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The World of David Walliams: General Discussion

AstroDan said:
What exactly, in the end, was good about CCL? You contradicted yourself with 'it had potential' but simultaneously said you 'liked it'. What did you like?
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Sorry, Dan, I think I worded that badly.

I was referring more to having liked the area pre-2016 or so, before many of its attractions closed and its original theming/paintwork went. I’ll admit that it majorly lost its way at the end and its demise was not a moment too soon, but I did like the concept of the area and some of its original theming, and from what I’ve seen, it looked particularly nice prior to the addition of Ice Age 4D.

I do feel that the concept was excellent, and the original CCL theming/vibe looked really nice, so if they’d put some more major family attractions in there or done something a bit more meaningful with the area, then I think it could have been even better and been a very valuable family addition to the park. The theme had a lot of potential that I do feel was not properly utilised, even if they made a perfectly nice, serviceable family area out of it initially.
 
AstroDan said:
What exactly, in the end, was good about CCL? You contradicted yourself with 'it had potential' but simultaneously said you 'liked it'. What did you like?

I mean. CCL was naff. TWODW is naff. Both nothing more than repaints of decrepit 1980s infrastructure. Peeling paint is already everywhere in the area, and they still haven't even bothered to integrate the driving school meanwhile one of the area's rides they don't even own, there's no proper F&B facility and the theatre remains mothballed.

Gangsta Granny is adequate.

The whole area is a half job so typical of areas since the mid 2000s Alton Towers.

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I do not see how that is a contradiction?

You can like something whilst also seeing the potential for how it could improve. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

I like Alton Towers as do you I would assume. You can probably also see it has got a lot of potential to improve (F&B as an example). You can like something whilst also seeing the potential in it....unless I've missed something.

I love the UK. I see the potential the place has, especially if we stayed in the EU. I do not have to dislike the UK to see that potential.

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IP's are increasingly being used as an excuse for mediocrity and below, as you probably all know. From TWODW to Avengers Campus at Disney, they have been slapped onto areas but it does seem to work sometimes from a buisness perspective. A sizeable portion of the general public seems to see a new theme park land with an IP on it and say, 'Wow, I want to visit this area' because of a film or book. You can see why Merlin has gone down this route. They can do it on the cheap yet the force of the brand which they have used for their new land/rollercoaster will still pull the general public in.
 
zeock said:
IP's are increasingly being used as an excuse for mediocrity and below, as you probably all know. From TWODW to Avengers Campus at Disney, they have been slapped onto areas but it does seem to work sometimes from a buisness perspective. A sizeable portion of the general public seems to see a new theme park land with an IP on it and say, 'Wow, I want to visit this area' because of a film or book. You can see why Merlin has gone down this route. They can do it on the cheap yet the force of the brand which they have used for their new land/rollercoaster will still pull the general public in.
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The worst offender for me is Space Mountainf from the Earth to the moon being a Star Wars IP now. Its a huge loss I think for Loads of Theme Park enthusiasts.

I've always been against IP'S 90% of the time unless they only used in non-major way, and they have a good quality to them, but most aren't like that. They're just jarring and shove the whole property into your face. An example of a well done IP ride I think is Wallace and Gromits Thrill-O-Matic at BPB. Lovely design, all props and sets, no heavy use of screens, and decently lit.

If I remember, Half of Alton Towers rides are located in Either TWODW or Cbeebies Land. Yes, a good 50% of Alton Towers rides are IPs. If that doesn't show you the lack of creativity and a huge push for mediocrity, then I don't know what will.
 
Trooper Looper said:
The worst offender for me is Space Mountainf from the Earth to the moon being a Star Wars IP now. Its a huge loss I think for Loads of Theme Park enthusiasts.

I've always been against IP'S 90% of the time unless they only used in non-major way, and they have a good quality to them, but most aren't like that. They're just jarring and shove the whole property into your face. An example of a well done IP ride I think is Wallace and Gromits Thrill-O-Matic at BPB. Lovely design, all props and sets, no heavy use of screens, and decently lit.

If I remember, Half of Alton Towers rides are located in Either TWODW or Cbeebies Land. Yes, a good 50% of Alton Towers rides are IPs. If that doesn't show you the lack of creativity and a huge push for mediocrity, then I don't know what will.
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100 percent agree. I am usually against IP's unless they are integral to the story. Hyperspace Mountain as an example, because you mentioned it, is definitely a ride where this isn't the case. The theming is sparse, with a few posters here and there, with a few remnants from De La Terre a la Lune in the queue. The outside facade still looks Jules Verne esque although it now has a Star Wars IP slapped onto it. That is how not to do an IP, but as Star Wars is the theme, people are attracted to the ride. The same basically applies to TWODW.
 
Benzin said:
Unfortunately Space Mountain had already been butchered by Mission 2. That was a non-IP addition too.

Least Hyperspace Mountain bought new trains with it.
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Can't argue you with that. It just makes absolutely no sense why they themed the new trains around a steam punk style while the current ride is about Star Wars.
 
Trooper Looper said:
An example of a well done IP ride I think is Wallace and Gromits Thrill-O-Matic at BPB. Lovely design, all props and sets, no heavy use of screens, and decently lit.
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Its not that great in my opinion, it uses darkness to hide the old rockwork from the gold mine, there is no narrative its just random scenes from the films, if you've never seen the films before it won't make any sense.
 
I'd love for them to team up with a company like Aardman and create a new unique story for the entire area, including new characters etc. That kind of exclusivity would mean it's not completely tethered to an IP as such, and any kind of updates could be implemented, keeping it fresh and up to date. There's the potential to just keep adding new attractions to the area and opening them in phases.
 
Is there a specific David Walliams book that could fit a 4D cinema? I would quite like Towers to have a 4D cinema again, despite the fact that Ice Age 4D was terrible.
 
Whilst several David Walliams books have already been made into films, they are 2D films so you couldn't make a true 4D experience from them. Some have also been made into theatre productions which they could adapt. I guess they could commission a completely new 4D film. In terms of what book they could use, I'm thinking Grandpa's Great Escape because it does have some airplane scenes that would be cool with 4D effects.
 
They actually did make a 3d version of Mr Stink with a pretty strong cast, being 11 years old not I'm guessing the 3d will not have aged well though 😅

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC HD - Mr Stink in 3D

An unhappy, daydreaming schoolgirl befriends a stinky tramp and his dog in the local park.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
There’s unpleasant rumours about David Walliams circulating on the internet and I suspect this may have something to do about the lack of investment.
 
IIRC, TWODW was pretty much forced upon Towers by Merlin a temporary fix to do that area up as the park was still suffering from the Smiler crash when had the park more creative control then I'm certain that TWODW would never had seen the light of day and CCL might have still been here with us perhaps in a refurbished look.

I'm not sure how long the licence last for but if it was always thought as temporary then I'm certain the area will see a major retheme when Project Horizon opens and that ride likely will include that whole location into one larger area though if it is when Project Horizon opens (highly doubt it) or as a phase 2 or 3 if you include the Dungeons building with the deal then likely that'll be the moment to go in with the retheme. I'm not sure how much creative control the park had when doing Alton Manor but if Merlin trusted them with it and seeing how successful it has been received then who's to say they'll loosen more control to allow to do something with TWODW which I doubt in my mind those on the park would rather see it gone and would jump at the chance to change it.
 
QTXAdsy said:
IIRC, TWODW was pretty much forced upon Towers by Merlin a temporary fix to do that area up as the park was still suffering from the Smiler crash when had the park more creative control then I'm certain that TWODW would never had seen the light of day and CCL might have still been here with us perhaps in a refurbished look.

I'm not sure how long the licence last for but if it was always thought as temporary then I'm certain the area will see a major retheme when Project Horizon opens and that ride likely will include that whole location into one larger area though if it is when Project Horizon opens (highly doubt it) or as a phase 2 or 3 if you include the Dungeons building with the deal then likely that'll be the moment to go in with the retheme. I'm not sure how much creative control the park had when doing Alton Manor but if Merlin trusted them with it and seeing how successful it has been received then who's to say they'll loosen more control to allow to do something with TWODW which I doubt in my mind those on the park would rather see it gone and would jump at the chance to change it.
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I’m not convinced that the park had the Walliams IP ‘forced’ on them, I think it made sense in terms of the age range they wanted to go for and the back catalog of books available in order to offer various attractions.

I think this particular area has suffered in part by bad timing related to things going on in the wider Merlin business.

My understanding is that the original plan was for the Gangsta Granny attraction to go into the Charlie building, the building and boat system would have allowed for a much grander scale attraction and would therefore need a good budget.

At that time Merlin was a public company struggling with keeping shareholders on side and towards the end of 2017 announced big cuts to spending on new projects in the resort theme park division. One of the victims of this decision was the Walliams IP and the much cheaper Dungeons ended up in that building instead.

The Walliams attraction was then re-hashed under a much smaller budget in the Wobble World building using a ride system that was going spare from other cancelled projects at another Merlin attraction.

By now Merlin had gone private again and were re-assessing their investment options. Having now realised the reduced spending did them no favours long term the cheque book has been dusted off and re-opened and the likes of Nemesis, The Curse and Horizon have been green lit. Leaving Walliams somewhat forgotten in the excitement.

I still think it’s a good call in terms of the appeal to the target market, but it might just be too late now to squeeze in spending when so much is happening elsewhere.
 
I'm calling it now, Walliams world will be quietly canned in the next 5 years. It feels like a sticking plaster for an area towers doesn't know what to do with.

I'd like to see IPs ditched and they do something original in the area. I'd personally like to see a steam punk themed area with a flying theatre in the old theatre building and a complete reimagining of the area.
 
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