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

[Zeock]

It might not even be a coaster at all

Please don't start this again...

 

[tayspru]

Please don't start this again...

But there’s 3 doors into the main building !

 

[Poisson]

I'd agree this needs to be put on hold. The budget would be much better diverted to 7 or 8 permanent flat rides along with seriously needed park maintenance

 

[tayspru]

I'd agree this needs to be put on hold. The budget would be much better diverted to 7 or 8 permanent flat rides along with seriously needed park maintenance

Now this I think we can all agree on. The park
Doesn’t need an 11th (!) coaster when there’s literally 1 permanent flat ride outside of CBeebies land

 

[Zeock]

Of course I would love a new coaster, but there are a lot of pressing resort-wide issues that need to be dealt with as a priority.

 

[tayspru]

Of course I would love a new coaster, but there are a lot of pressing resort-wide issues that need to be dealt with as a priority.

I’d actually be willing to bet that Towers may have the lowest coaster to support ride ratio in Europe if not the world. (Excluding CBeebies land)

 

[Ash]

I don't know when Project Horizon is due to open, probably 2025. But it should be put on indefinite hold with immediate effect. Sure, start some work so that the planning permission remains valid (work is required to start within 3 years of permission being granted) but Alton Towers/Merlin should not be spending millions of pounds on another new rollercoaster at present.

Sort the park out, get some flat rides, get a headline water ride, improve F&B options, spend on essential infrastructure. For too long now we have just seen major coaster after major coaster, and as soon as one opens the previous one just gets forgotten and neglected (look at the state of both Thirteen and The Smiler).

Major new additions are needed to keep guests coming back, but if the park keeps going in the way it is right now there won't be a park worth coming back to.

Both?

All round maintenance (rides/shops/effects/hotels/audio)
Flat rides
Monorail refurb
Better food everywhere
Reopen Swiss Cottage as premium offer
Better entertainment on park and hotels
Permanent evening fountain
Refurbed ATH
Meadows car park
New dark water ride (in KC car park)
Reopen 4D cinema
Flying theatre installed somewhere near the towers (Algenon themed)
New city walk area and covered mini golf
Park wide lighting installed
Media experience installed in Crux
Museum added to the towers

All needed more than a coaster. For £12-£20m you could do a decent proportion of this and then some decent management could sort the rest. Given in-house capabilities now they should have a go, it would go a long way to a 365 attraction

I’m afraid the race to the bottom continues

 

[Josh555]

Both?

All round maintenance (rides/shops/effects/hotels/audio)
Flat rides
Monorail refurb
Better food everywhere
Better entertainment on park and hotels
Permanent evening show
Refurbed ATH
Meadows car park
New dark water ride (in KC car park)
Reopen 4D cinema
Flying theatre installed somewhere near the towers (Algenon themed)
New city walk area and covered mini golf
Park wide lighting installed
Media experience installed in Crux
Museum added to the towers

All needed more than a coaster

I’d agree with a lot of this but you might as well discuss whether you think Project Horizon should be delayed so that a clone of Rise of the Resistance can be built because it’s aboht as likely to happen.

 

[Matt N]

It is worth mentioning that Adventureland 4-11, the area encompassed by the bottom half of this development, is within a GDO area, so it’s not out of the question that the project could also entail 1 or 2 supporting flat rides alongside the main coaster itself, similar to Mythica at Legoland Windsor or World of Jumanji at Chessington.

Overall, I do still feel that Project Horizon happening would be beneficial to the park overall because coaster or not, it has the potential to offer a brand new whole-family headliner, which is something that the park hasn’t had in quite some time. Even though it’s very likely to be a coaster, it’ll likely be a very different proposition to any of the park’s others, and I have a strong belief that it could also encapsulate a significant dark ride element.

I’m not sensing that this will be an out-and-out thrill coaster like the recent coaster investments have been; I’m sensing that this will be more of a whole-family ride, which I do feel would add a notable additional dimension to the park’s ride lineup.

And overall, I would struggle to ever class a new roller coaster investment as a bad thing, even if there are perhaps more immediate gaps in the park’s ride lineup.

On a different note, early construction should be starting soon. The planning application said that constriction would start in “Spring 2023”.

 

[James]

It will be great to have an indoor coaster and Towers needs more indoor rides.

However, it's hard to feel excited about this project when the entire park is in such a state.

 

[Ethan]

It will be great to have an indoor coaster and Towers needs more indoor rides.

However, it's hard to feel excited about this project when the entire park is in such a state.

Went to the park yesterday, didn't think the place was in much of a state personally. Needs a clean here and there but guests aren't going to notice or pay attention to details like enthusiasts do. Besides they could clean the ride areas but they'll soon get dirty again anyway

 

[s_g_k]

Went to the park yesterday, didn't think the place was in much of a state personally. Needs a clean here and there but guests aren't going to notice or pay attention to details like enthusiasts do. Besides they could clean the ride areas but they'll soon get dirty again anyway

Not cleaning the rides because they’ll soon get dirty again is not a valid reason for the filthy presentation of some of the attractions. Should none of us bother cleaning our homes because they’ll just get dirty again?

 

[QTXAdsy]

A jet wash for some of the rides while not being all that much would be a small but far better look for presentation than they are now. Yes, some rides are needing a repaint though jet washing them would be helpful nonetheless.

I do wonder why they haven't jetwashed any of the coasters in which they clearly need it. I don't in excuses for this, just perhaps laziness.

 

[hodgey]

A bonus for having a coaster indoors is that you don’t have to clean it as you can’t see it in the dark I guess…

 

[Ethan]

Not cleaning the rides because they’ll soon get dirty again is not a valid reason for the filthy presentation of some of the attractions. Should none of us bother cleaning our homes because they’ll just get dirty again?

There's a big difference between keeping a house clean regularly and a massive coaster. It'll take so much time, effort and man power that towers probs don't see the value in it when the coasters will likely look the same in a few months anyway

 

[tayspru]

Went to the park yesterday, didn't think the place was in much of a state personally. Needs a clean here and there but guests aren't going to notice or pay attention to details like enthusiasts do. Besides they could clean the ride areas but they'll soon get dirty again anyway

Don’t you (arguably famously) just go from coaster to coaster on off peak days? Rushing around you won’t notice much, but families will see the glaring issues whenever they stop to sit down and take a break, or when they’re stuck in the main queue for hours with not a lot to look at. The rot is everywhere

 

[Connor98]

There's a big difference between keeping a house clean regularly and a massive coaster. It'll take so much time, effort and man power that towers probs don't see the value in it when the coasters will likely look the same in a few months anyway

Not on topic, but I’d argue the fact that the smiler would look the same as it does now after a few months. It’s in the state it is after 10 years of utter neglect not a few months.

 

[Matt N]

There's a big difference between keeping a house clean regularly and a massive coaster. It'll take so much time, effort and man power that towers probs don't see the value in it when the coasters will likely look the same in a few months anyway

Sorry to play devil’s advocate here, but if that’s the case, I would politely ask you; how and why do parks like Europa Park and Paultons Park manage to keep their rides in such pristine condition?

At both parks, I would have said that there wasn’t a single nook or cranny that looked dirty or unkempt; even the older areas looked pristine.

I am conscious that Alton Towers does have some locational difficulties compared to the above two, what with the densely wooded area it’s in, and it does not have the sort of budget that Europa Park does, but if there’s no value in cleaning rides, how do these parks manage it?

 

[Ethan]

Sorry to play devil’s advocate here, but if that’s the case, I would politely ask you; how and why do parks like Europa Park and Paultons Park manage to keep their rides in such pristine condition?

The terrain at those parks are different. All of towers coasters are surrounded by greenery. Makes it harder to keep the rides looking fresh

 

[Rob]

Although there is wider discussion to be had in terms of where investments should be prioritised right now, can we please try and keep discussion within the context of Project Horizon.

Thanks!