Thunder Valley

[s_g_k]

I couldn’t find a suitable thread to post this so I’ve made a new one.

Before Nemesis opened in 1994, Forbidden Valley was known as Thunder Valley, which was a nod to the area’s signature ride, Thunder Looper.

I came across some pictures of Thunder Valley yesterday, all photo credits go to Towers Almanac. The pictures really do put into perspective what a huge project Nemesis was. The Nemesis area was an elevated grassy area and hundreds of tons of rock was blasted to make the pit. There’s a reason why there’s so much rock work around the park - it mostly comes from the Nemesis pit!

You can also see how Thunder Looper’s pit was blasted, which of course today is the former Blade site. Next time you’re on park, you can still see remains of Thunder Looper’s old entrance and queue line, which was initially used for The Blade before the entrance was relocated.

You can also make out The New Beast, which was the next model up from The Black Hole (Jet Star 3 vs Jet Star 2). The New Beast was originally located in Coaster Corner and was known as simply The Beast when it was there, and also had green track. The track was then painted red when it was relocated to Thunder Valley. Today, the area that The New Beast occupied is home to Galactica.

What memories do you have of Thunder Valley? It’s incredible to see what the area looked like pre-Nemesis and goes to show the boundaries that were pushed back in the early 90s.

 

[WillPS]

Some (perhaps all?) the photos were taken by a really lovely dude called Jason who worked at the park, I think between 88 and 94. I remember being similar awed when he shared the pictures with me over MSN Messenger back in the day.

 

[Dhev123]

Slightly off topic but I still think it’s kinda hilarious how similar the new beast / black hole were

 

[s_g_k]

Slightly off topic but I still think it’s kinda hilarious how similar the new beast / black hole were

Pretty much the same coaster, it’s just the Beast was a bit bigger. But I get you, it seemed strange to have them both operating at the same time. I think with black hole being indoors it felt so much different.

 

[Bowser]

The pictures really do put into perspective what a huge project Nemesis was. The Nemesis area was an elevated grassy area and hundreds of tons of rock was blasted to make the pit. There’s a reason why there’s so much rock work around the park - it mostly comes from the Nemesis pit!

And yet there were people vehemently arguing that the retrack was as expensive as the original build (excluding inflation).

Interesting to see it again, my memories are hazy but all the rides are in the same position at least! I’m sure there was a period where Beast and Thunder Looper weren’t both there though.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

And yet there were people vehemently arguing that the retrack was as expensive as the original build (excluding inflation).

The pit wasn't technically part of the Nemesis build. It was part of a wider Forbidden Valley theme, and intended for SW1, not Nemesis, with the first blasting taking place in 1991. Nemesis (SW3) was built around the pit they already had, for a different coaster.

 

[WillPS]

And yet there were people vehemently arguing that the retrack was as expensive as the original build (excluding inflation).

Interesting to see it again, my memories are hazy but all the rides are in the same position at least! I’m sure there was a period where Beast and Thunder Looper weren’t both there though.

Thunder Looper arrived in 1990.
Alton Beast operated in Coaster Corner until the end of 1991.