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[202X] Project Horizon (SW9?): Planning Approved

The use of secret weapon really just means “we are building something expensive” it’s just only ever been coasters as the park hasn’t built an expensive dark ride since before the first SW. There is no reason the next SW couldn’t be a dark ride.

That said I think this will be a coaster as you get a double impact of dealing with the woeful lack of darkrides in the park and get your rollercoaster as well which is easier to market than more traditional dark rides.
 
Jb85 said:
I think what's clear with the rumoured plans across the resort - there is a significant Capex budget for thr next 5 years. I can see the rumours of £100m being true
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Where did £100m come from, out of interest?

I know Chessington has had £60m allocated to it for the years between 2022 and 2026, for what it’s worth, but £100m over 5 years would be a lot, even for Towers; that would be £20million per year! Or in Towers ride terms, an investment more expensive than any previous SW per year!
 
The only reason I don't think it will be a dark ride (as opposed to a dark ride coaster) is because we only had Gangsta Granny next year, and a Duel re-theme coming next year. I can't see 3 projects in a row being dark ride based. It could be, but I'm just speculating. I could see an indoor coaster though.
 
Matt N said:
Where did £100m come from, out of interest?

I know Chessington has had £60m allocated to it for the years between 2022 and 2026, for what it’s worth, but £100m over 5 years would be a lot, even for Towers; that would be £20million per year! Or in Towers ride terms, an investment more expensive than any previous SW per year!
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I swear I read that number somewhere in the same thread as the Chessington £60m quote. There's a lot of work to do at the park, not just ride hardware
 
Matt N said:
Or in Towers ride terms, an investment more expensive than any previous SW per year!
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Don't forget inflation! Most of the SW's would have cost over £20m to build in today's economy. I believe that Wickerman is the only secret weapon where the cost would currently be under £20m once adjusted for inflation (though with the current financial climate, who knows even that may have crept over 20 mill by now).
 
Danscott22 said:
The only reason I don't think it will be a dark ride (as opposed to a dark ride coaster) is because we only had Gangsta Granny next year, and a Duel re-theme coming next year. I can't see 3 projects in a row being dark ride based. It could be, but I'm just speculating. I could see an indoor coaster though.
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I wouldn’t necessarily rule out a dark ride on that basis alone. All of Legoland Windsor’s major CAPEX investments in the last 5 years, and a significant percentage of the major CAPEX investments during Merlin’s whole tenure at LLW, have been dark rides.

I know Legoland is a very different proposition to Alton Towers, but it’s a point worth noting.
 
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I think the way to tell will be seeing the plans, so.enof which I guess we will see in the consultation. A tall building to me will indicate coaster. Low level Dark Ride.

Interesting how the park are revisiting this space. Clearly they feel the other areas have little room for development. On that basis don't rule out a cross valley either
 
Jb85 said:
I think the way to tell will be seeing the plans, so.enof which I guess we will see in the consultation. A tall building to me will indicate coaster. Low level Dark Ride.

Interesting how the park are revisiting this space. Clearly they feel the other areas have little room for development. On that basis don't rule out a cross valley either
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Height of the building is irrelevant, with LSM’s you don’t need a lot of height to get the potential energy needed for a good coaster.
 
Danscott22 said:
I’d assume the type of attraction would be revealed on consultation day. No major details, but I’d assume we’ll find out if it’s a coaster, dark ride; etc
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They might well want to keep what's in the building as much of a secret as possible. They might just point to noise levels and what the building will look like.
 
TowersTimes has done some comparison, and for some idea, the total land on offer back there could fit The Smiler with space to spare around it even without disrupting Merlin Magic Making to the North or The Alton Towers Dungeon to the South:


It’s a big plot; this is a larger plot than every other dark ride building in the park takes up by quite some margin!
 
A potential obstacle could be that line of trees down the middle of that apparently available space. If they aren't allowed to fell them (not saying they can't), then I would guess at the ride building being on the left hand side. Then maybe a flat ride, shop etc on the right hand side. All pure speculation at this point, obviously.
 
Also, the site probably wouldn't be able to go as far South as that, the Bunbury Hillfort scheduled monument runs through the site below the line of trees at the South of the Beast site.
 
From a boring corporate perspective you can see how cross promo could work. Much like with sealife. Use other parks to give people a taste. The general public might not consider travelling to LL for instance without that introduction. Just thinking out loud.
 
An updated area plan for Coaster Corner. Rather embarrassingly, I misorientated my Mouse earlier... but, hey with all been there, right?

Coaster Corner.jpgAlso now including the scheduled Monument area and an updated GDO area. For anyone unfamiliar, within the GDO the park are allowed to build structures within certain limits without planning permission (e.g. shops, kiosks, flat rides, etc.). There's been some discrepancy over the years as to where the GDO border is in this part of the park, but I've gone with the more common version.
 
Thanks for the summary @Squiggs; it’s greatly helpful, and definitely helps me understand the layout of the area better!

So with the planning regulations in that bit of Alton Towers; correct me if I’m wrong here, but is it possible that the park could put the attraction building itself on the Mouse + Beast site and have a little mini area within the Adventureland 4-11 GDO area (maybe something like Mythica, with a shop/food outlet and 1 or 2 supporting flats) without needing to seek planning permission for the mini area, merely seeking permission for the main attraction’s building?
 
Matt N said:
Thanks for the summary @Squiggs; it’s greatly helpful, and definitely helps me understand the layout of the area better!

So with the planning regulations in that bit of Alton Towers; correct me if I’m wrong here, but is it possible that the park could put the attraction building itself on the Mouse + Beast site and have a little mini area within the Adventureland 4-11 GDO area (maybe something like Mythica, with a shop/food outlet and 1 or 2 supporting flats) without needing to seek planning permission for the mini area, merely seeking permission for the main attraction’s building?
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The GDO doesn’t cover big buildings to the ride building will need planning permission regardless (Smiler is in the GDO so the coaster didn’t need permission hence why they could hide some of the inversions but the station building did). Though as you say it seems the major part of the ride will be located outside of the GDO.

But I think it’s fair to say that any supporting kiosks or god forbid flat rides could be sited in the GDO area and we won’t see it on the plans.
 
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