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CBeebies Land

Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

Funny wasn't a long time ago when people on here where saying they wished towers spent more on theming and less on hardware....

There are no new "rides" but there are it seems at least three new activities which the GP won't notice as being hugely different to a ride and few will really notice that the new rides are the same system as the old one.

I would have got a couple of Zamperlas if it was me but if they want to spread the project across more than one area then I would guess hardware is coming in future years. I would imagine 2014 is considered expensive as the outlay for the IP won't be small.
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

I agree, a lack of new rides will not stop people visiting. And the expansion of the area to where the ice tent was may help to hide the lack of no new rides. I suppose we are getting some new interactive activities though, and a new relatively large scale show.

I just feel a two or three new, custom themed, yet cheap Zamperla (for example) flats would have been nice in the area purely to absorb some people. Even if the rides were pretty rubbish from our point of view, the kids would still want to ride them and they would gain queues. It wouldn't have broken the bank or taken up that much space. And I'm sure Towers could have fitted them in somewhere in a creative manner.

But as Dan says, this is a guaranteed first season success. People will visit purely for the fact that it is CBeebies. It will be more interesting to see how it fares in the longer term.

:)
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

£8m is higher than normally get for a medium investment year! Let alone what would normally be a low investment year. do agree would be great if new rides where added but they have spent money on other stuff. I do like the fact looks like spending money on entertainment which is somethinb I hope works and gets rolled out further across the Park in years to come.

I also hope that it's a sign that Merlin willing to invest more in Alton now as to get £8m a season after an £18m investment is massive and hope this continues over the next few years as the park really needs it after the under investment after air while they focused on Thorpe. The other Merlin parks seem to be getting next go no money between major investments at the min, so Merlin must see more potential in Alton, which is a good sign.
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

Oh yes, there's no arguing this will be highly popular. No one is saying it will flop.

However parents who are familiar with the park will notice that the area has the same rides there but just decorated differently.
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

How much of the £8 million do we know is gaining the rights to the brand?

There's no way that kind of money would be spent on theming alone.
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

CoasterCrazyChris said:
How much of the £8 million do we know is gaining the rights to the brand?

There's no way that kind of money would be spent on theming alone.
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Would imagine a fair bit, though think a lot of the farm buildings where in a poor state so required a lot of structural work.
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

Dave said:
CoasterCrazyChris said:
How much of the £8 million do we know is gaining the rights to the brand?

There's no way that kind of money would be spent on theming alone.
Click to expand...

Would imagine a fair bit, though think a lot of the farm buildings where in a poor state so required a lot of structural work.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. I would be staggered if they spent that kind of money just adding/changing the theming on some children's rides and building a small stage area.
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

CoasterCrazyChris said:
I would be staggered if they spent that kind of money just adding/changing the theming on some children's rides and building a small stage area.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't given the costs of work by Merlin Studios. :p
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

Dave said:
Funny wasn't a long time ago when people on here where saying they wished towers spent more on theming and less on hardware....
Click to expand...

That wasn't me, give me hardware over theme all day long if it is down to choice. Anyway, that is a dangerous debate on any topic here so, moving swiftly on lol!

The issue with this is it may prove to be a victim of it's own success. This is going to be a resounding success, no two ways about it. Cram a whole load of irritated parents, screaming kids, hot weather into an area without actual rides to spread out the crowds a bit - which are absolutely inevitable & I can imagine Facebook being interesting again next year!

There is simply not enough in that area to take up the crowds this is going to attract, especially in high season, but given the target demographic, it will still attract people off peak too.

Time will tell, but it seems awfully daft not to stick some rides in there. This is capable of attracting families purely for this area alone, and it isn't going to handle it without anymore rides.

Conjecture of course, but based on what many of us know about family days out lol!
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

I can personally see this land eventually spreading right the way over to Adventure Land, coinciding with the removal of Spinball.

I reckon the park would be reluctant to go to the effort to remove any rollercoaster without replacing it with something similar sized but if CBeebies turn out to be a profitable venture.....
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

Don't get me wrong, I agree, this year will see a lot of people visiting for Cbeebies. I'm just worried about how they will feel when they get there and what impact that may have on future visits.

My daughter has already asked a few times about going to cbeebies land. She's ridden the current attractions numerous times so to me I feel she's going to be slightly disappointed if/when we go and she's riding the same stuff.

The live show will probably be enough to sway me over if it's anything like chessingtons set up with madagascar which we all enjoyed.
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

Difference is, Chessington has a lot of other kids rides. Anyway, I wont judge it till it's open of course, I am only speculating to make that clear, but I at present I feel it is a very daft idea!
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

Although I definitely agree that there ought to be at least *one* new ride, even if it was something as basic as a cheap Zamperla flat, I'm still excited at the thought that this could be a two year project culminating in a bigger addition next year.

Despite the lack of new hardware though, based on the amount of cash being spent by Towers and the detail that these concepts show - the existing hardware alongside the new experiences may just be transformed well enough to seem like entirely new experiences for children and parents alike. Let's be honest, the area is aimed at those 6 and under and if Riverbank is totally transformed to the land of In the Night Garden, how many little one's are really going to be sat asking their parents if this 'used to have the sheep noises on it'...
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

TheMan said:
Difference is, Chessington has a lot of other kids rides. Anyway, I wont judge it till it's open of course, I am only speculating to make that clear, but I at present I feel it is a very daft idea!
Click to expand...

It isn't anymore replete with family rides than Towers really, when you factor in Mutiny Bay, Cloud Cuckoo and Katanga. Towers issue is they have never pushed the under 8 age bracket even though they have the odd ride suitable.

Cheap Zamperla rides wouldn't help area capacity, most of those rides struggle to get 150 an hour and space for queues are limited. I do worry about area capacity though, hopefully the non-ride activities promote constant moving. Can see them limiting entry on busy days if it's popular.

Still would have liked to have seen more ride hardware this year, and a kiddy coaster must be a priority for 2015.
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

Not sure how many people have checked out the CBeebies Land website, but two things of note on there:

- Mr Bloom's Allotment will last for "approximately 10 minutes"
- Nina's Science Lab will open from 11am daily.
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

Yes, I checked that out. I think we can assume then that Nina is just a hands on area.
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

Mr Bloom's Allotment sounds like it will work a bit lice Ice Age. So many kids batched through and go through the 'experience' - a bit like Ice Age where you have constantly running 'showings' all day.

The lab thing opening at 11am is interesting. Although so far it just sounds like it will be a glorified Techniquest? Maybe the 11 opening is due to it probably being a staff heavy attraction.
 
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land

I'm glad they aren't succumbing to the Zamperla flats - they're frankly vile however much they might represent new rides. Also, there are about 100 clones of them in this country alone given every other park outside of Merlin only cares for kids anyway. I just hope that they are still considering thrill flats for 2015 instead of concentrating all the money into CBeebies - as neglecting thrill flats for another year would not go down well.
 
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