In terms of SW9 or whatever Alton’s next major investment turns out to be; I’d look quite closely at whatever Gardaland concocts for next year, as I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up seeing something similar at Alton Towers to replace Duel. The park could probably do with a new dark ride or indoor coaster (especially the latter), and Duel is often earmarked as being on the chopping block in the same way that Ramses was at Gardaland, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we did see Duel get replaced. Merlin also likes to apply successful concepts to other parks after being piloted at one park, so if whatever dark ride or indoor/outdoor coaster Gardaland opens in 2022 is successful, I wouldn’t be surprised if Alton ended up doing something similar.
I was also thinking; if SW9 is a dark ride or indoor attraction, wouldn’t that in theory mean that planning permission and initial preparations might not need to start as early? DBGT at Thorpe didn’t have its planning permit filed until October 2014, and the ride was originally due to open in March 2016 had it not had reliability issues. I’d also imagine that a dark ride building would generate far less objections and such from locals than a coaster, as dark ride buildings don’t generate noise and aren’t usually considered “eyesores” like coasters often are. So in theory, the planning process should go more smoothly. If SW9 is due to be an indoor attraction, then that might still make 2023 a plausible suggestion for an opening date.
I reckon there’s a fair chance that SW9 could end up an indoor attraction, you know; the park is more in need of indoor attractions than outdoor ones, and I did actually hear a rumbling somewhere that SW9 was due to be “a dark ride in an already used area of the park”. Admittedly, I only heard that in one place, but aside from the RCCGB being told that SW9 “wasn’t wood” in 2019, that’s the only thing I’ve heard.
The RCCGB comment would suggest that a plan of some description was decided upon prior to COVID, so it wouldn’t surprise me if SW9 opens sooner than many are expecting. It was said at the recent Chessington consultation that now Merlin is under private ownership, they’re more keen to invest heavily into the parks than they were before in order to maintain visitor numbers and encourage repeat visits among those who might have visited for the first time during COVID. Even if the ride was altered due to COVID happening, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they had a set idea of what SW9’s basic description was going to be prior to 2020. It was said that the first tenders for SW9 were being submitted when Wicker Man was still being constructed, so that implies that they might have been fairly far down the road in terms of planning SW9 by the time COVID hit.
