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Original Plan for SW8 - Forbidden Valley Wooden Coaster

Matt N

Matt N

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Hi guys. On their Facebook page today, TowersTimes revealed the first I believe I’ve ever seen of the original SW8 proposal in Forbidden Valley (a wooden coaster proposed during a screening opinion in April 2015, but never pursued further and eventually replaced by Wicker Man). The ride was to have a launch, two barrel rolls, a camelback and various banked turns, and contrary to popular belief, it would seem that RMC were not on the agenda for the project; the names of GCI and Gravity Group were associated with it, but not RMC. The final concept was a GCI.

A description of the proposed ride can be found on this link from Cahill Design Consultants, who were consulted during the design phase of Wicker Man: https://www.cdc-limited.co.uk/project/wicker-man-roller-coaster-alton-towers-resort/

Some photos of renderings were also integrated into Attraction Source’s post:
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In terms of precise location; the ride was to be located at the entrance to Forbidden Valley, utilising the Blade pit as well as some of Nemesis’ extended queue line.

What do you guys reckon to this proposal? Does this make you wish for what might have been, or are you glad that we got Wicker Man instead?

It might be an unpopular opinion, but I’m glad that we got Wicker Man instead. While the rendering looks cool, I think the launch could have been a recipe for disaster… based on how Lightning Rod turned out, I think it could have made Wicker Man in its opening season look like a paragon of reliability!

I hope you find this interesting! I know I certainly did!
 
I would have preferred this, but I think that it would have been even more unreliable than Wicker Man was in its opening year.
 
Very interesting to see these plans come to light, and dispel my theory that it would have been an RMC! Looks like between this and Wicker Man they moved more from thrill to family thrill, and to be honest I am pretty happy with what we ended up with. Wicker Man has grown to be a really great fun coaster, and it looks brilliant in such a prominent location in the park.

I do think that without The Smiler crash though, this is what we would likely have ended up with. It would have completely changed the whole dynamics of Forbidden Valley!
 
I can't see them ever being able to build something so expensive in the available space in FV that would end up with a substantial enough layout and theming package. Looks gimmicky for marketing purposes which usually leads us down the road of yet more 1.4 height restriction coasters that shun families and corners being cut on length and theming in the persuit of records and marketability.

Although WM is far from the best woodie in the world, and it's not particularly that long, it's one of the most 'complete' coasters they've ever built. It's mostly family thrill inclusive, has an enjoyable enough layout to please a wide spectrum of guests, it's great to look at, well themed and in a far better location.
 
Looking at them plans, I think that is the sub terra building at the top, to give you an idea of location.

I am happy with what we got with Wickerman, but in a way, this would also have been nice, with a refurbished log flume where it was. But overall, i'm happy with what we have now.

Do you think the public opinion on what to do with Nemesis as it was reaching end of life, would have been considered less if Forbidden Valley had got this. I think maybe so, which would possibly mean we would have been less likely to see a Nemesis re track. IF that was the case, I am even more happy with what we have now.
 
Can't help but feel this would have really cluttered up FV had it gone ahead. The layout doesn't look better than what we got with Wickerman either.

If they are to install another coaster in that area I'd rather they turf up the car park behind Galactica or build something venturing futher into the valley if possible.
 
It doesn't look that great, but I think the images we see don't do it justice.

What's clear now is that this area is in their thinking. Two coasters nie have been designed to fit this space. I'd guarantee another will at some point.
 
The cross valley woodie was quite removed from the area for this proposed coaster. It entered Forbidden Valley behind Air's station, and that end of the ride was entirely contained in the wood behind Air's maintenance building.

That said, they clearly are interested in the area between Sub-Terra and Nemesis, which make sense really given that the screening documents identify this plot as a reasonably undeveloped area within the current park boundary that they have a reasonably solid chance of getting planning permission for.
 
Honestly I think this looks like it would have been a real eyesore. If I've got the location correct it would have blocked the lead up to both Nemesis and Galactica. In the formers case completely blocking the sight-line between Sub-Terra and the Nemesis sign.
This would have been to Forbidden Valley what Rita was to UG Land.

I don't see how the site of the Blade makes for a good coaster station. Not unless they genuinely have the opportunity to build into the valley or it's a really compact design like the Thunder Looper. Also as discussed elsewhere the park seriously lacks filler attractions and this would have occupied both the site of Ripsaw and the Blade.

As it is I think Forbidden Valley is very close to being a well rounded themed area of the park. 2 major coasters, 1 dark ride, space for 2 flat rides. I'm not against a 3rd coaster being added but not at the cost of loosing one of the existing attractions.
 
I agree with a few of the posts above, and it would have resulted in a very ‘crowded’ Forbidden Valley.

Wicker Man was right for the park. It felt like the most polished Merlin project, and it suits the park well.

It may not have been the wooden coaster enthusiasts wanted, but who knows. It doesn’t mean Towers can only ever have one woodie.

It’s great to see some solid concepts for this ride. I believe this was rumoured quite a few times in the SW8 threads, and the main rumour for it never going ahead was due to costs. Looking at the above images, you can see why!
 
I am glad that we got Wicker Man in the position it was in though I will say this does have a bit more of an interesting layout compared to what we got.

That said, I'm not a fan of it going into Forbidden Valley as I have a general rule for each area of the park being that of 2-2-1 which means two coasters, two flat rides and a dark ride/indoor experience of some description; this set of plans if it happened would have made Forbidden Valley too top heavy with coasters IMO which is saying a lot how many of us keep saying the park is already top heavy with coasters.

Yes, it looks impressive but that launch system is a recipe for disaster when you combine how Lightning Rod and the park's own maintenance, it makes you shudder. That being said, I can still see a launch woodie or RMC coming in the future as many old plans never really die, they just get reused for future projects such as the double lift hill for SW1 would eventually make its way to Smiler. Hindsight tells us that with what we could have gotten, we likely dodged a bullet.
 
Overall I'm very glad we got Wicker Man because I think it's almost exactly what the park needed. Plus although the layout of this looks great, Wicker Mans turned out to be a lot more fun than most people predicted it would be.
I do however think we could see something else in this space at some point, that really wouldn't shock me, and I wouldn't be massively opposed if it was done right.
 
Just thought of something as well regarding the location of where Wicker Man was supposed to be built, I do suspect that even if the Smiler incident never happened, this ride still wouldn't have been built in Forbidden Valley in which I get the feeling that with it near the vicinity of the listed area of the park not to mention the costs too as mentioned above, that this still might have never happened and it would have still have ended up on the Flume site anyway with perhaps the only difference being that it might have a slightly different layout.

Plus, I'm not sure what kind of theme they'd go for this version of SW8 and how it would tie into Forbidden Valley, then again given both Rita and Wicker Man I highly doubt they'd care about blending it in.
 
QTXAdsy said:
Just thought of something as well regarding the location of where Wicker Man was supposed to be built, I do suspect that even if the Smiler incident never happened, this ride still wouldn't have been built in Forbidden Valley in which I get the feeling that with it near the vicinity of the listed area of the park not to mention the costs too as mentioned above, that this still might have never happened and it would have still have ended up on the Flume site anyway with perhaps the only difference being that it might have a slightly different layout.

Plus, I'm not sure what kind of theme they'd go for this version of SW8 and how it would tie into Forbidden Valley, then again given both Rita and Wicker Man I highly doubt they'd care about blending it in.
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I somewhat agree; Wickerman as a stand-alone attraction is fantastic but it could have equally been themed to Mutiny Bay. Something along the lines of exploring an abandoned pirate ship with the coaster passing through various theming elements resembling parts of an old crumbling wooden ship perhaps.

I struggle to think how a woodie would’ve fit theming wise into Forbidden Valley, though.
 
I'm not sure the Smiler incident is the only reason it wasn't built but I'm not sure it would've just been cancelled in that area. If the plans had got this far they must've expected they'd have a good chance at planning permission or they wouldn't have put the money and effort into getting GCI to design a full track layout.
 
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