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Toyland Tours

I would love to be able to spend a couple of hours in that building being able to discover what’s there. There must be so much history just hidden away

(I once asked to leave the Dungeons early because one of the scenes made me feel too overwhelmed, and they guided me out through a fire exit. It was depressingly boring with tarmac floors)

This.

Forget your track walks and heritage tours, I’d pay good money to roam that building for an hour!

Fun unrelated fact - I once got evac’d from a dark ride at Epcot and I was amazed at how plush the backstage areas were - themed and carpeted, with little gold signs on other evac doors with “Warning: Opens to Stage” written on them. No tarmac in sight!
 
This.

Forget your track walks and heritage tours, I’d pay good money to roam that building for an hour!

Fun unrelated fact - I once got evac’d from a dark ride at Epcot and I was amazed at how plush the backstage areas were - themed and carpeted, with little gold signs on other evac doors with “Warning: Opens to Stage” written on them. No tarmac in sight!
I have been told not even Employees are allowed in that building as its considered a construction site so is off limits to everyone except builders and managers
 
I have been told not even Employees are allowed in that building as its considered a construction site so is off limits to everyone except builders and managers

If it’s anything like the mazes it’ll be designated as a CDM site - so it’ll require a site induction, PPE and only authorised contractors can enter. Ruins mazes always operated under CDM until such a time as they were ready for training to begin.
 
But the story didn't end there...


From: https://youtu.be/zSzxBqROrfw

Amazing stuff! Now this might sound rather ungrateful but it would be interesting to see to see a modern version of this ride would look like in Planet Coaster, as in what if the ride had survived not being closed but got the work needed that it deserved. Would be nice to see that honestly.

Actually, what would a modern version of Toyland Tours have looked like had it not closed as in scenes and maybe musical tweaks?
 
Does anyone still listen to the soundtrack for this ride to this day. Actually think you could use the soundtrack for other attractions around the park could fit any happy go lucky theme
 
Does anyone still listen to the soundtrack for this ride to this day. Actually think you could use the soundtrack for other attractions around the park could fit any happy go lucky theme
One of the most iconic Towers themes ever...many on here still listen to it. Lord knows how someone like IMAscore would have mucked around with it had that attraction somehow survived into the present day.
 
Why did Toyland Tours close it seemed to be a great a dark ride and even in its closing still seemed a great ride
 
Why did Toyland Tours close it seemed to be a great a dark ride and even in its closing still seemed a great ride
Main reason was that it wasn't popular with thr GP, not helped that it wasn't promoted well and was in the **** end of the park plus was being run down in which nothing with it changed which sadly made it an easy target with closure.

All the same, had it survived it likely would have seen a botched Bubbleworks Imperial Leather sponsorship make over and lord nows how bad that might have looked.
 
I seem to recall the attraction seemingly being in an okay state in 2004. Almost everything was working. Just 1 or 2 things that were broken, which I had never seen work. Specifically, one being one of the giant rotating jelly in the finale scene (the one on the left) and the other being the Sonic animatronic. Everything else seemed in decent condition. So the rundown argument seems unlikely to me.

I did hear the building had an issue with damp, which had weakened some of the scenery elements. I have no idea if this is true or not.
 
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Because they thought a Charlie & the Chocolate Factory ride would be more popular.
But that only had a ten year license.
Charlie was still great but Toyland was better. If Charlie had been placed elsewhere and not replaced a ride it might have been more popular
 
Even as a Toyland Tours fan I think it’s fair to say that during the 2003-2005 period demand was low for the attraction. I would ride it on every visit but it was more often than not walk on even on busier days.

I think it simply suffered from not being ‘new’ anymore and due its location being a forgotten corner of the park (so nothing has changed there then). It wouldn’t have been helped by the vintage cars being walled off in 2004, further reducing the attractions in that area.

It was simply an underutilised asset, so it does make sense that the park would look to do something that would boost ridership and give them something new to market.

I absolutely miss this attraction though. I would love for them to put that building back into use as a whimsical family boat ride once again.
 
I really do hope Horizon, if it comes, breathes some life back into that area of the park. That whole corner behind the Towers has felt a bit lifeless for years, particularly after Charlie closed.

I think the boat ride coming back into use in some capacity would be a very easy win for Alton Towers that I’m surprised they haven’t done sooner. It would be a relatively cheap way to add another dark ride, another whole family attraction and another attraction with reasonable capacity into the offering.

If they were to bring back the boat ride as a free-to-enter attraction, I honestly think the park would be pretty sussed on dark rides. This would give them 5; very few parks have more than 5 dark rides outside of Disney and Universal.
 
Because they thought a Charlie & the Chocolate Factory ride would be more popular.
But that only had a ten year license.
Wasn't that on the hype of the Tim Burton movie coming out the same year?

Although it would've been smarter for Towers to have the licence depicting the Tim Burton version as a tie in (at the time)
 
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