Talbot Street Tuesday/Thursday (Picture Heavy)

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Rubbish concept. Looks nothing special.

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Were they planning to put the whole thing in the Black Hole tent, or remove it and build on the site as they have done with The Smiler?

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Well there's a picture of the tent on that mood board, so I'd assume they planned to keep it. It would have given a bit more room to play with than the N:ST building, I guess.

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I remember Morwenna announced they were planning SW7 for either 2013 or 2014. She then said there was a "medium" project for the Black Hole site that would either happen in 2012, or postponed until after SW7. The project she was talking about was obviously the drop towers dark ride idea.

Eventually Alton Towers decided SW7 should be built early in X Sector, so the Black Hole dark ride project was shifted to Forbidden Valley and very quickly adapted to suit that area. This could explain why Nemesis Sub-Terra was so poorly executed at first; all the plans had been made with the more spacious Black Hole building in mind.

However, I think rushing Sub-Terra was better than leaving it until after SW7, perhaps it was rushed in order to avoid another "year of nothing" after all the complaints about 2011. And now Alton Towers has an unexpected dark ride in Forbidden Valley which is a good bit of fun, who can complain?

SW7 was probably originally planned for the Air car park. John Wardley kept saying there was enough "virgin land" to avoid redeveloping old areas. But eventually they did choose to redevelop the Black Hole tent rather than stick something in it; another great decision because that building was so ugly, and obviously The Smiler is a far better attraction than drop towers!

What's more the Air car park is still available for development, meaning we could still see the original SW7 plan get built in the near future! Does that mean The Smiler is actually SW7.5?

An even earlier plan for the Black Hole was the robo-arm idea, which would have been part of a retheme of X Sector. Thank goodness imagination triumphed over gimmickry in that case...

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electricBlll said:

I remember Morwenna announced they were planning SW7 for either 2013 or 2014.

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Well at this rate, I'd put my money on the latter date.

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Its an intresting idea, but I think I would prefer the smiler!

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Its weird to think if everything went to plan in the last few years the park would be alot different now! By the sounds of things it should have gone like this:

2010 - TH13TEEN
2011 - Shrek 4D/Farm development (instead we got nothing)
2012 - Sub-Terra style ride in the black hole tent (instead it went in the Valley
2013 - SW7 on the air car park (instead went on the black hole tent
2014 - .... (Farm area rumoured to be done this year)

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I think it's far better this way round - otherwise the park could have become very unbalanced. We'd have ended up with 3 coasters plus 2 support rides in FV and 1 coaster with 3 support rides in XS rather than the 2+3, 2+2 we've ended up with.

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Much better this way round. Am I the only one who doesn't want SW8 to be the original SW7? I know it sounds cool and everything but I'd honestly rather see a decent indoor coaster.

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So...what is the original SW7?

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AshleeKel said:

So...what is the original SW7?

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It was originally planned for the Air car park site and was rumoured to have been the B&M 4D coaster they are developing with Merlin Studios (I personally believe this is 'the next big thing in roller coasters' Wardley was on about a few years ago). However they came into technical issues with the development of it and have had to postpone it. This resulted in Merlin and Alton Towers having to quickly develop a new ride and find somewhere to put it.

The Black Hole site made the most sense as it falls within the GDO, which could result in Alton Towers putting in a very simple planning application that covers the important aspects, then actually develop the ride over more time to get it right.

It's rumoured too that The Smiler is just and extended development of a previously planned ride for The Black Hole site (a ride Tussauds were planning for 2008 I think, until Merlin took over). Although there's never been evidence of this.

Obviously don't take my words as gospel, as I have no hard evidence. But that's roughly what I've heard from various people regarding SW7.

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Really interesting to see those mood boards, you can clearly see how it evolved into Sub-Terra, as for the pervious plans for the black hole site, in the dying days of Tussauds there were always rumours of them squeezing a euro fighter in there but it came to nothing as Saw had just opened at Thorpe and Merlins first call was to no rep replicate rides between parks.

It's interesting to think what Sub Terra COULD have been had it had the room within the black hole site, maybe a more immersive theme, with a lot more drama going on Lang the lines of what was eventual built in the valley.

Possible even the parks first all season scaremaze? Ether as part of the ride or as a support attraction within the theme.

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Welcome to this week's Talbot Street Tuesday, brought to you with the help of our good friend cyberman39, who has been sharing with us some memories of past entertainment offerings at Alton Towers.

And where better to start than with the big dog himself, Henry Hound, the park's much missed mascot. Today we'll be looking at some of the concept artwork for Captain Henry's Gold, the park's ice show from 1992-1993.


And the concept brought to life...


The opening number saw the feamle cast regaled in these golden numbers.


And here they are in reality, with the male cast members in matching golden trousers. What a chorus line.


The show revolved around one of Captain Henry's voyages, and thus the story also saw the chorus in these rather nifty sailor suits.


Perfect if you need your sailors to perform a couple of ice dances as well.


The main villain of the piece is The Count, another of Alton Towers' classic mascots.

Here we see his costume for the show's 'Nightmare' scene.


For the Nightmare, The Count is joined by The Bugs, yet another group of mascots that could be found around the park at the time.


The Count's sidekick in the show was this Owl, who was a new character created for Captain Henry's Gold, although the charcter lived on long after Henry and his ice shows had departed the park.


The voyage took Captain Henry to the East, where the count was apparently waiting for him, complete with a suitably themed costume.


And here we see the Count looking very daper in his new suit.


And of course a new scene means another costume for the chorus. Here we see the male version.


And the matching female costume.

Yes, all of these costumes are for a single show. The wardrobe department were kept rather busy back then.


The show also took the adventure beneath the sea, and here we have the female chorus' 'seahorse' costume for this scene.


But of course dogs can't breath beneath the see, so here is Herny's scuba suit for the swim.


And finally we see the diving suit brought to life and ready for Captain Henry's journey beneath the waves.

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Oh man, such a shame they gave up on all of this. Although I was terrified of The Bugs and The Count at the time.

Lovely bit of nostalgia, thank you.

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It's Tuesday, which can only mean one thing, it's time for Talbot Street Tuesday! Our weekly look back in time at Alton Towers!

Herny's back once again for Talbot Street Tuesday, which comes to you once again with a little help from cyberman39.

Henry got a bit of a makeover for the 1993 season, as seen in the concept drawing which gave him a rather fetching pair of dungarees to finally cover his modesty, as was fitting for the park's premier celebrity.


Here we find Henry in his new outfit in real life. This picture was actually taken one season later not long before the park opened for 1994 season and is rather rare.

Those who follow the life and times of Henry Hound will know that everyone's favourite dog was retired before the start of the '94 season and so did not actually appear on park that season, despite most of his costumes having already been prepared. The decision to retire Henry was a very last minute decision on the part of the park, no doubt made so that the focus fell much more on Peter Rabbit, who arrived that season.

As such this is a rare shot of Henry Hound on Towers Street as we know it today, which had been redesigned for the 1994 season, to loose the brick planters of the 1980s and replace them with the grass islands we still have today.


Of course everyone knows that Henry had his very own Fun Club, which young guests were invited to join and here we can see the artwork for its logo.


The Fun Club also got it's own float in the later years of the Alton Towers Parade, based around a giant Jack in the Box and sponsored by Kia-ora, who's crow mascots became costumed characters in park. (But more on them in a later update)



Whilst the later parades focussed much more on individual attractions (such as the Haunted House or Mine-Train), the earlier years saw the floats based more on different areas of the park.

One of these floats was the Piazza Float (named after the area that is now known as Fountain Square), on which the park's inhouse band would perform as part of the parade. Here we see the concept for Henry and Henrietta's costumes related to this float in 1989 (Henry and/or Henrietta would normally appear on just about every float in the parade wearing different costumes)

If you're wondering what the pitchfork is, that is part of Farmer Herny's costume, who appeared on the Windmill floats, which was a new float for the 1989 parade (to promote the new Farmyard area in the park)


Over the course of its run, various characters were produced just for the park's parade. (Although many of these charcters were later also used elsewhere in the park as well, especially after the arrival of The Land of Make Believe in 1993)

One such character was the Cheshire Cat, who was introduced for the 1992 parade.


And here's the Cheshire Cat as he appeared in real life in 1993, entertaining guests with The Count at the very end of the parade route next to the Magic Theatre (which today houses Ice Age).

The float next to the cat is the back of the Haunted House float, following behind the Piazza Float, the Fun Club Float (spot the white glove of the Jack in the Box), the Mine-Train Float and finally the Bandstand Float, which would traditionally lead the parade.


1993 saw the arrival of Bunbury at Alton Towers, whose backstory was linked to the discovery of The Land of Make Believe (the area now known as Cloud Cuckoo Land)


And Bunbury himself standing outside the Haargen-Daaz World of Ice Cream in The Land of Make Believe.

Variations on this character would appear around the park right up until the early years of the new millenium, making him the last of the old school park mascots to be used (if you don't count the brief reappearance of Henry after the 2005 season)


Join us again next week for another Talbot Street Tuesday!

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ok, i miss the early 90's, great pictures prompting great memories of my childhood.

Todays rides, with 90's magic = perfect towers

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Henry Hound is such a brilliant character, God only knows why they got rid of him, Seemed such a waste of a fantastic IP. Much like Sir Algenon who practically only exists at the Hotel now.

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It seems they have made Sir Algenon a hotel only character now, I certainly havnt seen him in the theme park for a good few years! He has however had a bit of makeover this year in the hotels with new outfits.

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This week for Talbot Street Tuesday we take another look at the construction of the Monorail back in 1987.

Let's begin in the Coach Park, where one of the monorail beams is about to be lifted into place. For those coach enthusiasts out there, take a look at those quality 1980s beauties in the background!


As it is lifted into place you can see the impressive length of each beam.

The path you can see in the bottom corner of the picture is actually part of the queueline for the Grand Canyon Rapids (now Congo River Rapids)

You might notice how sparse the background of this image seems, containing the boundry between the Coach Park and the entry road to the Car Parks. Above the beam itself you can just see some of the new planting the park installed during the 80s to try and reduce the noise that escapes from the park into the surrounding area. Today these are well matured and provide a dence boundry to the edge of the park.


The beam is lowered into place over the Rapids.

The fake rock work to the right of the image is the back of the Rapids Waterfalls.


Looking in the other direction across the rapids site, with supports ready and waiting for the monorail track to be installed. Somehwere in the picture the Rapids pass through below ground level.

Today this picture would also feature the queue line of the Rapids on the right and the Runaway Minetrain to the left of the Monorail.


Further along the track in the grass car parks some final work is carried out on the installed track.

This picture is taken from within what would eventually become the Nemeis ride area.


Moving away from the track installation here we see groundwork taking place for the Monorail maintenance depot.

Intertestingly, sitting beyond the fence can be seen the three Sunliner Trains that were one of the main transportation system used by the park in the early 80s. The Sunliner Trains were retired shortly after the Monorail and Skyride were completed, making the road transportation somewhat obsolete.


At the far end of the circuit the roof is nearly complete on the Monorail Station at the park entrance, as seen from the Coach Park.

The ticket booths can be seen under the Monorail track towards the left of the image, but this picture would almost be unrecognisable today, with the entrance plaza now filled with the Corkscrew monument and obscured by the group ticket collection building.


Moving a little later on here we see the ride in testing along the car park stretch of the the track, after the ride circuit had been completed.

The brown building seen through the trees would seem to be the Shower Block for the Caravan and Camp site that occupied this area in the 1970s. This building was later used as a backstage building for the Alton Towers Hotel, before being demolished to make way for Cariba Creek.


Finally today let's skip forward a few years to the early 90s (check out the Thunder Looper in the back ground, this image gives a good idea of just how longs the coaster was, stretching all the way through Forbidden Valley)

Here we see one train on the tack, heading towards the switch track that would take it into the the storage area. The other train is sitting on the grass bank alongside the track waiting to be installed. This image was possibly taken when extra trains were bought for the attraction in the early 90s, to bring the fleet upto full capacity to meet growing demand for the service.

The grass bank the second train is sitting on has today given way to Nemesis: Sub-Terra.

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djtruefitt said:

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I'd love to see them try that now!

Fantastic glance into history as always, It's photo's like this that make me wish they did a tiny bit more maintenance than they already do, a nice paint up would work wonders!