• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

2017 and 2018 Attractions

Interesting. My first thoughts have turned to Charlie, and maybe that's where the new 2017 attraction will be going.
 
Plans may have changed or been delayed, but perhaps it's charlie's replacement? I'm sure this was found a while ago, but it does look interesting. Not much to go on, but "Highly confidential" suggests dark ride to me, especially if sw8 isn't given that status.
 
Yeah, I don't see anything particularly interesting about SW8 and certainly looks like it's going to lack a world first element.

A highly confidential project for 2017 could well be the CATCF replacement. They have a good sized building on their hands right there and could do all sorts with it.
 
Wouldn't we have *probably* seen planning permission for any coaster project (or other major project) that wouldn't be housed in a building that's already constructed? Makes me lean heavily towards Charlie replacement, but it was planned a year before the crash, so maybe new budgets might push the project back. Promising though, at least something significant going on and they are thinking of opening more rides.
 
If it is a replacement for Charlie then hopefully it's actually a good dark ride. It would be quite a feat for it to be worse than Charlie, even for Merlin! ;)
 
Surely for anything substantial to happen in the CATCF building we would have seen some movement by now?

With what we've seen the past few weeks/months, it seems plans have changed with a focus on CBeebies Land & hotel for 2017.
 
Same system, new cosmetics/theming? possibly utilizing a few new elements. Ideally I would like a new flume, and I do see that arriving in CCL soon enough, but whether this project is it, I don't know. Pretty sure unless its just a retheme its been delayed or cancelled. I also doubt the Cbeebies attraction started in 2014.
 
James said:
Surely for anything substantial to happen in the CATCF building we would have seen some movement by now?
Click to expand...

Anything could bee happening inside that building for all we know. It's fairly out of the way for most peeps, and we don't even know what's going on inside Hex never mind CATCF.

I highly doubt the CBeebies flat would be top secret, I mean who really cares? Won't be the hotel either as plans have been around for so long.

Maybe we're getting a CBeebies dark ride, just a simple/cheap retheme like Charlie was, although it would be a shame to stick a CBeebies ride up there away from the land but they're doing it with the hotel so it's possible I guess. It's also the perfect time for a family dark ride.
 
I think if the redevelopment of Charlie does turn out to be another IP job where the props inside are simply replaced and a new sign stuck up outside I will probably lose all faith entirely that Merlin will ever produce a creative ride again.

Apart from the now formulaic SW developments every 3/4 years (SW8 looking to continue the trend despite being wood).......where has the ambition gone? They just don't take any risks or think anywhere near big enough. CBeebies was a totally risk free investment following far behind just about every other family park in the UK. The Smiler was a bold plan but executed so poorly and finished so shoddily I can barely consider it a success. They have done nothing else in the last 6 years that can in my opinion be considered good developments for the park.

That Charlie site and adjoining restaurant needs bulldozing or at the very least stripped right back to the bare shell of the building and starting right again from scratch. What is currently there essentially is about 35 years old now and is certainly not one of the park draws by any means....yet that site is easily large enough to build one of the park's headline family attractions. Something that forms the centrepiece for a brand new area in that corner of the park with a range of integrated rides and attractions faithful to that theme, not just a jumble of random kids IP's and loads of tatty bits and pieces left from old themes which is essentially what that area behind the Towers is presently.

It's not lack of large investment that is a problem at Alton Towers by any means but rather a total lack of any evidence of a plan to build a world class theme park with far too much fixation on new developments as marketable 'products' for short term gain rather than a means to develop the park over the longer term. As echoed by others, apart from the obvious constraints by Merlin the clear problem is a lack of people talent in decision making roles at the park...no vision!!
 
Last edited:
It can't be very "major" if they haven't already started building it. My money is on some glorified HB Leasure piece of tat.
 
I suppose there is a slim chance of some sort of Charlie re-theme next year but I'm really not taking some guys LinkedIn account that seriously. It says he started work on the 2017 attraction in November 2014, a hell of a lot has changed since then. I suspect this is just the original SW8 that was scheduled for 2017 and he's just not bothered to take it off his profile. I would be shocked if we got more than the CBeebies flat and a new hotel in 2017.

:)
 
Is it possible that they were originally looking at a Dreamworks IP to replace Charlie, but with Universal purchasing Dreamworks that has fallen through?
 
In all honesty, the only things I expect to see in 2017 are the new CBeebies rides and hotel along with Hex (and something else) reopen.

The problem with Merlin is they rarely take risks. It seems if it doesn't feature a USP, world first or an IP there is no chance of that development happening.
 
It has just occured to me that this entire thread was created on the back of this LinkedIn profile. 2017 is Cbeebies flat and hotel, 2018 is SW8. Sorted!

:)
 
Matt Creek said:
The problem with Merlin is they rarely take risks. It seems if it doesn't feature a USP, world first or an IP there is no chance of that development happening.
Click to expand...
And you don't need a USP, a world's first or an IP to sell a good ride (especially the latter two points, though I agree that they can certainly help :p). Everything these day needs some sort of USP that makes it different from the rest, and that makes it stand out. Otherwise it's harder for people to take an interest in it. Take Helix, for example. What could its USP be? Well, a number of things. It's a smooth, fast, thrilling ride that intertwines with Lisebergbananaramabanan, has multiple inversions, and is built on the side of a freaking hill. I guess the last bit could be a USP in its own right, and everything else would just be a great added bonus. :p I'm intrigued to see what these developments for 2017 are (though it's pretty certain that it's going to be the CBeebies flat and hotel, and this development mentioned on LinkedIn is SW8 that got pushed back by a year).

Still want something sorted to replace Charlie, though, but an original idea and not an IP for once would be great.
 
There's a suggestion here that because of The Smiler incident, plans for 2017 would have changed but this guy has updated his profile since then because it includes Derren Brown's Ghost Train and details of Galactica. If 2017 had been written off surely he would have removed that from his list of projects?
 
2017 has not been written off though, we are getting a ride in CBeebies Land and a new hotel. The CBeebies ride is yet to be announced and the hotel has only been announced very recently. Details of both could be seen as somewhat confidential, infact most things Towers do in theory should be strictly confidential but never turn out to be.

Of course there could be something else in 2017 but I would be extremely surprised.

:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top