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[202X] Project Horizon (SW9?): Planning Approved
Jb85
TS Member
That’s what I said!
tayspru
TS Member
Remember that people who do know anything for certain won’t be able to say they know for certain …
That being said, if the same manufacturer names or specific coasters and ideas keep being referenced, it’s usually worth taking the hint that these people may know more than they can let on
sources will never be revealed for things like this especially so early in a project
That being said, if the same manufacturer names or specific coasters and ideas keep being referenced, it’s usually worth taking the hint that these people may know more than they can let on
sources will never be revealed for things like this especially so early in a project
I’d be intrigued to know what the comparative in visitor number and guest spend is compared with ATR. If Merlin think it warrants and investment such as this, why not the UKs largest theme park? (Or is this Lego calling more shots)
Nevertheless I’m still standing by 2028 for PH, on the 4 year capex run.
Latest update on the area.... Project Nothing
In better off-topic news Rita and The Smiler have been testing today and Skyride has gondolas on the line with staff cleaning the Forest Skyride station so they are making the most of these closed days.
Looking at that again, I can’t help but think, given the current fate of Merlin Studios North, that if a lot of those temporary buildings were removed it would free up a huge further space for much needed indoor attractions. And given PH and its proximity to the flag tower and given it would be replacing temporary buildings with better quality permanent ones. There’s a good chance they get planning.
In some ways it would not surprise me if they were looking at a trackless indoor ride - Simworx are based locally and do such attractions. The only reason I say this is that many years ago a certain John Wardley (a huge coaster fan, as we all know) went on record saying the ride that absolutely blew him away was SpiderMan at IoA. Yes, I know JW has retired, but I bet Merlin retain him as a consultant.
Benjsh
TS Member
JW talked about it being a coaster and he even mentioned 'SW' when he did that fan talk not too long ago. It's definitely not going to be a dark ride.
I actually think they are better staying away from the dark ride market now too what with universal coming. They simply can't compete with that level of detail and immersion. Best to focus on coasters and adding more flats to differentiate themselves really as Universal won't have many of those.
It's intresting they have installed a permanent looking fence around the Dungeons and all the markings around there could be an entrance portal to a new area
Jb85
TS Member
I would find the likelyhood of Alton not making use of planning in that location, so close to the flag tower, for a building that size, so close to the village very, very difficult to believe.
I just don’t see them letting it lapse, unless perhaps there are bigger plans afoot and it was merely a test to see if they could get the Minecraft/Legoland Indoor coaster size building in case there was a change of mind.
But if you work on the 4 year investment cycle if Nemesis reborn was 2024 then PH is 2028 meaning construction won’t start likely end of 2026. My guess would be:
Bluey coaster 2026
Dungeons animal pirates re-theme 2027
Project Horizon 2028
Dobba
TS Member
Not sure they'd buy the COVID excuse given it's a late-2022 application that was approved in 2023. Not that it matters anyway, getting the application extended would be a formality as nothing has changed
AltonLover123
TS Member
Agreed. It’s a surprise they managed to get permission for that area as it is, so I’d be highly surprised they let it go to waste. I don’t imagine it’ll be any time soon, but they can always extend it should they need to. But we’ve got a year and a half before they run out of time to start work on it.
Their reason could and should be economic reason and additional competition from universal. As much as people around here might moan about the park at times no one ones it to suffer or close.
QTXAdsy
TS Member
I have wonder which I'm sure I've mentioned that they pushed back PH in order to kill off three birds with one stone in which not only get the ride built but also retheme TWODW (surely that IP doesn't have long to live if there is a year limit on like with Charlie?) But also do something with the Dungeons building which would all help create a much larger area to tie in with PH.
I suspect that they might have had it in the back of their mind Universal was coming and held PH off to see what might happen and the fact Universal is happening means that they know that they'll have to spend big in order to compete as in a whole package idea as what Katanga Canyon and Gloomy Wood were in 1992 which were to compete with DLP prior before opening so history might repeat here maybe?
I suspect that they might have had it in the back of their mind Universal was coming and held PH off to see what might happen and the fact Universal is happening means that they know that they'll have to spend big in order to compete as in a whole package idea as what Katanga Canyon and Gloomy Wood were in 1992 which were to compete with DLP prior before opening so history might repeat here maybe?
flyingguitar
TS Member
I would agree with this, I think there was another point could be that nemesis needed a re-track so they could also focus on the older side of the park (FV) and refresh it.
I would love to see them add another train or 2 onto Gantsa granny and make it similar to spiderman or duel (but with screens) I think it would add a category of ride to the park (shooting), and hopefully improve its capacity
edit I wonder if they could make the stations a bit longer and unload / load 2 vehicles at a time, I think you could improve capacity as it would move from a constantly moving ride with some pauses, to a ride where it would move to a scene, stop then shoot, then move to next scene this should require less track length (it only has to move a bit further than cars length, not to a new scene allowing for more cars, more ride time and better capacity)
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