Christ - four pages of pointless ****! Yuo go away for a few hours and THIS happens. Point score on P.M.'s
Let's get some information down and try and narrow down people's opinions, without being rude.
1. John Wardley was spotted by 'trusted' people on TTF marking trees - it's what started the whole "the Corkscrew is going" thing. It does NOT confirm Wardley is involved, but as he's worked in some degree on most of Tussauds coasters along the line (including Dylan) - I think it's a safe bet he's also working on this. Not guaranteed, but I'd say it's over a 90% probability.
2. Alton are looking at family friendly concepts at the moment. Any ride with a height limit, I'd say above 1.25M is VERY unlikely. It's a good chance that they will replace a family coaster, with another family coaster.
3. Valley wood is exceptionally unlikely (sorry Erol). They moved from that concept a long time ago, it's just not feasible. The ride has to dip into a very sensitive area - grade I listed gardens and a protected view, plus all the protected trees and the noise. Lovely idea, but completely impractical.
4. Wing Walker? Well done, you've fallen for Alton's first Red Herring.
5. Eurofighter. See, this is dismissed as "it's just like Oblivion". It's not. I'v ebeen on Two Euofighters and Oblivion, and a Eurofighter is MUCH closer to a ride like Colossus than Oblivion. I remember everyone saying "not a floorless in Thorpe, a looping coaster by Colossus, don't be stupid".
Thing is, a Eurofighter is a 'kiddie' Oblivion, plus what Corkscrew did. It's got a low height limit (for riders), and it has multiple inversions. People are thinking too tightly again, and unrealistically about things. Still in enthusiast mode (and pretending not to be). Would it be stupid to get a Vekoma Family Suspended coaster? It's just Nemesis, right? Same thing? Same gimmick? The number of people who still don't know whether they've been on air or Nemesis is astounding. "It was that one were you're under the track". GP just don't care - they don't say "I've been on (new eurofighter), why would I want to ride Oblivion now?" They will ride both, as Oblivion is clearly the big brother. The difference is that the Eurofighter will have a ridiculous queue of guests, just like Spinball does as it appeals to a massive demographic.
However:
6. Secret Weapon 6 - Reserved for new concepts and 'firsts'. A Eurofighter doesn't fit as a SW. Neither does a normal woody either. So I think whatever we're thinking about is well off the mark - anything which we've seen before is very unlikely.
7.
It is a Coaster Sorry Trav, confirmed by Alton Towers - They have secured the investment for a new coaster to be installed. They MIGHT install a new flat to go alongside it in the Ug Swinger space though. It makes sense - look at all the areas. There's pretty much a flat per coaster. FV has two for two, XS two for one, UL one for two. It's a pretty classic way of laying out your park. With just two coasters, Ug Land is going to be a dull place to visit and VERY crowded.
There we are then
So, we're looking really at a new concept or something not seen very often. If it's a new concept, all our guesses are in vain...