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TBC: SW9 Speculation

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I’m sure I’m not alone in being a big lover of dark rides and water rides, if you can combine the two then it’s likely to be a winner for me.

With Sub-Terra seemingly not returning, and the Flume has obviously been replaced recently, so we’re down a dark ride and a water ride.

With the above in mind, why not create a JP River adventure (Jurassic Park in Orlando/Hollywood for those that don’t know,) but rather than dinosaurs, use AT’s own “IP” of Nemesis. The exact details I’d leave for others with more imagination for these kind of things, but essentially it could be a visitor trip to see the captured alien (so much like JP) but it all goes wrong, climaxing in a last minute drop away from the alien.

Do that properly and you’ve got an absolute winner, in my opinion. No frills, no gimmicks, just great indoor theming, some good drops, and everyone gets soaked.
 
I'd love to see a dark ride/coaster hybrid. Something a little more thrilling and set based than escape from gringots, but along those lines would be great. Space would be a big issue though.
 
I’d always thought a Mack Inverted Powered Coaster (like Arthur at Europa Park) would have been a great fit for a family dark ride / coaster hybrid replacement for CATCF, but it looks as though Merlin have already decided to waste that opportunity on something much less imaginative.

Aside from that, I think Duel’s building has a lot of potential to be reused for a new modern trackless dark ride of some description. They could keep the facade largely the same, possibly give it a bit of TLC as well as some overall Gloomy Wood enhancements and I think it could work out quite well.

As much as I really want to see them invest in a spectacular modern dark ride like many of the European parks have been doing in recent years, I suspect that SW9 will probably be another coaster to be honest.
 
As the thread has been bumped, I'd like to share an idea of mine for SW9; could the ride potentially go at the park entrance and trigger a major redesign of Towers Street? Only suggesting it because over in the USA, coasters at the entrance seem to be becoming quite popular, so I can imagine Merlin Magic Making could create a nice version of that with more theming.

Also, I can't really think of many other places at Towers where a new coaster could go unless they removed an existing coaster or really thought outside the box with regards to placement.

As for ride type, I personally reckon a Mack launch coaster like Icon would be a good fit; maybe a spinner like Time Traveler for the USP that Merlin likes on rides?
 
If the wicker man shows towers are actually abandoning the idea that they need to have 'world's first' nonsense to build a ride I'd like them to build an Intamin Blitz coaster. Possibly starting by the ripsaw site and going into the valley. Or remove Rita and use the rest of the dark forest space (and finally theme the place properly), plus they can alter Thirteens queue as well.
 
Matt N said:
As the thread has been bumped, I'd like to share an idea of mine for SW9; could the ride potentially go at the park entrance and trigger a major redesign of Towers Street? Only suggesting it because over in the USA, coasters at the entrance seem to be becoming quite popular, so I can imagine Merlin Magic Making could create a nice version of that with more theming.
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I can't imagine that. It's controversial enough having Spinball Whizzer on view when looking at the Towers. To have any coaster in the way would never get past the planners, and probably not appropriate considering the heritage that Alton Towers has.

Matt N said:
As for ride type, I personally reckon a Mack launch coaster like Icon would be a good fit; maybe a spinner like Time Traveler for the USP that Merlin likes on rides?
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I think Merlin would look at their portfolio and say "We already have a launched coaster. We already have a spinning coaster. What's the USP for such a ride?"
 
With it being highly likely that SW9 will be yet another coaster, I made a prediction a while back (on another forum) that the coaster would be from one of three manufacturers (now expanding on that prediction by including exact models):

• Mack
– Multi launch coaster
– Multi launch spinning coaster

I think that both Rita and Spinball Whizzer are both nearling the end of their life at the park (I know the council are pretty keen for Spinball’s removal), and one of these coaster types could provide a suitable “replacement” (or upgrade) as such.

• B&M
– Wing coaster
– Launched wing coaster

I mean, Merlin do like their wing coasters, so I don’t think it’s impossible that Alton will get their own. It’s definitely not the most exciting option, and I’d rather they choose to go with something different.

• RMC
– T-Rex

Maybe a little optimistic here with this prediction, and it definitely isn’t the most likely of the ideas listed here, but it would definitely have that USP that Merlin so desperately want for all of their major new attractions. I think it’s a possibility, even if a very unlikely one at that.

As for location, I can only really see three potential areas where SW9 could be located:

• Forbidden Valley

There’s space around the areas where Riosaw used to be located, plus there is speculation that Blade might soon be closed – that provides a lot of room right along that side of the valley for a new coaster. This is also a location with potential to play with the terrain on the side of th valley with some nice steep drops and some good airtime – something that coasters at Alton don’t tend to have.

• Dark Forest

With the idea that Rita will leave Alton Towers at some time in the foreseeable future, that obsiousley opens up that whole area of the Dark Forest to some much needed development, and predictably, a new coaster. There could also be the possibility that they won’t remove Rita, but still add a new coaster to the bottom of the Dark Forest, where parts of the cross valley wooden coaster would have been located.

• Gloomy Wood

There is quite a lot of potential to develop the land near Gloomy Wood where the “broomstick” coaster concept was once proposed to be located, as well as those mysterious plans for a hybrid coaster that were talked about before SW8 was revealed to be replacing the Flume. Again, this location seems to have a pretty good terrain, which can be utilised.
 
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