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TBC: SW9 Speculation

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They could always move it rather than sacrifice it. I'm sure it would be a welcomed addition to FV or DF if they could make it fit. I'm sure I remember reading there were plans to move it to FV but it may have been a joke.
 
I hope this is not on their agenda. Towers cannot afford to lose yet another family ride! Spinball is somewhat underrated I feel.
I find it rough, jarring and on the whole thoroughly unpleasant which is funny because I really enjoy Dragons Fury! Would like to see something like a Jr Boomerang in its place (on a different site in the park)
 
The thing with 'loosing' a ride is rarely to do with the footprint. It is normally to free up operating staff and maintainance resource. It will be unlikely Towers will want to increase staffing and add a new ride.

I would suggest the Skyride would be a good option to remove. Maintainance must be high, and downtime is pretty common at the moment. It does also take quite a few people to operate!
 
The thing with 'loosing' a ride is rarely to do with the footprint. It is normally to free up operating staff and maintainance resource. It will be unlikely Towers will want to increase staffing and add a new ride.

I would suggest the Skyride would be a good option to remove. Maintainance must be high, and downtime is pretty common at the moment. It does also take quite a few people to operate!

Removing the Skyride would be an awful decision. It must have cost a fortune to build and it's the only form of inter-park transport in a park far too big to go without.
 
The only coaster I could see on the chopping block would be Rita. Those intamin hydrolic launch coasters don't have a long shelf life and Ritais pretty rattly and boring these days

As for non coaster Dule and cloud cookoo land would be in the chopping block IMHO. Possibly the area over by sub terror too

I really can't see them removing Rita yet. It still gets one of the longest queue times in the park and is quite popular with many visitors. I'd agree it is a pretty boring ride for the rollercoaster enthusiast. But I imagine it is probably rather thrilling for those who are newer to coasters.

As for its rattly nature and shelf life, then its probably best to remember corkscrew which was double the age and rattlyness before it was removed. So I can't really see Rita being removed yet, at least not for SW9.
 
Most non enthusiasts I know love Rita, and people always seem buzzing coming off the ride.

I was blown away by the launch when it first opened, and I guess a lot of first time riders/non regular visitors get that same feeling nowadays.
 
Most non enthusiasts I know love Rita, and people always seem buzzing coming off the ride.

I was blown away by the launch when it first opened, and I guess a lot of first time riders/non regular visitors get that same feeling nowadays.

I've done both KK in 09 and TTD last year on my trip to Cedar Point and despite being much slower, Rita's launch still delivers. It still gets me. It's the rest of the ride I find really dull. It's quite jolty and just doesn't do anything. Just meanders around a few helixes.

Oblivion's drop still gets me too after all these years despite going on taller versions.
 
Yeah that's why I don't bother with it anymore, it's too uncomfortable. Get some Taron style trains on there and it would be up there with Nemesis as a must ride.
 
Most non enthusiasts I know love Rita, and people always seem buzzing coming off the ride.

I was blown away by the launch when it first opened, and I guess a lot of first time riders/non regular visitors get that same feeling nowadays.

Yeah, my point exactly. Thats why I really cant see them dismantling Rita for space for SW9
 
The thing with 'loosing' a ride is rarely to do with the footprint. It is normally to free up operating staff and maintainance resource. It will be unlikely Towers will want to increase staffing and add a new ride.

I would suggest the Skyride would be a good option to remove. Maintainance must be high, and downtime is pretty common at the moment. It does also take quite a few people to operate!

Removing Skyride would be a huge mistake. As has already been said it makes getting round the park much easier for many guests (when it's working). I do know that Skyride was on very "high-hours" in terms of runtime going back a few years. The Poma engineers came over & could barely believe the runtime meter readings on maindrive. (They are more used to seeing ski lifts which operate 10am-4pm for about 4.5months a year - this was before Towers introduced 10-4pm operations though!) Then there was the investment only a few years ago in the new gondolas, so Skyride will be around for a while yet.

I disagree that losing a ride is done to free up operating staff / maintenance resources. Look at both Air & the Smiler. Both used areas of land that had not been used for a few seasons so there would have been an increase in staff [ride hosts / ops] to run the new ride. No idea if they increased maintenance - last year would suggest not as there was a lot of downtime. This year may suggest otherwise as by all accounts operations are much better.

The biggest problem Towers have re: SW9 is the planning & noise regulations. Then they have the small problem of the CAPEX budget that Merlin won't give them. Coaster Corner [that was] is crying out for development - would have to be an indoor ride to keep the noise away from Alton village. Those of you who have ridden Spider-Man at Islands of Adventure will know what can be done with the budget - it'll never happen though.

Merlin need to decide what to do with their RTP (Resort Theme Park) business, as it seemingly does not sit comfortably within their business model. They want Midway attractions galore that are easy to duplicate and relatively cheap to roll-out and give a pretty good quick buck in return & can operate year-round. RTP's are expensive as they require large CAPEX every few years to keep the ride offering updated and a big new ride only has a one or two year honeymoon period before the general public see it as old. Also, as Merlin are only too aware, one slip-up at one RTP can have dire consequences for the park in question & also the wider RTP estate.

I do hope we see a new coaster of some kind for SW9, It will be interesting to see when it appears though - I suspect we'll have to wait until at least 2022 though.
 
Those of you who have ridden Spider-Man at Islands of Adventure will know what can be done with the budget - it'll never happen though.
Well, Merlin's last high budget dark ride turned out to be a colossal flop so there's no way they'll invest in anything like that again. Too many fingers burnt.
 
Pretty crazy that they installed Rita with OTSR's in first place. It simply doesn't need them at all. Would make the ride experience far more enjoyable without. That will never happen though sadly.
 
With the new safety era that post smiler has brought in I would doubt towers would be happy to have any thrill coaster without OTSR sadly as the public could see lap bars as "unsafe"

Daily Mail: "would you trust your kids with a lap bar? SMILER HORROR CRASH theme park installs ride with JUST a TINY LAP Bar to hold you in"
 
Well, Merlin's last high budget dark ride turned out to be a colossal flop so there's no way they'll invest in anything like that again. Too many fingers burnt.
It also wasn't even close to the money required for a world class dark ride

Estimates online seem to be (These may be inaccurate but give an idea):
Harry Potter & FJ - $130 million
Expedition Everest- $120+ million (Okay its a coaster but most of the budget would be theming)
Tower of Terror- $100+ million
Spiderman - $100 million
Indiana Jones adventure- $90-120 million
Test Track- $70 million
...
...
Derren Brown's Joke Train - £13 million
 
Interestingly John Wardley mentioned Thorpe Park got quite far with planning a Spiderman style dark ride as far back as 2008

It also wasn't even close to the money required for a world class dark ride
You don't need an astronomical budget to make a good dark ride, those numbers on the American ones are ridiculously high but affordable for the American parks.

Those are fantastic attractions but if Merlin were thinking that throwing money at something in an attempt to be 'world class' would bring success, they were wrong from the start. It needs to be a good idea done well.

DBGT was a catastrophe of errors, but somewhere beneath the gimmicky last-minute VR and hipstery story, there is a great idea that got wasted
 
I think there's a lesson for Merlin to learn from Wicker Man... you don't have to do something "world first".

You can take something that already exists, something tried and tested, and still make a success of it. The irony is that using existing technology is also low risk and potentially lower cost which you think would appeal to Merlin who seem to be risk averse.
 
You can take something that already exists, something tried and tested, and still make a success of it.
This is true, but Merlin's strategy was rarely to ever do anything truly world first.

Their thing has always been to wait for other people to create a success, then buy it out and copy-paste it all over the world, this is the only way Merlin ever grew their company

The world first thing was another example of that, it worked once or twice when Tussauds got a real prototype, then under Merlin it became a promotional buzzword used for everything. Prototypes cost, so now they just make wild 'world first' claims for everything. The actual rides are usually just formulaic ideas with a gimmick on top

Wicker man did have a really wobbly world first claim but it wasnt really a part of the ride's development thankfully. More just advertising slapped on top, not the basis of the whole ride concept
 
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