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The Alton Towers Dungeon

Around the world in 80 days and Dooms and Son was in the highlighted building.
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Dooms and Son closed at the end of the 1991 season with Around the world in 80 days sometime in 1993 and when Toyland tours opened in the following year. The area which dooms and son was in was part of the party room and maintenance area.
The lifts were in the the building to the side and they all been removed and is used for Scarefest.
I do wonder when the Dungeons do go will it use the lift area again or do a complete circuit of the boat ride again.
 
I always thought it would have made sense to have used the lifts at the start of the dungeons to take you down to the dungeons, and then do the boat ride differently. But I guess it was done so cheap that wasn’t even an option. Easier to just board them up and walk round them.
 
djtruefitt said:
I always thought it would have made sense to have used the lifts at the start of the dungeons to take you down to the dungeons, and then do the boat ride differently. But I guess it was done so cheap that wasn’t even an option. Easier to just board them up and walk round them.
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The graphics animation and programming for the motion probably would be close to the budget for the rest of the attraction!
 
Weirdly specific question here, but slightly relevant to recent discussion in this topic. Could anyone tell me where this photo was taken? Its apparently the deconstruction of the Toyland Tours Queueline pre-Charlie in 2005 but I don't think its the front of the building and cant place it!

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Photo Credit: Paul Phillips on Alton Towers Past Facebook.
 
TomW said:
Weirdly specific question here, but slightly relevant to recent discussion in this topic. Could anyone tell me where this photo was taken? Its apparently the deconstruction of the Toyland Tours Queueline pre-Charlie in 2005 but I don't think its the front of the building and cant place it!

320373904_889093708759420_6711391599866607945_n.jpeg
Photo Credit: Paul Phillips on Alton Towers Past Facebook.
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That is to the left of the Toyland Tours building, the lift section of Charlie was built on that land.

Before Charlie it was an extended queue line but it was fenced off in the early 2000s as by that time it was never needed.
 
AT86 said:
That is to the left of the Toyland Tours building, the lift section of Charlie was built on that land.

Before Charlie it was an extended queue line but it was fenced off in the early 2000s as by that time it was never needed.
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Cheers, can see it now.
Crazy the level of detail on the side of the ride building which would only be seen from an extended queue. Now we just have a fairground attraction fake castle entrance and some logs!
 
Slightly related, but there is a very extensive gallery online following the rip out of Toyland Tours and subsequent construction of Charlie. With plenty of internal and external photos. Gives you a great idea what they would be working with should they remove the dungeons.

Construction: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The best, most reliable and user-friendly source on Alton Towers, the UK's number 1 theme park.
gallery.towersalmanac.com gallery.towersalmanac.com
 
DistortAMG said:
Slightly related, but there is a very extensive gallery online following the rip out of Toyland Tours and subsequent construction of Charlie. With plenty of internal and external photos. Gives you a great idea what they would be working with should they remove the dungeons.

Construction: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The best, most reliable and user-friendly source on Alton Towers, the UK's number 1 theme park.
gallery.towersalmanac.com gallery.towersalmanac.com
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Simply put they should never have got rid of Toyland Tours. Update the scenes with some modern toys, yes, but scrap it. Big no.

It was such a unique, fun ride. Still have happy childhood memories when I see pictures / hear the theme tune online.

And to see what it became, and then the dungeons. Tragic.
 
Jb85 said:
Simply put they should never have got rid of Toyland Tours. Update the scenes with some modern toys, yes, but scrap it. Big no.

It was such a unique, fun ride. Still have happy childhood memories when I see pictures / hear the theme tune online.

And to see what it became, and then the dungeons. Tragic.
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When it comes to replacing the Dungeons with a new dark ride, the bar has been set pretty low thanks to Charlie and Dungeons that it's hard to think how bad Merlin can screw it up further.

But yeah Toyland Tours should have remained in place with an overhaul needed to update it. Have to wonder what if Toyland had remained and Charlie had never happened in the first place, would it have lasted longer in the long term?
 
Toyland Tours felt pretty tired when it was removed, even with updates I am not sure it could have persisted without feeling a bit twee and cheesy.

I think that's workable for a dark ride nerds, but I am not sure the general public lap it up quite as much.
 
Well, I believe If it's a small world works in today's world, I believe Toyland tours would still be a fantastic fan favourite attraction of the GP if it was operating nowadays. Both of them are weird rides, but I pers believe It's a small world had a more cheesy look with s really cheesy and repetitive song. Toyland tours was a lot more unique and freshed out with funny gags.
 
Inside it looked real lively and big, but I deliberately dodged it when I was a kid because the outside put me off looking a bit 'abandoned kids creche'.

Later on, pictures inside showed me it was totally different to the impression I got outside and I wish I'd done it.

I guess after the Talbot shops and attractions down that end closed, the building has always had a problem being too far back from the path in a dead area of the park. It didn't look too appealing to me at that time

I heard from my family that a lot wasn't working though, same old thing of a dark ride getting worn out from low maintenance, and a hasty decision made to replace it with something worse.
 
Based on what I've seen of Toyland Tours, I think that at very least, certain elements of it would have become a bit obsolete had it remained for much longer.

For instance; if I'm remembering correctly from POVs and reviews, didn't it have a massive section dedicated to SEGA and 90s gaming consoles? That surely would have needed updating had the ride stayed much past 2005.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Well, I believe If it's a small world works in today's world, I believe Toyland tours would still be a fantastic fan favourite attraction of the GP if it was operating nowadays. Both of them are weird rides, but I pers believe It's a small world had a more cheesy look with s really cheesy and repetitive song. Toyland tours was a lot more unique and freshed out with funny gags.
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They added Disney characters to Its a Small World to try and keep people more interested. I’m not convinced it would be popular without fifty years of nostalgia really.
 
Matt N said:
For instance; if I'm remembering correctly from POVs and reviews, didn't it have a massive section dedicated to SEGA and 90s gaming consoles? That surely would have needed updating had the ride stayed much past 2005.
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It had a Sonic room in it that prominently featured not only the Hedgehog himself but a Mega Drive console and controller. There was game footage in there which featured Sonic 3 which was released in May 1994. The second half of Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles was released in October 1994.

The Mega Drives successor, the Sega Saturn, was released in Japan in November 1994 and in the UK in 1995 with the Mega Drive being discontinued shortly after. The Saturn's successor itself, the Dreamcast, was released in 1999 (with Sonic Adventure being a release title for it and Sonic Adventure 2 coming along in 2001) and Sega left the console market entirely in 2001.

So between the room being built and the rides closure, Sega had released and discontinued 2 successor consoles, left the console market entirely and released 5.5 (3.5 mainline not including Sonic Jam) Sonic titles from that featured in the room. The Sonic room was out of date by the beginning of the 1995 season let alone the 2005 season!
 
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