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Flat Rides: What would you like to see come to the park?

Thameslink Rail said:
So where did the money go?
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It would have seemed to have been diverted to other projects, shareholders and so on.. Merlin have opened a massive number of Legoland parks and Midway attractions in recent years. They cost a lot of dollar.

In addition, it's of course fair to say that the Smiler incident reduced confidence (short term) in Alton Towers, and Merlin's response was the opposite of what has happened with the SeaWorld/Busch parks - instead, Merlin slashed costs and spending. As a consequence, Alton Towers has been downsized.
 
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With talks of Apocalypse being up for sale at Drayton Manor, I wondered what the possibility would be for building it in either The Blade pit in Forbidden Valley (probably needing to be sunk down a little further) or on the Submission site? I wondered what the height restrictions were for those areas of the park and if the ride could fit in vertically if it was dug into the ground slightly? From the top of The Smiler / Oblivion to the lowest part of X Sector is quite a height difference.

It could also still be marketed as the only stand up drop tower in the UK as it would no longer be at Drayton.

Any thoughts? For me it would be the perfect fit for Towers as it's a ride that's lacking, it's just the height restrictions that may not allow it to be built.
 
I also don't think a drop tower would be a great fit for the park to be honest. You'd lose a lot of the appeal of the view that typically comes packaged with a drop tower because it'd have to be in a massive pit below tree level. They're also a pain to theme and with Oblivion being in the same park, I'd argue that a traditional drop tower offers too similar an experience to fit in with the line up. Something with more visual appeal is needed I think. Think talocan or one of the new zamperla nebulaz.
 
AT86 said:
Personally I think Alton Towers should be setting their sights higher than a second hand 21 year old ride.
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I suppose it'd be no different to Legoland purchasing second hand rides and Merlin moving rides from one park to the other. It'd be refurbished to look brand new anyway.
 
The capacity isn't that great either. I would add an intamin Giro swing, the smaller version like maelstrom, would fit within the parks height limit if positioned on the blade site. One of the newer Mondial topscans (same as sol spin at Knotts, the new version has an extra seat per row) on the ripsaw site or if could fit in xsector. A new wave singer, with some water jets so its a bit different to previous one, plus two other family flats.

That would give the park 2 new thrill and 3 family rides. Wont happen though, at most we would get one new ride from a low tier manufacture.
 
Maelstrom said:
The capacity isn't that great either. I would add an intamin Giro swing, the smaller version like maelstrom, would fit within the parks height limit if positioned on the blade site. One of the newer Mondial topscans (same as sol spin at Knotts, the new version has an extra seat per row) on the ripsaw site or if could fit in xsector. A new wave singer, with some water jets so its a bit different to previous one, plus two other family flats.

That would give the park 2 new thrill and 3 family rides. Wont happen though, at most we would get one new ride from a low tier manufacture.
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Could even add Maelstrom itself if it follows in Apocalypse's footsteps. Would it fit on Blade's site maybe?
 
On the subject of drop towers, do we think that something similar to the soon-to-open Croc Drop at Chessington might make a nice addition to Alton Towers? I know capacity might be more of a concern at Towers, but Towers also has more rides to begin with than Chessington, so it might not be too much of a problem.

I do think an SBF Drop’n’Twist of that style might be a nice addition; it would give the park a nice middle-ground family attraction, and it would also fill the void of a drop tower without breaching the tree line restrictions. If Chessington can build one, then I’d imagine Alton probably could too.
 
I don't think Alton Towers really has any need of any budget family/kids rides at this point. I also don't really want to see Alton Towers - and indeed the rest of the Merlin estate - become bargain basement shoppers, as Drayton and Co. have become - just leafing through the Zamperla catalogue - or even worse, SBF or cheaper. That isn't to say those manufacturers don't have their place - indeed, a small number of Zamperla's products are good, but a park like Alton needs to be aiming higher.

The gap in Alton Towers' market right now is twofold. The young family market has adequate provision for the next few years (although the marketing power of CBeebies brands will probably lead to additional rides in this area sometime before 2025). The older family market needs further work. Even with Walliams, the area is still going to lack and I hope to see a new waveswinger and returned use of the theatre before too long. Indeed, I believe that had GG opened on time last year, we could have actually seen development here this year. Beyond this older family market, the park's glaring issues remain a lack of flat rides: many have been lost in the last decade and not replaced. The ones that remain are old and should already have gone. Easily two are required moving forward - more to replace Blade and Enterprise. A multi-ride deal with Huss, Intamin or other wouldn't be a bad thing. The other major problem is the dead wood in the park: Nemesis Sub Terra and Dark Forest. NST needs either overhauling and using, or removing. Dark Forest needs a comprehensive retheme.

Sadly, the Smiler incident and now the C-19 pandemic has delayed hope for these areas to be immediately addressed, but I don't believe Alton Towers are naive enough to not appreciate this problems. It depends whether Merlin, now under Lego of course, are ready to cough up. I would like to think Merlin see how flat rides are far cheaper to install than a rollercoaster and, with Alton's marketing might, this could easily be a big advantage.

It's safe to say that Lego Group wouldn't tolerate bilge like Dark Forest or clapped out rides like Blade at at Legoland park.
 
Merlin’s attitude may well have changed now that they’re private; they’re forking out to completely retrack Shaman at Gardaland this off-season, which they would never previously have done. They’ve also invested in two new flat rides at Chessington for this year; both the aforementioned Croc Drop from SBF, and a replacement pirate ship from Metallbau Emmeln in the form of Blue Barnacle.

The reason I mentioned Croc Drop is because I feel as though that, or something broadly similar, might be exactly the kind of older family attraction you’re looking for. It’s not an attraction for tiny kids by any means; the total tower height is 82ft, although Chessington did dig Croc Drop into a pit. Maybe it could replace Blade? Or go in a pit somewhere else, like in the valleys near Gloomy Wood, for example?
 
It's a shame we don't still have UG Land, then Matt could have a drop tower as the UG Smasher or something :)

Genuinely though, that is a major issue with Dark Forest, its a one-ride themed area made for Thirteen, that is too similar to Gloomy Wood (made for Haunted House). UG Land was a silly play on the Corkscrew looking like a dinosaur ribcage, but it kinda worked to bring in a few random flat rides and some decent theming together. Dark Forest doesn't really have the same kinda options in my opinion.

I still think that if Blade gets replaced (again) it needs to be replaced with Blade. A pirate ship is still a good ride and the blade theme works well. But more urgently Twirling Toadstool, Submission and Ripsaw need replacements, plus a new theatre show, additional (not ATTP) entertainment.
 
I think a "simple" fix for the DF area is to make it back to a raceway themed area, just not prehistoric. 13 would easily work for some sort of test ride theme and Rita is Rita QOS, plus we get the soundtrack back <3 The conversion to this theme plus a new flat ride or two would lift the area. What would they get? I think that's one of the areas that needs a high capacity pair of flats desperately (One down the bottom past Rita's bunker and one either next to 13's entrance or on the left heading down towards Rita's tunnel)
 
Poisson said:
I think a "simple" fix for the DF area is to make it back to a raceway themed area, just not prehistoric. 13 would easily work for some sort of test ride theme and Rita is Rita QOS, plus we get the soundtrack back <3 The conversion to this theme plus a new flat ride or two would lift the area. What would they get? I think that's one of the areas that needs a high capacity pair of flats desperately (One down the bottom past Rita's bunker and one either next to 13's entrance or on the left heading down towards Rita's tunnel)
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Unfortunately I don't think that will ever happen, as we know much Towers/Merlin love dark themes :p
 
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