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The Alton Towers Dungeon

AT86 said:
If this uses the existing ride infrastructure in the Charlie building I don’t see the need to run this as time slot tours as they do at other dungeons. It could just be free flow like CATCF was.
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Well that's true, I was basing my thoughts on the assumption that this would either be in the Towers themselves or the Sub Terra building.

I wouldn't want to see it near one of the few bright areas of the park in all honesty. Hopefully they can come up with something a bit more creative for the old CATCF building.
 
You see, having a Sealife, Dungeons and a Legoland Discovery Centre at Alton Towers is a great idea for me. BUT, put them in a place where they can work all year. Why bang them in a theme park which isn't open all year round? Give people a reason to stop over for 1 or 2 nights, offer more entertainment to then increase that to 2 or 3 nights?

My logic is to build them outside the park and do them properly. Do what Gardaland have done with their Sealife, ie you have to walk past the damm thing to get into the theme park and have it open after the park closes.

This would give people a reason to visit outside of the main park season. Of course, in the darkest depths of midweek in January, people may not be rushing to the gates of these attractions, but if marketed correctly with rooms at a decent price it could work. Even add a cinema with a couple of screens and a bowling alley. Even throw caution to the wind and put in some night-time entertainment like a proper bar / club, you know, a place where adults without kids can go and have some fun :)

Of course the problem with this, is that doing it properly would cost more money than doing it on the cheap, which is what will happen if they clobber together something out of the scraps of Sub Terra and Charlie.

Where has the ambition gone at Alton? Disappeared without a trace unfortunately. :(
 
Bert2theSpark said:
Nothing stopped Merlin from retheming X to The Walking Dead. X was the only major family coaster at Thorpe.
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Thorpe stop being a family park many years ago, they have Chessington up the road for families. Alton was always a family friendly themepark until the cuts a couple of years ago. With Alton being in the middle of nowhere, its needs to cater for guest of all ages. I can see that CATCF has all the infrastructure in place for a dungeons attraction, but they still need to have more attractions for the family age group, but not just a family ride, but a good family dark ride too.
 
RoyJess said:
No, CATCF needs to be an attraction targeted for the kids that are too old for the CBeebies but too short for the big rides. There is not enough attractions for that age group
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To be honest, WM was aimed for younger kids, and I mean come on the theme isn't really a kid friendly theme.
 
I don't think this is 'right' for Alton right now. Obviously, there does appear to be a need to update the offering for the 1m-1.4m category. Some decent flats and some improvements to existing attractions would go a long way at updating this offer. I'd also argue that Duel, CATCF, Dark Forest, Spinball, Blade are all attractions targeting this market which I would be looking at.

I like the idea of a 'gateway' Dungeons attraction, a bit like Sharkbait Reef is for SeaLife. Just enough to get a feel of the attraction, and can see why it appeals to Merlin. I have never been to a Dungeon attraction, it just doesn't appeal, but if I had a try of a similar attraction at Alton and enjoyed it, I might well visit one elsewhere.

However, is it right now? No. They should be focusing on improving the core product with attractions that require less staff, are more cost-efficient.
 
All I'm saying is that they are wasting a perfectly good amount of entertainment space with CATCF. Ay even probably the whole of CCL. Instead of wasting there money on another stupid attraction, that quite frankly you could visit in London, Blackpool, York ect.
 
With regards to this, I personally think it will be good fun for those who like that sort of thing, but it's not my sort of thing at all. The decision to use the CATCF building is slightly strange, in my opinion, despite the fact that it does hold a boat ride system within it, simply because it is in CCL... one of the park's family areas. Although I felt a similar way about TWD:TR at Thorpe, and that turned out quite well!
 
Matt N said:
The decision to use the CATCF building is slightly strange
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Has this decision been made? All I've heard is they've registered a trademark! With the work that is currently taking place on Sub-Terra, I'd guess it's more likely to be going in there than CATCF. Maybe if it's going to be permanent rather than just for Scarefest, they may extend Gloomy Wood down to it perhaps?
 
Steve74 said:
Has this decision been made? All I've heard is they've registered a trademark! With the work that is currently taking place on Sub-Terra, I'd guess it's more likely to be going in there than CATCF. Maybe if it's going to be permanent rather than just for Scarefest, they may extend Gloomy Wood down to it perhaps?
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As far as I am aware, no decision has been made on the CATCF building as yet.
 
Steve74 said:
Has this decision been made? All I've heard is they've registered a trademark! With the work that is currently taking place on Sub-Terra, I'd guess it's more likely to be going in there than CATCF. Maybe if it's going to be permanent rather than just for Scarefest, they may extend Gloomy Wood down to it perhaps?
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Are they still working on Nst?
 
Indeed they are...

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To be honest, I'm actually a bit conflicted about them using the CATCF building for The Alton Towers Dungeon. The building on its own, with the ride systems it currently has, is a great fit for an attraction of this kind, and I have no doubt that it could be done to a high standard.

The problem I have is that they will be building this ride in an area that desperately needs a complete overhaul, something to give that area of the park a new identity and unite it as one area, and still of course needs to cater for a similar are range to what it does at present. The dungeons don't really do that very well at all. I fear that the area will become even more lost of any vision and identity with such a mish-mash of attractions with different themes and aimed at different audiences... they really needs to give CCL one main theme that can be reflected across the entire land, but I don't think the dungeons help with that at all.
 
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