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Forbidden Valley: Future Changes?

I was hoping the helicopter was going to look like it was being pulled into the ground and in the grips of tentacles, but not sure that is going to be the case now.

If they do that then great, there is at least some sort of so called ‘art’ being applied. Not really impressed with a load of disused vehicles being plonked everywhere.


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Ash said:
Same

The monster looks like it could be great.

The tidy up of mushroom cloud tours and the general area is good.

The warehouse fencing, helicopters and shipping container look Merlin generic woeful.

Given this is arguably the most important roller coaster in the history of UK, arguably one of the most recognisable in the world. Its answer to Rookburgh, Klugheim, Avalon etc. It just doesn’t appear to have turned out to be up to much.

It doesn’t appear as well put together as Jumanji and they haven’t had to start from scratch. Whether this is due to higher demands from Sony we’ll have to wait and see.

I really hope I’m proved very wrong come March 16th, and I’m sure everyone will just be happy to have the ride back.

I just find given the importance, scrutiny and rich history of the area. Some of the creatives decisions are odd

The evidence appears to show Merlin cannot/wont compete with the “better” European theme parks. I appreciate the business models are different but it seems lost at the moment



They could have just left it, refurbished it. Add some scenic lighting and filled the smoke machine…
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I mean anyone who thought we were getting Rookburgh levels of detail was always going to be disappointed.

We’ve not had anything close to that level in this country at any stage, I’ve no idea why and maybe we can get something like that in the future, but Nemesis/ FV was never going to be it.
 
JT01 said:
like people have said its all looking like props being plonked down randomly, like your trying to get your ride scenery rating high quickly on Planet Coaster
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Also as people have said, it's not finished yet!

AT86 said:
None of this project is designed to be seen from 200ft in the air.

It may well all feel very different experienced at ground level.
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100% this!
 
AT86 said:
None of this project is designed to be seen from 200ft in the air.

It may well all feel very different experienced at ground level.
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In the words of, well probably best not to mention him by name, "Can you guess what it is yet?".

I'm all about the excitement and anticipation about this project. I'm loathing all of the judging and snideness and sniping of a project that is very much still under construction. There's two weeks left until opening, let's hold off on the pitchforks until then.
 
There’s certainly an argument to be made that if it’s only 2 weeks until opening and this is as far as they’ve come, surely we’re not expecting a lot else…

The helicopters are whatever, it’s the general laziness in my mind that they couldn’t muster something a little more inventive? The theme has no IP behind it so they could have gone as crazy as they wanted, it’s been over 12 months since the coaster closed and I don’t think a huge amount has changed around the area and buildings aren’t even finished.

Either something went massively wrong or Merlin’s fear of construction zones whilst a park is open needs to be rethought.

Universal and Disney can both rebuild whilst a park is open, what’s Merlin’s excuse?
 
Tuggerz said:
Universal and Disney can both rebuild whilst a park is open, what’s Merlin’s excuse?
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Can you let Universal know? Because their current two Orlando parks both have an area that is either closed off entirely or has no attractions because they've closed its only remaining one with no intention of doing any work on it.

Also, you really can't see why the park that is still struggling to shake off The Smiler crash wouldn't want cranes operating overhead and construction vehicles driving around whilst folks walked around Forbidden Valley last year? I'm sure the press would have loved covering that for them.
 
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I'll of course reserve judgement until opening day, but I am not fully convinced about this re-imagining of Forbidden Valley. The military theme looks a bit too similar to X-Sector for my liking, and I just don't think it is as original as the 1994-2023 theme.

It is good to see that various theming object are being installed in to the area, and I do hope that it will all come together better when on the ground as opposed to looking from the air.
 
People moan when they don’t do anything, people moan when they do…. Just no pleasing some people eh! I think good on them making the effort. And once finished, can they do something about the themeing around Galactica please, such as put in the waterfalls and lake as originally planned!
 
GaryH said:
People moan when they don’t do anything, people moan when they do…. Just no pleasing some people eh! I think good on them making the effort. And once finished, can they do something about the themeing around Galactica please, such as put in the waterfalls and lake as originally planned!
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Having an opinion on something it's moaning though, is it? Like anything, some people will like the changes and others will not. I really like what they have done with the Nemesis monster but am currently less convinced at the changes to the rest of Forbidden Valley, but will await opening day for a full judgement.
 
I'm glad they're putting the effort into the area, hopefully revamping it enough to breathe new life into Nemmy and FV. I remember how excited/terrified I was approaching it as a kid, so I'm hoping the new flourishes, even if they're not all to our tastes, help to inspire the thoosies of the future. I'll admit some of the talk about fencing and similar smaller detail things makes me lol, but I also get it - the park is an institution that holds so many memories for us, so change is always difficult and we obviously want to see the place in its full glory. I'm fully sold on where Towers management is heading so I hope they pull it off!
 
I'll be happy if these changes bring a bit of movement and therefore life to the valley.

Forbidden Valley was looking very static especially in its later years with smoke machines and water falls off, if these new features can bring some animation and movement into the area to make it look active in some way then I'm all for it. I would prefer a flashing, moving, animated helicopter (however predictable it may be) to a static lifeless theming object where 99% of people are not even sure what it is. The question then being.... can they keep it all active?
 
Let's be honest no one can make an informed opinion until they finally visit the area, but we can have an opinion on what we've seen so far. I personally am not a fan of painting everything black, you only have to look at the Smiler to see how easily it gets dirty, and if you've ever owned a black car you will know exactly how hard it is to keep clean. Saying that though I have every faith in the new management team at Towers, so I'm cautiously optimistic that they can stay on top of this. I guess we shall see over the coming seasons.
 
You have to remember, the whole planning of Nemesis' overhaul would have started from a few years ago in which had the old guard of Merlin overlooking the plans thus explaining painting everything black and plonking shipping containers everywhere and that the current team are likely just following orders of what is likely the last of the stereotype of Merlin theming we'll see for the most part.

The new flat ride in FV and possible work on Galactica might give us a better idea to see what happens next. And let's be honest, had JB never said that art comment which by accident raised expectations too high then likely some of the gripes about the new look wouldn't have been as major.
 
My only other thought is that the additions are all a bit last-minute aren't they. I know winter has been bad weather but the park has been closed for the best part of 4 months, surely some of it could have been done a bit sooner than 2 weeks before opening.

I guess they have form for this sort of thing though.
 
I think most people are giving quite a balanced opinion rather than just moaning! As has been said by a few people the updated monster looks great but with everything else it seems to lack imagination.

That being said, so much of the original FV theme had gradually been removed/deteriorated over the years, I dont think the theme was really very obvious anymore. Taking off the nostalgia goggles, at least this does tie everything together again and freshens up the area.


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