Mixed feelings for me on this.
Firstly, turning an abandoned Charlie building (if this is indeed what’s happening,) into a functioning attraction is obviously a positive. A lot was said in 2016 when a number of rides were closed, but to Merlin’s credit they have reopened, or replaced them one by one (ripsaw being the exception,) and we now have just Charlie and Sub Terra remaining. It would seem given recent developments that something is indeed being done with that as well.
Onto the proposition of the dungeon. If the plan is to plonk a clone of other dungeon experiences in the middle of Alton Towers, with no explanation, then I can’t see this being much of a success, especially if they do charge for the priveledge. However, as others have said, so far it’s simply an IP and a name which has been patented; the path the park chooses to take it is presumably open for consideration.
Those that have said that the dungeons operate to educate are wide of the mark, the Sweeney Todd, for example probably never existed and their version of the ripper stuff is mostly at odds with historical fact. That, hopefully, leaves the door open to artistic license. If it was me I’d build an extension to the towers themselves, or what looks like an extension at least, so as to be in keeping with planning permission, and house the dungeon in there. What is done then is fairy limitless, but I’d like to see Alton expand on their already impressive ability to generate their own IPs and begin a story of some sort. If the ride is based in the Charlie building, then the extension suggestion is obviously void, but it could still be themed as the dungeons of the towers, as it isn’t far from the actual building.
What does concern me with using the Charlie building, is that the Charlie ride was pretty poor. I can’t see it magically becoming exciting, even with the best IP around (which this probably isn’t,) and the kind of investment that would be needed to make it exciting would likely exceed the costs of a new ride all together. But we’ll have to wait on that one I guess.
As a final suggestion, this could always be housed outside of the park but within the resort, adding a little more depth to the offerings outside of the park perhaps?
What I will say is that I am a big fan of dark rides, probably more than most people, and I sincerely hope that if this is done and we get a Charlie level dungeon attraction (which I’m not against totally,) that another, much more sizeable investment is made still with another dark ride of some sort, as I feel Alton could do with another, perhaps a water dark ride?
