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TBC: SW9 Speculation

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jon81uk said:
Whereas the car park between Air and the golf would make more sense for a combination of coasters and flat rides as it is further away from residential buildings and in keeping with the existing Forbidden Valley area that is coasters and flat rides.
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I reckon this area is the best option but not for another few years as mentioned for a while now. I think it would allow them a bit more freedom with planning & not cramp up the rest of the park. If it dominated the entirety of the existing car park it would be a great view walking in/ on the monorail (given they sort the windows out). Question is, would this option push Towers to consider a second entrance? It would be a stretch to walk past it to the current entrance to then walk back to FV.

I am leaning towards the next development (perhaps not SW) being indoors in some way, just not DBGT style. Ideas?
 
Raza said:
I reckon this area is the best option but not for another few years as mentioned for a while now. I think it would allow them a bit more freedom with planning & not cramp up the rest of the park. If it dominated the entirety of the existing car park it would be a great view walking in/ on the monorail (given they sort the windows out). Question is, would this option push Towers to consider a second entrance? It would be a stretch to walk past it to the current entrance to then walk back to FV.

I am leaning towards the next development (perhaps not SW) being indoors in some way, just not DBGT style. Ideas?
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An indoor coaster, even as a SW, would be another great option in my opinion, there’s even the wasteland behind Duel that you walk through from the car parks to the main entrance which could be a good potential site.
An indoor coaster wouldn’t necessarily have to be as thrilling from a hardware perspective, because you could use lighting, darkness, music and theming to your advantage to create a really strong and immersive attraction that enhances the hardware.
 
Raza said:
I am leaning towards the next development (perhaps not SW) being indoors in some way, just not DBGT style. Ideas?
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A new building in the old coaster corner area (between the Ice Age theatre and the Dungeons) with a dark ride coaster. Think something like Crush's Coaster at DLP, or even just Space Mountain at WDW. Just an indoor family coaster with limited theming to make it more than just a coaster in a box.

For a more traditional dark ride the boat ride in the Dungeons should be brought back to use as a family dark ride.

I really don't think the Air car park should be used for a building, that space is more suited to outdoor attractions or low level buildings such as restaurants.
 
I’ve just had another thought. With CRR in the sorry state that it’s in and no sign of it returning to its former glory, plus the fact it’s been closed for a long time now, could this be the site for SW9? I seem to remember the only TLC the ride got in the latest closed season was a couple of cheap statues where the waterfalls were. A thrilling water coaster themed to KC could work here, but I’m wary that most water coasters have fairly mundane layouts, so it would need to be something special with a worlds first element.

I know there’s a lot of backlash against outdoor water rides in the U.K., but The Flume was hugely popular and just because it’s a water ride doesn’t mean it necessarily has to soak you…

If it is a thrill ride, I feel that AT should definitely open a couple of support attractions to compensate for CRR going, by opening a 4D theatre in TWoDW and reverting The Dungeons back to a family attraction.

Thoughts?
 
s_g_k said:
I’ve just had another thought. With CRR in the sorry state that it’s in and no sign of it returning to its former glory, plus the fact it’s been closed for a long time now, could this be the site for SW9? I seem to remember the only TLC the ride got in the latest closed season was a couple of cheap statues where the waterfalls were. A thrilling water coaster themed to KC could work here, but I’m wary that most water coasters have fairly mundane layouts, so it would need to be something special with a worlds first element.

I know there’s a lot of backlash against outdoor water rides in the U.K., but The Flume was hugely popular and just because it’s a water ride doesn’t mean it necessarily has to soak you…

If it is a thrill ride, I feel that AT should definitely open a couple of support attractions to compensate for CRR going, by opening a 4D theatre in TWoDW and reverting The Dungeons back to a family attraction.

Thoughts?
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In my opinion they need to keep the rapids as A) they are a staple of the theme park B) it would be removing one of the few attractions that the whole family can do together.
 
JAperson said:
In my opinion they need to keep the rapids as A) they are a staple of the theme park B) it would be removing one of the few attractions that the whole family can do together.
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I do agree with those points, but the Flume was also one of those attractions that seemed synonymous with Alton Towers that the family could all enjoy. It would be a shame to see them go, which is why they would definitely need a couple of whole family support rides to compensate.
 
s_g_k said:
I do agree with those points, but the Flume was also one of those attractions that seemed synonymous with Alton Towers that the family could all enjoy. It would be a shame to see them go, which is why they would definitely need a couple of whole family support rides to compensate.
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I think losing one of the key family attractions for a new major attraction was fine but I don't think the park can afford to lose the rapids as well as the flume. Especially not until they've got a much better family supporting ride lineup.
 
s_g_k said:
I do agree with those points, but the Flume was also one of those attractions that seemed synonymous with Alton Towers that the family could all enjoy. It would be a shame to see them go, which is why they would definitely need a couple of whole family support rides to compensate.
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Rapids is more family friendly. I'm still scared of a log flume drop.

Edit to add, for me, Wickerman is less scary than the Flume was.
 
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pluk said:
AT must be just about the least densely developed theme park on the planet. While there are areas that would never get planning there are loads of places a major development could fit in, unless it needs to go in a big building.

If they were to develop into the carpark I'd hope it'd be for a large scale dark ride. It seems they can get away with decent sized buildings up there, but that's one thing they really would struggle with in the existing park.
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Indoor heavily-themed flume ride with a world's first element, anyone? That would be a good fit as I feel that Towers needs another flume-type water ride. :)
 
Skyscraper said:
Indoor heavily-themed flume ride with a world's first element, anyone? That would be a good fit as I feel that Towers needs another flume-type water ride. :)
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As much as this sounds nice and it would be great I can't see it as a SW. To be honest I'm not actually sure it would suite Alton Towers all that well either. I think slightly cheaper filler rides will do especially if they spend budget on theming them well.

In terms of what the SW9 could be i reckon, although I have no inside knowledge, that it will be by B&M. This is becasue I'm under the view that Merlin have ordered a big package with B&M that will likely cover most of there Resort Theme Parks. I think this as it makes logical sense to me. Why else would they be buying such an expensive ride like that for Chessington? I think it's because they've got a nice package with B&M that's made it cheaper and therefore a sensible investment. We have speculation (although nothing that proves anything yet) that Thorpe will be adding a coaster fairly soon as well and if that turns out to be a B&M then that's another one they've likely got in a deal. I've said this before but depending on what B&M's surf coaster is I think it could be a nice fit for Alton Towers as they only have one launch coaster and it seems the trent that most parks have a sort of standard launch and then something a little different.

I've said all this before and there's a good chance I'm wrong but I really hope I'm right.
 
s_g_k said:
That sounds great and would be a very unique choice for a SW. Something a bit like Valhalla but more thrilling (and a bit more wet :))
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Fixed that for you ;)

Id love them to do a water ride as the new SW and have been hoping for it since they removed the flume, but I think the UK is just too cold for them to want to invest in the ride especially as in March/April and toward the end of the year less people will want to ride for not wanting to be walking round wet and cold
 
Tibble said:
Fixed that for you ;)

Id love them to do a water ride as the new SW and have been hoping for it since they removed the flume, but I think the UK is just too cold for them to want to invest in the ride especially as in March/April and toward the end of the year less people will want to ride for not wanting to be walking round wet and cold
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Maybe the world's first element could be a walk-though wind tunnel as part of the exit that dries you off? :p:cool:
 
Is there any whisperings of anything going on with regards to the next major investment at Alton? Thorpe are seemingly getting a rather big investment in 2024, Chessington for 2023, yet everything seems quite quiet with regard to Alton. 2023 will be five years post Wicker Man yet there doesn't seem to be much in the pipeline.

I for one would like to see an indoor attraction, maybe something like a flying theatre. The park's coaster lineup seems well fleshed out at this point.
 
Quetzal said:
Is there any whisperings of anything going on with regards to the next major investment at Alton? Thorpe are seemingly getting a rather big investment in 2024, Chessington for 2023, yet everything seems quite quiet with regard to Alton. 2023 will be five years post Wicker Man yet there doesn't seem to be much in the pipeline.

I for one would like to see an indoor attraction, maybe something like a flying theatre. The park's coaster lineup seems well fleshed out at this point.
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I can’t see it happening in 2023. Plans would surely need to be approved by now for work to start next year?
 
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