Talbot Street Tuesday/Thursday (Picture Heavy)

[Withnail]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

Interestingly this photo was taken at one of the park's early attempts at a Halloween event, which very much focussed on the tiny area of Gloomy Wood, with live performances and alike.

Ha ! I remember those shows in Gloomy Wood. I have a feeling that it was 1998 that I was there. I even had a look to see if I was in that picture! Can't remember much about the show, but I think it involved actors in halloween costumes doing song and dance routines to a backing of pop music. I'm pretty sure one of the songs was 'Let Me Entertain You'.

 

[cybermen39]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

There was only 1 halloween show in front of the Haunted House it was a story about sending the Devil and his Gang back to hell ' the devil had an accomplice who was a bit thick. The songs include
Altons Spooky Wonderland
Let Me Entertainyou
Horny Horny Horny
Thriller.
I have the show filmed twice from different angles.
The Singers were from the piazza show and included street threatre actors and ice show skaters as extra dancers.

 

[djtruefitt]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

Welcome to another Talbot Street Tuesday update. This week we are taking a tour through the layout of the Scarefest maze: The Sanctuary.

The Dovecote seen from the Eastern Entrance - The maze's queueline begins on the wooden steps and continues up the path to the right.

House Conservatory - looking back towards the two briefing areas and the archway which housed the metal fencing and gate.

The Drawing Room - Shared by the Rubble Room from Terror Of The Towers, guests passed through the doorway to the left to meet Dr Kelman.

The Music Room - This housed the large "recreation room" scene at the start of the maze; the alcove shown housed the fireball effect.

The Music Room looking toward the North Library - From the Rec Room, guests passed through the archway to the right into the Kitchen area.

The North Library looking back towards the Music Room - The green sign is roughly where the large Dr Kelman poster hung (the right archway was blocked off).

The Poet's Bay in the North Library - The foremost archway was blocked by cage bars, with a flickering fluorescent light giving the impression of a cell in the corner of the kitchen.

Talbot Passage - Guests then passed from the kitchen down this corridor, turning right into the ward room.

Talbot Passage looking back towards the North Library (kitchen scene). A drape was hung at this point to divide the corridor and direct guests through the door on the left.

West Library - Shown in closed season being used as a storage area for Terror Of The Towers props, this comprised the Ward Room scene.

West Library (Ward Room) - Coming through the door, guests took a sharp right turn walking by the wall to the end of the room behind a drape before turning left and around back through the main "ward" section of the room.

West Library (Ward Room). Notice all the wooden boxes from TOTT.

West Wing - the middle windows are the West Library (Ward Room) and State Bedroom (Marmalisation Chamber)

State Bedroom - Passing through a small room dressed up as a Pharmacy, guests now entered the Marmalisation Room. Shown here being used for archival purposes, the metal shelving shown actually constituted the base structure of the sheet corridors within the room.

State Bedroom (Marmalisation Chamber)

State Bedroom (Marmalisation Chamber)

State Bedroom (Marmalisation Chamber) as seen from outside.

Talbot Passage - Guests left the Marmalisation Chamber where the solid wooden door is shown at the far end of the corridor, turning left to descend the wooden stairs shown. The drape hanging prevented them seeing other patients entering the ward room via the door in the foreground.

West Wing staircase as seen from the basement, into which guests now descended.

West Staircase from Talbot Passage

The West Wing Basement. This is a section of the west wing that wasn't used in the Sanctuary. The door on the right would lead to the finale of the maze, with the door in front heading towards the staircase and surgery room.

The exit courtyard, into which both Terror of The Towers and The Sanctuary exited

The West Wing Utilidor - Originally used for the unseen transportation of coal and other materials to the back entrance of the house, this has been utilised as an exit corridor for Terror Of The Towers since 2009 (and previously formed part of the maze's queueline).

Check out our Facebook page every Tuesday for more photos!

 

[josht]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

Liking the sanctuary's marmalisation room some brilliant photos that generally you dont get to see

 

[djtruefitt]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

This week let's take a look back at what could have been, with the first in a series of concept art Talbot Street Tuesdays. When the park were considering what to do with the Corkscrew site they considered several different types of coaster designs for SW6 (as the project was then known). This is one of the closer versions to what was eventually built. With this concept where the current ride drops, this coaster would have instead tilted backwards launching the riders into the backward section of the ride.

Another option the park considered was a woodie. This is one of several sites the park has considered for a wooden coaster over the years, and is a stone's throw away from the site of the infamous cross-valley woodie project.

Another of the concepts for a woodie, this time in a more Dark Forest style.

The park also consdiered adding a vertical launch coaster, which could have meant the park ended up with two launch coasters next to one another.

And the vertical launch coaster in a Dark Forest setting. You might just recognise the track used in this mock up, as the park appear to have used one of Oblivion's promotional images to create this concept artwork.

Another interesting idea considered was a Vekoma Dragonfly coaster, described as a cross between the Vampire at Chessington and a motorbike style coaster.

Interestingly the park also considered a Gerstlauer Eurofighter as a contender to be SW6. Who knows maybe someday they will revist this idea for one of their future coasters.

As well as considering replacements for the Corkscrew, the park also looked into possible replacements for the Blackhole at the same time. One of which was the idea of using the tent to house a series of Roboarms, which the park were rather keen on at the time.

The idea of the roboarms was to continue the X Sector's theme of a secretive goverment test facility, with the guests being used as crash test dummies.

The park also seem to have considered adding a new flat ride in the Blackhole tent, the Duelling Deadstars, which would have also carried the governement experiment theme. This would have neatly answered the need for more flat rides within the park, though was no doubt shelved as it would have meant flat rides would have then dominated the X Sector.

 

[T]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

Fantastic, as ever! I have to ask, where do you get all these?!

 

[Dave]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

Alton Towers Archives

 

[CoasterCrazyChris]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

Alton Towers Archives

I swear someone on posted a link on TowersTimes to their own website with all the pictures they took in the archives, but I can't find it anywhere..

 

[josht]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

Concept art always looks amazing, loving Alton towers archives

 

[T]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

Alton Towers Archives

Forgive my ignorance, but is this a literal place, as in, somewhere at Alton Towers themselves, or an online database of images?

Whichever way, does everyone have access?

 

[Dan]

Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

It is a few rooms hidden behind a locked door in the towers. Dave managed to organise a small trip there last year which was very interesting. It is very difficult to get access these days as the lady who looked after it has left AT

 

[djtruefitt]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

Last week we took a look at some of the rides considered for the SW6 project, but for this week's Talbot Street Tuesday we'll look at some of the themes considered before the park decided on Dark Forest. First up we have 'The Quarry'...

The park created mood boards for each of the new themes. As can be seen here the quarry theme was to be based around heavy machinery and would have seen Rita transformed into Rockblaster.

Last week we saw an concept the park had to build a series of Roboarms in the Blackhole tent. The park also considered this type of attraction for the Dark Forest area. Here we can see the Roboarms as they would have looked with 'The Quarry' theme.

Another of the themes considered was 'Creatures'. This theme would have centred around a series a creatures disturbed during the demolition of the Corkscrew. This theme was likely to be shelved due to the similarities with the Nemesis theme.

Another cencept for the roborams was a world of Machines. In a similar idea to the Creatures themes, this concept centred on a hidden world of machines, which was disturbed by the demolition of the Corkscrew.

Alton Towers also considered bringing a mythological world to the park, as seen in this concept for Dragon Lair, which would have seen impressive architecture brought to the area, familar to fans of the Lord of the Rings..

Finally let's take a look at the Ghost Rider theme boards. This would have seen a taste of the Old West brought to the Staffordshire Moorlands.

The Ghost Rider concept would have seen the Western theme combined with a more modern American theme, which would have centred around a 50s diner style. This theme worked most closedly with the orignal style and mood of Rita-Queen of Speed, which is no doubt why it was considered by the park.

 

[JB1985]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

its weird as at the time i wanted the dark forest, but now looking at these i think some of them would have been better than what we have. Just shows really how poorly DF was implamented

 

[thefatone]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

What is towers' seeming obsession with these RoboArms?!

 

[Stevie]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

I would have loved to see the 'Ghost Rider' theme. That would have been pretty down awesome. As would have been the Machines, Creatures, Quarry and Dragon Lair.

So everything apart from Dark Forest.
God damn it!

 

[Martin]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

Pretty sure there were more mood boards? I remember one theme involving racing.

But I've never seen the Ghost Rider or Dragon Lair themes before, thanks for them!

 

[djtruefitt]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

More concept artwork for this weeks Talbot Street Tuesday, but this time for Towers Street. Let's start, as with any trip to the park in the entrance plaza. Here we have the mood boards for the redesign for the area in the early 2000s.

These boards show the area as it was and as it would look after a repaint. As can clearly be seen the artwork here closely resembles how the area looks today, although further work has since been carried out on the Monorail station and adding the iconic Corkscrew sculpture.

Towers Street as we know it was originally designed in the 1980s and significantly modified in 1995, but the park has often planned to do so much more with the area. Here is one concept put forward for the area. Rather than the current 'grass island' appearance, this would see one long grass bank down the centre with 'connecting bridges'. The leap frog fountains are retained, but the big focal point for the area could be the compass feature that would have replaced the next 'island' down. Other interesting features included the adddition of an Ice Cream Parlour replcaing the lower section of Towers Trading and a grand open staircase directly inside the park entrance.

Now onto a 1993 plan to transform Corner Coffee into The Tea and Coffee Bazarr, a rather ornate for this popular cafe.

This retheme never came to pass, although elements of it do seem to have been incorporated into the unit.

Another bold concept for the area in 2006 would have seen a very different entrance to the park, with each of the current grass islands replaced by a different themed feature. Interestingly, this plan also seems to incorporate a new refreshmanet offering in place of the lower portion of Towers Trading.

A closer look at the five new islands, inspiration here draws on the Earls of Shrewsbury and the popular "Great British Bucket and Spade" event from 2006, as well as seeing the Leap Frog Fountains joined by giant dragonflys.

Remember to check back next Tuesday for more Alton Towers archives!

 

[DiogoJ42]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

I can't help but notice a pattern emerging; All these concepts are ten times better than what we eventually end up with.

 

[josht]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

This is what you could have but it's merlin

 

[CoasterCrazyChris]

Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)

Towers Street is a complete and utter embarrassment.

Just a couple of million pounds could transform it into something pretty special. They really should have more foresight into investing into these things because first impressions always count and will play a factor in encouraging repeat visits.

Thank god the Towers provide a welcome distraction from all those dreary closed up shopfronts.