Alton Towers' Next Big Thing?

[Matt N]

The Environmental Impact Assessment now has documents which suggest that the building will be 20m (65.6ft) tall.

That’s very tall for a dark ride… even Flight of the Sky Lion (a flying theatre) was only listed as 13m (42.7ft) tall in its planning application. And things like DBGT and Duel have typically been not much more than about 10m (32.8ft) tall.

I’m reckoning some form of indoor family coaster… it could certainly still be a dark ride, but I reckon a coaster is more likely within a 20m tall building.
EDIT - Here’s a link to the EIA letter: http://publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk/portal/servlets/AttachmentShowServlet?ImageName=313746

The project description describes a 4,000m2 aluminium warehouse, which will be up to 75m*57m in ground space dimensions and up to 20m tall.

 

[Matt N]

Sorry to double post, but one interesting detail I missed is that the EIA also says that the building will have a “hipped roof”, which is more like what you typically see on a house than what you typically get on a dark ride building (dark rides typically have flat roofs)… this leads me to further believe that it might be an indoor coaster rather than a dark ride, as atypical building shapes (e.g. non-flat roofs) are seemingly more typical on indoor coasters than on dark rides.

It also says that no digging is to be done as part of the development…

 

[Changa]

It also says that no digging is to be done as part of the development…

Not even to lay the foundation? How would they manage that otherwise?

 

[Matt N]

Not even to lay the foundation? How would they manage that otherwise?

Sorry, I should have made that clearer.

I think what the park meant was that they weren’t digging a huge pit inside the building or anything; they’ve said that “the elevation of the land is flat and this will not need to change for this development” or something along those lines.

 

[Swat]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1579557163164651520

 

[Swat]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1587836251436204033

Planning Applications - Staffordshire Moorlands District Council

How to make an application and what it will cost

publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk

Could be worth splitting this off into a new thread or renaming this one?

 

[Matt N]

That building is admittedly not the sort of hipped roof I was anticipating, and it is admittedly an odd shape for an indoor coaster, but unlike many, I don’t personally feel that it looks like a flying theatre building.

If you look closely, the building has quite a different shape to Flight of the Sky Lion (probably our best comparison if we’re talking about a Merlin flying theatre).

Flight of the Sky Lion’s roof is shaped more like a pentagon, with the building having angled walls at one end, and it has a somewhat less pronounced slope in its roof:

Whereas Horizon’s roof is shaped more like a rectangle with one straight wall at its South end rather than the angled edges that Sky Lion has, and its roof has a more pronounced slope (look at the South elevation):

I would also counter that the building appears too big for just one flying theatre based on Towers’ given dimensions, and if it had two theatres, with one to the left and one to the right, wouldn’t there be a slope on both sides rather than just on the South side?

20m (the height given at the exhibition) also indicates that it’s a tad too tall for a flying theatre; Sky Lion is only 13m high.

My prediction remains indoor coaster. It’s admittedly an oddly shaped building for one, but I don’t think that the building dimensions and profile fully match up with a flying theatre, and I’m not really sure what else would match the building dimensions.

 

[TPoseOnTantrum]

Rollercoaster, they said rollercoaster!
https://twitter.com/towerstimes/status/1587886849250496512

 

[Nicky Borrill]

An indoor coaster, capable of operating all year round, right next to an area containing some of the other rides open at Alton's rapidly expanding Christmas event, seems, to me, like a great idea.

Off topic I know, but if only they could get whatever modifications are needed to let their B&Ms and Intamins run in the conditions / temps they function at over in Germany, Sweden and elsewhere. Alton Towers could easily become one of Europe's best Christmas parks.

 

[Joelpagett]

An indoor coaster, capable of operating all year round, right next to an area containing some of the other rides open at Alton's rapidly expanding Christmas event, seems, to me, like a great idea.

Off topic I know, but if only they could get whatever modifications are needed to let their B&Ms and Intamins run in the conditions / temps they function at over in Germany, Sweden and elsewhere. Alton Towers could easily become one of Europe's best Christmas parks.

I agree with you @Nicky Borrill

I think someone at M£rlin has the foresight to invest in attractions that can be potentially run year-round - look at all of Legoland Windor's investments over the past decade. They now successfully run almost all year round apart from a small closed season between January and March.

They made a big jump in Christmas event size last year and really went to town, so give it a few more years for word to spread and the size of it to increase and it would be worth them opening more of the park to accommodate larger crowds.

If this is an indoor roller coaster, it will certainly attract mass appeal. Due to the size, I would say it's in the family-friendly range, so it could appeal to a wide audience. Alongside the World of David Walliams, Dungeons and Hex that's quite a large part of the park that could be open. I can imagine they could do a really nice festive setup for the Christmas Market around the Towers and Hex.

It certainly feels like there is a spark of excitement at Alton Towers which hasn't been felt since Wickerman, and I look forward to hearing what they're up to!

 

[Nicky Borrill]

I agree with you @Nicky Borrill

I think someone at M£rlin has the foresight to invest in attractions that can be potentially run year-round - look at all of Legoland Windor's investments over the past decade. They now successfully run almost all year round apart from a small closed season between January and March.

They made a big jump in Christmas event size last year and really went to town, so give it a few more years for word to spread and the size of it to increase and it would be worth them opening more of the park to accommodate larger crowds.

If this is an indoor roller coaster, it will certainly attract mass appeal. Due to the size, I would say it's in the family-friendly range, so it could appeal to a wide audience. Alongside the World of David Walliams, Dungeons and Hex that's quite a large part of the park that could be open. I can imagine they could do a really nice festive setup for the Christmas Market around the Towers and Hex.

It certainly feels like there is a spark of excitement at Alton Towers which hasn't been felt since Wickerman, and I look forward to hearing what they're up to!

I really enjoyed their event last year, the market was great, the food options were nice enough, never shun a festive bar, entertainment was great, the lightopia walk through was pretty damn impressive... The only thing I came away wishing was that there was 1 or 2 decent coasters open.

TBF it seemed fairly successful to the untrained eye too, we didn't visit on what you'd expect to be a peak day for the event, and there was a good crowd, in not so great weather. With rides being opened up to Merlin Passes this year, I'm expecting an even busier event!!!

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Rollercoaster, they said rollercoaster!
https://twitter.com/towerstimes/status/1587886849250496512

sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they literally copy and pasted the Thorpe Park 'Traffic Statement' from the Exodus planning, changed the name to Alton Towers, and (potentially) forgot to change 'Roller Coaster' to 'Attraction.'

That line being left in could be just be a simple editing error, and is not conclusive proof either way of whether it's a rollercoaster or not.

Thorpe Version



Alton Version




I knew obsessing over the Thorpe Planning docs would have it's uses one day

 

[Matt N]

sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they literally copy and pasted the Thorpe Park 'Traffic Statement' from the Exodus planning, changed the name to Alton Towers, and (potentially) forgot to change 'Roller Coaster' to 'Attraction.'

That line being left in could be just be a simple editing error, and is not conclusive proof either way of whether it's a rollercoaster or not.

Thorpe Version

View attachment 21455

Alton Version

View attachment 21456


I knew obsessing over the Thorpe Planning docs would have it's uses one day

To combat that, however... I noticed that there were some minor changes, so I don't think they just copied and pasted it from Thorpe Park's and changed the park name.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

To combat that, however... I noticed that there were some minor changes, so I don't think they just copied and pasted it from Thorpe Park's and changed the park name.

No, they removed the bit about the development plan too... Other than that it's word for word... It's clearly copy and pasted...

But let's be clear here, I can't say for sure that they just haven't changed that term by mistake, and likewise, nobody else can say for sure that it's supposed to say 'rollercoaster' there.

Hence it is not proof either way...

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Sorry to double post, but the more I think about it the more it's glaringly obvious that the phrase was missed when editing / customising for Alton Towers.

The reason I came to this conclusion is that they are clearly trying to keep the type of attraction inside the building under wraps for now. So had they spotted the term 'Rollercoaster' there, whether it is or isn't a rollercoaster, they would have made sure to remove it or change it.

Also, with a huge show building, £12.5M total construction doesn't leave a massive amount in the budget for a rollercoaster... If it is a coaster then it will definitely be of the smaller variety, and I wouldn't expect incredible theming.

 

[Matt N]

Hope is (possibly) restored… apparently, the Economic Benefits Assessment also describes it as “the new coaster”!

 

[catsounds]

Surely these documents are proof read by multiple people and an oversight like that on an official document would be an embarrassment for multiple parties?

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Hope is (possibly) restored… apparently, the Economic Benefits Assessment also describes it as “the new coaster”!

I've searched the entirety of the document titled "03224_09 FINAL Alton Towers Economic Benefits Assessment Report 29-09-2022" (using automated search of course) and can't find any mention of roller / coaster / rollercoaster there...

I'd be willing to bet, it's copied from a Thorpe document too, but I need to know exactly where it is in the Alton docs to cross reference it's counterpart.

Scratch that... as suspected....

Towers



Thorpe



If anybody wants a good laugh, I spelt 'coaster' as 'coster' the first time I searched, always double check your research.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Surely these documents are proof read by multiple people and an oversight like that on an official document would be an embarrassment for multiple parties?

It's clearly an oversight either way.... They're trying to keep the ride type under wraps, whether it's a rollercoaster or not, they wouldn't have wanted it stating.

 

[Matt N]

It should be noted that they did alter the statistics, so clearly they didn’t do a straight copy and paste. If they altered the statistics, I’d imagine that “roller coaster” would likely have been edited out if they’d wanted as well.