Secret Weapon: do you remember when Shawn 'revealed' that SW6 would be a B&M? Or that person who fooled TowersTimes into thinking that SW7 would have the Washing Machine?
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Honestly man, I only started coming onto TowersTimes in August, and even later on here. Was just curious tbh
 
It's easy to follow people who post 'secret' information like that when you're relatively new to these theme park forums. :)

Although like said above this has happened with every Secret Weapon of the Merlin era (Th13teen and The Smiler). In reality those who actually are 'in the know' and know what the next big developments/attractions/roller coasters keep quiet. People who usually know everything are given this info because they are trusted to not go around blabbing on forums like a child in a playground.

The minute someone appears on a forum describing in full the type of coaster and the layout you know it's either: 1. Someone trolling. Or 2. Someone thinking they can fool everyone and thinking they will be believed. Either way it's to be taken with a truck load of salt.
 
Seems similar to the guy who was convinced there was going to be a washing machine on The Smiler. Can't remember his username now, but I seem to recall he promised to eat something if he was wrong? :p
 
There is no reason Towers wouldn't get an RMC, but I wouldn't trust such rumours if only because at this point in development there are probably a few ride concepts in existence for SW8.
 
Alastair said:
Seems similar to the guy who was convinced there was going to be a washing machine on The Smiler. Can't remember his username now, but I seem to recall he promised to eat something if he was wrong? :p
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That was @spin_doctor, I believe. From what I recall, he said he'd crack some eggs on his face and upload the photos to here. Ever since The Smiler opened, however, he seems to have vanished. Hmmm... :p
 
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