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The Alton Towers Dungeon

Poisson said:
SeaLife works as is because it's free and something a bit different and crucially, not staff heavy like the Dungeons
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It works and from a quality perspective I prefer Sealife as a free attraction in the park. But if you were being cold and calculating about it an upcharged Sealife and dungeons combo in the resort side not park would have made good business sense.

It’s what sometimes baffles me about Merlin, they seem to miss the obvious ways to make some cash and compensate with bonkers prices and budget cuts.
 
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Gardaland have released more info about their rethemed boat ride opening in 2025.

Interestingly they are stating this is a Merlin developed new IP which will be rolled out at other parks.

“Animal Treasure Island is part of an international roll-out project by Merlin Entertainments, which plans to replicate the experience – after its inauguration in Gardaland in 2025 – in other parks owned by the group”, explains Sabrina de Carvalho. The CEO concludes:“We are sure that our visitors will appreciate this new iconic experience based on an adventurous story full of twists and turns, thanks also to many new and original characters created by Merlin Studios to involve our guests in a truly immersive experience“.
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Feels like it could be a good fit for the Dungeons building?

amusementtoday.com

Gardaland announces 2025 arrival of Animal Treasure Island

Gardaland announces the arrival for the upcoming 2025 season – and on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary – of a new world premiere experience: Animal Treasure Island. The Italian amusement pa…
amusementtoday.com amusementtoday.com
 
AT86 said:
Gardaland have released more info about their rethemed boat ride opening in 2025.

Interestingly they are stating this is a Merlin developed new IP which will be rolled out at other parks.



Feels like it could be a good fit for the Dungeons building?

amusementtoday.com

Gardaland announces 2025 arrival of Animal Treasure Island

Gardaland announces the arrival for the upcoming 2025 season – and on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary – of a new world premiere experience: Animal Treasure Island. The Italian amusement pa…
amusementtoday.com amusementtoday.com
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A Mutiny Bay retheme seems more likely to me, the Garda attraction has a pre-existing pirate theme to use as a basis, as would Mutiny Bay. I guess they want to have a franchise they can use for merchandising across parks whilst being light touch with actual development!
 
Ash said:
Mutiny Bay Rethemed to animal treasure island?

Jesus christ shut the gates already
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Agreed, Mutiny Bay is one of the best-themed areas of the park and nice to walk through. Retheming it would be criminal in my opinion.
 
Dave said:
It was basically the current theme without pirate flags. The only thing that changed dramatically (beyond the 2 new rides) was marauders.
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There is a little (but not much) more than pirate flags, there 3-4 locations with skeletons and similar piles of themeing. The parrot animatronic was relocated from Thorpe Park as part of one of the theming structure areas. Initially they added apanning for gold upcharge thing. Battle Galleons is one of the best themed attractions there really and Sharkbait Reef is also done to a fairly high standard. I will agree that other than the flags, theming structures/areas and the three new attractions the rest (games stalls, arcade, Eastern Express, doughnut stall) didn't look massively different.
 
jon81uk said:
There is a little (but not much) more than pirate flags, there 3-4 locations with skeletons and similar piles of themeing. The parrot animatronic was relocated from Thorpe Park as part of one of the theming structure areas. Initially they added apanning for gold upcharge thing. Battle Galleons is one of the best themed attractions there really and Sharkbait Reef is also done to a fairly high standard. I will agree that other than the flags, theming structures/areas and the three new attractions the rest (games stalls, arcade, Eastern Express, doughnut stall) didn't look massively different.
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Unfortunately though re-Battle Galleons, over the last few years the theming has all deteriorated and broken. It was in a very sorry state for the Pirates Takeover last year.
 
I was optimistic after the Mutiny Bay investment - it came after almost a decade had passed since any decent theming had been added (Ug Land/Hex) and in the same period a lot had been eroded; Ug Land had been ruined by Rita, Forbidden Valley had an incongruous unthemed bit appended to it and the other investments from the period (Spinball Whizzer, The Flume, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory) were fine for what they were but didn't make any effort to fit in to their respective themed areas.

As a statement, giving one of the weakest themed areas a bit of a zhuzh up and swapping a pay to play attraction for a decent free one, with an ents presence really helped sell the notion the new management cared about the overall experience.

Unfortunately with hindsight the signs of what were to come with there - the themeing added was actually pretty sparse and basic, the errors of the 00s weren't corrected (The Flume seemed even more incongruous) and of course the entertainment was gradually nobbled away to nothing. The same happened over at Dark Forest; except unlike Merrie England where they had the historic stables which lent themselves nicely in Ug Land there was mixture of comedic stone age stuff and grand prix/racing stuff. All of which was painted in covered in poor quality vine theming. It never worked.

Same for Cloud Cuckoo Land/Walliams.
 
Merrie England became a very run-down area mostly used as a thoroughfare. The transition to Mutiny Bay turned it into an area you wanted to stay in. There were some new bits of theming. Battle Galleons was well done. You had a new kid's flat ride (Heave Ho), the pirate show in the Courtyard, and roaming actors in the area.

If the same thing happened now, it would be criticised more. Still, when you view it in the context of 2008, it was a massive year for Alton Towers, with a complete rebrand, monorail refurbishment, lots of TLC around the park, two new stage shows (one indoors, one outdoors), an improved Scarefest event, and a farewell to Corkscrew (with high anticipation for what was coming next). It was a positive year with a lot of optimism for the future. Mutiny Bay felt like a bigger investment than it was simply because of everything else happening around it (and transitioning from the pure disappointment of years of DIC-owned Tussauds).
 
Ash said:
“In July 2024, the Alton Towers Dungeon closed to guests and was re-imagined to create a brand new Scarefest attraction, Amigos in the Afterlife. Following the investment into this space to bring more spooktacular fun to families during the event, we can confirm The Alton Towers Dungeon will not return in 2025.”

Winter Update | Alton Towers Resort

www.altontowers.com www.altontowers.com
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Well, I don't think anyone will shed tears for the Dungeons...let's see what happens next.
 
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