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2025: General Discussion

Few other updates I’ve seen:
-Lots of new fences
-Lots of new signs
-Fixed trommel at Alton Manor
-Potential repairs on CRR wave machines
-Rita has black restraints now instead of orange (seen on coastertogs Insta)
-Wicker Man’s station building wicker has been repaired/replaced
-New theming for TH13TEEN
-Rename of an outlet in Mutiny Bay
-new smoke effect for Oblivions queue line
-re paving and general cleanliness increase
 
Danscott22 said:
Few other updates I’ve seen:
-Lots of new fences
-Lots of new signs
-Fixed trommel at Alton Manor
-Potential repairs on CRR wave machines
-Rita has black restraints now instead of orange (seen on coastertogs Insta)
-Wicker Man’s station building wicker has been repaired/replaced
-New theming for TH13TEEN
-Rename of an outlet in Mutiny Bay
-new smoke effect for Oblivions queue line
-re paving and general cleanliness increase
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Only the lap bar part of the restraints have changed colour, the shoulder restraints have always been black.

Security tents are back on the plaza and they're blue not Cadbury Towers purple - could this mean they're only temporary with more permanent structures incoming?
 
flyingguitar said:
IP's I would argue aren't required for universal or disney
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I agree with you, I was sort of saying though that if you have an IP you have to go the whole hog such as the Wizarding World, Nintendo World, Fantasy Springs. Simply having an IP that revolves around the name of the ride and a couple of props does nothing to enhance a ride or the theme park, in my opinion. Case in point being the World of David Walliams.
 
Mick said:
I agree with you, I was sort of saying though that if you have an IP you have to go the whole hog such as the Wizarding World, Nintendo World, Fantasy Springs. Simply having an IP that revolves around the name of the ride and a couple of props does nothing to enhance a ride or the theme park, in my opinion. Case in point being the World of David Walliams.
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Yeah, if you look back at Disney before they made it a requirement to use IP in every ride they used to have non IP everywhere, expedition Everest, Big thunder mountain, space mountain, pirates of the Caribbean (yes it isn't an IP, the ride came before the movie), haunted mansion and so many more, all of them are classics and generate Disney a ton of money, but who will remember slinky dog dash, ratatouie, etc once those IP inevitably die and the rides are changed in a few decades
 
flyingguitar said:
Yeah, if you look back at Disney before they made it a requirement to use IP in every ride they used to have non IP everywhere, expedition Everest, Big thunder mountain, space mountain, pirates of the Caribbean (yes it isn't an IP, the ride came before the movie), haunted mansion and so many more, all of them are classics and generate Disney a ton of money, but who will remember slinky dog dash, ratatouie, etc once those IP inevitably die and the rides are changed in a few decades
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Exactly. Just the same as Nemesis Reborn vs Saw The Ride or The Smiler vs The Walking Dead
 
Bowser said:
Isn’t virtually every Universal attraction that has ever existed been tied to an IP? It’s the very premise of the parks.

I appreciate Epic Universe will somewhat deviate from this.
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One could also argue that the parks themselves, as concepts and chains, are entirely cookie cutter type IP, rather than bespoke attractions with unique stories.

There's also an argument to be had that Nemesis has crept into the realms of IP; having four attractions, over two parks, based on the same story.

Further back and forth may bring the whips of the mods and a spin out thread, however.
 
I think IPs are becoming more important than ever in the theme park industry. Let's be honest if you take the lego theming out of legoland is it anything special?

I would argue that merlin has seen the potential with IPs, they are great at bringing the general public into the park as certain franchises have a huge following.

If Chessington was to build the replacement area of wild Asia exactly the same but without the minecraft IP would it have quite so much interest? That IP looks very lucrative as despite what looks like a mediocre investment on paper, fans of the franchise will go crazy visiting the park bringing a whole new audience in.

I think regardless of whether project Horizon could have been minecraft, I believe that Alton towers will look towards another franchise for this area of the park to boost visitor numbers more so than just opening an indoor coaster.

Looking at Sony who merlin seem to have a good relationship there doesn't look to be much that stands out that they haven't already done. Spiderman I think would be too complicated with shared rights and I'm sure Disney would not allow this. That leaves things like Men In Black or Ghost busters as some of their highest grossing franchises. I'm not sure either of these would work but I still think merlin will use an IP for Horizon. I think somebody mentioned the last of us, but that feels more like a Thorpe Park IP than a towers IP but I could be wrong.
 
Bowser said:
Isn’t virtually every Universal attraction that has ever existed been tied to an IP? It’s the very premise of the parks.

I appreciate Epic Universe will somewhat deviate from this.
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thare are a couple, such as rip ride, star flyer, Poseidon land, etc but I would argue the really good Universal attractions work independently similar to Disney's older IP, a lot of them despite having an IP are quite separate, for instance there is a really good stunt show based on a movie, the movie is long dead, but the stunt show is really good.

MrTowers said:
I think IPs are becoming more important than ever in the theme park industry. Let's be honest if you take the lego theming out of legoland is it anything special?
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I think IP's are a short term gain, long term loss, (especially in lower themed parks) the 2 really good IP's I think I have seen are saw and the walking dead, you don't need to know much if anything about the movies and the set dressing and theming works really well. but if the IP is done cheaply, or just not intergrated well it can ruin the long term, as eventually the hype arround the IP dies and you are left with a saw thumb requiring you to have to retheme it, VS oblivion not many theming changes and still nicely themed.
 
Danscott22 said:
-Rita has black restraints now instead of orange (seen on coastertogs Insta)
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good to see it has new restraint cushions (there is a metal rod inside the foam, it can be removed and the foam reapplied, but if i recall correctly from ryan the ride mechanic, only a few companies do this service and the service is a small part of their wider buisness, so it takes months to get done), hopefully they replaced the straps as they used to stink
 
IP's are fine if done well. Legoland without the Lego is a crap park. Legoland with Lego is still a crap park but with Lego! Lego for heavens sake! And people arrive in droves.

Just like Alton used to be a theme park.

Now it's an impressive (although less so than it used to be since they sacked a load of gardeners and began charging to enter the Towers themselves) landscape of gothic manor with a 1994 B&M rebuild (but now with brand NEW helicopters!), tiny GCI woodie that omits occasional flames, and a Gerstlaur that does nothing other than achieve a world record for the amount of times it inverts you whilst doing damage to your cranial cavities.

Oh, and there's some very lightly themed Travelodges for £400 per night, and even cheaper garden sheds hidden around somewhere.

I'd take a "Pornhub: The Ride' IP if it improved the depressing state of the place at this stage. Beggars can't be choosers hence Williams World.
 
Matt.GC said:
IP's are fine if done well. Legoland without the Lego is a crap park. Legoland with Lego is still a crap park but with Lego! Lego for heavens sake! And people arrive in droves.

Just like Alton used to be a theme park.

Now it's an impressive (although less so than it used to be since they sacked a load of gardeners and began charging to enter the Towers themselves) landscape of gothic manor with a 1994 B&M rebuild (but now with brand NEW helicopters!), tiny GCI woodie that omits occasional flames, and a Gerstlaur that does nothing other than achieve a world record for the amount of times it inverts you whilst doing damage to your cranial cavities.

Oh, and there's some very lightly themed Travelodges for £400 per night, and even cheaper garden sheds hidden around somewhere.

I'd take a "Pornhub: The Ride' IP if it improved the depressing state of the place at this stage. Beggars can't be choosers hence Williams World.
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To once again play devil's advocate, i'd argue Legoland is still a good family theme park regardless. The Lego IP is often tied arbitrarily to existing themes... Deep Sea Adventure, Haunted House, The Dragon, Miniature Speedway etc, these rides could all exist in the same format without Lego. It's also the park with by far the most indoor attractions in the UK which is another notable boon.

Walliams World is interesting and it's easy to forget how new it is (2021!!) yet how dated it feels already. I suppose they hoped they'd found a new Roald Dahl/Gruffalo strength IP and it arguably hasn't panned out that way which is always the risk you take with a relatively new IP. I think especially if you're building an entire themed area with multiple attractions then an IP needs to have existed prominently for at least 20 years so that it is multi-generational, otherwise you end up with a Ben 10.

I do worry Chessington are also falling into that trap (less so with Minecraft than the other new *redacted* area).
 
Bowser said:
Walliams World is interesting and it's easy to forget how new it is (2021!!) yet how dated it feels already. I suppose they hoped they'd found a new Roald Dahl/Gruffalo strength IP and it arguably hasn't panned out that way which is always the risk you take with a relatively new IP. I think especially if you're building an entire themed area with multiple attractions then an IP needs to have existed prominently for at least 20 years so that it is multi-generational, otherwise you end up with a Ben 10.
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The DW books are still insanely popular with my children and their school age friends so barring any extreme controversy which always seems just around the corner I don’t think it’s going anywhere.

The entire area just feels… tatty… though; like it needs a good scrub and coat of paint. The derelict theatre, empty buildings by the driving school end and fresh absence of the Flávio ride I’m sure won’t help. It’s heartwarming to see that the sweetshop is staying true to the books by being a complete ripoff though.
 
Walliams World was done on the cheap - I half think shoehorned in just so they can use the ride purchased for another park but scrapped.

It could be good - if executed properly (taking away the fact it’s Walliams)
 
Bowser said:
I do worry Chessington are also falling into that trap (less so with Minecraft than the other new *redacted* area).
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I believe both speculated IPs for Chessington (Minecraft and Paw Patrol) are very popular, have been prominent for at least a decade and are not in as big of a danger of going redundant as the Walliams books.
 
Ethan said:
Beautiful weather on park today. Rita running like a dream today. Very underrated in my opinion. 4 trains on Smiler and the baggage hold open brilliant ops on there
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Has the station building exterior/the half way point been cleaned at all? Saw a video and the exterior did look better but it was hard to tell
 
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