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The World of David Walliams: General Discussion

BarryZola said:
Be careful what you wish for. It could be the case that they are forced to do a before due cheapo refit of the area in isolation which could suck funds from the potential Project Horizon scheme and even push that project back. All hypothetical, obviously. You just never know.
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It could be possible that they could do a retheme of the area anyway.

The best they can do is really retheme everything and remove Frog Hopper as it's a duplicate to Peter Rabbit.
Benzin said:
Project Horizon should always have included a refurb of the entire area rather than just a solitary ride anyway.
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Who's to say that the retheme wouldn't have been done as part of Horizon anyway.
 
DistortAMG said:
He has already disgraced his name, but money talks and Merlin won't change anything until they are ready, no matter what the contoversy.
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Not even sure its that money talks, just that they have a ride based on one of his books and they see it removed enough from his persona that they don't need to remove the ride before the end of its lifespan or license. As with Charlie & the Choc Factory its likely to be on a ten year licensing deal (but don't know the specifics) so I doubt it will be removed before 2030.
 
Quantum said:
Move the carousel and driving school to CBBCs land and just close the area off for redevelopment. It's a sad empty part of the park, Walliams is just a Poundland Rohld Dhal anyway.
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An actual CBBC Land would be nice 🙂 although I'd say the area just needs redoing with addition of fresh hardware and rejuvenation of the indoor areas that are abandoned.

I think having the Carousel or a bigger one in Towers Street could be a good move.
 
At this rate of picking bad IP's and considering Walliams was not great and was controversial from the start, I would not at all be surprised to see Jimmy Saville Land announced as the next IP.

The park is consistently outdoing itself in terms of awfulness, the dining options being the latest, so no, it would not come as a surprise.
 
This area would be great for some family dark rides. Would be a greater benefit to the park than an indoor coaster, in my opinion.

A ride like Symbolica "in" the Towers, the return of something like Toyland Tours where it used to be, and how about a Vekoma Suspended Dark ride about flying round the world in a hot air balloon? You could fly over all the different continents and oceans, seeing the different landmarks and creatures. It would add a lot of charm, I think.

 
East Coast Mariner said:
This area would be great for some family dark rides. Would be a greater benefit to the park than an indoor coaster, in my opinion.

A ride like Symbolica "in" the Towers, the return of something like Toyland Tours where it used to be, and how about a Vekoma Suspended Dark ride about flying round the world in a hot air balloon? You could fly over all the different continents and oceans, seeing the different landmarks and creatures. It would add a lot of charm, I think.

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So basically bring back Around The World In 80 Days?
 
East Coast Mariner said:
This area would be great for some family dark rides. Would be a greater benefit to the park than an indoor coaster, in my opinion.

A ride like Symbolica "in" the Towers, the return of something like Toyland Tours where it used to be, and how about a Vekoma Suspended Dark ride about flying round the world in a hot air balloon? You could fly over all the different continents and oceans, seeing the different landmarks and creatures. It would add a lot of charm, I think.

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I think there's definitely some easy wins they can do

Funhouse
Mirror Maze
Theatre style attraction
Refurbished Boat Ride

That being in the existing rides and buildings alone before new dark rides, a Driving School area redevelopment or Project Horizon is considered.

That can then allow for the area to be rejuvenated very quickly.

I think most of the rides could be kept in the area - the only one I can identify that needs to be removed is Frog Hopper/Raj because it's now a duplicate of the Peter Rabbit ride.
 
East Coast Mariner said:
This area would be great for some family dark rides. Would be a greater benefit to the park than an indoor coaster, in my opinion.

A ride like Symbolica "in" the Towers, the return of something like Toyland Tours where it used to be, and how about a Vekoma Suspended Dark ride about flying round the world in a hot air balloon? You could fly over all the different continents and oceans, seeing the different landmarks and creatures. It would add a lot of charm, I think.

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I agree, since Towers already have coasters for all groups and age ranges. Something like Symbolica would likely cost a lot, though, but more dark rides in general would be useful for the park's capacity, and they would be enjoyed by all.
 
I’m not sure a major addition into a significant theme park area would yield high returns without some IP involvement. The presence of an IP can do a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of marketing, selling the concept to the general public.

However, what would be a good blend is if they have an overarching original IP to ground the area, with branded IP(s) within that match the theme of the land. That way we would get the scale of design and originality that nerdier guests want, but also the appeal of an IP for the general public. For all its faults, Cloud Cuckoo Land in its prime wasn’t a terrible approach at this, with CatCF and Ice Age both contained within a whimsically themed land.

Maybe they could start at an IP first and work their way backwards for an original-themed land around it from there. That way you get the foot traffic, and people stick around for the other stuff if it’s a nice immersive environment to spend time in.

Steampunk gets floated as a themed area a lot, because the overall park brand has Steampunk aesthetic, but I actually think a Solarpunk theme would be so much more versatile. Because it’s a utopian futuristic theme that has a lot of creative potential, and could heavily lean into a lot of planting and landscaping, whilst taking some design elements of a Steampunk area.

In terms of IP, Sonic the Hedgehog should be a strong contender to return again considering the success of the movies that have happened since Sonic Spinball was rethemed. You could build an indoor dark ride with a sense of speed, and a lot of recognisable characters that would be easily sellable. I’m not a Sonic fan, but it is an IP that has proven to be pretty evergreen. Which is what the park ideally needs from an IP.
 
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Bert2theSpark said:
In terms of IP, Sonic the Hedgehog should be a strong contender to return again considering the success of the movies that have happened since Sonic Spinball was rethemed. You could build an indoor dark ride with a sense of speed, and a lot of recognisable characters that would be easily sellable. I’m not a Sonic fan, but it is an IP that has proven to be pretty evergreen. Which is what the park ideally needs from an IP.
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I love the idea of a Sonic IP area although I'd love to see a launch coaster for the IP as it fits very well with it. I'd say a Blue Fire clone will cover that brief well but it's too high for Towers anyway.

Poisson said:
Funhouses are now a H&S Nightmare
Mirror Mazes are a bit...basic don't you think?
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Mirror Maze I'd say is a basic and quite a cheap way of adding an attraction

With Funhouses around the UK and even at places like Phantasialand, I don't think it's out of the question. It's also a cheap addition to the park as well.
 
Do we think this area will be the next to receive a retheme of all the areas it needs it the most.

Tons of unused buildings and ride areas.

Towers doesn't seem to have many building applications after Project Sunshine other than Horizon.

Feels like there is not whole lot going on round the rest of the park
 
Hid said:
Do we think this area will be the next to receive a retheme of all the areas it needs it the most.

Tons of unused buildings and ride areas.

Towers doesn't seem to have many building applications after Project Sunshine other than Horizon.

Feels like there is not whole lot going on round the rest of the park
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Apart from Project Horizon, I'm sure there is plenty of things going on behind the scenes that are all at the pre-planning permission stage and completely confidential. Toxicator took 2 years to plan, Wickerman planning started within a year or 2 of The Smiler opening. So I suspect we are just going through a lull where nothing is happening publicly but over the next year or so, we'll see things get announced & work start etc which will be a result of the planning going on at the moment.
 
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The park can absolutely surprise us with this sort of thing.

Who saw the CBeebies coaster coming prior to its announcement, for example?
 
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