The World of David Walliams: General Discussion

[Prof Burp]

This is my dream plan for The World Of David Walliams for the 2022 season.


I think that Alton Towers should complete an expansion of TWODW,and alter the surrounding area,prior to investing in anymore Secret Weapons or or other areas of the park.

If I were Merlin I would do the following
( I would like to see the following)​

Bad Dad's Driving School
A simple yet humorous re-theme of the existing Cuckoo Cars Driving School.This would add cohesion to the rear end of TWODW. Much like Cuckoo Cars Driving School I would install over sized props. I would keep the entrance structurally the same but make some cosmetic changes, to tie the attraction in with the area. My largest change to Cuckoo Cars Driving School would be the gutting of the currant show room and remote control cars.I would replace this area with a Cafe themed to the David Waliams books. I would put a Cafe in this area as it is quieter than the main piazza.

Grandpa's
Great Thetare​

My vision of Grandpa's Great Theatre would be the 4D Theatre Re-opening. The main difference to the Theatre would be the addition of a Flying Theatre. As you can probably guess, the attraction would simulate you being in the story Of Grandpa's Great Escape and flying with him.

Game Stalls​

As the heading simply suggests I would demolish the Ice Age Shop. I would replace the shop with a unit comprising of traditional Funfair games.

Flavio's Fabulous Fandango​

This ride would be a new Breakdance Flat ride. It would retain the queline name and sign from the temporary Twister that shares the name Flavio's Fabulus Fandago.

The Adjacent Dungeons area

​

With regards to the Dungeon area, I would halve the size of the Burger Kitchen. With the dividing of the Burger Kitchen I would retain half as the Burger Kitchen.The other would be converted too a Dungeons shop.I would heavily Theme the Dungeon shop to Blood and Gore much like the other shops of this nature around the world. I would also Retheme the Burger Kitchen to Sweeney Todd's bar.



Can my fellow members of TowersStreet tell me your views?

@tayspru ,I have made some tweaks to your plan of a World Of David Walliams expansion.

 

[Matt N]

I managed to see the land and experience Gangsta Granny for myself today. I was quite eager to see the land and ride Gangsta Granny, as I was a big fan of Walliams’ novels when I was a bit younger, and I must say; I think they’ve done an absolutely excellent job, on the whole!

Be warned; my review does contain spoilers of Gangsta Granny: The Ride.

The Land
I’d be lying if I said that the land as a whole looked unrecognisably different to how it did before, but I think they’ve done an absolutely fantastic job of sprucing it up! The area seems to have far more life than Cloud Cuckoo Land in its dying years did, and it all looks really nice and fresh; all of the buildings have been given fresh new colours and facades which look very nice and vibrant, and Gangsta Granny, Raj’s Shop and the old Theatre building are particularly nice, in my opinion! There’s also absolutely stacks of little details scattered around the area, particularly in areas such as Raj’s Shop, and on the whole, it seems to have had a surprising amount of thought put into it, and seems to absolutely ooze charm! So aesthetically, the area gets a thumbs up from me!

If I had one critique of the land, it’s that I do feel that some of the area’s rides are perhaps a little too juvenile for the target demographic, namely Royal Carousel and Raj’s Bouncy Bottom Burp. These are rides more suited to very small children than the slightly older children Walliams’ novels are aimed at. In fairness, though, this is a very minor criticism, and the park is only really advertising Gangsta Granny at present, so it’s a bit of a moot point; they could just have done the ride within CCL, so the fact that they’ve done the area too is surely a bonus that’s worth applauding? I’m probably being a bit harsh in this regard.

So overall, I think the area itself is really nice, and has had a lot of thought put into it! I hope it does well for the park!

The Ride
So onto Gangsta Granny: The Ride itself, then.

Your experience starts when you enter the outdoor switchback section of the queue. There’s not loads here in terms of physical theming, but you get a nice panoramic view of the area, and there’s also some nice little minor details and challenges here to keep you occupied, such as “royal riddles” and “find the 5 plastic crowns hidden around the area”. While we’re outside, I’d also like to mention the ride’s facade, which I think is really quite nice!

You then move into the indoor queue line, which I personally prefer. The indoor queue line is really well done, in my opinion; there’s loads of paintings on the wall depicting fake “royals”, some of whom are quite tongue-in-cheek in terms of their name. A couple of these paintings are also Easter eggs; for instance, there’s a painting of the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury and the Chained Oak in a nod to Hex. There’s also some other little details and really nice themed audio & announcements, as well as themed wallpaper and pillars and a green screen photo opportunity midway through. On the whole, I very much like the indoor queue; top job, Towers!

While we’re talking about the queue, I feel like I should bring up the speed of movement of the queue, or more the lack of it. If you are wanting to ride Gangsta Granny, I’m just going to warn you; the queue moves pretty slowly. Due to the current policy of only loading 1 group per car, capacity is quite severely inhibited, and the line moves at what feels like a glacial pace, meaning that what looks like a fairly short queue at face value actually ends up taking 1hr+. As such, I’d say that capacity is probably the ride’s biggest shortcoming, at least at present until the ride can fully load cars again. I’m probably being a bit harsh here, as GG is only intended to be a filler attraction, and the capacity will improve once cars can fully load, but I felt like I should just point out that the capacity at present is, or at least feels, pretty low.

In terms of the ride itself; I was very impressed! They’ve certainly made a lot out of not very much; in spite of the ride’s track itself not being particularly long, it feels like a pretty long ride, and every scene feels fantastically done! The stops are also executed differently to how I expected, as the ride car actually moves slightly during many of them, which I liked because it makes them seem more exciting than they look on video. I think there’s a really nice blend of screens and physical theming, every scene feels like it’s maximised and themed to its full potential, and on the whole, I’m really impressed with what the park has pulled off, especially given that the Wobble World building was fairly small!

I’ve got to say that in spite of having seen a POV, there were elements of the ride that surprised me; for instance, I was not expecting the seats to vibrate at numerous points, and the scene where Ben & Granny drop down into the sewers actually produced a surprisingly convincing effect of free fall! In fact, I’d actually go as far as to say that the cars move a lot more than I’d anticipated prior to riding! The ride was also quite jumpy in places, which I didn’t expect!

One minor thing I did notice about the ride is that you did have audio from certain scenes seeping into other parts of the building, so you can already hear what’s happening in other scenes before you reach them in some cases, or you hear a scene you’ve just bypassed in others. In fairness, that’s probably a very harsh criticism on my part, as the building is very compact and I’m not sure what they could have done to prevent this, but it was just something I noticed.

On the whole, I’ll admit I was very impressed with both the land and the ride, and I think Towers have done a top job! I really hope it’s successful for them!

 

[tayspru]

How you can describe the paint job of the Theatre as “particularly nice” is beyond me. The entire building has been coated in one shade of blue (that is already fading) and completely ignores the moulded windows, faux brick work, frankly all of the architectural interest is blasted over. The banners are lovely but just draw attention to the fact the huge building is empty.

You’re an eternal optimist, but undue praise of such an average area is the reason we get more mediocrity, because people have the mindset “it could have been worse” not “how could this be a top tier experience”

 

[Matt N]

How you can describe the paint job of the Theatre as “particularly nice” is beyond me. The entire building has been coated in one shade of blue (that is already fading) and completely ignores the moulded windows, faux brick work, frankly all of the architectural interest is blasted over. The banners are lovely but just draw attention to the fact the huge building is empty.

You’re an eternal optimist, but undue praise of such an average area is the reason we get more mediocrity, because people have the mindset “it could have been worse” not “how could this be a top tier experience”

Sorry… I personally quite liked the shade of blue they used, and I thought the banners, gold clock and rainbow strip along the top were quite nice. It seems to fit well into the area to me!

As I said above, I’m not pretending that this area is a huge change compared to what was there before; in fact, it’s fairly similar. My mum & dad even commented on how it still looked very similar to how it did on their visits in the 1980s & 1990s. But the important thing to me is; it looks substantially freshened up compared to what it did before, and the area feels fresh, and like it has lots of life and charm. That to me is the important thing, so in that regard, I’ll certainly give them a thumbs up!

 

[Steve74]

I managed to see the land and experience Gangsta Granny for myself today. I was quite eager to see the land and ride Gangsta Granny, as I was a big fan of Walliams’ novels when I was a bit younger, and I must say; I think they’ve done an absolutely excellent job, on the whole!

Be warned; my review does contain spoilers of Gangsta Granny: The Ride.

The Land
I’d be lying if I said that the land as a whole looked unrecognisably different to how it did before, but I think they’ve done an absolutely fantastic job of sprucing it up! The area seems to have far more life than Cloud Cuckoo Land in its dying years did, and it all looks really nice and fresh; all of the buildings have been given fresh new colours and facades which look very nice and vibrant, and Gangsta Granny, Raj’s Shop and the old Theatre building are particularly nice, in my opinion! There’s also absolutely stacks of little details scattered around the area, particularly in areas such as Raj’s Shop, and on the whole, it seems to have had a surprising amount of thought put into it, and seems to absolutely ooze charm! So aesthetically, the area gets a thumbs up from me!

If I had one critique of the land, it’s that I do feel that some of the area’s rides are perhaps a little too juvenile for the target demographic, namely Royal Carousel and Raj’s Bouncy Bottom Burp. These are rides more suited to very small children than the slightly older children Walliams’ novels are aimed at. In fairness, though, this is a very minor criticism, and the park is only really advertising Gangsta Granny at present, so it’s a bit of a moot point; they could just have done the ride within CCL, so the fact that they’ve done the area too is surely a bonus that’s worth applauding? I’m probably being a bit harsh in this regard.

So overall, I think the area itself is really nice, and has had a lot of thought put into it! I hope it does well for the park!

The Ride
So onto Gangsta Granny: The Ride itself, then.

Your experience starts when you enter the outdoor switchback section of the queue. There’s not loads here in terms of physical theming, but you get a nice panoramic view of the area, and there’s also some nice little minor details and challenges here to keep you occupied, such as “royal riddles” and “find the 5 plastic crowns hidden around the area”. While we’re outside, I’d also like to mention the ride’s facade, which I think is really quite nice!

You then move into the indoor queue line, which I personally prefer. The indoor queue line is really well done, in my opinion; there’s loads of paintings on the wall depicting fake “royals”, some of whom are quite tongue-in-cheek in terms of their name. A couple of these paintings are also Easter eggs; for instance, there’s a painting of the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury and the Chained Oak in a nod to Hex. There’s also some other little details and really nice themed audio & announcements, as well as themed wallpaper and pillars and a green screen photo opportunity midway through. On the whole, I very much like the indoor queue; top job, Towers!

While we’re talking about the queue, I feel like I should bring up the speed of movement of the queue, or more the lack of it. If you are wanting to ride Gangsta Granny, I’m just going to warn you; the queue moves pretty slowly. Due to the current policy of only loading 1 group per car, capacity is quite severely inhibited, and the line moves at what feels like a glacial pace, meaning that what looks like a fairly short queue at face value actually ends up taking 1hr+. As such, I’d say that capacity is probably the ride’s biggest shortcoming, at least at present until the ride can fully load cars again. I’m probably being a bit harsh here, as GG is only intended to be a filler attraction, and the capacity will improve once cars can fully load, but I felt like I should just point out that the capacity at present is, or at least feels, pretty low.

In terms of the ride itself; I was very impressed! They’ve certainly made a lot out of not very much; in spite of the ride’s track itself not being particularly long, it feels like a pretty long ride, and every scene feels fantastically done! The stops are also executed differently to how I expected, as the ride car actually moves slightly during many of them, which I liked because it makes them seem more exciting than they look on video. I think there’s a really nice blend of screens and physical theming, every scene feels like it’s maximised and themed to its full potential, and on the whole, I’m really impressed with what the park has pulled off, especially given that the Wobble World building was fairly small!

I’ve got to say that in spite of having seen a POV, there were elements of the ride that surprised me; for instance, I was not expecting the seats to vibrate at numerous points, and the scene where Ben & Granny drop down into the sewers actually produced a surprisingly convincing effect of free fall! In fact, I’d actually go as far as to say that the cars move a lot more than I’d anticipated prior to riding! The ride was also quite jumpy in places, which I didn’t expect!

One minor thing I did notice about the ride is that you did have audio from certain scenes seeping into other parts of the building, so you can already hear what’s happening in other scenes before you reach them in some cases, or you hear a scene you’ve just bypassed in others. In fairness, that’s probably a very harsh criticism on my part, as the building is very compact and I’m not sure what they could have done to prevent this, but it was just something I noticed.

On the whole, I’ll admit I was very impressed with both the land and the ride, and I think Towers have done a top job! I really hope it’s successful for them!

Great review Matt. I liked the area too, and while there is plenty they could've done if they had the budget, I think what they have done is sufficient, considering they're only advertising the ride, not the area. If they were saying "New for 2021 David Walliams World with Gangsta Granny" then I think some of the criticism of the area would be justified.

I hope that if they introduce more attractions to the area they'll spruce up and detail each building as they become used as they have done with Gangsta Granny's building. Lets be honest, I think they'd be daft not to open more attractions, the cinema building is screaming out for a ride (flying theatre of some form maybe, after the success of the Legoland one?)

The ride itself was great, but I did think the transitions between some scenes didn't flow well. By that, I don't mean the story but the physical moving between them. Some scenes the car didn't move until what seemed like after the effects had finished and it created for an odd silence as you moved between scenes - allbeit only for a couple of seconds but it was almost like the story is put on hold as you move between some scenes. What it needs is the setting changed so the car moves as the effects come to an end not after.

And there needs to be a gentle water spray/squirt when they land in the sewers, they missed a trick there.

Did you spot the Towers crown dotted around the wallpaper? There is one in your pic of the Towers "Castle" (makes me angry that does!!) directly above the light.

 

[Matt N]

Did you spot the Towers crown dotted around the wallpaper? There is one in your pic of the Towers "Castle" (makes me angry that does!!) directly above the light.

I didn’t actually; that’s a touch I didn’t notice!

 

[Danscott22]

Great review! Come to my own personal conclusion that the area's best ride is Flavio's Fabulous Fandango although obviously I'm not the target audience for the area so I'm not surprised that I think this to be honest. I think GG is a ride that I wouldn't do every visit, maybe twice a year at a push.

 

[Danny]

Also had my first, shall we say, experience, of Walliams World a couple of weeks ago. It's the perfect example of having low expectations with Merlin so that you'll never be disappointed.

The area feels like it should be oozing with the personality and fizz that Walliams conveys in his books. However, it's far too difficult to look past the fact it's yet another repaint that is already showing signs of wear.

In terms of the theatre building, a simple design that looks particularly nice can be found here:

Not here:

The lazy painting of the window details in the same colour as the walls and fencing is just bland. The entire facade. Just bland. It looks like a local library that's been closed down. Even the clock itself, which has evidently had a Leek Signs special slapped onto it, is utterly soulless.

Also, the lack of thought that comes into the plaza of the area is evident in the fact that the lamp posts, perhaps one of the better components of the area, are already fenced off due to H&S. They look ridiculous.

On a more positive note, Gangsta Granny did exceed my low expectations. It's a perfectly fine ride for its target audience, and also much longer than I expected. The "chase" scene is a little on the laughable side (not in a good way) with the low budget effects, but other than that I can't really grumble.

The real highlight of the area for me, however, is Raj's shop. The concept of replicating a typical, tatty British corner shop and putting it into a theme park has actually been well executed. The humour is great, and also the young staff member in there at the time as an entertainer shopkeeper rather than a functional one was bizarrely hilarious. Very in character and made for quite a pleasant experience, attempting to "jokingly" upsell me a hoodie as "this one comes with pockets".

Area? Total farce.
Ride and shop? Solid and superb.

 

[tayspru]

I’ll just say the area is VERY reliant on the roaming entertainment, it feels utterly dead as soon as they’re on break, with the pervading mood being one of abject misery eminating from the glacially paced outdoor queue of GG

Regarding the theatre, If you think actual windows and detailing being painted over in one colour with some vinyl printed stars stuck on is the best thing that could have been done - or is worthy of praise - I don’t know what to say to you. Even the clock is in a weird position, suspended over the balcony to disguise the fact there’s no theming there, rather than on the peaked facade of the building (where I think there was at one point a functioning clock?)

 

[Steve74]

Also, the lack of thought that comes into the plaza of the area is evident in the fact that the lamp posts, perhaps one of the better components of the area, are already fenced off due to H&S. They look ridiculous.

Was watching a vlog yesterday that was filmed at the weekend and you can see in that the barriers around the lamp posts. When I was there a couple of weeks ago I don't remember seeing them barriered off so unless there is something unsafe about them then I wouldn't be surprised if they have done this to stop the fantastically well behaved school trip kids climbing and swinging on them. The lamp posts are smaller in height to standard ones and do have horizontal bars near the top that would invite such kids to swing on them. Funny that the same kids probably wouldn't want to go near similar shaped equipment during PE lessons!

 

[Alsty]

Put grease on the lampposts. The little blighters will only swing off them once

 

[djtruefitt]

I pretty sure it’s to stop people walking in to them. There’s a video of one of the actors walking in to them on opening day. The metal bits that stick out are fairly low, and pretty much at eye height, so you could quite easily injure yourself if you weren’t looking.

 

[jon81uk]

I pretty sure it’s to stop people walking in to them. There’s a video of one of the actors walking in to them on opening day. The metal bits that stick out are fairly low, and pretty much at eye height, so you could quite easily injure yourself if you weren’t looking.

That just shows bad planning then. Someone wanted "themed" lamposts, but instead of getting proper ones, they got what you normally put in a garden and they aren't actually suitable for the location.

 

[Steve74]

That just shows bad planning then. Someone wanted "themed" lamposts, but instead of getting proper ones, they got what you normally put in a garden and they aren't actually suitable for the location.

Nothing wrong with what they've installed, in my opinion.

If @djtruefitt is correct, then people should just use their eyes look where they're bl****y going! I've been in the area twice now and strangely enough have avoided walking into the lamp posts, as have the vast majority of guests!! What's next? Removing bushes and small trees because some people are incapable of looking where they're going?

 

[rob666]

And drain the lake in case somebody falls in.

 

[jon81uk]

Nothing wrong with what they've installed, in my opinion.

If @djtruefitt is correct, then people should just use their eyes look where they're bl****y going! I've been in the area twice now and strangely enough have avoided walking into the lamp posts, as have the vast majority of guests!! What's next? Removing bushes and small trees because some people are incapable of looking where they're going?

Walking into a standard lamppost in general I agree people need to look where they are going. But installing posts with decorative arms at head height is poor planning.

 

[siralgenon]

Looking at the picture above I see what you mean. The sticky out bits are very low down. I don't know why they didn't just keep the old ones, they were fancy anyway and just painted them black and put new globes on them.

 

[djtruefitt]

Nothing wrong with what they've installed, in my opinion.

If @djtruefitt is correct, then people should just use their eyes look where they're bl****y going! I've been in the area twice now and strangely enough have avoided walking into the lamp posts, as have the vast majority of guests!! What's next? Removing bushes and small trees because some people are incapable of looking where they're going?

To be fair, you could easily walk next to the lamppost and not notice the bits sticking out until it’s too late. But yeah it’s bad planning and I imagine these are designed for someone’s garden and not for a large public area in a theme park.

 

[Danny]

Towers appear to have added new water elements to the Gangsta Granny queue line, as seen here by the water from the lights and marks on the roof:

 

[RoyJess]

Towers appear to have added new water elements to the Gangsta Granny queue line, as seen here by the water from the lights and marks on the roof:

That could be quite shocking!