Sorry for the thread bump, but I have done a little digging on Attraction Source (formerly TowersTimes) and I found this interesting topic regarding the cancelled 2008 wooden coaster:
https://www.attractionsource.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14725
Basically, a member named boozed claimed to have an uncle who’d seen the plans for the 2008 wooden coaster, and he said that the ride was to be like “the Scooby Doo wooden coaster in America”, and that the ride’s stats were as follows:
- 43.45ft tall.
- 3 trains, with “one in shed”.
- Behind a “big building” (based on other speculation I’ve heard, this building was the Cred Street Theatre)
- Brown or black in colour.
- Themed to Wallace & Gromit.
Now admittedly, this should be taken with a pinch of salt, as many members rubbished the claims later on in the thread, but certain elements of this member’s claims do make sense, in my opinion.
For instance, the member states that the ride was “behind a big building”, and given that Alton Towers doesn’t have too many “big buildings”, I’d say it’s fair to infer that they were referring to the Cred Street Theatre, meaning that the ride would have been built in the elusive Coaster Corner. Tales from the Towers’ brief insert about this ride also mentioned it being built in Coaster Corner, so seeing as Tales from the Towers was a fairly well-researched book, I’d say that anything published in it is likely to be true.
As outlandish as it might sound, the Wallace & Gromit theme would also make sense. John Wardley later said in an interview that he had designed a W&G-themed woodie for Alton Towers in the past, and he was said to be working on the 2008 woodie, so even though I’m not the most lateral of thinkers, I think it’s a fair assumption to say that the W&G woodie proposal John mentioned might well have been what was originally planned for the 2008 wooden coaster under DIC. Of course, Merlin came in and scrapped the proposal, and we instead got Mutiny Bay in 2008.
Does anyone else know anything about the 2008 wooden coaster, or Project Shark as it was apparently known? Is it known whether this member’s suggestions were true? I know it’s not the cross-valley woodie, but it’s still a project that’s always really intrigued me!
