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TBC: SW9 Speculation

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I think the next big ride should be water based but the park should be able to adjust how wet riders get so the ride is enjoyable throughout the season.
 
Matt N said:
I’d love it if Towers could put in an Intamin Blitz Coaster for SW9, something like Velocicoaster in terms of elements. Maybe they could use the swing launch technology like Pantheon and the 2023 Parc Asterix Blitz Coaster, as I feel like that could work quite well with Towers’ height restriction?
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A swing launch would be more unlikely than a standard launch as it would require a tall spike, which the park could not fit. A standard launch coaster would be more likely.
 
Matt N said:
I admit they probably do need flat rides and water rides, but they already have a decent number of dark rides, in my opinion. Duel is pretty large scale, Hex is great, Gangsta Granny will be a good family dark ride and they could probably use the Dungeons ride system for another large-scale family dark ride during a medium year if they do end up removing the Dungeons fairly soon as originally anticipated.

Also, flat rides could quite easily be installed in lower years, and water ride and coaster can overlap quite nicely; there is the obvious option of something like a Mack water coaster, but the water coaster has become a little more interesting in recent years with inventions like the PowerSplash, in my opinion. I do actually think that a Mack water coaster would be a nice addition to Towers; maybe they could go for a full-circuit launched water coaster? That could be quite interesting, and I don’t think it’s ever been done before; I know Atlantis Adventure exists, but I wouldn’t personally say that’s a true water coaster.
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This all leads to the question of why it hasn't already been done? As you say, they could have added some new flat rides (Ripsaw and Submission sites are easy to add on) but haven't.

I disagree on the dark rides though, they are still lacking (in fact all UK parks probably are), if the boat ride which is now the dungeons comes back as a dark ride it would help for sure. But a new high-tech ride would be ideal.

I sort of compare to Phantasialand which probably has the bare minimum number of dark rides, (I can't remember all the correct ride names)
Duel = Chinese ghost train
Dungeons boat ride = hollywood boat tour
Hex = chinese mad house
??? = Maus au Chocolat.
Its the high tech modern ride AT is missing.

But AT also desperately needs shows and mascots outside of CBeebies.
 
I think this is what the park is lacking is filler. The park has a good balance of coasters now for a while so in my opinion it’s time to fill the park to help the throughputs on busy days. It’s seriously lacking in flats and I think at least one dark ride and one decent water ride. Obviously people have different ideas of what they would like but if they built another coaster without adding any filler then it wouldn’t encourage me to go back. I wouldn’t want to just ride coasters all day I like a bit of filler to enjoy the day.
 
I would also love to see an Intamin Blitz or a Mack Mega. Although, For some reason I feel as though Alton (Merlin in general?) are opposed to a big thrill coaster that doesn’t have OTSR’s. If I recall correctly The Smiler was designed to have lapbars. I would very happily be proven wrong though!

I would also happily see Rita removed and the abomination that is the Dark Forest flattened to make way for the next development.

That being said, the last thing the park needs is a coaster. In recent years the park just feels completely flat. You need a good mix of rides for a park to feel well rounded, something the park severely lacks.


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Definitely agree on the mention of more flats. When it’s a heaving day in the summer you really feel the lack of them with one hour plus queues for most of the coasters.

1997 had one secret weapon but had much more variety. Need a time machine.
 
The park needs more flat rides to help the coasters cope and add some more variety. That's indisuptable. Exactly what flat rides is another question entirely, but I won't be happy unless they install a Gerstlauer Polyp. :p I believe there may have been a plan to install several new flat rides a few years ago, but then the Smiler crash happened.
 
I'm not sure if it was originally planned for The Smiler to have lap bars, however OSTRs was certainly at Merlin's request and nothing to do with the design. I imagine lap bars didn't work well on their market research. Whenever I've mentioned inverting coasters I've been on with lap bars to non-enthusiasts, they look at me as if I've come out of a nut house... when the British think of lap bars, they think of a flimsy pole that just about stops you from flying out of a ride.

Wicker Man shows market research isn't always right, so there is hope we'll one day get an inverting coaster with lap bars that the public trust. If any park can do it, Towers will be that park.

For SW9 I would rather a Duel replacement or The Dungeons replacement. Aside from flat rides, Towers has no grand, truly brilliant dark ride. I would have my eyes set on Duel, it could do with millions poured into it and it has been left for far too long. I appreciate the minor improvements over the years and the TLC work, however its had its day.

The last thing Towers needs is more coasters. Ideally SW10 should be the next coaster.
 
Gerstlauer offers the Infinity Coaster with lap bars as default, and OTSRs “available on request” according to their website, and no other Infinity Coaster currently in existence has them, so I’d suggest that OTSRs for Smiler was definitely a Merlin decision.
 
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When’s the last time Merlin trusted Intamin with anything?

Quite happy for SW9 not to be a coaster.
 
If lap bars were added to Oblivion, Rita and The Smiler, what would the height restriction be? If the height restriction could be lowered then that would help bridge the gap between Cbeebies and the big thrill coasters.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
If lap bars were added to Oblivion, Rita and The Smiler, what would the height restriction be? If the height restriction could be lowered then that would help bridge the gap between Cbeebies and the big thrill coasters.
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Realistically I think Rita is the only ride that could be appealing with lap bars. Personally I wouldn’t want to ride Smiler without OTSR.
 
A decent flat ride these days isn't cheap. Okay they are cheaper than coasters but I don't think Merlin see a ROI for adding one. They don't bring crowds in sadly. It's coasters that do that.

The only 2 I'd love to see are a gyro swing or screaming swing and neither seems likely given the height limit they have so flat rides are pretty much a write off.
 
Going back to launched coasters, they should only consider Intamin imo. The only truly world class Mack launch is Helix; all the others are excellent, well built coasters but lack a bit of punch. I've not done Copperhead Strike though tbf.

Helix is a good few years old now and I'm surprised they haven't built anything similar since.
 
Benjsh said:
A decent flat ride these days isn't cheap. Okay they are cheaper than coasters but I don't think Merlin see a ROI for adding one. They don't bring crowds in sadly. It's coasters that do that.

The only 2 I'd love to see are a gyro swing or screaming swing and neither seems likely given the height limit they have so flat rides are pretty much a write off.
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While this is true, I think they do provide better guest satisfaction by offering a more well-rounded day out and I think the park knows this but they need to make the marketing team know that a fully featured park is going to be better reviewed.

What I think someone needs to tell marketing is imagine if CBeebies land was all coasters, it would be rubbish. But as a mix of flat rides, tracked rides, play areas and shows it is a good overall land. If they scaled this up to the whole park and made sure there was a mix of flat rides, coasters dark rides and shows it would significantly improve the whole park.
 
MakoMania said:
I don't see the appeal of using the air car park for SW9 when there is lots of barren and unused space in the existing FV area where Ripsaw, NST and presumably now The Blade used to be. More interesting terrain around this area as well.
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Think if it is built here then it needs to be another Family Coaster as like X sector if it is another 1.4m coaster it be another area of the park families will not go to there kids are 10+. Would love the NST building reused as a pre show.
 
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