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Alton Towers' Next Big Thing?

The more i think about it, this probably isn't anything to do with project horizon. Probably just weird timing on behalf of RMC and Alton making videos for roller coaster day... Also, if it was to do with Alton, this would be incredibly early to announce anything happening for 2025, considering we've only just got an official announcement by thorpe for exodus. Having said that, this coaster looks really nippy and compact... I'd love to see what RMC could do with an indoor coaster, following on from fire in the hole.
 
Bowser said:
Where will this ride exist on the map? Is it between The Smiler and Hey Duggee? Or Oblivion and Walliams?
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Here's the location plan from the planning application. That area's known as "coaster corner" because the Mouse and Beast used to be there (happy to say I'm too young to remember but some forum members with Ewoks as their profile pictures will remember, naming no names):
Screenshot 2023-08-18 120110.png


So basically way over on the top right corner on the park map.
 
In terms of actual geography, it’s behind Walliams on the right hand side, with the area being entered between the Alton Towers Dungeon and the World of David Walliams area entrance.

With that being said, the Alton Towers park map hasn’t been overly geographically accurate for some time now, so who knows where it will end up on the park map?
 
Lofty said:
The budget mentioned, if correct, will NOT sustain something of this gravitas. It's not an RMC...
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This. Unless Alton have got something “cheap” as a prototype or multi-coaster deal.

I also think it would be a bit odd for Alton to announce and bang on about a new coaster before they’ve made a fanfare about Nemesis 2.0. That’s their next big upcoming thing. Why upstage it? If it is a RMC, then chances are they’ll announce it next year once Nemesis 2.0 has had its spotlight moment.

Finally, RMC’s announcement is at 1pm EST (6pm UK time). Would a UK park really drop a mega bombshell on us at that time of the week and leave us, and mainstream media, hanging over the weekend? (Yes, I realise social media is open 24/7 and parks can operate outside 9-5, but really…c’mon.)
 
Re: John Burton.

I keep seeing people saying he's a super talented guy who's restricted by budget and marketing constraints.

Can someone point me to an example of John's best work, where he hasn't been so restricted? Even if it's just a concept that never made it to fruition?

Not having a dig at the guy, just genuinely curious to see the best examples of his talent for park design.
 
Jamesss said:
Re: John Burton.

I keep seeing people saying he's a super talented guy who's restricted by budget and marketing constraints.

Can someone point me to an example of John's best work, where he hasn't been so restricted? Even if it's just a concept that never made it to fruition?

Not having a dig at the guy, just genuinely curious to see the best examples of his talent for park design.
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He used to be extremely active in the RCT3 community. He made and programmed a 3D model of th13teen the year it opened on a programme over a decade old that ran like dogs*** if you did anything funky to it, before it was possible to do it in NoLimits 2. He is the definition of a keen bean. He was also a huge contributor to that RCT community, making custom flat ride models and custom trains for rollercoasters, and IIRC even made mock planning permissions and design and access documents for parks in the UK with his concepts. I don't know if any of it is still online anywhere but his legacy in that gaming community was 'oh damn, that guy is actually gonna do something crazy one day'. And here he is. Maybe his skills haven't transferred into real life as well as they could've, but with the amount of dynamic factors at hand working in a company like Merlin, I'm reserved to give into that view yet.
 
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Peet said:
Here's the location plan from the planning application. That area's known as "coaster corner" because the Mouse and Beast used to be there (happy to say I'm too young to remember but some forum members with Ewoks as their profile pictures will remember, naming no names)
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I'm old enough to remember but in my mind The Mouse was around where Hey Duggee is and The Beast was nearer Nemesis. Although i vaguely recall The Beast got moved at some point, would be curious to know if that was true and if so why you'd move an entire rollercoaster within the same park!
 
Bowser said:
I'm old enough to remember but in my mind The Mouse was around where Hey Duggee is and The Beast was nearer Nemesis. Although i vaguely recall The Beast got moved at some point, would be curious to know if that was true and if so why you'd move an entire rollercoaster within the same park!
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Noise complaints.
 
Jamesss said:
Re: John Burton.

I keep seeing people saying he's a super talented guy who's restricted by budget and marketing constraints.

Can someone point me to an example of John's best work, where he hasn't been so restricted? Even if it's just a concept that never made it to fruition?

Not having a dig at the guy, just genuinely curious to see the best examples of his talent for park design.
Click to expand...

Before he worked for Merlin, he did some freelance work for some attractions. He had a website, which I believe he took down shortly after he started working.

There's a snapshot available on Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20161104000316/http://johnburtoncreative.com/portfolio.html
Whilst that doesn't give a full look at some of his concepts he would come up with in his own time, there is a little snippet there

There's also his old tumblr blog which has some of his uni work... https://johnburtoncreative.tumblr.com/
 
This is hilarious, Wild Moose, love it. It better not be heading for that box though. John has some explaining to do given that darn mug.
 
That Moose is mega. I’d love to try one. As great as one would be in that box, wouldn’t it just be Black Hole III (or The Newer Black Hole)? The pre-lift “giggles” do give scope for some fab effects and stuff though. I dunno, maybe I’m just hanging on for higher expectations for Alton Towers than another cred in a shed. I want something really, really innovative.
 
Dimensional comparison checks out, although there will be a bit of spare room:

Horizon = 71x46m
Wild Moose = 150x80 ft = 46m X 24m

Horizon = 19.4m building height
Wild Moose = 50 ft tall = 15.2m

I'm pretty excited for this, we've lost almost all our enclosed coasters in the UK, just The X Way Dead and Astro Invader left by my count. I used to love the Black Hole, if they theme this well it could be great.
 
With the right lighting, theming and effects this could be really good. Let's not do the usual British thing of putting it down before it gets built! Alton normally put a decent amount of effort into the initial theming (maybe not so great on the upkeep). I'm very hopeful this is what it will end up being.
 
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