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2025: General Discussion

Mattie boy said:
Will share this here and take it with a pinch of salt... I'd love this to be true too yet if it is what sort of other flat we talking ?

I know we are all aware of the 3 ride deal that's supposedly happened, yet would we get 2 for 2025 or just a install for a second ?

Thrill ? Family ?

Source your experience guide
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This rumour won’t die will it. 😂

I’m hoping it’s true but I just can’t see it.

MaxPower said:
An additional X-Sector flat ride wouldn't be difficult to install during the season if it was something like a Huss Breakdance / Booster on the Enterprise site.

Would be nice if true.
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Yeah. They can easily block that area off and have access from the road next to Oblivion so it’s easy access.
 
Martin said:
If they replace Blade it won't be this year, they can't be having a big construction site in the way of their two newest rides (as well as the f&b vendors)

It should be replaced for 2026 though, but I'll bet that it won't be
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I didn't mean now (was more thinking about the 3 ride deal) I was more wondering if we would see planning permission if a replacement is done.
 
Bowser said:
Surely any flat arriving mid season would be temporary rather than anything themed and whilst that’s fine for capacity it would mean…

RetroSquad: Reborn
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with flat rides, It is more a question of their foundation, if it needs little foundation work then it could be quick, toxication needed a lot of foundation works, so it has taken like a year to build, once foundations are built it is just a relatively small amount of time to build the ride, then any theming
 
Slightly off-topic, but very relevant to Towers given the proximity. But a new holiday park near Cheadle has been approved by the local council after years of delays.

BBC News - New holiday park approved after years of objection

Interesting development because aside from the occasional B&B and Campsite, there isn’t much ‘local’ accommodation near Towers. Having potentially up to 250 rooms with a good amount of amenities planned could give Towers guests a serious alternative to what’s currently offered on-resort. Therefore, will we see the park try and up its game Resort-side? Especially looking towards the abandoned high-ropes course that is just kind of sitting SBNO.
 
flyingguitar said:
I am curious what spots it could be in,
I am aware there is one in DF and the enterprise spot, is teh blade a GDO area?
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The Blade is part of what is effectively a Modified GDO, so they would need planning permission for anything taller than 5m or that would require the removal of trees.

I guess they wouldn't need planning permission for a new swinging ship though, i.e. replacing like for like.

Bert2theSpark said:
Especially looking towards the abandoned high-ropes course that is just kind of sitting SBNO.
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Not so much of the S any more. A large section of it was cut down last year. The buildings were still up, but not sure how much of the actual course is still there. You can see some pictures of the demolition on our Tree Top Quest page.
 
Bert2theSpark said:
Slightly off-topic, but very relevant to Towers given the proximity. But a new holiday park near Cheadle has been approved by the local council after years of delays.

BBC News - New holiday park approved after years of objection

Interesting development because aside from the occasional B&B and Campsite, there isn’t much ‘local’ accommodation near Towers. Having potentially up to 250 rooms with a good amount of amenities planned could give Towers guests a serious alternative to what’s currently offered on-resort. Therefore, will we see the park try and up its game Resort-side? Especially looking towards the abandoned high-ropes course that is just kind of sitting SBNO.
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Do you know where this actually is? I'm finding multiple results, varying from an 8 minute drive to 75 minutes but i'm assuming the former is more likely correct?

This will be great for us, we always stay in an Airbnb but they're typically 30-40 minute drives.
 
Bert2theSpark said:
Slightly off-topic, but very relevant to Towers given the proximity. But a new holiday park near Cheadle has been approved by the local council after years of delays.

BBC News - New holiday park approved after years of objection

Interesting development because aside from the occasional B&B and Campsite, there isn’t much ‘local’ accommodation near Towers. Having potentially up to 250 rooms with a good amount of amenities planned could give Towers guests a serious alternative to what’s currently offered on-resort. Therefore, will we see the park try and up its game Resort-side? Especially looking towards the abandoned high-ropes course that is just kind of sitting SBNO.
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Fingers crossed and hopefully they make a start sooner rather than later.

It shouldn’t have much visual impact as it’s within a quarry and certainly a better use.

Hopefully transport impacts are considered, it should also hopefully revive expanding the churnet valley railway closer to Alton up to oakamoor sand sidings, making it only a couple of miles from the old Alton station.

And as others have said will provide some healthy competition to the resorts offering which are “meh” at best

Fingers crossed…
 
Ash said:
it should also hopefully revive expanding the churnet valley railway closer to Alton up to oakamoor sand sidings
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churnet valley railway is in the middle of an expansion, they have built track down to leek (and a temporary station), the next stage from what I understand is building a station at leek and a turnaround track and maybe a visitor center. so unless a large investment / grant comes in to expand it to oak more and then Alton I doubt they would want to start another project whilst this one is underway.
(leek is the opposite way to Alton on the railway for context)

the best video I could find of the first public train to leek:

From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1heTYu33V3w
 
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flyingguitar said:
churnet valley railway is in the middle of an expansion, they have built track down to leek (and a temporary station), the next stage from what I understand is building a station at leek and a turnaround track and maybe a visitor center. so unless a large investment / grant comes in to expand it to oak more and then Alton I doubt they would want to start another project whilst this one is underway.
(leek is the opposite way to Alton on the railway for context)

the best video I could find of the first public train to leek:

From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1heTYu33V3w
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Alton Towers by Train?

Alton Towers by Train?

With all the talk on the Universal GB thread about transport etc. Is it time for Merlin to lobby the government/ Network Rail to reopen the Stoke to Leek train line? The station is still in place and is quite close to the resort, most of the trackbed is still viable and part of it is already...
r.tapatalk.com r.tapatalk.com

Refer to my post here.

You are correct finishing Leek to allow to to accept passengers is key for 2025 (Install of runaround loop, finish of platform) then Oakamoor sand sidings hopefully 2026…

 
Ash said:
You are correct finishing Leek to allow to to accept passengers is key for 2025 (Install of runaround loop, finish of platform) then Oakamoor sand sidings hopefully 2026…
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that is quite hopeful, it hasn't been an easy or quick process getting to leek, and has cost a large amount of money, and I believe that is much less distance compared to going to oakamore.
also 2025 for the station is quite a dream there is going to be quite a bit of work going into the station, what is currently there if I recall correctly is just an extension to the main platform. they may be able to get a functional station if it is required for grant reasons, but I doubt they would be able to fully finish it by then.

It will require a ton of investment for this, and required the council to work with them. I am not saying it is impossible but I am aware it was very difficult to get enough to do this relatively small leek extension.
 
rob666 said:
Ash has had this pipe dream for years, don't kill it off now.
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I mean it is possible, but very unlikely it will be done before the 2030's, unless Alton towers (or similar such as the council) aids with funding for it as I think it would require an additional grant which can take time to get accepted.

that being said the Staffordshire moorlands do want to encourage tourism.
 
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It still doesn't fix the access issues from the station to the main park. It's a hell of an incline. They'd have to plough loads into new roads and buses or a new skyride system
 
Poisson said:
It still doesn't fix the access issues from the station to the main park. It's a hell of an incline. They'd have to plough loads into new roads and buses or a new skyride system
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yep, would need some way to essentially get from the bottom of the valley to the top (alton station is down the valley near DF)
circled in green is the former station (currently a hotel thing owned by national trust)1737908436931.png
 
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