• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

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

For what it’s worth, TT have also stated that the building will have a 40m*10m extension at the front facing side to “accommodate the entrance and queue line”, so I think that the 3,266m2 figure that @Alastair gave is solely for the ride itself.

That is somewhat larger than Duel, where the 3,000m2 or so that a Google Earth measurement gives includes the indoor queue line.

That will make this the largest dark ride building on park by a fair bit, and it could fit an indoor coaster…
 
Can someone with more computer skills than me plonk a building of that size on a sat image of coaster corner? It would give us a true indication of the size of this new attraction in relation to the general coaster corner area.
 
Those dimensions would pretty much confirm it's on the site of The Beast plus the neighbouring plaza. The Mouse site is much smaller
Could it possibly be going across the Beast and Mouse sites combined? Or would that not be possible?

On a side note; is there a website for this consultation like there was for the Thorpe and Chessington ones?
 
I think that could easily fit a coaster into it. We know that Chessington and Thorpe’s project names (Project Amazon & Project Exodus) turned out to be coasters, so I really wanna say that is what Project Horizon will be. Maybe the thread name should be changed to the project name?
 
A lot of people are suggesting a flying theatre, but I’m not sure this will be a flying theatre, personally.

To me, a surface area of over 3,000m2 sounds too big for one. They actually take up surprisingly little ground space; Sky Lion at Legoland occupies an area of less than 1,000 square metres, so even if you were to add a potential second theatre into the mix, the building would be no larger than 2,000 square metres. This is over 3,000m2, and actually more like 3,500-4,000m2 when you add in the space required for the queue.

I also reckon there’s a chance that a flying theatre could be too tall for Towers, but I could be completely wrong there.

I reckon it could still be an indoor coaster. I’m sure you could get one to take up relatively little space if you were resourceful in designing it.
 
It is definitely within the realms of an Arthur-like attraction. That building would have roughly the same area as Arthur.
I thought Arthur’s area was way larger? I seem to remember measuring it at about 6,000m2 (this is 3,666m2 including the extension for queue line based on Towers’ given stats), but I could be wrong there, or confusing it with something else.

Or are you excluding the outdoor bits of Arthur, and talking exclusively about the building?
 
I wonder when we can expect the next bit of information, I don’t really know how long these things take, as this will be the first towers project I’ll have followed from the very beginning - was a little late to the party with Wicker Man
A planning application has been filed, so I think we could see documents fairly soon!

Out of interest, is it known whether the park specified the height of the building? This could possibly offer some clues about what type of attraction we could be seeing…
 
It's roughly this:
1663968702834.png
Gonna to be a tight squeeze if its a coaster but then again there is Smiler which shows you how they can fit a ride like that in the area.

If it is a dark ride then it is a pretty huge area, actually, given how HH was the larger dark ride in Europe when first built, maybe Towers want to try and reclaim that title again? Actually what is the current largest dark ride to date now I think about it?

I think the main clue as what it could be is the height of the building and if they build a great hole into the ground in which if it is at a certain height then it would certainly seem to be a coaster. For now, we can only speculate.
 
I thought Arthur’s area was way larger? I seem to remember measuring it at about 6,000m2 (this is 3,666m2 including the extension for queue line based on Towers’ given stats), but I could be wrong there, or confusing it with something else.

Or are you excluding the outdoor bits of Arthur, and talking exclusively about the building?
The building for Arthur is 3,500m2 as confirmed at the press conference launch for the ride. Obviously the ride goes outside too, as does the queue line so it's way larger if you factor that in. But then again the Arthur building is quite elongated, and a large chunk of it is taken up by the snack bar, kid's areas and toilets. So fitting that sort of ride system in there is certainly a possibility.
 
If it is a dark ride then it is a pretty huge area, actually, given how HH was the larger dark ride in Europe when first built, maybe Towers want to try and reclaim that title again? Actually what is the current largest dark ride to date now I think about it?
As far as I’m aware, the current largest dark ride in Europe is Symbolica at a bit over 5,000m2, so a fair bit bigger than this ride will be. I could be wrong there, though.
The building for Arthur is 3,500m2 as confirmed at the press conference launch for the ride. Obviously the ride goes outside too, as does the queue line so it's way larger if you factor that in. But then again the Arthur building is quite elongated, and a large chunk of it is taken up by the snack bar, kid's areas and toilets. So fitting that sort of ride system in there is certainly a possibility.
Ah, sorry… I never knew that!

In that case, I certainly think a Mack Suspended Powered could be a possibility if this does end up being an indoor coaster!
 
I'm not sure planning documents will need to discuss what's inside. The approval is for the building.

Personally I think it'll be a small area of 2 or 3 indoor attractions to allow the park to run something over winter
 
The Project Horizon name has got me thinking...

Will this be later branded as SW9, before getting it's real name?

Have Merlin standardised the names of large investments across their parks (Exodus, Amazon, Horizon)?

Has the SW moniker gone?

Is SW9 a forthcoming project in addition to this?

I haven't got a clue, but exciting times.
 
Gut feel is this isn't an SW but it's also possible they won't use that label until the project is more mature to avoid missing a number.

I suspect - based on nothing - it could be a mine train level attraction. It's a demographic that is slightly underserved at the mo. That mine train up to wickerman age.

With the name, I am wondering if it's a coaster or ride system with clever use of screens. Pure fantasy. Been awake since 2 🤣
 
Top