The Future of Dark Forest

[Snexed]

Imo the Dark Forest should be restored to what Ugland was and design it for an audience who is too young to ride the likes of Oblivion and The Smiler but also want something more thrilling than a Driving School and CBeebies.

The park is really lacking for anyone that age and has been for awhile since they ripped all the flats out which they could actually go on.

There's already enough thrill seeker areas. Alton Towers isn't Thorpe Park.

For the theme who knows but something happy would be nice in the park rather than another dark theme.

 

[Alphe86]

I agree with the above. My daughter is a proper thrill seeker but just under 1.1m

There’s not a lot to keep her satisfied at Towers.

Compare to Drayton.. from a thrill perspective

Troublesome Trucks > Octonaughts
Wave swinger … nothing at towers
Buffalo (not gonna spell the new name!) … no real comparison. RMT is superior but Buffalo is lower height.
The boats by the pirate ship are pretty quick and again, nothing similar at towers
And accelerator.. AT could do a lot worse to fill the void then a vekoma boomerang of their own

 

[Slugjc]

The dark forest has always had one major issue. It's not the rides or even the theming. It's The fact that the ride that, the whole area is built around is tucked away behind the ride that is crowbarred in to fit. So as soon as walk through the passage, the theming is lost because why a race track painted to look neglected?

Ok, the two rides are meh. Rita is something I would have come up with. As for thirteen, superb idea. Looks incredible but is tame plus at this time of year, the theming is lost in glorious sunshine.

Clearly AT can't build it indoors. I would remove Rita. And replace it with something that is front and centre ment to be there. A decent dark ride. If your are clever enough, encapsulate some of thirteen to be a part of the dark ride experience. I don't know. My ride building experience comes from Theme Park on the PC. Just something to move the story along.

 

[Jb85]

The dark forest has always had one major issue. It's not the rides or even the theming. It's The fact that the ride that, the whole area is built around is tucked away behind the ride that is crowbarred in to fit. So as soon as walk through the passage, the theming is lost because why a race track painted to look neglected?

Ok, the two rides are meh. Rita is something I would have come up with. As for thirteen, superb idea. Looks incredible but is tame plus at this time of year, the theming is lost in glorious sunshine.

Clearly AT can't build it indoors. I would remove Rita. And replace it with something that is front and centre ment to be there. A decent dark ride. If your are clever enough, encapsulate some of thirteen to be a part of the dark ride experience. I don't know. My ride building experience comes from Theme Park on the PC. Just something to move the story along.

I get what you’re saying here.
Thirteen does its job well. Yes it needs a major refurb but the actually experience for me is great.
The area is and has been ruined by Rita since it first arrived. I get there are other investment priorities but I can’t wait to see the back of her.

 

[Slugjc]

I get what you’re saying here.
Thirteen does its job well. Yes it needs a major refurb but the actually experience for me is great.
The area is and has been ruined by Rita since it first arrived. I get there are other investment priorities but I can’t wait to see the back of her.

Rita's not bad, it's just replicated no matter which park your are at.

The big error they made, in my eyes, was not incorporate the thunder rock rally™ into the story of thirteen. Simple change of story "renovations at the race track situated at Alton Towers has discovered........."

My other issue with the dark forest is. It's too small.

 

[rob666]

As for thirteen, superb idea. Looks incredible but is tame plus at this time of year, the theming is lost in glorious sunshine.

Na, pretty much the whole ride after the lift hill is under the shade of the tall trees around it at this time of year...because the majority are deciduous up there aren't they?
Nice shady ride, and much of the queue.
And it is meant to be tame, it is a family ride.
Nowt wrong with either ride, or the skyride, when the y are operated properly.
The area just needs a couple of decent flats...like it used to!

 

[Jb85]

Rita's not bad, it's just replicated no matter which park your are at.

The big error they made, in my eyes, was not incorporate the thunder rock rally™ into the story of thirteen. Simple change of story "renovations at the race track situated at Alton Towers has discovered........."

My other issue with the dark forest is. It's too small.

DF is actually really big it’s just not laid out well.

A racetrack in a forest…. Never gonna work. Should have been rethemed into spirits chasing you or something a like.

 

[TBoy535]

The problem with dark forest is there isn’t any forest (apart from Thirteens Que line) scrap the name and I think we would all feel less disappointed on entry?

The “Alton Ruins” could be an easy overlay of Broken rubble, garden statues utilise the pillars but add more, mystical planters all around and replace the fences with actual brick/rubble style theming to embrace the gothic heritage. Rita’s tunnel could actually be a magical themed experience instead of isle 6 at B&Q.

Or keep the name and go ham on fake twisted tree theming and not just on the edges?

I feel like everyone jumps on the bandwagon now of Alton having to many dark themes, but we have Mutiny Bay, Katanga Canyon, CBeebies, Williams world. What’s wrong with Alton embracing there gothic heritage it’s there USP and it’s more globally unique. Epic Universe seems to have a very large fan base for there upcoming dark lands so I personally feel Alton and enthusiasts should embrace it more as at the end of the day its what makes AT so unique and sets it apart from the rest in my opinion.

 

[jibbsie]

The “Alton Ruins” could be an easy overlay of Broken rubble, garden statues utilise the pillars but add more, mystical planters all around and replace the fences with actual brick/rubble style theming to embrace the gothic heritage. Rita’s tunnel could actually be a magical themed experience instead of isle 6 at B&Q.

I have thought this would be a really good idea as the actual towers are lesss than 20 m from the enterance of the acctual towers (maybe have it called the ___ wing) although my idea was if they implemented some large theming pieaces (destroyed walls, buildings falling appart etc) and had a talcon style ride inplace of rita (probably move the station and launch to open up the land a bit) and have it weave in and out some scenery, although it could still work with rita and the airtime hills going through broken parts of the "towers", 13's crypt could be themed to an old section of the towers (wouldn't be very hard to do as it is most of the way there)

 

[Slugjc]

DF is actually really big it’s just not laid out well.

A racetrack in a forest…. Never gonna work. Should have been rethemed into spirits chasing you or something a like.

A race track In a forest is actually in keeping. Hockenheim and spa in Belgium to name two.

You could even, still use thunder rock rally. Change the script to incorporate the disturbances etc.

 

[tech]

I agree with the above. My daughter is a proper thrill seeker but just under 1.1m

There’s not a lot to keep her satisfied at Towers.

Compare to Drayton.. from a thrill perspective

Troublesome Trucks > Octonaughts
Wave swinger … nothing at towers
Buffalo (not gonna spell the new name!) … no real comparison. RMT is superior but Buffalo is lower height.
The boats by the pirate ship are pretty quick and again, nothing similar at towers
And accelerator.. AT could do a lot worse to fill the void then a vekoma boomerang of their own

Couldn’t agree more. My daughter is 4 now and a total thrillseeker. I’m 20mins from AT, ex staff, MAP, honestly I’d hate to think how many times she’s been to AT, it’s her second home. But. Last month the grandparents took her to Drayton and she hasn’t stopped mentioning it since.

Beebs is absolutely wonderful for 1m and under, and the lineup from 1.2+ makes for a great day out. RMT was pretty much the only “crossover” ride in the park but with the height changes there just isn’t anything more thrilling than Octonauts now which, even with a cheeky end of day 3 lap run still just doesn’t tick that box any more sadly.

 

[tech]

A race track In a forest is actually in keeping. Hockenheim and spa in Belgium to name two.

You could even, still use thunder rock rally. Change the script to incorporate the disturbances etc.

There are still references to Thunder Rock Rally in the area, and how races were abandoned in 2010 due to the forest taking over, but that’s pretty much the only “tie in” for the retheme.

My biggest issue is, just like OP, that Dark Forest was created to host Thirteen, despite the area not really lending itself at all, then we have Gloomy Wood which is an excellently themed area of the park but with only one ride in it.

 

[Ash]

I’d like to see an “abandoned fairground” style overlay, in the grounds of the ruins. “Carnival/fun fair-esque”, it could easily be tied into the Alton Cinematic Universe leaning onto the sites former history, and a playground for the earl etc.

Add lots of crumbling walls akin to the 13 station that match the surrounding area.

Return TWWDW to a Victorian/steampunk Talbot Street and it could be something a bit special.

 

[Slugjc]

There are still references to Thunder Rock Rally in the area, and how races were abandoned in 2010 due to the forest taking over, but that’s pretty much the only “tie in” for the retheme.

I did see the signs. Was happy did that

My biggest issue is, just like OP, that Dark Forest was created to host Thirteen, despite the area not really lending itself at all, then we have Gloomy Wood which is an excellently themed area of the park but with only one ride in it.

Agreed,thirteen makes more sense to be near the haunted house.

Na, pretty much the whole ride after the lift hill is under the shade of the tall trees around it at this time of year...because the majority are deciduous up there aren't they?
Nice shady ride, and much of the queue.
And it is meant to be tame, it is a family ride.
Nowt wrong with either ride, or the skyride, when the y are operated properly.
The area just needs a couple of decent flats...like it used to!

The difference in atmosphere between blazing hot in august and day, and cold damp dark night in scarefest makes the difference. This ride should be in the dark, but alas

 

[Alphe86]

Couldn’t agree more. My daughter is 4 now and a total thrillseeker. I’m 20mins from AT, ex staff, MAP, honestly I’d hate to think how many times she’s been to AT, it’s her second home. But. Last month the grandparents took her to Drayton and she hasn’t stopped mentioning it since.

Beebs is absolutely wonderful for 1m and under, and the lineup from 1.2+ makes for a great day out. RMT was pretty much the only “crossover” ride in the park but with the height changes there just isn’t anything more thrilling than Octonauts now which, even with a cheeky end of day 3 lap run still just doesn’t tick that box any more sadly.

Glad to see I’m not alone in my thoughts
We took my girl to AT a few weekends ago and while she loves GG and such for the story telling after a few hours she was bugging me to go to DM instead

 

[Slugjc]

Theming wise dark forest is ok. Looking back I think wardley had a cracking idea. He could have just done with a tiny bit more money. We can say that about any ride built by AT. Maybe also some taller tress about.

Some have mentioned above the idea of a restoration gone wrong style theme. Isn't that just Hex without a chained oak tree? They are trapped in what they do. Can't go satanic because it's to adult. So creepy forest it is. Which works. The sound track is great (I am biased) the whole atmosphere of the queue line is good. Only draw back, that god awful Tesla coil.

But when I first visited in scarefest 2010 (where have those years gone) I actually thought they missed a huge trick. Could still have kept thunder rock rally radio, re record and add bits of thirteen theme. Maybe talk about race cars disappearing and track officials struggling to fight back elements. The good old days of racing destroyed by earth works at the circuit with the racing drivers having to evacuate spectators. Race Rita is your salvation. Then that loops back round to "keep your head back.........." Prior to launch.

 

[MaxPower]

Something like Arthur would work well in DF when they remove Rita, especially if they could utilise the woodland in some way.

Then replace the rapids with a blitz style launch coaster using the trough layout.

 

[Bert2theSpark]

I'd like to see a refurbishment of Rita, repaint and retheme the ride and give it the LSM makeover. Rita's baby cousin recently received this treatment! New lapbar trains would also give the ride a lower height restriction on-par with Thirteen.



If they enclosed the tunnel and rerouted the queueline around the final turn of the ride, instead if the cattlepen hell that it is currently. There would be so much more free space within Dark Forest, with a lot more room for additional theming and open-air space. I'd also like to see the station at least partially enclosed to protect it from the elements.

Additional theming would make the area so much nicer to spend dwell in, especially since Dark Forest often slammed towards the middle of the day. As well as adding potential near-miss elements to the ride.

I love the concept of an enchanted forest for the area as mentioned previously, there's a lot of colour and lighting you could do whilst maintaining the 'edge' of Thirteen, as I think that ride has really settled as a theme within the resort! The concept of an enchanted forest could expand as far as Hex, Skyride and Woodcutters with roaming street teams, small pieces of theming and vibrant planting to compliment the heritage!!