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Toyland Tours

BigAl said:
KingNemesis said:
BigAl said:
I was only one when these were taken! :p
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I was minus 1 month!
Toyland Tours was a great ride!

Currently possess a Toyland Tours keyring in my room from the 90's (Forgot the specific year) !
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Do you have a photo of it? I never got any Toyland Tours merchandise, though I do have an old beaker with various attractions on which does include an image of the pink elephant from Toyland Tours.
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I'll upload it when I'm home tonight :)
purchased of eBay a couple of months back!
 
Sorry for double posting!

Toyland Tours Keyring:

Back:
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Front:
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Dragging this thread up from the dead to share this article on Toyland Tours.

It includes some great photos and sketches I haven’t seen before of the design and installation of the ride and also shows the building in its current guise behind the scenes.

Certainly worth a read for any fellow fans of this lost attraction.

I never appreciated how much of the space was walled off for Charlie. I knew about the last room being empty but not how much space was removed around the rest of the ride.

darkridedatabase.com

Alton Towers' Toyland Tours – 30th Anniversary Feature – DRdb

To mark 30 years since the opening of Toyland Tours at Alton Towers, we take a look at the making of this classic dark ride for the first time.
darkridedatabase.com darkridedatabase.com
 
commando2000ad said:
I know Sonic was popular back in the early nineties with sonic 3 released back in 1994 as well but why was he chosen and why was he never advertised with the ride?
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I can concur with @DiogoJ42. It was a different era, where promotions were done differently. Sonic wasn't the draw for the ride, but a relevant section that represented part of how kids played at the time in a ride themed to toys. Think of it as the icing on the cake for an excellent ride, rather than the strength of the IP carrying a crap ride like is so often the case in Merlin parks now. The ride quality came first, the big gun IP enhanced it rather than carried it.

This is before the days of YouTube and widespread access to the internet. Towers would have had limited access to market the ride, with the main channels being TV (and hoping that it rains the day the promo aired so that enough of your target audience are actually home to watch it), or print media. So much to say, such limited opportunity to say it. You had to make marketing count back then. Integrated Marketing Communications wasn't a thing.

Sonic was included because he was probably the biggest brand cartoon character in the world at the time. Its often underestimated when you consider what followed for the blue blur, but when Sonic 2 released in 1992, it was one of the biggest media events of the year. At one point in the early 90's, more kids were able to recognise Sonic and Mario than Mickey Mouse. Sonic 3 releasing in 1994 was a massive event, and Towers was the place to be at the time. So it was a match made in heaven.

Sadly, both fell on harder times. We all know the direction Towers has gone in, but Sonic as a character himself has succumbed to the kind of IP strategy Merlin employs for their rides. He quickly became a cash cow for a troubled Sega. He initially became popular off the back of being the major character in high quality games. But he quickly became the golden IP to be wheeled out every year to support shovelware to cash in on his brand, for a company that had completely lost its way.

The series never reached the heights of Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles ever again. Sonic Xtreme for the Saturn was a troubled development, and eventually cancelled, leaving his IP to be reduced to a pretty crap spin-off racing game (Sonic R) and a compilation game (Sonic Jam) to carry the candle on their new platform. By the time of Sonic Adventure, we were already in yet another console generation, Sega were on the verge of going bust, and even though SA1 and 2 were both good games, they were both highly flawed and aged terribly within just a few years. After just about surviving financial collapse when they pulled the Dreamcast from the market, Sega released Sonic '06' for the next generation again, and it is renowned for being one of the worst and most broken games in gaming history to this very day. They've been releasing a mixed bag quality of Sonic games ever since at regular intervals.

By the time Toyland Tours opened that summer, the Sonic room was already dated, depicting a game on hardware that was already well into it's twilight years. By the time it closed, Sonic had been redesigned 7 years prior, and looked nothing like his Towers depiction. Not only was the Mega Drive long gone, but gaming had been through 2 whole console generations, Sega had participated in 2 of them, and had completely left the console market altogether. The disastrous Sonic 06 was just a year away. Yet it kind of stood there as a reminder of how great things were to a kid like me at that specific period of time. 2 of my mid-90's loves in one package. What a time to be alive that was!
 
Matt.GC said:
By the time Toyland Tours opened that summer, the Sonic room was already dated, depicting a game on hardware that was already well into it's twilight years. By the time it closed, Sonic had been redesigned 7 years prior, and looked nothing like his Towers depiction. Not only was the Mega Drive long gone, but gaming had been through 2 whole console generations, Sega had participated in 2 of them, and had completely left the console market altogether. The disastrous Sonic 06 was just a year away. Yet it kind of stood there as a reminder of how great things were to a kid like me at that specific period of time. 2 of my mid-90's loves in one package. What a time to be alive that was!
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But the story didn't end there, Sonic Spinball etc. How the heck that happened I've no idea, it was never clear to me which side instigated it nor what value either side got.

I wonder if the plan with TT was to keep the Sonic scenes updated with subsequent video games, but the problem was just that they really never happened (ignoring compilations and spinoff franchises)?
 
WillPS said:
But the story didn't end there, Sonic Spinball etc. How the heck that happened I've no idea, it was never clear to me which side instigated it nor what value either side got.

I wonder if the plan with TT was to keep the Sonic scenes updated with subsequent video games, but the problem was just that they really never happened (ignoring compilations and spinoff franchises)?
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Yes I've often pondered both myself. Owing to how insanely big Sonic was in 94, I'd expect it would have been Tussauds doing the instigating, although Sega Europe (headquartered practically opposite Chessington actually!) were renowned for their extremely aggressive brand awareness marketing strategies at the time.

I would expect the opposite maybe true for Spinball? By 2010, Sega were extremely reliant on the Sonic IP. They hadn't made consoles for 9 years, and their arcade business was struggling massively. They were desperately churning out whatever re-releases of older games they could, and keeping their successful Sonic franchise alive was their bread and butter. 2010 also saw the release of the first critically successful Sonic game since Sonic Adventure 2 in 2001, which was Sonic Generations. Generations itself relied heavily in nostalgia, clearly aimed at fans who had grown up with the franchise when it was in its heyday, and it almost played like it was some sort of swan song love letter to past glories. All the cringy 'easter eggs' around Towers these days remind me of that kind of thing. Maybe this was Sega's way of getting the brand back out there and reintroducing it to the public ahead of their big new 'lets pretend most of the last 9 years didn't happen' release?

Sonic and Sega, however, are going through somewhat of a renaissance lately. The strength of the Sonic brand has proved somewhat timeless, despite all the abuses it's seen. The movies proved to be surprise box office hits. Sonic Mania (that Sega didn't actually make) was excellent. Dare I say it, but Sonic Frontiers was actually rather good (yes, Sega themselves actually made a decent triple A 3d Sonic game based on a mostly original concept!). The third movie is on its way, Frontiers is getting a sequel. Some of Sega's rich and creative catalogue of other IP's such as Golden Axe and Crazy Taxi are being invested in heavily to produce new and original games.

I'd personally love to see Sonic make a return to Towers in some capacity. The IP practically lends itself to theme parks better than any I can think of.
 
Would be cool to have Sonic in Alton again maybe as a replacement for world of David walliams to bring it all full circle

WillPS said:
I wonder if the plan with TT was to keep the Sonic scenes updated with subsequent video games, but the problem was just that they really never happened (ignoring compilations and spinoff franchises)?
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I think this is a wider problem with Alton I've been noticing, they build wonderful well themed rides and then leave them to rot as they focus on the next new thing. Just look what happened to the haunted house/Duel during their last years and I fear might with Curse.
 
The Project Horizon thread got me wondering about an old childhood memory of the queue of Toyland Tours - I’m pretty sure that the queue snaked behind the building before getting to the front, but looking at google maps it would appear there wouldn’t be any room for such a thing

Is this a false memory or did they once have a much bigger space for a queue to that building?
 
Dan12345 said:
The Project Horizon thread got me wondering about an old childhood memory of the queue of Toyland Tours - I’m pretty sure that the queue snaked behind the building before getting to the front, but looking at google maps it would appear there wouldn’t be any room for such a thing

Is this a false memory or did they once have a much bigger space for a queue to that building?
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You aren’t going mad, there was an extended outdoor queue to the left of the Toyland building.

After a few years it was no longer needed and sat behind a themed wall. When TT became Charlie and the Choc Factory the space was used for an extension to the building to house the glass elevators, which is why it looks there is no space to the side of the building today.

Edit: pic here from Towers Almanac (one for the oldies there) taken winter 2004 of the unused queue.

IMG_8754.jpeg
 
Dan12345 said:
The Project Horizon thread got me wondering about an old childhood memory of the queue of Toyland Tours - I’m pretty sure that the queue snaked behind the building before getting to the front, but looking at google maps it would appear there wouldn’t be any room for such a thing

Is this a false memory or did they once have a much bigger space for a queue to that building?
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I remember the queue snaked up/down the length of the facade at the front (which CATCF did not due to the glass elevators/exit), maybe that's what you're thinking?
 
Did Toyland Tours ever have a long queue. Also where did the queue line go once inside the building. Because there didn't see to be a queue line sound track from inside
 
AT86 said:
You aren’t going mad, there was an extended outdoor queue to the left of the Toyland building.
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Yes, that would be what I was thinking of! (I seem to remember it being towards the left hand side of the back)

I’m glad my memory isn’t failing me - thanks for answering that question that keeps popping up every few years!

Hid said:
Did Toyland Tours ever have a long queue. Also where did the queue line go once inside the building. Because there didn't see to be a queue line sound track from inside
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For this 9 year old, yes it had an excruciatingly long queue!

I think once you got to the entry you went forward a bit then turned right - but you’re really pushing my memory now!!
 
You basically went into the building and immediately went up and over the trough and back down the other side to board. It was themed to a boat.

Still there to this day I believe but just covered behind walls.
 
AT86 said:
Still there to this day I believe but just covered behind walls.
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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)
 
One thing I am always surprised with is how often Toyland Tours is almost never used for merch you could always make the toys into merch and they would be popular
 
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Hid said:
One thing I am always surprised with is how often Toyland Tours is almost never used for merch you could always make the toys into merch and they would be popular
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Could of been Alton’s Toy Story if they’d played it right

Jiggly ballerina elephant tits could be a big seller
 
Ash said:
Could of been Alton’s Toy Story if they’d played it right

Jiggly ballerina elephant tits could be a big seller
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You could have teddy bears, a timed inflatable Dinosaur, Elecopter, Snailectrix, Party Train, the Dancing Hippos , Giant Cake and Jelly with Wind Surfing Creatures and a Mermaid
 
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