An Intamin multi dimension coaster has multiple options for train styles and unique elements that mean even if it is the same ride type as chessingtons it can be a very different ride experience and layout- trains more like on the new fast and furious coaster at universal, or straddle coaster Trains are all available for this coaster type. Things like a tilt track or sideward drop etc are all possible amongst many other elements that would make it different.
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[202X] Project Horizon (SW9?): Planning Approved
Bowser
TS Member
Return of Sonic the Hedgehog?
Jb85
TS Member
Not big enough these days in my opinion
Bowser
TS Member
I assumed most people on here have enough common sense to interpret “near clone” as meaning the same manufacturer, ride type, housed indoors, featuring effects and a broadly similar layout without needing that spelled out or resorting to multiple posts of pedantry to amuse the clique.
Steve74
TS Member
Well we had the Rock n Roll coaster starring Aerosmith at Disney, so how about the "K-Pop coaster starring BTS"?
Dave
TS Founding Member
Except there is nothing to suggest Horizon will have the same effects and layout, you made an assumption based on zero data. By all means tackle me on the meat of the argument but just because I chose to use some humour to hammer home the argument doesn’t negate the point your assumptions have no basis.
The summary of the scenario however is even IF they use and Intamin multidimensional, there is currently no data to suggest the same effects will be used and the different dimensions of the buildings and lack of outdoor track at Towers actively goes against the idea of similar layout, which by no one’s definition is a clone.
Bowser
TS Member
I expressed a personal belief, i didn’t cite anything as fact or mention data. Happy to expand on why i think the ride will be what i suggested.
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I don’t think it being potentially similar to Minecraft will be a particular hinderance.
Enthusiasts will want to ride both anyway, and non-enthusiasts will probably differentiate based on theming (eg the Minecraft coaster and the whatever Horizon is themed to coaster) rather than identifying them as two types of the same model.
Enthusiasts will want to ride both anyway, and non-enthusiasts will probably differentiate based on theming (eg the Minecraft coaster and the whatever Horizon is themed to coaster) rather than identifying them as two types of the same model.
Craig
TS Administrator
It’s clearly getting needlessly heated here so have the personal disagreements elsewhere please.
The poster clarified what they meant by “near clone”. If you want to argue further between each other on that point, then do it privately elsewhere or not at all. It’s just diverting discussion away from the actual topic at hand now.
The poster clarified what they meant by “near clone”. If you want to argue further between each other on that point, then do it privately elsewhere or not at all. It’s just diverting discussion away from the actual topic at hand now.
JMW
TS Member
Fortnite is the obvious other big hitter! Though I'm not sure they could make the focus on guns suitable for a ride
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JMW
TS Member
I think in a similar way to Minecraft, certain parts of the game are part of the cultural zeitgeist - the battle bus, tilted towers etc. I'm confident it would be a massive IP but I can't see it happening!I hope to god we don't get a Fortnite coasterI can see it happening that's the bad thing. But by the time it's built the game will be dead and meaningless.
AT86
TS Member
I am currently somewhere in the region of 60/40 as to whether this will be an IP or not.
On the one hand Merlin are on a big IP push with Fiona Eastwood mentioning on numerous occasions that their focus is on working with brand owners to bring their IPs to life. Plus as in indoor ride it is often felt that IPs are easier to market as it gives people an easy to understand idea of what the ride will be like.
However on the other hand Alton Towers is the Merlin park that has most managed to make brands out of their big investments without needing to go down the IP route. Nemesis, Oblivion, The Smiler and Wickerman are all successful examples of this - plus when they recently rethemed Duel to Curse (another indoor ride) they didn't choose the IP route and instead leant into an existing Towers specific theme/character.
I would personally prefer a non-IP approach for Horizon, but appreciate the odds are somewhat stacked against this.
On the one hand Merlin are on a big IP push with Fiona Eastwood mentioning on numerous occasions that their focus is on working with brand owners to bring their IPs to life. Plus as in indoor ride it is often felt that IPs are easier to market as it gives people an easy to understand idea of what the ride will be like.
However on the other hand Alton Towers is the Merlin park that has most managed to make brands out of their big investments without needing to go down the IP route. Nemesis, Oblivion, The Smiler and Wickerman are all successful examples of this - plus when they recently rethemed Duel to Curse (another indoor ride) they didn't choose the IP route and instead leant into an existing Towers specific theme/character.
I would personally prefer a non-IP approach for Horizon, but appreciate the odds are somewhat stacked against this.
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I've been sitting on this theory for a while now. It is insane, but please think about it.
I think Project Horizon was meant to be TopGear themed with a redo of TWODW.
Why? Well, Alton Towers had already worked with TopGear and the BBC for a pandemic episode that came out in 2020. World of TopGear was a long running attraction at Beaulieu that started to decline in popularity after Clarkson, Hammond and May left. During and after the pandemic, it was basically a ghost town in there, and I can assure you Beaulieu wanted that burden gone. They didn't even maintain the vehicles. They were rotten.
That episode of TopGear at Alton Towers had the highest viewership of the season and may have gave Alton a boost of sorts for 2021. Because of this, they may have gotten talking about an attraction involving the show. Stay with me.
Almost exactly two years after the date of airing that episode, Project Horizons plans had been submitted. Things would've probably progressed calmly with the project had it not been for Freddie Flintoff's blunder a month later, and the resulting sunsetting of the show a year later.
This would explain the delay in the project and why it took till last year to make a move. I think they had to pivot and find a new IP. Maybe this is entirely wrong, but bloody hell is it one coincidence if not.
Thank you for listening to my cider-fuelled theory. Thank you.
I think Project Horizon was meant to be TopGear themed with a redo of TWODW.
Why? Well, Alton Towers had already worked with TopGear and the BBC for a pandemic episode that came out in 2020. World of TopGear was a long running attraction at Beaulieu that started to decline in popularity after Clarkson, Hammond and May left. During and after the pandemic, it was basically a ghost town in there, and I can assure you Beaulieu wanted that burden gone. They didn't even maintain the vehicles. They were rotten.
That episode of TopGear at Alton Towers had the highest viewership of the season and may have gave Alton a boost of sorts for 2021. Because of this, they may have gotten talking about an attraction involving the show. Stay with me.
Almost exactly two years after the date of airing that episode, Project Horizons plans had been submitted. Things would've probably progressed calmly with the project had it not been for Freddie Flintoff's blunder a month later, and the resulting sunsetting of the show a year later.
This would explain the delay in the project and why it took till last year to make a move. I think they had to pivot and find a new IP. Maybe this is entirely wrong, but bloody hell is it one coincidence if not.
Thank you for listening to my cider-fuelled theory. Thank you.
Shaggy_Dog_
TS Member
You might laugh about a K-Pop rollercoaster but I think that there is perhaps the scope for someone to strike gold with something along those lines.Well we had the Rock n Roll coaster starring Aerosmith at Disney, so how about the "K-Pop coaster starring BTS"?
Kpop Demon Hunters is on it's way to becoming a massive franchise (It's the most watched original title in Netflix history), it's become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, and the merch is a big thing. My daughter is 13 and absolutely loves it, but the interesting thing is that it has a lot of cross-cultural appeal, people that wouldn't normally listen to Kpop are watching the movie as well as traditional Kpop fans.
I think that it's a franchise that could really translate well in to a theme park experience, Everland in South Korea have opened up a small KPop Demon Hunters themed area in the park but it doesn't contain any rides, just interactive attractions I believe.
From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8tIjp4IR70
Knowing how Merlin love a good "World's First" alongside an IP it's the kind of franchise I could see them in theory being interested in. It's even more intriguing when you consider that London is said to have Europe's largest Korean community and that it is centered around New Malden in the borough of Kingston Upon Thames (with up to 20,000 people of Korean heritage living there). And New Malden is of course is just a stones throw from Chessington.
I don’t think this is particularly outlandish. Something like Beat the Stig would have thematically straddled the Clarkson and post-Clarkson eras quite neatly. Loads of Fleetwood Mac and Phil Collins on the on-board audio.
Edited for typo
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The more I think about it, the more I believe it.
The BBC were desperate to keep their cashcow going and can't have been amused by how neglected World of TopGear was.
The stigs non copyright cousin