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[2025] Project Ocean: New Forbidden Valley Flat Ride

As long as the concrete base is ready, I'd say the actual ride hardware would be installed rather quickly.

I remember Cyclonator got installed in December 2019 with a originally planned May 2020 opening. I'd say this is aiming for a May opening although March doesn't seem impossible. šŸ¤”
 
AltonLover123 said:
Also, I donā€™t see why people are thinking itā€™s running late?

How many times have we complained about Merlin started projects late and it not being ready in time for opening day?

Itā€™s pretty clear it was never meant to open this year and they just wanted the concrete base and ground works to be completed before for the wetter and colder weather.
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Armchair engineers and influencers circulating clickbait lies/nonsense to keep up with the demands of algorithms.
 
Some people thought with how early it has started it must have been planned to open this year. Now that it hasn't, people think it must be opening late next year.

At no point so far has there been actual evidence of either view being true.
 
To me the approach they have taken seems pretty obvious and logical.

There is a lot of concrete involved in the construction of this ride, and they have chosen to do most (if not all) of this concrete work over the summer period when the weather is more suited to it. I expect ride installation will begin fairly soon in to the closed season. And if all goes to plan it should open for the start of next season.
 
Matt.GC said:
The problem is, the park needs attractions and needs them now, not in a few years time. X Sector is desperate. Having this new one in Forbidden Valley, sat upon a plinth with bells and whistles attached, is all very good and welcome. But that would leave you with 5 attractions (4 of which will exclude under 1.4 riders) concentrated in a single location. That's as much as Forbidden Valley has ever had, even in the better times for the park.
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Forbidden Valley isn't aimed at riders at under 1.4m so why would they build rides for them there? I don't get your point here at all.

I do however agree they need more flats in other areas of the park and ones that allow smaller riders to experience too.

FV needs to remain a thrill seekers area though. It doesn't make sense as a family area.
 
Benjsh said:
Forbidden Valley isn't aimed at riders at under 1.4m so why would they build rides for them there? I don't get your point here at all.
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The Blade, the longest standing ride in the Forbidden Valley area (Nemesis Reborn being a few months old), has a height requirement of 1.0 metre.

Alton Towers works best when there are a mixture of rides for everyone in a family. You have to keep the shorter members occupied and include them.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
The Blade, the longest standing ride in the Forbidden Valley area (Nemesis Reborn being a few months old), has a height requirement of 1.0 metre.

Alton Towers works best when there are a mixture of rides for everyone in a family. You have to keep the shorter members occupied and include them.
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Completely agree, you need a mix of rides in an area so that no one is left out.
 
Benjsh said:
Forbidden Valley isn't aimed at riders at under 1.4m so why would they build rides for them there? I don't get your point here at all.

I do however agree they need more flats in other areas of the park and ones that allow smaller riders to experience too.

FV needs to remain a thrill seekers area though. It doesn't make sense as a family area.
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Blade exists for one, but what do families do if the child(s) aren't tall enough to do stuff they'll get bored if waiting an hour.

Closest suitable for kids 0.9m ride is Heave Ho (Alty Mans is not suitable for 3 year olds). That's not good enough really for an advertised family park.

Doesn't even have to be rides. Get some themed playground equipment up. Duggee's is always heaving.
 
I donā€™t believe that every single area needs to have something for everyone however given that FV is something of a flagship area of the park, as well as being such a long trek, it wouldā€™ve been common sense to put something there with a smaller height restriction. The R-Cade was a bit of a missed opportunity, couldā€™ve had an undercover playground or similar.

What I would say though is that the whole left side of the park (so Mutiny Bay through Katanga, Gloomy Wood and FV) is far more complete and ā€˜something for everyoneā€™ overall than the top half of the park which only has four coasters, a soon to be reopened Hex, and a Walliams World that doesnā€™t particularly cater for anyone very well.
 
Flat rides donā€™t take long
Jb85 said:
Plenty of room for a playground and a small flat
Recurring theme
They donā€™t care
We pay the cash - they know thatā€™s gonna happen - all is good in there world as profit is made - we move on

Year after year
Itā€™s never gonna change
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They are installing flats, refurbished 3 old rides, have plans for a new indoor coaster.

Operationally you would have a point about same old but at the moment Merlin seem to be spending ok on capex.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Just popping in to point out that most transportable flat rides can be built in a matter of hours. Assuming this is a perminent ride, once the parts are on site, I would expect the physical construction to take a week, tops.
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Iā€™d like to introduce you to some electricians I work with šŸ¤£

To maybe assemble the basics of the ride structure, absolutely a week.

But for everything else MCC installation, electrical install, electrical testing, control panel install (speaking of which do we know where an ops panel is going?), theming and ride commissioning. This is assuming the power supply needed is the same as ripsaw so can be re-used.

Id of thought around a month or so.
 
Dave said:
Flat rides donā€™t take long


They are installing flats, refurbished 3 old rides, have plans for a new indoor coaster.

Operationally you would have a point about same old but at the moment Merlin seem to be spending ok on capex.
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They are installing one flat, having just removed three.
Hex and skyride come to mind...again.
Refurbishment of old rides is routine, and should be continual.
Not news.

And to go back to the original post, Merlin get most people's money a year in advance now...no need for any effort to improve if you already have your wages in your pocket, is there?
 
rob666 said:
They are installing one flat, having just removed three.
Hex and skyride come to mind...again.
Refurbishment of old rides is routine, and should be continual.
Not news.

And to go back to the original post, Merlin get most people's money a year in advance now...no need for any effort to improve if you already have your wages in your pocket, is there?
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They havenā€™t removed three, they had some tacky fair rides on hire which is a revenue spend not capex.

I forgot about Hex, so they are refurbing 4 old rides. Itā€™s not news to refurbish old rides, but fact is they never did, there has been a regime change and now they are so it is noteworthy.

The OP was effectively saying there was no real capex spend which is obviously inconsistent with observed reality. Operational budget cuts yes, but at the moment capex seems to be better than historical Merlin.
 
Dave said:
They havenā€™t removed three, they had some tacky fair rides on hire which is a revenue spend not capex.

I forgot about Hex, so they are refurbing 4 old rides. Itā€™s not news to refurbish old rides, but fact is they never did, there has been a regime change and now they are so it is noteworthy.

The OP was effectively saying there was no real capex spend which is obviously inconsistent with observed reality. Operational budget cuts yes, but at the moment capex seems to be better than historical Merlin.
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Theyā€™ve cut rides left, right and centre.
Yes theyā€™ve refurbed rides, but I bet, taking nemesis out of it, the capex spent isnā€™t anywhere near what new additional rides would have cost if maintenance had kept the refurbs ones going.

Weā€™ve also been shown Horizon which has well, slipped off the radar. Another cut?

Flats - what flats? I see a flat ride being installed, not multiple.

Opex is crap, capex is there but we canā€™t go out claiming theyā€™re working wonders. All the rides refurbed, bar nemesis should have been maintained and updated regularly as part of the annual maintenance. They are only being refurbished as they are in a state of disrepair.

My OP was negative, that is how I feel about the place at the moment. There are small shoots of improvement locally, but this will be stifled before you know it by the big bad bosses at HQ.
 
The thing is, though, that the situation with Hex and the Skyride can largely be blamed on the predecessors rather than the current management.

Blaming Hex and the Skyride on the current management is a little like blaming Keir Starmer for the current state of the NHS and public services. They havenā€™t really been in long enough to have had a meaningful impact on either ride, and a lot of the maintenance failings happened under the previous management.

All you can say about the new regime is that they are at least trying to reopen Hex and the Skyride, which is more than the old management would likely have done.
 
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