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

Benjsh said:
Except from the fact it say's rollercoaster in several different places in the planning document ??? Haha

This is almost certainly going to be some sort of rollercoaster. It may well have some dark ride elements though ala Revenge of the Mummy.
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Please have the courtesy to read the post which, as Matt says, explains in some detail why the rollercoaster references may not be accurate.

Of course they could be accurate, as is pointed out, but it’s not as straightforward as some people seem to believe.
 
I have a possible theory about a ride type.

If this is a coaster, how about a ride like the upcoming DarKoaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg?

The building for The Curse of DarKastle is not dissimilar in ground space dimensions to that of the main ride portion for Project Horizon. DarKastle’s dimensions are 82m*47m when taking the longest dimensions of the entire building, but the building is not a uniform rectangle, and that measurement includes its pre-show and indoor queue line… it looks as though the actual ride portion (the main rectangular portion of the building) may only occupy 60m*47m of that (the Curse of DarKastle layout looks pretty rectangular based on this link: https://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20170826/33120/modern-marvels-curse-darkastle?page=4), so DarKoaster could quite possibly fit into Horizon’s building ground space.

A DarKoaster-style ride could also be a good fit for this building, in my view, because DarKoaster will use high speed switch track technology to allow the ride to do two laps without sacrificing capacity, which would allow them to get a longer ride duration out of a shorter track length and less ground space. That could also lower the cost and match up with the £12.5m budget… because material costs would be considerably lower if the track length was shorter, and the high speed switch track technology having already been designed elsewhere would take out the R&D costs on Towers’ end. A DarKoaster-style ride could even match up with Wardley’s hint at “impressive technology”, because I’d certainly argue that high speed switch track technology is impressive technology.

What do you guys think?
 
Comes across as an oversight to me.

They will have bene briefed to refer to it as an "attraction" but a couple of references to coaster have slipped through the net.

The direct/semi-direct evidence:
  • A 'coaster' or 'rollercoaster' is referred to in more than one document.
  • Wardley said that new rollercoaster technology was coming to the park. In the same context he said we would not have long to wait to see plans.

Circumstantial evidence:
  • In 2025, it will have been 7 years since they last opened a major rollercoaster. If the next big capital investment is 3-4 years after this, it would be 10-11 years since the last major coaster, unprecedented in their recent history.
 
With some people I know who aren't enthusiasts are looking at this and actually have long memories of the park from years ago are already thinking it's Black Hole coming back...seems that little ride meant a lot to people, including me, and it is clear that the public would be all for an indoor coaster so I can see Merlin really doing this.

If it's Black Hole or not, someone has already got a sequel name to using the Horizon name as 'Black Hole II: On The Horizon'.

Not bad name TBH...
 
QTXAdsy said:
With some people I know who aren't enthusiasts are looking at this and actually have long memories of the park from years ago are already thinking it's Black Hole coming back...seems that little ride meant a lot to people, including me, and it is clear that the public would be all for an indoor coaster so I can see Merlin really doing this.

If it's Black Hole or not, someone has already got a sequel name to using the Horizon name as 'Black Hole II: On The Horizon'.

Not bad name TBH...
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Huh?
 
Nick🎢 said:
Nothing new but TPW have done a good summary for those not wanting to pick through the docs / thread.

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Interesting to see that Shawn thinks there’s a high chance of it being a roller coaster. It should be noted that he himself has referred to it as an indoor roller coaster numerous times prior to even the planning application being released…

Given recent events (he predicted the Duel revamp long before there was overly concrete evidence for the idea, and it looks like he could possibly have been onto another winner with his recent Sub-Terra prediction given the construction work happening outside the ride) as well as Shawn having worked at Alton Towers for 7 years and being well connected with a number of employees, I don’t think it’s at all inconceivable that he could have inside sources at Alton Towers. Could he possibly know what it is and be bound to secrecy?
Tom said:
Comes across as an oversight to me.

They will have bene briefed to refer to it as an "attraction" but a couple of references to coaster have slipped through the net.

The direct/semi-direct evidence:
  • A 'coaster' or 'rollercoaster' is referred to in more than one document.
  • Wardley said that new rollercoaster technology was coming to the park. In the same context he said we would not have long to wait to see plans.

Circumstantial evidence:
  • In 2025, it will have been 7 years since they last opened a major rollercoaster. If the next big capital investment is 3-4 years after this, it would be 10-11 years since the last major coaster, unprecedented in their recent history.
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I’d also argue that there is some pretty big indirect evidence that could point towards a roller coaster. The building height, for one (19.4m is very tall for a traditional dark ride, but could certainly accommodate and suit a roller coaster), as well as the building ground space (while not huge, that ground space could certainly accommodate some types of enclosed coaster).

It could also accommodate a media based dark ride such as a flying theatre or similar, but I don’t think that’s quite so likely myself because I feel like the ground space would be smaller if it were just 1 screen; even if you put a pre-show in there, that wouldn’t fill the building space. And surely the building would be angled on both sides if it were 2 screens?

I don’t think I should bang the coaster drum too much, though, because it could be literally anything at this stage. Not to mention that I’ve been accused multiple times of applying confirmation bias and thinking emotionally rather than rationally when I do things like cite the building height and building ground space as evidence that it could be a coaster.

I don’t think these types of debates bring out my best side… sorry to be such a pain and sorry to waste all of your time.
 
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Matt N said:
I’d also argue that there is some pretty big indirect evidence that could point towards a roller coaster. The building height, for one (19.4m is very tall for a traditional dark ride, but could certainly accommodate and suit a roller coaster), as well as the building ground space (while not huge, that ground space could certainly accommodate some types of enclosed coaster).
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Remember that even though we know the height of the building, we don't know how many stories it will have. A tracked dark ride can have multiple levels. I still think it's more likely to be a coaster though.
 
Skyscraper said:
Remember that even though we know the height of the building, we don't know how many stories it will have. A tracked dark ride can have multiple levels. I still think it's more likely to be a coaster though.
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That is true, but I would say that multi-level tracked dark rides are relatively rare (I think only TransFormers has multiple levels, as far as I’m aware), whereas indoor coasters with buildings of that height are a lot more common.
 
Matt N said:
That is true, but I would say that multi-level tracked dark rides are relatively rare (I think only TransFormers has multiple levels, as far as I’m aware), whereas indoor coasters with buildings of that height are a lot more common.
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There are a few out there, like Rise of The Resistance and Dinosaur at the Disney parks. I think It'll be single story and a coaster though.
 
Can't believe people don't want this to be an indoor coaster. The fact there's no water going to it is great news. All we need now is no big TV screen and it's full steam ahead for Black Hole III
 

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venny said:
Please have the courtesy to read the post which, as Matt says, explains in some detail why the rollercoaster references may not be accurate.

Of course they could be accurate, as is pointed out, but it’s not as straightforward as some people seem to believe.
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It’s fairly straight forward mate - it references it several time on a document which has to be prepared so as to stand up to legal scrutiny.

Of course there is a chance it could be a mistake, in the same way Liverpool might win the league this season despite being about 15 points off the top, but all the evidence points to the contrary.

I have no issue with people being aware of the fact that there’s a (slim) chance the wording in that document could be clumsily used and we could be getting something other than a coaster, but ultimately that’s an unlikely scenario.
 
RIPCorky said:
Can't believe people don't want this to be an indoor coaster. The fact there's no water going to it is great news. All we need now is no big TV screen and it's full steam ahead for Black Hole III
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I'm more interested of we got the return of Henry Hound back in his role as mascot, maybe the rest of the gang too. Nostalgia overload indeed.
 
This thread has gone in more circles in the past 48 hours than the entire Duel and Sub-Terra threads combined 😅 I couldn't be bothered to read the whole thing so just watched Shawn's video instead and that door that looks like it is for getting coaster trains in and out screams indoor coaster to me!
 
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