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2022 Speculation and CBeebies Land additions

I pretty firmly believe that we'll be seeing some permanent flats join the line-up for next year. The Retrosquad have undoubtedly been a success this year with most of them getting some pretty hefty queues a lot of the time. I think a few of us on here have heard some rumblings about flats in the near future, so at this point I'd be quite surprised if it didn't happen.

What I hope is that they are fairly heavily themed to their respective areas, and with a decent lighting package for late closes. It's amazing how much extra kinetic atmosphere a flat ride or two can bring to an area.
 
As has been discussed on the N-ST thread......I feel the park may well be looking to bring it back in some form probably for 2022.

Why? Because major new flat rides aren't cheap and bringing this ride back, even if it's tweaked which no doubt it will be, is going to be a lot less expensive than installing a brand new flat ride.
 
When on park yesterday, I had just finished riding The Blade and we were walking along the red path up to the sky ride and I clocked a group of Alton Towers officials showing 2 people the area. They all had fairly substantial wads of paper, and I had a quick glance when I walked past. I only saw them for a second because I obviously didn’t want to stop and stare at them but they looked like complex plans, drawings and graphic designs. They were also pointing at various high points in forbidden valley.

I could be reading too much into this but could we be seeing some new additions / replacements / redesign of Forbidden Valley ? I read on here that John Wardley was also spotted with AT officials in Forbidden Valley a few days ago, so perhaps something new is coming?

On the other side, it could of course had been just routine stuff going on!
 
s_g_k said:
When on park yesterday, I had just finished riding The Blade and we were walking along the red path up to the sky ride and I clocked a group of Alton Towers officials showing 2 people the area. They all had fairly substantial wads of paper, and I had a quick glance when I walked past. I only saw them for a second because I obviously didn’t want to stop and stare at them but they looked like complex plans, drawings and graphic designs. They were also pointing at various high points in forbidden valley.

I could be reading too much into this but could we be seeing some new additions / replacements / redesign of Forbidden Valley ? I read on here that John Wardley was also spotted with AT officials in Forbidden Valley a few days ago, so perhaps something new is coming?

On the other side, it could of course had been just routine stuff going on!
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Well SW9 can't be far away now can it? It'd been 3 years since wicker man opened and I imagine it'll be 5-6 years after wicker man that a new secret weapon comes in. So if SW9 is only 2-3 years away, plans could already be in the works?
 
Ethan said:
Well SW9 can't be far away now can it? It'd been 3 years since wicker man opened and I imagine it'll be 5-6 years after wicker man that a new secret weapon comes in. So if SW9 is only 2-3 years away, plans could already be in the works?
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Very true, but could a SW fit into that area ? It would involve them bulldozing all the food units along that walkway and would certainly involve them expanding into the gardens behind the food and retail units. Wasn’t this site explored for SW8 but it got turned down?
 
Ethan said:
Well SW9 can't be far away now can it? It'd been 3 years since wicker man opened and I imagine it'll be 5-6 years after wicker man that a new secret weapon comes in. So if SW9 is only 2-3 years away, plans could already be in the works?
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There have been previous quotes from park officials stating that SW9 was in the design stages (at an RCCGB lunch in 2019, a park manager implied that SW9 was already well into the design stages, and it was said at the event that we would discover more info in 2020, although I’d assume that was delayed slightly due to COVID, so that may well end up being this year or 2022.), so I think it would be fair to suggest that SW9 could possibly be on the way sooner rather than later.

Interestingly, it’s been said that John Wardley has been sighted with Alton Towers officials recently, wearing an official-looking ID badge and carrying a clipboard, in both Forbidden Valley & Dark Forest. After the reported palaver with getting him involved in SW8/Wicker Man’s development, could Alton Towers/Merlin Magic Making be keen for him to have a more active role in SW9’s development from the outset?
 
SW9 is almost certainly in some sort of development. Why wouldn't it be? But then that doesn't mean anything concrete is nailed down and certainly doesn't mean this has any bearing on 2022. It's already been discussed that it's not a top priority for a park that's had to resort to hiring in temp fairground flats and I think the park know this too.

For 2022 there are a number of considerations that need to be taken into account. Anything is possible with the ever changing Covid situation (and yes, I mean into 2022 as well), funds are still limited we just don't know by how much since Merlin went private and that there has been a positive move forward this season in at least acknowledging the issues the park has had for a few years now.

Due to the uncertainty of the above and the amount of surprise curve balls during 2021 I think publishing an annual prediction would be foolish as the game has now well and truly changed. But what is possible:

NST will not reopen and I'd stake my mortgage on it.

Flavios could and should stay. Either as a continuous hire or a new Sizzler being bought.

Walliams World needs a hell of a lot of work but I'm not certain it'll get it. We'll get a new 4d cinema show at best, left in it's current depressing state at worst. I'd expect something to happen in 2023, hopefully that'll be a retheme of Toyland.

Dungeons last season this season or 2022.

I don't want the temp flats to be made permanent. They've served their purpose well this season but they're not of the standard (overall anyway) the park should be aiming to achieve longer term. I'd prefer some better permanent additions than what we have. However I think the choices are to rent them or something like them again for 2022 as I don't think they have the funds to replace them properly. I do genuinely think the park is considering a longer term solution, but this won't be resolved in one season and is likely to coincide with the eventual removal of Blade and Enterprise over the course a few years.

I'd be surprised if the Waltzers made a return if the others do, but who knows.

I can't see the issues with the state of Duel, the Rapids or, to a lesser extent RMT, being resolved for 2022. I don't think the park see them as unacceptable enough for now and that they think they have bigger fish to fry. Maybe the odd lick of paint and/or lightbulb replacement but not the refurbishment they need.

Nemesis refurb will be on the cards in the future, but not for 2022.

I expect something new and permanent somewhere in the park. Be it a new flat, new addition to Cbeebies or Walliams World.

Maybe not as extensive as this year, but I think we'll see a decent event calendar again.

If season passes make a return, they could and should be priced more sustainably rather than their previous bargain basement iteration. Maybe we could see a welcome return to the AT annual pass.

With the park needing to spin so many plates right now, I think the monorail issues will continue to be kicked into the long grass as long as it's still functioning. I expect BAU for 2022.

If we see a return to bulk selling of season/annual passes, I think the 10-4 hours farce could well be banished to the past. My strong views on this are well known, but it's clear with the amount of extensions we've seen, poor reactions that other guests give on social media about them appearing on the website and the fact that they may not be able to control guest numbers as much next year, we could and should see 10-5 being the default hours once more (look at me being all "optimistic"!).

Regarding overall hours, I doubt the park will operate as late as it has this season for similar reasons so I would expect overall shorter peak day hours. But I think they'll be more balanced. Maybe some 10-5 off peaks and 6pm and 7pm peak closes.

Food and bev options won't change much in terms of permanent additions. I think another season of temp vans around the events will be the chosen option. I just hope the data they are collecting from this helps them decide on permanent food investments utilising some of the plethora of unused assets they have around the park.

As stated at the start, I'm just trying to be realistic, rather than make proper predictions. I don't think anyone expected the season we're in now to pan out how it has so far, both for the good things and the bad so the only certainly for 2022 is uncertainty.
 
Danscott22 said:
Thinking about it, I actually wouldn't be surprised if the Retro Squad end up coming back for 2022.
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This was why I was so against them coming in the first place and still not happy with them being there even now.

Once they got wind that the GP are happy to have fairground rides in there...where is the incentive to build world class flat rides that everyone on here is craving so badly? They can just get fairground rides in, possibly different ones to freshen it up a bit, at a fraction of the cost.

I know I'm not in the majority with my views on this and that's fine as I have an opinion just like everyone else does. But these travelling style rides belong in cheap sea side parks and traveling fairs not in the best theme park in the land.

Come at me. I dare you all. Hahahahaha
 
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I mean I'd rather there be permanent flats in but I've enjoyed them all personally, I like them BUT would still replace them. It'll likely lead to permanent replacements because of their popularity, which can only be a good thing?
 
Danscott22 said:
I mean I'd rather there be permanent flats in but I've enjoyed them all personally, I like them BUT would still replace them. It'll likely lead to permanent replacements because of their popularity, which can only be a good thing?
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You see this is where I'm not so sure. If this indeed turns out to be the case I will happily admit I got it wrong.

However what's stopping them buying some of these type of rides on a permanent basis? They are clearly much cheaper than the likes of a Gyro swing and other modern top class flat rides.

I will concede though that 99% of the these types of rides just make me feel ill so I'm not really going to feel too fondly about them anyway.
 
I can't see Alton Towers getting three new flat rides in one season. Even if they do invest and get a permanent installation for next year then there's still the possibility they'd need to keep a couple of "Retrosquad" rides (or other temporary hires) to keep the numbers up. Would people trade three temporary rides for one permanent, or is there now going to be an expectation of having three flats?
 
Alsty said:
I can't see Alton Towers getting three new flat rides in one season. Even if they do invest and get a permanent installation for next year then there's still the possibility they'd need to keep a couple of "Retrosquad" rides (or other temporary hires) to keep the numbers up. Would people trade three temporary rides for one permanent, or is there now going to be an expectation of having three flats?
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A good point and no way they would install 3. No chance.

However I'd rather them have a new Huss Top Spin or a Gyro Swing that doesn't exceed the tree height than travelling fair rides personally. But maybe that's just me.

I get really nauseous from rides that just spin around so I don't enjoy them at all. I love a good drop tower or Gyro Swing though and i do miss Ripsaw a lot.
 
I wouldn’t say it’s out of the question; Thorpe Park installed 3 flat rides in 2001 as part of their “Sensory Overload” season.
 
I'd be ok with one permanent next year - most favourably to replace Roller Disco. Keep Funk'n'Fly and Mixtape temporarily for capacity, they're both popular anyway. Replace Funk'n'Fly for 2023 and keep Mixtape, and then replace that for 2024, alongside whatever else might come along.
 
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