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TBC: SW9 Speculation

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If they want to go for a coaster would rather they went for a low cost coaster flat hybrid like a Premier Rides Skyrocket 2 and perhaps get an area makeover or couple of flats to go with it. Thought Tigris at busch was a fun and inexpensive crowd absorber
 
Selfishly I'd always take a new coaster over anything else, but agree it's not the best mvoe for them. After Wicker Man they've now got an excellent mix of coasters.

This is why the Dungeons is such a frustrating addition, they should have rethemed Charlie and made a solid family boat ride. Hopefully they still will do.
 
The park doesn't need any new coasters and a world class dark ride is currently way out of Tower's budget.

The best "Secret Weapon" they could add to the park right now is a trio of flat ride in the parks main thrill areas:
Ripsaw site
UG Swinger site
Submission site

Spreads the guests out, increases the number of attractions and brings life back to the areas.

They could add the 3 including theming for the cost of a coaster and run a combined advertising campaign.
 
It’s hardly a secret that Merlin want quick-fire projects with high revenue and profit returns in a short period of time. Any suggestion that they’ll invest in bringing their attraction portfolio up to date by opening non-coaster experiences or rides on a high CAPEX year, after the failings of DBGT, is looking really unlikely.

They want to spend on the CAPEX but when it comes to OPEX after a season of operation new-ride wise, the budget isn’t provided.

As much as I’d love them to invest in a heavily themed water ride or dark ride/series of flat rides, I doubt they will. The marketing department will push for a new coaster after the success of Wicker Man.

Merlin don’t appear to look to the long term success of their Parks or business. It’s all about running year to year and very much in the short term.

I wouldn’t be surprised if SW9 doesn’t open until 2023 or beyond either. Thorpe in my opinion needs the high CAPEX far more at the moment.
 
kydog1299 said:
It’s hardly a secret that Merlin want quick-fire projects with high revenue and profit returns in a short period of time. Any suggestion that they’ll invest in bringing their attraction portfolio up to date by opening non-coaster experiences or rides on a high CAPEX year, after the failings of DBGT, is looking really unlikely.

They want to spend on the CAPEX but when it comes to OPEX after a season of operation new-ride wise, the budget isn’t provided.

As much as I’d love them to invest in a heavily themed water ride or dark ride/series of flat rides, I doubt they will. The marketing department will push for a new coaster after the success of Wicker Man.

Merlin don’t appear to look to the long term success of their Parks or business. It’s all about running year to year and very much in the short term.

I wouldn’t be surprised if SW9 doesn’t open until 2023 or beyond either. Thorpe in my opinion needs the high CAPEX far more at the moment.
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Agreed. At the current rate it doesn't look like we are going to see anything new ride wise at either Thorpe or Alton next year though....
 
Merlin also know new SW ride means more fast track sales tickets.
I went yesterday and CBeebies rides and non SW coasters had bigger queues than any of the SW coasters.
They need to work more with the age group that’s too old for CBeebies but not tall enough for the 1.2 coasters even my 6 year daughter said the only rides she loved was the blade and Hex other the 2 coasters she could go on
 
I was at the park yesterday (for the 3rd time in 2 years) and have a bit of a wishlist for the park. Im not sure on how realistic it would be for all of these things to be added but it would be nice to see at least some.

1. Water Ride. I think its a shame the only water ride in the park now is the rapids so Id like to see a new one being added. A new log flume would be great but probably wouldnt constitute being an SW unless it was pretty special and had good theming.
I'd quite like to see SW9 being an Intamin 'Shoot the Chute' style water ride but obviously not too high. Something like La Furia de Triton in Terra Mitica or a smaller version of Tutuki Splash would be nice. Not sure how it would fit though. Maybe they could build it into the side of a hill with the ride going through some tunnels.

2. More family flat rides with a 1.0-1.3 height restriction would be great. Children who are too old for Cbeebies but too young for rollercoasters would benefit the most here. Theres a lot of smaller rides which could easily fit into the park. They could add Dodgems, a flying chairs/ swings ride, umbrella ride or even a big carosel to help break up the day between roller coasters.

3. A new transportation ride around the park. (This one is the probably the most ambitious and unlikely to happen).
My experience on the skyride isnt the best. When it breaks down and leaves your cable car swinging it can be unnerving and nauseating. And its a long walk, especially for younger or older people, to go from Forbidden Valley to Dark Forest if you dont want to go on Skyride.
It would be nice if they had another way to get around the park. A steam train ride would be my favourite. They could have 4 stations e.g. Forbidden Valley, Wicker Man, Cbeebies Land and Dark Forest. The train should have lots of carriages and a changable speed so that it can keep up with demand/ queue times. (This would also double up as providing another family ride).

4. If SW9 was a coaster then I'd like to see something new that the park doesn't already have but with a great theming like Wicker Man. A new Vekoma launched coaster would be nice with a good few inversions so that the rest of the ride is interesting after launch. It would be nice to see vekoma coasters return to the park as they should offer a different feel from the other coasters.
 
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Wouldn't be a bad idea to simply spruce up the attractions they already have. Be cheaper too considering most things are already in place.

1. Duel/HH - Return it to it's former glory and remove the guns n targets.

2. Rapids - As the parks only water ride it needs a major facelift. Cleaning, painting, effects fixed etc.

3. Re open NST or replace with a similar ride system. That attraction had so much potential.
 
Benjsh said:
Wouldn't be a bad idea to simply spruce up the attractions they already have. Be cheaper too considering most things are already in place.

1. Duel/HH - Return it to it's former glory and remove the guns n targets.

2. Rapids - As the parks only water ride it needs a major facelift. Cleaning, painting, effects fixed etc.

3. Re open NST or replace with a similar ride system. That attraction had so much potential.
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I like this idea. I personally think they could do this for quite a few rides to add to the overall experience.
Oblivion's theming feels a little bit dated for me. I wouldn't mind seeing an upgrade to the theme around the station, sound/ smoke effects and in ride music etc.
The same could be done for Nemesis. I feel like the track, station and queue lines could do with a new paint scheme to freshen things up and some more queue line atmosphere could be created with some special effects e.g. smoke/mist. I feel like some new trains would also be good to lose that (kinda ugly) prototype barebones look they have. Or they could at least be painted a more interesting colour than grey.

Oh and p.s. They could change Galactica back to Air while they are on. I remember liking that theming better.
 
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WickerMan99 said:
The same could be done for Nemesis. I feel like the track, station and queue lines could do with a lick of paint and some more atmosphere created with the theming. I feel like some new trains would also be good to lose that (kinda ugly) prototype barebones look they have. Or they could at least be painted a more interesting colour than grey.
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Nemesis track was repainted a couple of years ago and the station was done over the last 3 winters. I think the colour of the trains is down to the backstory of the ride being an alien pinned down in the ground. This video shows John Wardley telling the backstory of Nemesis (from about 10 mins onwards)..

 
Steve74 said:
Nemesis track was repainted a couple of years ago and the station was done over the last 3 winters. I think the colour of the trains is down to the backstory of the ride being an alien pinned down in the ground. This video shows John Wardley telling the backstory of Nemesis (from about 10 mins onwards)..

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Quite an interesting one. But I'd like to see more of that backstory as your waiting in the queue to go on. The current theme of Nemesis is great. I think it could just be expanded upon a little to make it even better.
 
Nemesis wont get another spruce up for a fair few years, tbh wouldn't be surprised if it ever will again.
 
To be fair I think one of the most masterful things about nemesis is that the theme doesn't need to be explained. Anyone can gather the jist from a quick glance (monster) and for people who want more there is plenty of details to look at.

Also the way the queue is designed (especially when the waterfalls are running) it's a fantastic scene and ride to watch. I am always entertained in the nemesis queue.
 
Lurker said:
To be fair I think one of the most masterful things about nemesis is that the theme doesn't need to be explained. Anyone can gather the jist from a quick glance (monster) and for people who want more there is plenty of details to look at.

Also the way the queue is designed (especially when the waterfalls are running) it's a fantastic scene and ride to watch. I am always entertained in the nemesis queue.
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Absolutely! It works for everyone and it's a really cool place to be even while just queuing.

Absolutely nothing more should be 'explained' (John even says that in that video, it was never the intention for it to be explained), it's all about the place and how it looks & feels.
 
ScottishChris said:
I suppose the bigger question is not what SW9 will be, but what will be removed to make way for it?
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The only coaster I could see on the chopping block would be Rita. Those intamin hydrolic launch coasters don't have a long shelf life and Ritais pretty rattly and boring these days

As for non coaster Dule and cloud cookoo land would be in the chopping block IMHO. Possibly the area over by sub terror too
 
I would imagine Spinball will be sacrificed to be used as leverage to get the next major planning application pushed through.

The park have made no secret of their desire to move / remove SW in the past.
 
MaxPower said:
I would imagine Spinball will be sacrificed to be used as leverage to get the next major planning application pushed through.

The park have made no secret of their desire to move / remove SW in the past.
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I hope this is not on their agenda. Towers cannot afford to lose yet another family ride! Spinball is somewhat underrated I feel.
 
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