Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- VelociCoaster (Islands of Adventure)
I agree with @Benjsh and @Benzin; I think Katanga Canyon is more easily closeable than it used to be, with Haunted Hollow and the path under Wicker Man now making crowd flow to Forbidden Valley and Gloomy Wood less of an issue than it used to be.
With the recent news about Rumba, I do think Congo River Rapids might now be on borrowed time. It costs a huge amount to run, is now seasonal and is by most accounts decidedly hobbled compared to its former self even with the return of the waterfalls.
I also don’t think Runaway Mine Train is as irreplaceable as many make out either. Yes, it’s relatively simple to run and well liked, but it’s also old and I feel like Katanga Canyon as an area is considerably easier to redevelop if they get rid of it and just put a bulldozer through the whole lot rather than try and weave a replacement to Congo River Rapids within it. The parks are not time capsules, and I don’t think RMT being a vestige of 90s Tussauds should save it from being scrapped if the park feels they could put something better there, even if I would ideally like to see it stay.
I wouldn’t have said Katanga Canyon was top of my list of redevelopment areas at Alton Towers, but I think it would move considerably further up if Congo River Rapids goes as I predict it might. It’s such an enormous plot of land that would become phenomenally underutilised if that happened, and without the Rapids, it is arguably a massive swathe of dead space. That area is too big for RMT to be its sole attraction long-term.
I’d love for something like an Intamin Blitz to replace Congo, with another more space-efficient water ride built elsewhere (or maybe integrated within!). I think the trenches and such could make for brilliant areas for a launch track or similar, and you could possibly even keep RMT depending on how you built it and have a Taron/Raik style dynamic between the two coasters!
What I think would be more likely to happen, however, is that they’d build something similar to the upcoming Minecraft area at Chessington on the site of KC. Merlin does seem to be on an IP kick at the moment, rightly or wrongly, and from their standpoint, I can imagine the location of KC, with an enormous amount of land and lots of passing footfall, might be a desirable location for a big-ticket IP land. I’d prefer for such a development to be used to fire a rocket up the backside of Walliams, but I’m not sure Merlin will see it that way.
With the recent news about Rumba, I do think Congo River Rapids might now be on borrowed time. It costs a huge amount to run, is now seasonal and is by most accounts decidedly hobbled compared to its former self even with the return of the waterfalls.
I also don’t think Runaway Mine Train is as irreplaceable as many make out either. Yes, it’s relatively simple to run and well liked, but it’s also old and I feel like Katanga Canyon as an area is considerably easier to redevelop if they get rid of it and just put a bulldozer through the whole lot rather than try and weave a replacement to Congo River Rapids within it. The parks are not time capsules, and I don’t think RMT being a vestige of 90s Tussauds should save it from being scrapped if the park feels they could put something better there, even if I would ideally like to see it stay.
I wouldn’t have said Katanga Canyon was top of my list of redevelopment areas at Alton Towers, but I think it would move considerably further up if Congo River Rapids goes as I predict it might. It’s such an enormous plot of land that would become phenomenally underutilised if that happened, and without the Rapids, it is arguably a massive swathe of dead space. That area is too big for RMT to be its sole attraction long-term.
I’d love for something like an Intamin Blitz to replace Congo, with another more space-efficient water ride built elsewhere (or maybe integrated within!). I think the trenches and such could make for brilliant areas for a launch track or similar, and you could possibly even keep RMT depending on how you built it and have a Taron/Raik style dynamic between the two coasters!
What I think would be more likely to happen, however, is that they’d build something similar to the upcoming Minecraft area at Chessington on the site of KC. Merlin does seem to be on an IP kick at the moment, rightly or wrongly, and from their standpoint, I can imagine the location of KC, with an enormous amount of land and lots of passing footfall, might be a desirable location for a big-ticket IP land. I’d prefer for such a development to be used to fire a rocket up the backside of Walliams, but I’m not sure Merlin will see it that way.
