• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

The World of David Walliams: General Discussion

Matt N said:
I’m not sure I necessarily agree with this.

Roald Dahl’s books may be old now, but I’d argue that they are still iconic and widely read. I don’t think a Dahl theme would have been “reputational suicide” myself; I feel that most people still view him as an iconic author. I don’t think “most of the population” would be repelled by the author’s alleged anti-Semitic views.

Like when people talk about JK Rowling’s controversial views affecting the popularity of Harry Potter, I do feel that people who would care strongly enough about this to boycott it are a particularly vocal minority rather than a representation of the wider populace at large. If Dahl had committed a crime or had accusations against him like Walliams, this would of course be slightly different, but I don’t think a lot of people would boycott him purely based on some views, which may have been a mark of the era in which he was alive as much as anything.

Or maybe I’m just out of touch!
Click to expand...
I don't think that there would be a massive boycott of the park, certainly not in any meaningful way.

I do believe that there would be a lot of negative headlines, articles and posts written about the park choosing a well documented anti-Semitic author to theme a land around, especially given the recent tragic events at the Manchester synagogue and Bondi Beach.

It's also important to note that the views are not alleged, they are well documented by the author, with the Roald Dahl Museum going as far as having a dedicated web page apologising for the author's statements.

He commented on what he perceived as a "trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity" and stated that "even a stinker like Hitler didn't just pick on them for no reason". Dahl also said, "I am certainly anti-Israel, and I have become anti-Semitic in as much as that you get a Jewish person in another country like England strongly supporting Zionism.".

It isn't a "mark of the era"; it was virulent hate speech that was offensive then and is offensive now.

www.roalddahlmuseum.org

Anti-racism statement - Roald Dahl Museum & Story Centre

Read the Roald Dahl Museum's anti-racism statement. The Roald Dahl Museum condemns all racism directed at any group or individual.
www.roalddahlmuseum.org www.roalddahlmuseum.org

There is a fundamental difference with JK Rowling. Warner Bros. and Universal cannot decouple the Wizarding World from Rowling; she retains iron clad control over the IP. It is a multi billion dollar juggernaut that is arguably "too big to fail". It is also already in place. Merlin, however, has a choice. They do not need Roald Dahl.

Merlin are risk averse and do not need the headache. It would cause significant reputational damage.
 
Dave said:
I think they would struggle for any crazy builds in the area as it’s right up against the ruins.
Click to expand...
Do you think? I think it’d pass, they could just say they need it to support jobs throughout the winter season to compete with Universal or something and the council would be receptive to that imo. Especially with all the recent redundancies, I know some people in the hotels have taken redundancy.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
I don't think that there would be a massive boycott of the park, certainly not in any meaningful way.

I do believe that there would be a lot of negative headlines, articles and posts written about the park choosing a well documented anti-Semitic author to theme a land around, especially given the recent tragic events at the Manchester synagogue and Bondi Beach.

It's also important to note that the views are not alleged, they are well documented by the author, with the Roald Dahl Museum going as far as having a dedicated web page apologising for the author's statements.

He commented on what he perceived as a "trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity" and stated that "even a stinker like Hitler didn't just pick on them for no reason". Dahl also said, "I am certainly anti-Israel, and I have become anti-Semitic in as much as that you get a Jewish person in another country like England strongly supporting Zionism.".

It isn't a "mark of the era"; it was virulent hate speech that was offensive then and is offensive now.

www.roalddahlmuseum.org

Anti-racism statement - Roald Dahl Museum & Story Centre

Read the Roald Dahl Museum's anti-racism statement. The Roald Dahl Museum condemns all racism directed at any group or individual.
www.roalddahlmuseum.org www.roalddahlmuseum.org

There is a fundamental difference with JK Rowling. Warner Bros. and Universal cannot decouple the Wizarding World from Rowling; she retains iron clad control over the IP. It is a multi billion dollar juggernaut that is arguably "too big to fail". It is also already in place. Merlin, however, has a choice. They do not need Roald Dahl.

Merlin are risk averse and do not need the headache. It would cause significant reputational damage.
Click to expand...
Reputational damage? Hardly, not everyone shares the same opinion. Walliams likely has other skeletons on his closet that are yet to come out.
 
Some additional thoughts.

The Wizarding World attractions are themed around a specific IP, rather than an author and all of their works. This allows the casual visitor to have cognitive dissonance and allows the park to use the "separate the art from the artist" argument.

Any park launching a "World of JK Rowling" attraction would have a much more difficult time defending their decision. Not just because the heroin overdoses in The Casual Vacancy would make for some questionable attraction / theming decisions.

Had the park taken the decision to theme all of Cred Street to "Charlie and the Chocolate Family" in 2006, I don't think the modern anti-Semitism concerns would have generated a headache for them later down the line. Nothing that couldn't be solved by the cognitive dissonance defence, at least.

The issue is with the land being themed around an author, as it essentially becomes an extension of their brand and an association with their behaviours, beliefs and opinions.
Quantum said:
Reputational damage? Hardly, not everyone shares the same opinion. Walliams likely has other skeletons on his closet that are yet to come out.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure you actually read my post, we were discussing the widely documented anti-Semitic behaviour of Roald Dahl, and why a retheme of the area to his works would cause reputational damage.

I am not going to be drawn into a potentially libellous discussion about any "skeletons that are yet to come out". It is foolish, irresponsible and also irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

If you're changing the IP of an area to escape reputational damage due to allegations of inappropriate behaviour by the author, you probably shouldn't change it to an author who said that Hitler had a point.
 
Isn't the easiest thing to just quietly downscale the theme to Gangsta Granny and Raj's shop, take down the branding, remove the Frog Hopper, repaint the buildings nearby and lightly retheme the Carousel to something less Gangsta Granny related so it's just the Dark Ride. That would be a light retheme of the area to downscale the author's name.

There are also rides they could add in that are potentially in storage. Postman Pat, Monkey Swinger and potentially Tuk Tuk Turmoil are rides they could put in the area. There is also the 4D cinema which could open up again to fill up the area as a quick fix.

The kids won't associate Gangsta Granny with the ongoing controversy in the same way adults will and a lot of people will separate the work from the author, a good point on that is Harry Potter and JK Rowling with her views on the trans population.

I can honestly imagine Merlin going for a quick fix if they do decide that Walliam's name is too risky and controversial going forwards.
 
Little bit off topic but if they were to retheme the area then surely the remains of the Postman Pat ride (if the ride is still in storage that is) would have been an easy ride to be built into the area replacing the driving school, any more attractions would help regardless.
 
Just to add as it's something I noticed.. there's next to no mention of David Walliams himself on the website anymore. All of the ride descriptions on their individual pages don't mention him whatsoever, aside from the World of David Walliams logo in small print on the GG page. All of the rides are classed as "The Towers" and there is no general page for the TWODW area.

On the GG ride page, there used to be a video of David Walliams and John Burton going over the plans for the area with DW's reaction, and this was present on the website as recent as May 25. This has now been removed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Haz
Will be interesting to see how long these 5 videos remain on Towers' official YouTube channel (the link should show the 5 videos as a search result):
www.youtube.com

Alton Towers Resort

Welcome to the Official Alton Towers Resort YouTube Channel! 🎥 Experience world-class rollercoasters, family fun, and unforgettable adventures at the UK’s biggest theme park! Enjoy ride POVs, event highlights, and get all the latest news and updates from across the Resort 🎢 ❤️ Subscribe now —...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
If they quietly disappear in the next few days/weeks/months then I suspect that would be an indication as to what will happen to TWODW come opening day. Then again, it might be forgotten by the marketing team that these videos even exist on the channel!
 
jon81uk said:
Why replace the driving school at all? Especially with something for a lower age range.
Click to expand...
I’d argue it’s debatable that Postman Pat is targeted at a lower age range than Driving School.

Anyone of any age can ride Postman Pat, whereas Driving School has a maximum height restriction of 1.4m meaning that adults can’t ride. With this in mind, I’d argue that Postman Pat could theoretically be a whole-family attraction, whereas Driving School is definitely a children’s attraction.

To be honest, I’m always surprised that they never moved Driving School to CBeebies Land. It seems like a more fitting area for it to reside in in terms of target age range than Walliams!
 
To be fair, I didn’t realise the height requirement was as high as 1m… that does make it slightly different!
 
owenstreet7 said:
lightly retheme the Carousel to something less Gangsta Granny
Click to expand...

Carousel has absolutely nothing David Walliams themed. It’s a generic Royal themed carousel with Elizabeth II style audio. Nothing there would breach copyright if they dropped the IP but kept it as is. Yes, they made it fit but it’s not specific to his books.

Raj is a character from Walliams books as is Gangsta Granny so these two would. If Flavios were still there, this was also a Walliams creation.
 
Driving School would be fine, if relocated. The bridge just makes it a bit awkward where it is now. The ride system is now 20 years old, so you'd ideally replace it rather than mess about any more with it.
 
Im definitely favouring the option to just close the whole area off for 2026 and possibly 2027 in order to open a new land entirely for 2028.

I agree with the comments that short term sticking plaster options are just not worth it for what it a very lackluster area anyway. That area being shut is hardly going to make a significant dent in attendance figures either. Obviously less staff required too and lower running costs.

Hopefully whatever they do next with the area is a massive success because boy do they need it.
 
It's weird to me that the Driving School on the website is classified as being a part of Cloud Cuckoo Land! Maybe they could just revert the other rides in the area to residing in 'Cloud Cuckoo Land' again in 2026 if they weren't to close off the area. I'd love to see Monkey Swinger come over from Chessington however, it would really help with Alton Towers lack of flats, plus rides for around the 1.2m mark
 
Strangely, I think most of us are in agreement that despite Walliams ostensibly being one of the “newer” areas of the park, it’s possibly the one most in need of major work.

I quite liked CCL as a child, but it was never anything earth-shattering to begin with and mostly piggy backed off the older infrastructure of the 80s. After the Smiler crash and ensuing fallout, that area just became utterly dreary and while there were positive aspects of it, I don’t think the Walliams retheme and Gangsta Granny did nearly enough to reverse that.

I know I’ve already said it, but at this point, I think most of what’s up there is just so old that it’s not worth doing any more sticking plaster rethemes. I am still a big believer in Project Horizon and hope it comes at some point, but I now hope that either along with it or in place of it if it’s been cancelled, a serious rocket is fired up the backside of this very stagnant area of Alton Towers after years of being relatively uninteresting. It’s about time something of genuine interest went onto that area!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top