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Towers Loving Care

I think it might open in the next week or so,
school trip weeks are crazy busy,
they will need the extra filler attractions.
And Shed Terry,
nice one!
 
A redressed Charlie could be the 'new' ride for 2017? The level of investment required wouldn't be all that significant, really, if they're wanting to bring something new. I haven't heard if that's in the plan or not, but with significant spend already allocated to 2018, it would perhaps be unlikely to keep it shuttered until 2019. If it's coming back at all, of course.

I have defended the need for cuts, it makes sense and given the queue times we've been seeing, there has been somewhat of a resurgence, so on the whole I suspect they've saved a reasonable figure and that there hasn't too much of an impact. It's just a bit of a shame that three of the closed rides are indoors, of course.
 
Rick said:
A redressed Charlie could be the 'new' ride for 2017? The level of investment required wouldn't be all that significant, really, if they're wanting to bring something new. I haven't heard if that's in the plan or not, but with significant spend already allocated to 2018, it would perhaps be unlikely to keep it shuttered until 2019. If it's coming back at all, of course.
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I fear that will likely be the case.

I would love to see that whole site bulldozed, including the meritless Burger Kitchen, for a massive new indoor ride with an integrated restaurant experience kind of like a really small scale version of Pirates of the Caribbean but with a unique theme. Something to form the centrepiece of a redevelopment of that whole corner of the park.

Fat chance eh? They literally don't seem to have a clue how to build any exciting or innovative rides that aren't coasters. In the 16 years since Hex we've had three cheap bog standard off-the-shelf attractions (Battle Galleons, Sharkbait Reef, Sub-Terra), two lazy re-themes (Charlie, Duel) and literally barely anything else of note.

They need to up their game and start broadening the park's offerings. Variety is the spice of life and frankly, any decent theme park worth its salt. Development at Alton Towers has become excruciatingly predictable and formulaic - a Secret Weapon coaster development every so many years but with naff all else in between.
 
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CoasterCrazyChris said:
I fear that will be the likely case.

I would love to see that whole site bulldozed, including the Burger Kitchen, for a massive new indoor ride with some kind of integrated restaurant - like a really small scale Pirates of the Caribbean but with a unique theme.
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it would be nice if they installed an indoor water ride (like Valhalla at BPB) in Charlie's building, as a decent replacement for the Flume.
 
CoasterCrazyChris said:
I fear that will likely be the case.

I would love to see that whole site bulldozed, including the meritless Burger Kitchen, for a massive new indoor ride with an integrated restaurant experience kind of like a really small scale version of Pirates of the Caribbean but with a unique theme. Something to form the centrepiece of a redevelopment of that whole corner of the park.

Fat chance eh? They literally don't seem to have a clue how to build any exciting or innovative rides that aren't coasters. In the 16 years since Hex we've had three cheap bog standard off-the-shelf attractions (Battle Galleons, Sharkbait Reef, Sub-Terra), two lazy re-themes (Charlie, Duel) and literally barely anything else of note.

They need to up their game and start broadening the park's offerings. Variety is the spice of life and frankly, any decent theme park worth its salt. Development at Alton Towers has become excruciatingly predictable and formulaic - a Secret Weapon coaster development every so many years but with naff all else in between.
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Whilst I agree with your general point, I wouldn't describe Battle Galleons and Sharkbait Reef as "bog standard" - they're worth more than that. And I wouldn't classify the overall CBeebie's Land project as being "naff all else".
 
They won't knock down anything in that corner, it's closest part of the park to Alton so not exactly the easiest areas to get planning permission.

I may be wrong but I would guess the Charlie building will be SBNO until at least 2019. Next year won't be big budget and 2018 is SW8.

And as for the "off the shelf" stuff, battle galleons isn't off the shelf but in this climate is a questionable investment and Sharkbait is pretty damn good as aquariums go. NST was idiocy and although CBeebies re-energised the area, has a few stand-out bits and looks nice it wasn't well thought out in regards to throughputs and other bits.

Still they have a new team in charge of developments now so let's see where they get to.
 
Dave said:
And as for the "off the shelf" stuff, battle galleons isn't off the shelf but in this climate is a questionable investment and Sharkbait is pretty damn good as aquariums go. NST was idiocy and although CBeebies re-energised the area, has a few stand-out bits and looks nice it wasn't well thought out in regards to throughputs and other bits.
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I doubt anyone older than about eight would find any of those attractions genuinely exciting or particularly appealing. None are unique or innovative in the same way most of the park's coasters are.

CBeebies has virtually no new ride hardware and popular as it may be it is still inferior IMO to most major and even some regional park's children's areas - including Drayton Manor. The farm was very tired but at least it offered quality crafted theming and was pleasant, whereas now its a paint explosion with 2D signs.

What i'm getting at is that the park needs something that is unique, large scale and not a coaster. Basically.
 
skyscraper said:
it would be nice if they installed an indoor water ride (like Valhalla at BPB) in Charlie's building, as a decent replacement for the Flume.
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I think that one of the most important functions of a dark ride or any indoor attraction is to provide something to do when it's raining. Obviously Valhalla fails in this respect because it completely drenches riders, usually making them far wetter than if they'd stayed out in the rain.

So I wouldn't be in favour of an indoor flume-type ride. In fact, I don't think there's a lot wrong with the current transit system. It's solid, reliable and it's survived three different rides. Keeping it would mean much more budget could go towards the show and not the ride hardware.
 
I think the problem is that the boat trough was butchered when it became Charlie. Not sure how easy it would be to restore it. Personally I'm all for a totally new transit system. Not too fussed what type.
 
If and when they do re-open the ride as something else, I hope they use the old section of track that was blocked off for Charlie.
 
Well they had to cut out sections of the trough and add in a new turnround. Has anyone got some pictures of that backstage tour we had for TT's tenth?

EDIT:
There's these on our very own site. :p
russell_057_595_towerstreet_sign_clean.jpg


Looks like they actually removed a turn to stick in the offload station.
catcfbtsdw12%20%2810%29_595_towerstreet_sign_clean.jpg
 
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