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Cancelled: Phased Enchanted Village Expansion

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Documents are now up for this; only had a brief look but in short it is a three phased development opening between 2019 and 2021. There are 35 double lodges planned overall creating 70 new rooms; 52 of these rooms will open in March 2019 (the rest are for phase three).

There will be a new dedicated reception building in phase 3 of the development and when this opens the existing reception will close.

Phase 1 (works being June 2018, opening March 2019):
Design and Access Statement said:
26no. Double lodges (52 keys)
Phase 2.1 consists of a mix of standard level access lodges (located for accessible units) and stepped access lodges. Of the 52 keys in this phase 3 are accessible.
The lodges have been laid out in clusters in a village style to resemble that of the existing Enchanted Village Development surrounding landscaped play areas.
2no. Service Huts
The proposed service huts will be independent buildings at each end of the site to best serve the new development. These will act as storage and intermediate points for cleaning and maintenance between the new Service Core and lodges around the site.
Service Core Buildings Phase I
As part of the phase 2 works a new maintenance centre is proposed. This centre will not only optimise the efficient operation of the new development but also serve to maintain the existing development and immediate landscape.
The core has been positioned off set from what will be a ‘Village Centre’ for the development providing a new looping maintenance/refuse/fire tender access route through the service core. This area will include maintenance storage, staff rooms, workshops, additional bar storage and refuse areas.
Landscaping will create a new Village Green and Village Centre for guest entertainment purposes.
Car Park J Works and associated landscape preparation for Phase 2.2
Car Park J (an existing hard surface tarmac car park) will be realigned and 6 new disabled car parking spaces will be provided. The car park will be accessed from the south via a new internal road that will adjoin the existing internal road network. Associated landscaping with this car park is detailed in section 5.0 alongside landscape proposals.

Phase 2 (works begin March 2020):
Design and Access Statement said:
Tipi (3 bays)
These canopy structures will be located adjacent to the village centre/green and will be designed to act as cover for planned entertainment for guests. The Tipi’s will comprise an open sided structure made of fabric over a timber frame.

Service Core Buildings Phase II

As part of this phase the service core will be extended to integrate with the new Tipis to add additional services to facilitate the increased entertainment area. This will be the form of a courtyard to the rear with a small kitchen/food offering and bar facilities as well as new public WCs.

Phase 3 (works begin March 2021):
Design and Access Statement said:
9no. Double Lodges (18 keys)
The final 18 keys will be constructed (of which there is one additional accessible unit). These will also be, arranged in a cluster in a similar manner to that of the existing Enchanted Village and earlier stages of the Phase 2 development.
The final phase has been located in this corner to allow ease of access for construction traffic through Car Park J and general works to progress with minimal disruption to guests using phases 2.1 and 2.2 of the scheme.
New Reception Building
Reception and check in facilities will be relocated from the existing restaurant to a new dedicated reception building. This will be built adjacent to the pedestrian access from car park J and will serve as the main entrance to the site, giving a clearly definable check in point for guests on arrival at the car park.
This reception will include an accessible guest WC, reception area and check in desk as well as a secure office and safe store.
1no. Service Hut
There will be an additional service hut constructed to the rear of the Reception building to support the additional lodge capacity.

Works to new Storage Area in north east corner
A new open storage and maintenance area will be cleared beyond the dividing line of trees to aid with the maintenance requirements of the increased development size.


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Basically it is a long way off. And I think even this shows the dire financial position Towers are in right now - they have chosen to spread the cost of this development over 3 financial periods rather than in just one.

It looks like the Crooked Spoon may be expended and they already have pemission for this. Overall though I am far from convinced.

At least come late 2021/early 2022 the whole development should look and feel more complete and whole.

:)
 
Overall it should be a reasonable expansion, but it doesn't look perfect. It has already been reported that the Crooked Spoon can't cope with the number of guests wanting breakfast there. What happens when all the new guests want breakfast too?
The entertainment looks like a good idea, but is only suitable for June/July/August really. Who is really going to want outdoor entertainment in Winter? Unless they are going to do bonfires for ScareFest! (This is also one of the things that doesn't seem right on CBeebies land, having the main stage area outdoors).
It looks like reception will move up to the top of the site by the car park, this makes sense for it to be close to the car park, I assume therefore the exisiting reception can be used as extra crooked spoon space.

In one respect it seems nice to have "outdoor" accommodation, while still offering real hotel style rooms, not tents. But on the other hand making it outdoors means it isn't great for Mar/Apr/Sept/Oct stays.
 
More moronic developments.

Bang goes the last possible site for their 3rd hotel. I wonder how long it's going to take them to realise the financial drain the lodges are causing on the business? Never mind, just throw more money at it and keep building sub par lodges no one wants to stay in.
 
I see where they're going with an outdoor experience, but this is the UK, it rains most of the year. Good to see they're at least trying with some entertainments stuff, but an indoor building would have been far better, given that the resort desperately needs it. An outdoor stage will be no use for Scarefest and Fireworks... the two busiest times of the year, where the resort usually hits capacity. Does anyone involved in this actually know how the resort runs?

It's so frustrating that entertainments is overlooked with resort developments, when ents is at the core of the Alton Towers experience.

Anyway spreading this over several years is a shame. I would rather they shelve the expansion until the park recovers and they're in better position.
 
More moronic developments.

Bang goes the last possible site for their 3rd hotel. I wonder how long it's going to take them to realise the financial drain the lodges are causing on the business? Never mind, just throw more money at it and keep building sub par lodges no one wants to stay in.

Do you know for certain they are a "financial drain"?

I agree that a proper hotel would be a lot more practical as the lodges are only really good for summer, I think it always was the intention that they are only open during the theme park season (in fact I think any third hotel would be closed outside of theme park season).

But without knowing the occupancy rates how do we know how successful they are?
 
Don't forget what is being billed as a 'third hotel' is due to open between now and the expansion of the Enchanted Village.

:)
 
I don't know how successful the lodges have been so far but I imagine the first year's figures will be unfairly skewed by The Smiler incident.

However, to me it does not make a lot of sense that given the overall constraint on space for future hotel expansion, the park are choosing to build more low density accommodation. I'd expect guest figures to gradually increase over time and this doesn't leave much land left for the future.
 
I agree to an extent. However with all existing rooms, a 70 room expansion of the Enchanted Village and a new 74 room hotel I think they have more than enough accommodation to keep them going for a good while. Once all current projects are complete I can't imagie that they will have to think about any more new accommodation until nearing 2030.

They could always incorporate another new hotel in with some form of entertainment complex on the Air car park - plenty of space there and can build down to keep it all out of view.

:)
 
I really don't understand AT lately and I don't understand these new proposals for even more lodges, on top of the hotel expansion!!! Some people have joked on Facebook that the accommodation area will be bigger than the theme park in the future, and they may be right!

As I said before, the theme park is in dire need of updating and maintenance. So many rides closed. The waterpark is too small for ATH and Splash, let alone EV and now these extra rooms on top. The mini golf isnt really much of an attraction anymore. Entertainment is poor. Restaurants particularly the wooden spoon struggle to cope at busy periods.

And then there are the prices. I havent booked this year which is a first for me, due to the lack of the deposit system this year and also the prices, and lack of anything to really interest me in going back and staying over. The prices are too expensive full stop, particularly considering what you are getting. The only thing really going for the hotels to be truthful is the fact they are on site. Yeah sure they may have a nice "feel" about them, but is that really worth the extra money, when you can stay in a bigger room with air con for a quarter of the price down the road?

Rather than build more rooms they should be focusing on encouraging people into the theme park, and then encouraging them to stay over with cheaper hotel rooms and cheaper package prices. A family of four is looking around £500 for a night with tickets and waterpark in the summer..... and for what?

Merlin seem focused on the accommodation side of things now. Perhaps there has been a reversal in revenue and the accommodation is now making the money rather than the theme park....
 
Merlin won't need to be concerned as they are clearly building the resort up to sell. Cutting operating costs down to the bare minimum, disposing of already depreciated assets whilst investing in capex projects that look good on the balance sheet.
 
The page on the Planning Portal has a date where the SMDC Planning Committee will meed to discuss (and hopefully decide) on this application. They will be meeting on Thursday April 14th - next week.
 
Indeed, and officers from SMDC have recommended that the application be approved.

:)
 
According to the TowersStreet Twitter page, work has started outside the Enchanted Village that could be for this. What do you guys think?
 
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