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The World of David Walliams: General Discussion

Hid said:
I have very fond memories of that ride and remember the sets were large as a kid was enjoyable
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That's fair enough if you have personal memories of it that mean a lot to you but you're very much in the minority there I am afraid.

I love that IP but I don't think Towers did it justice at all. That whole world has so much potential and what they came up felt cheap and didn't really work for me at all to be honest.
 
The best bit was the soundtrack which id argue were the best after the Graham Smart era.

Shame it never got a wide release.

Far better than the imascore smush.
 
Charlie's problem was that it was replacing a much beloved (albeit a little dated) attraction in Toyland Tours which meant it had a high bar to hit which it never was going to hit and it wasn't helped that Charlie was hit by budget cuts making it worse than it should have been.

The fact that afterwards we got something worse in the Dungeons is honestly amazing how much they keep screwing up badly is something. If they are going to retheme TWODW, now is the time to put that building to good use gutting it all out and put a proper dark ride in there.
 
QTXAdsy said:
Charlie's problem was that it was replacing a much beloved (albeit a little dated) attraction in Toyland Tours which meant it had a high bar to hit which it never was going to hit and it wasn't helped that Charlie was hit by budget cuts making it worse than it should have been.

The fact that afterwards we got something worse in the Dungeons is honestly amazing how much they keep screwing up badly is something. If they are going to retheme TWODW, now is the time to put that building to good use gutting it all out and put a proper dark ride in there.
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I thought the Dungeons was a good experience the actors were great and the theming was good. Its main downfall was it being an upcharge and the boat ride was the worst version of the ride
 
Craig said:
I would assume Williams was one of a couple of options they had, with it likely ending up being on the lower end in terms of costs.
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Purely speculative on my part, here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Walliams IP terms were REALLY favourable for Merlin.

DW did a lot to bolster his public image post-Little Britain, and a partnership with the most famous theme park in the country is a great stroke of legitimisation.
 
QTXAdsy said:
Considering the PH plans bare a striking resemblance to Jazz Land...it would be one of those strange moments when a hoax turns into reality. What a time to be alive in.
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The only similarity is a building for an “enclosed transit system” roughly in the same place as Horizon. Jazzland had many projects alongside the horizon similar building. Such as an extension to the dungeons boat road with a splashdown outdoors, an indoor mixed used development which was situated over the majority of Walliams land. Multiple new family and children’s rides and new 5D ride behind the current theatre.

It was a fantastic proposal but horizon is one attraction. Not very similar at all.
 
They spent so much of the budget on these elevator illusion simulations with screen animations and then they ripped them out and was never seen again?

Does anyone know where they actually went or were ever relocated?


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The lifts in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were SBNO for 5 years until they wanted the space for Trick O’ Treat Town, the top part of the lifts remain as lighting rigs but everything else, including the simulator floors were removed.

There would be little use reusing them now if they were still SBNO, from what I’ve seen online they took up a lot of space due the projections, when you could achieve a higher fidelity and depth of field with screens nowadays for probably a lot cheaper. The content could just be produced in something like Unreal Engine too, saving a lot more money on animation.
 
AltonLover123 said:
The only similarity is a building for an “enclosed transit system” roughly in the same place as Horizon. Jazzland had many projects alongside the horizon similar building. Such as an extension to the dungeons boat road with a splashdown outdoors, an indoor mixed used development which was situated over the majority of Walliams land. Multiple new family and children’s rides and new 5D ride behind the current theatre.

It was a fantastic proposal but horizon is one attraction. Not very similar at all.
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Plus it was made up by a geek.
 
pluk said:
The obvious answer with Dr Who, as it is time travel based, is that you make it backwards facing traveling through time to Drs of the past. It's universal enough that most people will be able to take something from it, and if it's good enough as a ride the recognition of the IP can be secondary in any case. At the most you need a regeneration clip of the latest Dr who can then regenerate to be you the rider.

Not that I think it's the right time for this IP to be used. Actually, history tells us it not being the right time for an IP could make it a Merlin prime target! 😂
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My thought would be to use screens to represent the Doctor so Alton Towers can switch them around when needed.

In theory, they could go with any doctor with a screen and the only animatronic of the character is one with every Doctor. This could work considering it'd be a simple tweak.

I think the whole topic has been discussed a couple of times before, one being Project Horizon which is fitting for the theme.
 
owenstreet7 said:
My thought would be to use screens to represent the Doctor so Alton Towers can switch them around when needed.
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Ah, the "stick a screen in it" solution. The answer to every modern theme park designer's prayer and the bane of every guest's existence.

Whilst screens theoretically allow for updates, the reality is that Merlin rarely, if ever, updates media once it is installed. Look at Galactica, look at Ghost Train. The cost of hiring the current Doctor (who is usually busy filming the actual show), hiring a production crew, securing the rights, filming new sequences, rendering the VFX, and updating the software is not a "simple tweak." It is a significant recurring expense which the park would almost certainly cut from the budget after the first regeneration.

You would end up with a ride featuring Ncuti Gatwa playing to empty trains in 2035, long after he has left the role, because the park budget didn't stretch to filming the replacement.
owenstreet7 said:
In theory, they could go with any doctor with a screen and the only animatronic of the character is one with every Doctor. This could work considering it'd be a simple tweak.

I think the whole topic has been discussed a couple of times before, one being Project Horizon which is fitting for the theme.
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I am genuinely terrified to ask what you mean by an animatronic "with every Doctor".

Unless you are proposing some sort of T-1000 liquid metal terminator technology, or a terrifying blank faced mannequin with projection mapping (which always looks like a haunted Madame Tussauds reject), this is physically impossible. You cannot simply switch a physical animatronic from David Tennant to Matt Smith without physically rebuilding the face and body.

The only way to do "every Doctor" is to do no Doctor, and have the ride guided by a companion or a generic UNIT soldier, but then you lose the USP of the IP.
 
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