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The Alton Towers Dungeon

If this new scare maze is in Sub Terra's area, it can surely mean only one thing. The Dungeon will indeed be where Charlie was.
Such a disappointing and unimaginative use of CCL. As someone who is much closer to in distance and has much more of a history visiting Drayton, I loved looking at pictures of Space Leisure's work on Talbot street in the 80s and seeing how the area evolved, and sadly declined leading up to now. The idea of Towers not just being a theme park full of coasters, but also full of museums, shows and alternative attractions relevant to Staffordshire history really draws me in and makes me wish that I'd have been alive to see these places back then.
Instead, as with all the other 'redeveloped areas' Merlin have done at Alton Towers, CCL was a cheap repaint of the Street with a few dots of tiny theming here and there. No major investments at all, bar the cinema which isn't even open now.
And here was the prize opportunity to completely re do the area and add a giant new attraction, ideally a flume or dark ride and give the area a Gothic, Victorian or Tudor theme... and this is what they do...
I'm not being close minded, and I'm not saying that I'm 100% certain the Dungeon will be dreadful (only 99%), but I truly am expecting a poor clone. At best it will have some relevance to Alton Towers (they'll find a local witchcraft story for the witch bit, and a local area for the plague bit and none of the gimicky mirror mazes and drop towers) at worst it will just be a carbon copy of other dungeons with even less relevance to history.
The simple fact is, it's theme is very loose, and involves a lot of identical branding, and it contrasts heavily with CCL. It's dark, and dismal, and doesn't require much in the way of appearance. If TLC are a 3 year project, and this is their last piece of work, then I think this area with a lot of interesting history integral to the identity of the park will not be around for much longer.
 
I am also slightly stumped about them putting a Dungeons in the Charlie building, but if it offers any reassurance, then Charlie's building always seemed sort of detached from the rest of CCL, so maybe Merlin will retheme the nearby Burger Kitchen outlet and integrate them both with the Towers/Fountain Square themed area? It would certainly fit much better what with the gothic theming of Hex located nearby.

That brings me to another point; could the Chained Oak fable potentially play a part in these Dungeons? With a potential link to Hex?

I am optimistic that Merlin know what they are doing with this Dungeons attraction and that it will be brilliant for those who experience it, but it's not my kind of thing at all and I will be a tad disappointed if Merlin chooses not to revamp CCL in some way, shape or form in 2019. I'm still hopeful that we will also see a CCL revamp in 2019, though, as when Merlin put a SeaLife into Alton Towers in the form of Sharkbait Reef in 2009, which would have been a similar scale of project to what we should expect here, we also saw Cred Street revamped into CCL. So I have faith that this Dungeons attraction may not be the only thing we see in 2019.
P.S. Sorry for the long post.
 
Can't really blame Merlin for using their own IP. Hopefully the money they save on the IP can be spent on the attraction.

It needs to be different from the other dungeons though

Best case scenario

No actors
Great theming (some of the dungeons look great)
Good quality lighing, animatronics and screens
Both scary and light hearted music at various points

Upgrade of ride hardware... Come on Merlin, if using the CATCF building retrofit a couple of small drops with a risk of getting wet.

Varying stories, music, timings, lighting and graphics. Make it different each ride. Seriously, DBGT... it's so boring after the first go ( correction, it was boring ON the first go).

If Merlin could move the NST drop tower into an expanded area at the back, they could have, boat ride, simulator lift and drop tower in one attraction, a world first and potentially world class if done properly without an SW price tag.

Of course with AT reliability record, only half a dozen people a year would get to do all 3 on a single pass.

Are Merlin working through all their own IP's.

It's only a matter of time, till we get the AT waxworks too.

The AT Eye (below tree height)

...and the AT Bear Grylls experience... Sorry we allready have that culinary delight... It's called The Burger Kitchen.
 
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Matt N said:
I am optimistic that Merlin know what they are doing with this Dungeons attraction and that it will be brilliant for those who experience it, but it's not my kind of thing at all and I will be a tad disappointed if Merlin chooses not to revamp CCL in some way, shape or form in 2019. I'm still hopeful that we will also see a CCL revamp in 2019, though, as when Merlin put a SeaLife into Alton Towers in the form of Sharkbait Reef in 2009, which would have been a similar scale of project to what we should expect here, we also saw Cred Street revamped into CCL. So I have faith that this Dungeons attraction may not be the only thing we see in 2019.
P.S. Sorry for the long post.
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By god, if they make the whole of the Cred/Talbot street area look like a giant Gothic castle fit with foliage high attention to detail and put all of the contained buildings within for use for even more future attractions and the Dungeon compensates this, I'll be pretty surprised and impressed; but I'm sure we've all had a debate like this before, certainly a bit of a while back at least.
Didn't we come to the conclusion that there hasn't been a proper new themed area at Towers since 1999? Proper meaning one that isn't just repainting already existing buildings and adding a few small props on them.
My question to you is, what will your reaction be if they don't change the surrounding area, TLC pack it in and the area is left to rot all over again? Surely there must be a limit to your optimism...!
 
So the Alton Towers Dungeons would be a dark, depressing theme park experience with an up-sell price attached in order to experience it...

Call me a cynic, but it sounds like an existing day out at Towers this season with Fastrack. They only thing you are paying extra for with the Dungeons is the scare factor. The scare factor will be there for the press launch of the Dungeons then quickly disappear as fast as the actors around Wicker Man & Big-Bob's flame effects, but will be wheeled back in from time to time when there is a good PR opportunity to give the impression Towers are offering a quality product to their guests.
 
Just to offer an alternative, if Spinball"s days are numbered, could that space be used for a dungeon? They already have a corporate, but temporary space right next to it that could utilise space inside a decent dungeon complex and would the dungeon experience not be a step from the young family experience of cbeebie, to something a little more grown up?

I would hate to see the back of Spinball, riding it makes me giggle like a kid. Personally I think Charlie would be the best spot, ready built and far enough away from anything else to allow something that stands alone. It just struck me that the site is big enough and close enough to the entrance for out of season use.
 
I personally can see Spinball's area turning into an expansion for CBeebies land first.

So first Ripsaw was turned into a pay for attraction, the last thing we need is for CATCF to become the next attraction to be turned into a pay for attraction, when will all this money pinching madness stop? :eek:
 
RoyJess said:
I personally can see Spinball's area turning into an expansion for CBeebies land first.

So first Ripsaw was turned into a pay for attraction, the last thing we need is for CATCF to become the next attraction to be turned into a pay for attraction, when will all this money pinching madness stop? :eek:
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Sadly it won't. I'm just trying to feel positive.
 
Sauron97 said:
As someone who is much closer to in distance and has much more of a history visiting Drayton, I loved looking at pictures of Space Leisure's work on Talbot street in the 80s and seeing how the area evolved, and sadly declined leading up to now. The idea of Towers not just being a theme park full of coasters, but also full of museums, shows and alternative attractions relevant to Staffordshire history really draws me in and makes me wish that I'd have been alive to see these places back then.
Click to expand...

In all honesty, the other stuff like the Doll museum and model were probably because the park had a low budget being so new, so wasn't really the best that the area could have gotten.
 
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