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The Alton Towers Dungeon

BritishThemeParkArchive said:
Sparks did Talbot Street (though some from Sparks splintered and started Space Leisure hence a connection).
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It almost seems all the creative studios in the country are intertwined with each other! :p
BritishThemeParkArchive said:
In all honesty, the other stuff like the Doll museum and model were because John Broome had just run out of budget, so wasn't really the best that the area could have gotten, which the people who built it would probably tell you too!
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I really do think there are sometimes products which are cast off and designated to being supplements to other 'more important ones' which end up being a lot more original and unusual; I think the museums whilst small in scale seemed very interesting and well executed in presentation and style (from what I've seen of them at least). I'd be interested to know the alternative ideas had the budget been larger, but knowing the talents of those groups I can well believe it would have been very good.
Doom and Sons looked absolutely fantastic, integrating a haunted house like attraction in to a town street area is very clever and really 'completed' the area IMO.

As for the area now, I just don't see what hope there is for it. It is tucked away I agree, but had it been expanded properly and perhaps been given a grand entrance to catch attention of visitors, I think it could of been one of the best sections of the whole park. It's just been steered in the wrong direction and you may as well say it's disused now.
 
Sauron97 said:
I think the museums whilst small in scale seemed very interesting and well executed in presentation and style (from what I've seen of them at least). I'd be interested to know the alternative ideas had the budget been larger, but knowing the talents of those groups I can well believe it would have been very good.
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Yes ancillary attractions can be a lot like b-side songs, they are snuck a little under the radar, but can be more surprising and fun in a way people don't expect, ending up being some of the most memorable for guests.

Doom & Sons was a great example of this, very eccentric and something many still remember today, even though it was quite understated. But the doll museum probably not.

UK parks have less and less of these kinds of attractions, probably because everything is required to be heavily marketed and money invested into 'this year's new headliner', rather than invested in the park experience on the whole. I think that misses out on a lot of fun.

Although seasonal attractions like scare mazes are in the same vein, can be fantastic fun when done well and very popular.
 
do we know what kind of local legends staffordshire has that could be integrated into the AT dungeon?
Also, wasn't The Haunting of Molly Crow based off a local legend?
 
You’ve got tutbury castle and the Mary queen of Scots and yeah Molly Leigh the witch and I suppose the chained oak too. But I’m not sure they’d have that in the dungeons and hex
I’m not sure how they’ll interpret like the plague doctor and torturer scenes like a regular dungeon.
 
Britford said:
I was thinking about this the other day and eventually decided that it would most probably be based around an army medic (the Towers used to be used as an outpost in world war 1/2 (cant remember which one)
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I used to know somone whose other half was an Army medic lol. :p
 
Britford said:
do we know what kind of local legends staffordshire has that could be integrated into the AT dungeon?
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Dunno could be some of these as listed on the BBC's website, but it's a matter of how far away in Staffordshire are they going to go for stories, Just the Stoke on Trent area or the whole of Staffordshire. Personally I think that the story of Dr William Palmer could be a good dungeons scene but now I'm just getting into speculation.
Britford said:
Also, wasn't The Haunting of Molly Crow based off a local legend?
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Yeah THoMC was based off the legend of Molly Leigh and that brings up an interesting point will they be willing to use the legends of Molly Leigh/Chained Oak again or will they want the Staffordshire related scenes to have not been used by the park before.

Ugh, I made a rambly post...
 
Dave said:
These days the dungeons only link half arsed into local legends. Each dungeon is a stale carbon copy of each other for 80% of the attraction.
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Evidence for this, the Pirate element at Blackpool is a (ironically) butchered version of Sweeney Todd in London... Even down to using the SAME audio in some places...
 
Yup, Amsterdam's "inquisition" scene is just Sweeny as well. Though they do have a couple of unique sections, such as the mental asylum (which was really good), and the Van Gogh room (which was dire).
 
The Witch Finale (at Warwick IIRC) would be brilliant at AT and multiple stories could be incorporated. Molly Leigh perhaps being the most appt.

One of the best scenes at ANY dungeon.

In more general terms, I think an AT Dungeon would be a success for the resort. Realistically, people will pay.
 
Plastic Person said:
Agreed, although apparently this won't be paid-for.
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Really? I am absolutely astounded and thought I had heard the opposite. I dont think it can be anything of quality then if they plan on hammering through the queues it would get.
 
I got talking from someone at MMM today who came into work. A few interesting things they showed me. Pictures on their phone, that were taken inside the Flumes empty lake, with the Flume still in place. It was pictures of a small flame machine on the end of a forklift crane, in the air. Well before Wickerman had started construction, apparently this was to test the type of gas they needed to use for the flame effect.

More interestingly, they mentioned that Alton Dungeons was indeed happening after I made a comment on it, inside the old CATCF building. One of the things they mentioned were that it seemed like an odd move by Alton, to place a Dungeons ride in what is a children's area. Another comment was that, to them, it seemed like Alton had panicked and just found something to place in the park without much consideration, due to time constraints. The other thing they seemed pretty certain on, was that it was going to be an additional charge attraction.

Obviously take this with a pinch of salt, but this seems to go along with the general consensus as to what we are getting next year.
 
I knew it. Unimaginative, rushed, pathetic, piece of crap investment that makes no sense whatsoever and will completely screw over Cloud Cuckoo Land and a key area of Alton Towers. And an additional charge, ... typical ...presumably unless you have a Premium or VIP Annual pass.
Just wait until TLC are scrapped and don't finish off the work on Duel. Feel sorry for the poor folks in it who have never been given a decent budget to do anything significant, bar Nemesis maybe. Then all we have to do is watch the years go by as the whole place rots. Monorail will be removed, Towers Street made redundant, Sub Terra area will be the new Saw Alive, Ripsaw area left empty, Mutiny Bay and Cbeebies Land left to look dingy again, and as CAPEX is cut further, we will get at best, a mediocre amusement park tier investment. Towers may still be the flagship theme park at the moment, but as we've predicted for a while, the place is going so down hill so fast, that it will soon be out competed by family run businesses, and by then, unless they throw hundreds of millions at the place, it will be too late.
Give them a piece of your minds and go to Drayton, BPB and Paulton's instead
 
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