Rita is going nowhere. That ride still pulls in the crowds
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TBC: SW9 Speculation
Squiggs
TS Team
Not anything like it used to though and I think broadly it would be classed as the weakest of the larger coasters in the park. Plus, at some point in the future the park are likely to add a bigger, better quality launched coaster and for various reasons that would be much easier with Rita out of the picture.
I agree it should be the first to go. Well either Rita or galactica
Matt.GC
TS Member
Loads of places. You could easily fit something similar to Icon in Dark Forest by removing Rita (or relocating it to another park), Forbidden Valley by removing the arcade and Blade and there's loads of coaster options that would fit in the Air car park (providing they build another car park to replace it). There's even space around the old coach park if they wanted to extend Katanga Canyon.
But, as has been said many times already in this thread and many others, whislt a new coaster at Towers would be welcomed, it should be way down the bottom of the priority list. Although they'll need to come up with some plans to submit to the local council pretty soon for their next big attraction, there's far more pressing issues to be addressed that could be resolved many times over for less than the price of a new SW.
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tayspru
TS Member
A new coaster is the last thing Towers needs
Theres barely anything to do as a family at the park. And I don’t mean height restrictions , I mean attractions that are appealing for everyone , whether they ride thrill rides or not , and not just kids rides that adults can ride. High capacity indoor rides should really be the priority for the park
Theres barely anything to do as a family at the park. And I don’t mean height restrictions , I mean attractions that are appealing for everyone , whether they ride thrill rides or not , and not just kids rides that adults can ride. High capacity indoor rides should really be the priority for the park
It's much much better in that respect than thorpe. Thorpe has to be the worst park in the UK for the family market. Also I've always thought too that the space behind katanga canyon on the old coach park would be a good space for a coaster or a completely new area. It's very close to the edge of the site though so building here would likely be very difficult
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Skyscraper
TS Member
I think you'll find that's because Thorpe is close to Chessy. Both parks originally had the same sorts of attractions, so when Tussauds bought Thorpe they split the market between them, with Thorpe having more thrill-based attractions given the lesser planning regs, and Chessy having a more family-based offering.
(Apologies for going more off-topic, but I thought I should clarify the above)
jon81uk
TS Member
Partly depends on the age of the kids, if most of your children are over 1.4m then go to Thorpe, if they are under 1.4m go to Chessington, the two parks are close enough that it can work that way. But yes in general Thorpe is not a family day out its for teenagers or parents and teenagers.
But Alton has always marketed itself on a family escape so needs to offer something for everyone I think and the biggest gap at the moment is something that both a six year old and a 60 year old can ride. Gangsta Granny almost fills that but is so low capacity.
Doing something like Duel would be a good option, large warehouse building but trying to keep it fairly hidden inside the park behind trees and adding a rockwork cave entrance. Some kind of either dark ride into a mine or mixed dark ride and coaster would work well, kinda Indiana Jones style.
I personally want towers to get permanent flats of the same type as funk n fly and mixtape. Just theme them into the area better and it should work really well. The waltzer has to go and never come back after this year, not designed for a theme park and is so randomly placed with no relevance to the dark forest theme whatsoever. I'd personally like to see a top scan in that space
Benjsh
TS Member
Towers will get a new coaster soon whether we think it needs it or not. Why? Because that seems to be how they market the park and drive footfall. And Smiler and Wickerman have bene hugely popular additions it can't be denied. Rarely do you see either ride with a small queue.
I'd love to see a world class indoor coaster built as SW9 personally however I realise that's not very likely at all. It is highly likely that any new coaster they build will go on the Air Car Park. Here's my predictions (in no particular order)
1. New model from Vekoma. Either a Shockwave or Bermuda Blitz
2. Mack Extreme Spinning coaster (With Spinball going to be leaving soon)
3. Launched RMC (If anyone can make it work, Towers can)
I'd be really happy with any of these tbh and think they would all be hits with the GP and enthusiasts.
I'd love to see a world class indoor coaster built as SW9 personally however I realise that's not very likely at all. It is highly likely that any new coaster they build will go on the Air Car Park. Here's my predictions (in no particular order)
1. New model from Vekoma. Either a Shockwave or Bermuda Blitz
2. Mack Extreme Spinning coaster (With Spinball going to be leaving soon)
3. Launched RMC (If anyone can make it work, Towers can)
I'd be really happy with any of these tbh and think they would all be hits with the GP and enthusiasts.
Danscott22
TS Member
I'd take any of these, never done any of these models!
jon81uk
TS Member
That is the issue though, they are now only installing coasters for headline rides (or at least thats how it feels). We need a new dark ride on the scale of the Haunted House. Or even just on the scale of Charlie and the Choc factory. But excluding CBeebies there hasn't been any real investment in second tier rides since Battle Galleons. In fact the only new ride really for Cbeebies was Octonauts almost everything else is just a repaint.
Yes coasters make the headline rides for marketing, but the park needs more than just that. Back in the 90s the park was sold on having Peter Rabbit, the Haunted House, Toyland Tours and Nemesis.
Imagine if cinemas only had the big Marvel and Pixar movies with nothing else to do.
tayspru
TS Member
Just because it’s better than two other sub par Merlin parks doesn’t mean it’s good. We visit as an adult who doesn’t like coasters or thrill rides, 3 that do, and a small child . There’s literally only Duel and Hex that we could conceivably all go on *and* be entertained by. The CBeebies stuff we can all ride but isn’t remotely interesting to any of the adults. Whereas somewhere like Efteling has multiple attractions we could all ride and enjoy together .
Skyscraper
TS Member
GoJetters was brand new as well, and was installed at the same time as Octonaughts I think.
jon81uk
TS Member
Its still not a massive investment though. I understand that overall CBeebiesland including the 2/3 new rides and the new shows and play equipment was, but it doesn't feel there has been any large scale newness outside of CBeebies.
What was the last non-CBeebies non-coaster investment into the park? Probably Sharkbait Reef back in 2009 and now Gangsta Granny. 11 years between new family attractions.
A few ageist generalisations on this topic...
I'm very nearly sixty, but do not want to ride gangster granny, at all.
I do like to ride Nemesis however, on every visit.
I like Thorpe, been lucky enough to visit twice for free, had a great time both visits, but I am a long way from being a teenager, and even further away from being a parent.
Thorpe on off peak days, gets by on punters who are, in the main, neither teenagers or parents.
Go boomer...
Edit...And no big new coaster until 2025 at the earliest I reckon.
I'm very nearly sixty, but do not want to ride gangster granny, at all.
I do like to ride Nemesis however, on every visit.
I like Thorpe, been lucky enough to visit twice for free, had a great time both visits, but I am a long way from being a teenager, and even further away from being a parent.
Thorpe on off peak days, gets by on punters who are, in the main, neither teenagers or parents.
Go boomer...
Edit...And no big new coaster until 2025 at the earliest I reckon.
Benjsh
TS Member
I'd love a world class Dark Ride to be added. I really would.
I'm just saying what i think they will do. I don't think Merlin see Dark Rides as a big draw for punters and especially after DBGT fiasco I think that we're very unlikely to ever see a Dark Ride on that scale and budget again.
Also the Secret Weapon tag does seem to be Coaster specific. It would be a shame to see them use that tag for a Dark Ride.
Benjsh
TS Member
Would be fantastic. Would it qualify as a secret Weapon though? I suppose they classed Thirteen as one so this should still qualify.