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The Alton Towers Dungeon

When they do assessment centres for frontline staff they'll put them into groups and give them half an hour to design a replacement for one of the rides in the park. Then the group will have five minutes to present their idea to the rest of the room. Turning Charlie into an Alton Towers Dungeons sounds like the kind of thing a group of 16 year olds would come up with in a half hour assessment task, and at the end one of the managers would say in a patronising voice, "Wow, I think we could actually use that. Brilliant work guys", before scrumpling up the flip chart paper and shoving it into the nearest waste bin. Except in this case they actually did use it.
 
I think a unique creepy dungeon boat ride that is not related to the other dungeons attractions whatsoever would be awesome. It would be another dark ride so that works for me.
However it seems like it will be another dungeon clone judging by the logo and branding.

Don't see it being there more than 3 years.
 
Croftybaby said:
Shawn Sanbrooke has mentioned a couple of times on Twitter that he thinks this may be a "Temporary" attraction while plans are made for the area.

If this is true then I guess it will be even lighter theme wise.
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The website does say "Miss it and you'll be gutted!" so I think Shawn is right.
But, as always with Merlin: who knows?
 
DerpyQuark said:
They could retheme Twirling Toadstool to something Dungeons related.
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Fingers crossed, Would be weird to have a SBNO ride next to a new one. Therefore I am hoping it will be re-opened next year as they said they do intend to do so.
 
Croftybaby said:
this may be a "Temporary" attraction while plans are made for the area.
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If this is true, that's pretty bizarre.

Merlin absolutely knew that Charlie wasn't going to reopen because of the 10 year contract and the fact the Dahl company never liked the attraction. But it was left to sit there for 2 years leaving a massive gap in the family offering.

Now after 2 extra years to come up with a worthy replacement, we get a 'Merlin brand' rollout – either temporarily or inevitably short-lived when the performer budget gets cut anyway.

It really is like this was decided by a marketing bunch far away from the park, clueless about entertainment and obsessed with brands. Choose a Merlin Dungeon as a 'safe' option, for corporate fear of not being able to prove success in something original.

In the past, Alton Towers had for visiting families..

Toyland Tours, one of the best animated family rides in the country
Black Hole – average coaster, but looked amazing inside
Ug Land, with a lot more surprises in it and roaming entertainment (before it was trashed)
Haunted House
Old McDonald's Farm (a much nicer area than Cbeebies today)
and a huge ice show

The Dungeons may have a family appeal for older kids, but will it be as formulaic as all the otherhat happened to a park that was surprising and charismatic?

How come something this animated and colourful was created for families 25 years ago, but the same company can't match this today?
 
If it’s a temporary attraction then I suppose it’s better than the area lying dormant for however long it takes for something permanent to be in its place.

As others have said though, surely they’ve had long enough to plan a permanent replacement and implement it without needing this stop gap? Although I guess in their eyes it raises the brand awareness by having it at Alton for a year or 2.

I really like the dungeons, but I just think it’s a poor fit.

What I’d love to see is a colourful, fun, bright and happy water ride at Alton. Splash mountain, that kind of theme. The dungeons is the total opposite. Unless they create a brand new story for Alton towers then I won’t be doing it, up charge or not.
 
Well this has gone down well hasn't it.

Its such a convenient place for a dungeon too, right next to the childrens area of the park.

Hopefully this tat is as temporary as the temporary closure of Charlie and it disappears quickly.
 
This just seems a bit odd from a financial perspective. Why invest money into something that's only going to be temporary? Wouldn't it be better to keep the money and put it into a bigger pot to spend in a few years' time?
 
I guess they'd argue it's less of an investment as it's going to get £x per visitor in the bank...
 
@TakeYourMedicine Well said. It is indeed fomulaic and as a result, it prevents the original flair and talent from anyone in the creative industries being realized. Top down bureaucracy is a pain in the arse, and doesn't respect the fact that creative fields do best when their minds are left to do the work by themselves. Merlin clearly are the masters of this practice, and are convinced they'll sell this to the dazzled minds of the general public who will lap it up as if they were bent to Merlins will.
Quite frankly, I feel this is an insult to the Alton Towers that was originally envisioned and planned as an original British spin on a Disney park. Instead, it's recognized for having big roller coasters plotted in every square inch of the park without any element of character, meaningful or carefully built themed area, or new dark rides. No instead they've let a previously amazing area look like a scene out of 'I am legend', and then when they've finally actually looked around and realized it's a dump, they've decided to dump a clone that will no doubt be full of the same rooms and segments that you can find in every other bloody Dungeon out there. What an absolute insult to the designers of Around the World, and of course TT.
 
If they turned it into a Lego themed boat ride around a Lego factory, or used some of the Lego themes around at the moment.... City, batman, ninjas etc then it would really pull people in. Likewise, theme the area around it with Lego as well.
 
I've been watching a video of Toyland Tours tonight for old times sake and it's actually really sad when you see how far the park has declined. Toyland Tours was just one example of a vibrant attraction that was great for both kids and adults. Watching it back really made me remember those memories as it really captured "the magic of Alton Towers"... it was something unique, something special and was a perfect fit for the park.

Now it's all about carbon copy attractions with no originality and no thought process. It's just becoming a bit of a homogenization like your high street with all the old charm and character disappearing to be replaced by the same things you find everywhere else.
 
I agree with you Alsty. I never experienced Toyland Tours, but I can remember my first visit when I was 5 and being spellbound with the whole park, especially X Sector (I laughed at Blivy, for goodness sake!) That was back in 2010, so Merlin could bring back the magic if they really wanted to.
 
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