2016: Theme Park Developments

[CoasterCrazyChris]

You've all taken leave of your senses.

I need to find a roller coaster forum rather than a theme park one ;D

Cross Valley Woodie please, stuff the dark rides, done them once or twice, unless they are truly epic, they get dull.

As much as I love rollercoasters, Alton Towers is supposed to be a family theme park not Six Flags!

The woodie will never happen under Merlin. A pure enthusiast dream.

Dark rides are only dull because in this country most of them are either utter pants or in a terrible state of repair.

Coasters aside, presentlyAlton Towers has a mediocre lineup at best.

 

[TheMan]

Oh yeah I forgot it hasn't just opened an entire new area dedicated to kids which will no doubt have more attractions, a water park, numerous family attractions across the park in general.

Alton still need another world class coaster. The Smiler ISN'T it, I'll be amazed if it hasn't fallen apart by then - you know it is not going to get fixed, and by 2016 I can see it being an utterly horrific, sinking, jolting painful excuse for a coaster.

But, let's wait till 2020 till the next one?

Nothing is going to convince me to have a cycle of coasters/SWs moved from 3 to 4 years and then make it EIGHT for the next coaster. Nothing. I think that is absolute suicide! Nemesis will be nearly THIRTY years old!! Rita will be shot. Th13teen lost it's gimmick, if Intamin issues haven't ruined it. The Smiler (LOL!) Oblivion will no doubt be still going. Air will still be going but it's hardly thrill central anyway.

Had The Smiler shown signs of not tearing itself apart by half way through the first season, I COULD have seen the viewpoint and disagreed, but with the utter balls that ride is turning out to be, (I love it, but it's knackered before it's even started), I just cannot look past the fact they need a truly world class coaster the likes of which is deserving of residing at Alton Towers.

Towers doesn't even come close to Six Flags, it's a poor poor example.

 

[Dar]

The park needs something new that isn't a coaster. If it wants to brand itself as a family resort it needs rides that are suitable for the family to ride together. Something like Pirates Of The Caribbean or similar.

The Smiler is a world class ride that is let down by one train performing poorly. Once they get that sorted it will be fine. It's definitely a Nemesis tickler, I rode the Smiler on my last visit twice on my last visit without riding Nemesis at all.

A ride like Arthur would do well at Alton, not too fast or slow but with a mix of thrills and theming.

 

[CoasterCrazyChris]

Oh yeah I forgot it hasn't just opened an entire new area dedicated to kids which will no doubt have more attractions, a water park, numerous family attractions across the park in general

CBeebies is for very young children, not families. Not to mention it is exactly the same attractions as before just with a new theme and the addition of a small show.

The waterpark is a completely separate paid for attraction which is not a part of the theme park.

The 'numerous family attractions across the park' is what I am getting at. Hex aside, they are all either very tired or reaching the end of their life (The Flume, Rapids, Duel, Blade) or they were plainly mediocre to begin with (Charlie, Battle Galleons, Spinball).

Alton Towers needs a world class ride that is not rollercoaster. The Flume site is the ideal location.

 

[TheMan]

Seems I stand alone in my thoughts on this lol!!

Never going to change my mind, there is just no convincing me that another EIGHT YEARS for a coaster makes sense from a half a billion pound company.

 

[Maelstrom]

Thinking about it I agree and don't think they would wait 8 years either. I am sure any new dark ride or water ride won't be instead of the next big coaster.

I think their is a possibility we could see a woodie now with the stuff Rocky Mountain doing as would certainly give them a marketing advantage in the uk with something like Outlaw run at silver dollar city. Plus with a Vekoma now handling their sales in Europe it's even more of a possibility. Would be great as cross valley (I know unlikely to ever happen) as that would allow them the biggest drop on a wooden coaster in the world.

With the new kids coaster I hope they go for a proper kids coaster from either vekoma, Mack or gerstlaur and not some cheap rubbish from the likes of zamperla that many parks add as kids coasters. They have been using Vekoma roller skaters at their Lego parks so that prob a possibility.

 

[Alastair]

Would be great as cross valley (I know unlikely to ever happen) as that would allow them the biggest drop on a wooden coaster in the world.

No one ever mentions this when the cross-valley issue comes up - how is this not a viable marketing point? The biggest drop on a wooden coaster in the world! If that wouldn't draw people to the park then literally nothing will.

 

[Maelstrom]

The problem isn't just Merlin not wanting to build a wood coaster but also how hard it would be for the park to get planning permission which makes it unlikely to happen anytime soon.

 

[James]

A wooden coaster would be just as likely to get granted as a steel coaster. Aside from noise (which can even be prevented with woodies - plus some are far quieter than steel coasters) the visual impact of a wooden coaster would be very minimal, it would actually help with blending into the natural landscape.

The main hurdle seems to be Merlin's reliance on market research. Although I do question just how market research is handled when looking at new attractions.

 

[Rob]

If you look at the major theme parks that have built wooden coasters that have subsequently been very popular (Wodan being the prime recent example) then it is clear that Merlin are failing with their research. Chances are they don't want one because of the costs the come along with keeping them in condition.

 

[BigAl]

Thorpe's on significant additions are coasters. I'd much rather Alton Towers didn't become the northern equivalent.

 

[Poisson]

Nemesis will be nearly THIRTY years old!!
Oblivion will no doubt be still going.
Air will still be going but it's hardly thrill central anyway.

Probably as B&M are a tad OTT with build.....

 

[James]

To be fair Alton offers everything thrill wise (minus woodie). They would survive by delivering SW8 later than 2016. I think CATCF and the Flume site are in dire need of new developments at the moment. These areas should be on the priority list.

It's quite embarrassing that an area that was rethemed 6 years ago still has an old outdated themed ride sitting in the centre of it. Even more embarrassing an IP dark ride is the worst dark ride on park, if not the worst in the UK and looks like it has been operating for 20 years not 8.

 

[Rob]

In terms of new major investments being coasters or not, I don't think it's possible for Towers to continue to add a new major coaster ever three years without removing some of the current major coasters. Without significant park expansion there just isn't the space. I reckon there are currently the following sites available for a new major coaster:

- Coaster corner
- Air car park
- The valley (this is very unlikely though)

You could possibly get a medium sized family coaster in where The Flume is if that was to be removed also. Although it would have to be very carefully designed and may be very restricted in its layout in order to get planning permission.

For me it does make more sense for the next large investment to be some sort of dark ride, something that exceeds anything currently in the park (and the UK for that matter). Then the next major coaster can come in or around 2019.

 

[TheMan]

I think they need to do both. A cross valley woodie (which hopefully Wodan will help assure Merlin as pointed out earlier by other posters) would not represent the same levels of investment as a £20m Steel coaster, either in design or manufacturing costs. Obviously the terrain will bump the cost up but I can't seen why they couldn't do it for £10m? Instead of having one mid sized then one big, why not have a couple of bumper years spreading the investment across the two to bring the CVW and a new family water ride/dark ride?

Let's face it, they wont spend the kind of money like Arthur, and with hopefully added income streams from the new resort developments the budget could expand to cope with both of these.

It's good to deviate from a formula on occasion to make a fundamental change, and let's face it, a good quality dark/water ride and the CVW along with the new accommodation would see Alton Towers drastically improved over the next 4/5 years.

 

[Dave]

I suspect Towers will be very family focused for the foreseeable future, they tend to swerve around their audience in a knee jerk reaction with little forward planning, so they will be running family as they neglected it for 3 years and then in about 4 seasons time they will panic again when they realise their thrill market has lapsed and muscle something thrill in way too fast with no good plan.

Why break the habit of a decade.

 

[Johno]

I had thought it was potentially likely we could see a Blade/Ripsaw replacement next year along with a replacement for the Beastie.

Following year a flume replacement, probably a family-thrill ride with a low height restriction along with some smaller additions to Cloud Cuckoo.

Interesting comment re. Duel - http://www.altontowersguide.com/questions-answers-with-ian-crabbe/

I would be very surprised if they spent an awful lot of money on it, I just don't think it's worthwhile.

 

[Rob]

I see Duel as a location for a new dark ride. You have a ready made good sized building and there wouldn't be any costs associated with groundwork and construction of a new building. Duel is far from popular, even on busy days it's pretty much walk on (I know the ride's throughput does help this). I can easily see them gutting it and starting again with a new ride.

 

[_nemesis_]

I see Duel as a location for a new dark ride. You have a ready made good sized building and there wouldn't be any costs associated with groundwork and construction of a new building. Duel is far from popular, even on busy days it's pretty much walk on (I know the ride's throughput does help this). I can easily see them gutting it and starting again with a new ride.

A new ride, with half the capacity of Duel. Sounds like Merlin.

 

[Alastair]

I had thought it was potentially likely we could see a Blade/Ripsaw replacement next year along with a replacement for the Beastie.

Following year a flume replacement, probably a family-thrill ride with a low height restriction along with some smaller additions to Cloud Cuckoo.

Interesting comment re. Duel - http://www.altontowersguide.com/questions-answers-with-ian-crabbe/

I would be very surprised if they spent an awful lot of money on it, I just don't think it's worthwhile.

He's certainly a man of few words. The answers are all shorter than the questions!