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The World of David Walliams: General Discussion

Obviously it’s not the biggest investment but I can’t see them opening it for the rest of the season and then having a “grand” opening next year. One less ride for them to have to worry about social distancing on
 
Can’t insert the photo from my phone but Gangsta Granny has been officially delayed until next season.

Unsurprising given the current situation but at least everything will be up and running on time for next year
 
Josh said:
Hopefully now they can launch The World of David Walliams next season with a completed ride line up, instead of the rushed attempt this year ;)
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Exactly what I thought...”brand new worlds first 2021 etc”

Obviously the ride was ready, (Merlin “ready”) as it was opening at start of season.
 
Josh said:
Hopefully now they can launch The World of David Walliams next season with a completed ride line up, instead of the rushed attempt this year ;)
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I'd be amazed if there's money available to put anything extra in next year, Merlin will be cutting everything to try and recover from this year.
 
MaxPower said:
I'd be amazed if there's money available to put anything extra in next year, Merlin will be cutting everything to try and recover from this year.
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That would've been my guess - the main benefit of delaying what is a complete and ready-to-go ride until next year, is that it gives them some 'new news' to use for the 2021 season, rather than having nothing to advertise as new.
 
I wonder if there's any royalty payments which can be deferred by delaying the opening date.

Either way, it's entirely fair and reasonable.
 
They could do a soft opening this year and still have the ride for next year's marketing drive, but you just know thered be 100 POVs online the day they soft open it and the hype for its opening next year would be blown. So best to keep it shut I guess
 
As they’ve delayed this, then it will still be new for 2021, meaning that in theory, they could just push their planned CAPEX back by a year or so, so whatever was planned for 2021 comes in 2022 and so on. That would save them some money over the losses of 2020, as they could promote something they’d invested in pre-COVID for 2021, therefore meaning that they can use 2021 to rebuild cash reserves lost in 2020.
 
Matt N said:
As they’ve delayed this, then it will still be new for 2021, meaning that in theory, they could just push their planned CAPEX back by a year or so, so whatever was planned for 2021 comes in 2022 and so on. That would save them some money over the losses of 2020, as they could promote something they’d invested in pre-COVID for 2021, therefore meaning that they can use 2021 to rebuild cash reserves lost in 2020.
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Or just scrap the CAPEX planned for next year, which is the far more likely scenario to save money.
 
In an ideal world I would love to see the 4D and shop open, refreshed driving school to fit in to the area and another flat ride or two. Then we have a proper whole area, rather than one dark ride and a rubbish rehash of old stuff.

On the other hand, we’ll have some fencing blocking the area this year and that will come down next year and nothing else will happen.
 
OilyWater said:
I think we can say goodbye to David Walliams land future phases (Im sure the plan wasn't just to leave it so small), or at least cut back
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I think we may still see these in the future, just delayed compared to when they were originally intended to come.
 
I suspect what they have licensed and how that deal is structured will influence the future direction. If they have paid for all of Walliams stuff for x years, I suspect they will press on (perhaps at a slower rate).

If there's a market for it, it may make more sense to further exploit something they already have. Or not.
 
Squiggs said:
Perhaps in the meantime they can convince David Walliams to write a story about Cuckoo Cars Driving School.
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He has a story about driving called Bad Dad. I'd like to see a new flat ride like a Zamperla Air Race maybe themed around one of his books but it's known Merlin don't like their flat rides!
 
I was thinking; I know it’s an idea that’s been floated a lot, but I think relocating Spinball to that corner of the park behind Royal Carousel and enclosing it could be a nice idea. It fits the Walliams target audience in terms of its thrill level, enclosing it would mean that noise (the sole issue with Coaster Corner when it existed) wouldn’t be an issue, and moving it would also offer prime space for CBeebies Land to be expanded onto!

I’m admittedly not sure about a specific Walliams story that it could work with (maybe Demon Dentist or Awful Auntie?), but I think a number of them could work with a little creativity. With the illustration style that Walliams’ books use, I think that some UV-painted scenery could potentially work well, sort of like that used on Laff Trakk at Hersheypark, another Maurer spinner that is enclosed:


Failing that, maybe something like a Mack Rides YoungStar or Gerstlauer Family Coaster themed to Grandpa’s Great Escape would work? You could theme the trains as planes, and a ride like this would give the area a ride aimed at slightly older children than the likes of Royal Carousel and Raj’s Bouncy Bottom Burp.
 
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