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The World of David Walliams: General Discussion

Since the Smiler incident (and therefore the cost cutting) CBeebies Land has added various new IPs to the line up including Furchester Hotel, Peter Rabbit, Teletubbies and Go Jetters. I think any removals have just been part of the natural changes to that area to keep it relevant, not cost cutting.

I would be very surprised if this Walliams IP was considered a failure. His books are hugely popular with the target audience, over 37 million copies sold in less than 10 years with seemingly no slow down in popularity.
 
The reopening of the cinema and Charlie as soon as possible I wouldn't bill as so much of a choice but essential!

Part of the problem with CCL's later years, other than the fact it was devoid of many attractions, was the fact it felt more and more like a desolate little strip of empty buildings, isolated and tucked away mostly out of site behind the towers. Of course the life being sucked out started with the abandonment of 3 buildings in one go but at least it still felt like a coherent area waiting for future development.

Then came the decision, out of almost shareholder desperation, to paint the BK the colour of a grandad cardigan and a hideous dungeon entrance. Then the fences went up. That entrance to the area was one of the best in the park. It's spacious, nicely landscaped and well designed. It used to start when you walked underneath the trees from Fountain Square, past the BK façade and past the Charlie Building before being greeted by a cinema.

I hope the descions of the past few years were made out of short term financial constraints to make the most out of a bad job and that it will be rectified over the next 2 seasons. My fear is though that it's all part of the plan but I hope to be proven wrong. It wouldn't take a massive investment to re kit out the BK, Charlie and 4D cinema to this new IP over 2 seasons and they could market the hell out it.

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Thameslink Rail said:
And it's not as if they are short of material they could use in the theatre, so far there have been 7 films and 6 stage productions based on Walliams' books.
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Exactly. Tonnes of strong IP source material, an existing high capacity dark ride system and an existing cinema just sat there waiting. I can't think of an easier return on investment opportunity in any UK theme park.

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AT86 said:
To me, there are various little signs around this development that point to the fact a phase 2 is planned either next year or soon after.

Take the entrance feature for example. As it stands today it doesn’t feature a prominent logo for ‘The World of David Walliams’ - the focus is on the Gangsta Granny ride, almost an acknowledgement that this isn’t a fully fledged area of the park (yet). The sign itself is as billy basic as it comes. Flat, vinyl printed - almost as if it is only designed to be temporary and will be replaced by a more detailed sign once the area is complete. It also looks like it would be pretty easy for them to pick up the entrance feature and move it forward a few 100 feet once the Dungeons and BK buildings have been incorporated into the area.

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Irrespective of when and what is planned in phase 2... that photo is stupid.

Walk into an archway, a large building frames the picture.

The building is redundant.

Wouldn't it be nice for Merlin to provide capex to do proper jobs on areas rather than the half-a-job-Harry approach?
 
From what I gather now, you’ll walk in to the area and he first thing you’ll see is the big queue for the twister which goes in front of the theatre.

Its just a shame that it’s another cheap repaint of the buildings, with not a lot else. It all looks proper cheaply done. Even looking at photos of the outside of the new ride and shop.
 
Yeah I kinda feel like the twister is going to get big queues based on the success of the other 3 temp rides, especially with a lot of people being attracted to that area for Gangsta Granny.
 
It's a bit of an odd one because broadly speaking The Twister will have a completely different audience to all the other rides in the area. I suppose it could work well with families where older members maybe don't want to go on Gangsta Granny.
 
djtruefitt said:
From what I gather now, you’ll walk in to the area and he first thing you’ll see is the big queue for the twister which goes in front of the theatre.
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Still though, at least the queue will hide the abandonment of said building somewhat. Every cloud and all that......

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https://fb.watch/5rRWvOD9m-/

Alton Towers have posted part 2 of the behind the scenes on Facebook . It looks to be a well thought out use of the ride system they were given, but I still have worries about the queues. On an unrelated note that John Burton is quite the dish and I hope to see him at the opening day
 
In the Thorpe topic it's been mentioned that TP are running DBGT and Black Mirror on a reservation system, maybe something similar would work here?
 
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of a throughput this does get. Disney, Universal and Europa Park all have small single car dark rides that get more than 500 people and hour: Piccolo Mondo, Schlittenfahrt Schneeflöckchen, Mr Toad’s Wild Ride, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, The Cat in the Hat Ride. With a separate onload and offload, Gangsta Granny could potentially dispatch more than 500 people an hour. The issue is that on all the rides I’ve mentioned the cars keep on moving without stopping. On Snorri Touren the cars stop, but there’s a turntable and two simulators. Anything more than a very brief stop in a scene, and the throughput will start to suffer.
 
Funcone said:
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of a throughput this does get. Disney, Universal and Europa Park all have small single car dark rides that get more than 500 people and hour: Piccolo Mondo, Schlittenfahrt Schneeflöckchen, Mr Toad’s Wild Ride, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, The Cat in the Hat Ride. With a separate onload and offload, Gangsta Granny could potentially dispatch more than 500 people an hour. The issue is that on all the rides I’ve mentioned the cars keep on moving without stopping. On Snorri Touren the cars stop, but there’s a turntable and two simulators. Anything more than a very brief stop in a scene, and the throughput will start to suffer.
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Plus GG will only have up to 8 cars I think.
 
Funcone said:
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of a throughput this does get. Disney, Universal and Europa Park all have small single car dark rides that get more than 500 people and hour: Piccolo Mondo, Schlittenfahrt Schneeflöckchen, Mr Toad’s Wild Ride, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, The Cat in the Hat Ride. With a separate onload and offload, Gangsta Granny could potentially dispatch more than 500 people an hour. The issue is that on all the rides I’ve mentioned the cars keep on moving without stopping. On Snorri Touren the cars stop, but there’s a turntable and two simulators. Anything more than a very brief stop in a scene, and the throughput will start to suffer.
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Maybe post-covid. But this year no groups will be sharing cars which will really hit thoughput.
 
jon81uk said:
Maybe post-covid. But this year no groups will be sharing cars which will really hit thoughput.
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Yeah that's a massive concern. It's impossible to put even two small groups togther, as the rows are close together and the seating is bench-like (guets can slide across). Will be very inttesting to see what queue times this results in come Monday.
 
This things capacity may end up being dire - but anyone in the queue for this means they're not in the queue for something else on park, whether it be a family ride or a thrill ride. Despite its age market, I'd imagine there are quite a few people who will see this ride as a +1, so will ride it anyway!
 
jon81uk said:
Maybe post-covid. But this year no groups will be sharing cars which will really hit thoughput.
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Don't forget though that if the government lift all social distancing rules/laws on the 21st June as planned, then Towers will not be obliged to have social distancing on rides anymore. If Towers do lift the rules then I suspect that for rides like this, Spinball and Duel where you could be very close to other groups, they'll allow groups to travel alone if requested by guests.
 
Steve74 said:
Don't forget though that if the government lift all social distancing rules/laws on the 21st June as planned, then Towers will not be obliged to have social distancing on rides anymore. If Towers do lift the rules then I suspect that for rides like this, Spinball and Duel where you could be very close to other groups, they'll allow groups to travel alone if requested by guests.
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I still don't see it happening this soon unfortunately I think some kind of distancing will be in place for the rest of 2021. I expect many people still wouldn't want a group of strangers breathing down their necks for a while.
 
jon81uk said:
I still don't see it happening this soon unfortunately I think some kind of distancing will be in place for the rest of 2021. I expect many people still wouldn't want a group of strangers breathing down their necks for a while.
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Yeah I see your point but I can see Towers being stuck in a difficult situation. Of course they can enforce any rules they like and you agree adhere to them simply by buying a ticket. But then you will get those people who will refuse to follow them because their argument would be "we don't need to distance anymore, it's not law" etc, etc. And if people kick off about it, how much will Towers enforce it? Currently, they have the law to back them up should it escalate but once that law is gone, how far are they prepared to go to enforce a rule that - according to the Government - isn't needed anymore?
 
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