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TBC: SW9 Speculation

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I think if they did do a major water ride, I’d almost rather that they went the whole hog and just built a log flume than tried to do a halfway house between coaster and water ride with a water coaster.

Log flumes are getting quite advanced these days, with elements like steeper drops, airtime hills and turntables all being possible on them now, and lap bars make them more appealing for H&S than they once were. I think a new gen log flume could be a fun ride, particularly if they were able to adjust the wetness according to temperature in some way (light sprinkle in the winter, wetter in the summer).

You could also get a lot of firsts or records out of a flume ride (for instance, you could do “the UK’s steepest flume ride”).

I must admit my enthusiasm for a water coaster has fallen as I’ve ridden more of them. None of the ones I’ve done are rides I’ve rated especially highly, and in this context, I almost think a modern flume would be more enjoyable.
 
The best would be a dark-ride flume combo, something between Chiapas and Splash Mountain.
I agree with previous comments that a new building on the coach parking behind Katanga with a Jumangi boat ride in it might be good, a few drops indoors without major splashes then a proper drop outside (bit like Splash Mountain) with the ability to drop the water level in the winter, would be a good addition to the park, ticks the family ride, dark ride and water ride boxes.
 
Why is Alton becoming Drayton manor in the sense that they are only ever adding new rides/attractions to CBA Land? No planning applications but even chessington and Thorpe have?! I don’t think we can count the nemesis retrack as that’s more up keep of the ride.

I just don’t see any positive development in park…I was Alton towers number one fan many years back, but I’m now exploring Europe slowly but surly as I can. I find it incredibly frustrating as if and when we do get planning in it will be something the park doesn’t need.

Why doesn’t the park listen, flats flats flats, water rides, trackless dark ride.

Sorry rant over!
 
They also haven’t only invested in CBeebies Land, either; they did TWODW in 2021, and they’re rumoured to be investing in Duel for 2023. Before 2022, the last CBeebies attractions were in 2019.

The reality is that CBeebies is a very lucrative asset for Alton Towers, so it will likely get a fair cut of off-year investments.

Also, we can say what we want about what we want Alton Towers to have, but the park will know better than we do about what the average guest wants and what the park needs. The parks do all kinds of feedback surveys and focus groups to determine what they need; for instance, I know that while many enthusiasts are somewhat bemused by it, Project Amazon at Chessington was the result of feedback surveys saying that the park needed more for older children. Ultimately, we enthusiasts are a very small percentage of guest figures who are unlikely to influence what the park does.

For all we know, the park might be heavily pursuing coasters because they’re popular among the average guest, and that’s what the average guest wants.
 
deathproof69 said:
Why is Alton becoming Drayton manor in the sense that they are only ever adding new rides/attractions to CBA Land? No planning applications but even chessington and Thorpe have?!
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Large parts of the park do not require planning applications for certain permitted developments. A lack of new planning applications does not mean that they aren’t developing plans for new rides and attractions.
 
CBeebies also needs regular updates as shows come and go, there is no point featuring a character if the show hasn't aired for more than a few years as the children won't know who the character is.

Also by its nature pre-school TV isn't timeless, as children get older they won't be interested in those characters. Its not like Disney where everyone over 5 can take an interest or Harry Potter where everyone over 10 is probably interested. CBeebies has no adult or older child appear so once the programmes stop being on TV they are no longer relevant.
If/when Peppa Pig stops being shown Paulton could have an issue for this reason. Thomas the Tank Engine is almost eighty years old so probably won't have the issue though.
 
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jon81uk said:
CBeebies also needs regular updates as shows come and go, there is no point featuring a character if the show hasn't aired for more than a few years as the children won't know who the character is
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This is a good point I hadn’t thought of; CBeebies needs updating frequently and keeping relevant by virtue of the IP’s nature. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there’s a clause in their contract with the BBC that stipulates that they need to keep the area up to date and relevant or something along those lines.
 
I can imagine their next coaster rather than being towards gloomy wood potentially being around the forbidden valley, please correct me if wrong but there is a significant difference in footfall traffic in the two sides of the parks at the minute.
 
I do sense the next few medium/large scale developments being on the Katanga/Forbidden Valley side of the park.

They seem to have developed a lot of the CBeebies/X Sector/Dark Forest/TWODW side of the park over the course of 2010-2022.

I suspect they’ll be looking to update the other side of the park going forward. Feels like Wicker Man was the first step in that, and the rumoured Duel investment and Nemesis re-track further backs that theory up slightly.
 
For me they need to decide what they are doing with Katanga. Huge space pretty much wasted ATM.

Restore it tonics former glory or remove it completely. Enough room for two new areas. SW9 could be one.

All that said I think we're 5 or 6 years away still.

Massively underfunded park. It's starting to show.
 
kydog1299 said:
I do sense the next few medium/large scale developments being on the Katanga/Forbidden Valley side of the park.

They seem to have developed a lot of the CBeebies/X Sector/Dark Forest/TWODW side of the park over the course of 2010-2022.

I suspect they’ll be looking to update the other side of the park going forward. Feels like Wicker Man was the first step in that, and the rumoured Duel investment and Nemesis re-track further backs that theory up slightly.
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This was my thinking as well. The left side of the park, once you pass Mutiny Bay at least, definitely feels quite old now compared to the right side. I wouldn't be at all surprised if SW9 or whatever the next major investment is is in that part of the park, and to be honest, I’d expect SW10 to be down there as well.

Personally, I would not be at all surprised if one of the next SWs replaces the rapids. And to be honest, if SW9 was a water or dark ride, I’d probably support that.
 
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