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2014: Family Developments

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Sorry I meant CBBC as a broad 'BBC Childrens Television' including CBeebies.

As opposed to CITV or Milkshake.

However, licensing on a brand such as 'CBeebies would be a pain in the neck, as all the cartoons are separate entities from different companies.
 
I wonder if it were to be the BBC how it would work with licensing, because with the BBC run by licence payer money Id imagine it will make the whole thing complicated. And would it have to go to a public consultation too?

It certainly wouldnt be as simple as say the Nickelodeon Land at Blackpool.
 
Longleat have Deadly Safari and Deadly Challenge off of CBBC. However, nowhere does it say anything about CBBC but instead there are signs at the entrances to said attractions and graphics before the attraction videos which state "Deadly Adventure at Longleat is under license from BBC Worldwide that helps fund new BBC programmes". Everything just says copyright BBC/BBC Worldwide.

Licensing all of this stuff is much simpler than you think so it can be very easily done. :)
 
Yep, the BBC themselves are allowed to enter into commercial ventures - just the money has to go back into the corporation and not be treated as 'profit'.
 
clearly it isnt as difficult as i anticipated.

So yeah... CBBC - erm, i cant think how it would work tbh.
 
I hope whatever it is it brings back the magic. Also, sonic spinball doesn't need moving but it needs serious retheming. The whole sonic thing doesn't really work.
 
My Idea would've been Adventure Land/Storybook Land/Old McDonald's Farmyard merging each other to retheme as Nintendo Land (even if Merlin sign the Contract with Nintendo for Alton Towers). The Sonic Spinball ride would've been rethemed as the Donkey Kong Country themed Rollercoaster (if the Contract expires form SEGA.) alongside with other Nintendo themed rides such as Mario Kart Dodgems, Luigi's Mansion themed dark ride (it would've been replacing the Ice show tent which was abandoned for ages.), or Legend of Zelda Tower drop Ride.
 
ok seriously, no plans or indication of anything happening. Could this be yet another Merlin rush job?
 
Its bound to be slowly there recking the park with areas that don't last' and the Farm is a well made area it really has stood the test of time. And I dread to think what they will do with it. Some one just to day on the Towers Times forum said a manager said it is going to be like going back to the good old days. Which I think sounds good in theory but what they do is some thing different.
 
Everything is planned and ready to go from what I've heard.

Since it will be a medium (low?) investment year it's unlikely there will be any indication of anything happening until Scarefest or this Christmas.



 
If I remember rightly, isn't the area under a GDO, so they have no obligation to submit plans for alterations within the restrictions?

As others have said, I'd expect the area to close off so work can commence around Scarefest time, with an announcement being made to explain the closeure to guests. Also, by doing it within season it gives them chance to get some easy exposure and advertising to bring people back next year (Much as they did with Smiler banners and the logo appearing all over the place).
 
If they dont use Scarefest as marketing tool for this I'd be surprised.
 
Who's to say we're actually getting an area overall this year?

I say this for several reasons:

1). The Smiler was obviously late and expensive, they can milk it as 'new' for another year based on this.

2). Thorpe is due some investment after minimum attention this year. It would surprise me if Alton were heavily spent upon two (perhaps even three if you include Sub-Terra and its TV advertising campaign) years running.

3). There are no signs of evidence that suggest we're getting these family developments other than what members and staff have tipped us on. No documents nor planning applications have surfaced yet. Even if it's GDO surely we could expect to see something?

4). The lodges were definitely something Alton was focusing on until the withdrawal of plans. This could well have been the 'family addition' we've been watching out for. If they put their time and money into getting this ready, it's possible that 2014 is going to be a no-go for Towers.

5). Merlin.



I could be totally wrong and there are probably people more in the know chuckling at my cynicism but I don’t even know why we’re so sure that anything’s happening, yet?
 
I should hope they are getting something new.


The state of Storybook Land and the Farmyard is utterly disgusting. The Bookworm doesn't work at all and it looks like it's been thrown down the valley a few times. I've never seen anything like it.

That was part of my childhood.
 
The Smiler (from what I understand) will not be 'milked' next year. They've done everything they can marketing wise this year. I don't know of any figures but it looks like the park has stayed quite consistent with guest figures since The Smiler opened. I think they've made up for the money lost from the delay of The Smiler so they must be happy with guest figures through the gates (even if satisfaction figures are down). Just to note I'm being speculative as I have no real idea if Alton/Merlin are happy with guest figures or not!

Alton Towers is Merlin's key UK park, they will aim to invest into the park and resort year-on-year - to skip a year would be a terrible move. They really don't want another 2011 repeat on their hands. With the lodges dropped too it will be more important than ever to ensure there is a family addition in 2014. The park needs to get the family market back in the limelight.

Since the new (I say new... rather rethemed old areas) family area comes under the GDO we will not see anything at all appear in planning. As long as everything stays within the restrictions, which with a family area will be pretty easy, they can build and do whatever they like. So I wouldn't get too concerned about nothing appearing.

The area next year is 100% going ahead though. It has been in planning for a while. Hopefully by Scarefest Alton will get a move on and start marketing 2014.
 
They'll just do a classic and pointlessly try to keep it a secret for as long as possible when that's clearly the worst thing to do marketing wise. They'll then pay some actors about 50p to look wooden on screen whilst supposedly "racking up" the anticipation, and upload it to a Youtube account they just set up. Then some shoddy external company will accidentally stick some posters up in Epping and ruin their whole scheme.
 
The farm, storybook land and Adventure land have General Development Orders covering them. So long as they stick within the confines of the GDO they don't need to submit a planning application.

The first official indication of anything happening will be either when they announce or when the areas are closed off.

The fact that ALL of the family Scarefest stuff has been moved out or the farm and the Christmas event makes no mention of the farm attractions is very suggestive or future actions.
 
With all this talk of development...

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- Tayler
 
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