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Alton Towers' Next Big Thing?

Nicky Borrill said:
I’m going to go with the theory that it’ll be a Mack Extreme Spinner, and it’ll replace Spinball.

No good reason for this… Just me willing it into existence :)
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I'm not sure they'd get away with putting an XTREME Spinning Coaster where Spinball is, personally, nor do I see them doing it. The planners are known to hate the ride that's there already for spoiling the view of the Towers Ruins, and I don't see a Mack XTREME Spinning Coaster making that any better. If anything replaces Spinball, I think it'll be an expansion for CBeebies Land; that land is prime real estate for future CBeebies stuff if Spinball were to be removed.

There's certainly nothing wrong with "willing things into existence", though! I mean, that's exactly what I and many others did in the Exodus thread last year... even if us B&M Hyper advocates were vindicated somewhat when the park revealed the alternative layout proposal, our theory didn't ultimately come true, and at the time, I will accept in hindsight that there was very little concrete evidence supporting a B&M Hyper aside from our own will for one to come, no matter how hard I may have argued that there was concrete evidence at the time. So if I were to criticise "willing things into existence" (I'm not, for clarity), then I would be the world's biggest hypocrite!

And to be honest, I could certainly see a Mack XTREME Spinning Coaster as a potential option for SW9... just not on that site. My comment above was merely explaining why I don't feel SW9 will go there, and I apologise if I come across disparaging, as that's not what I intend. You could well be right and I could be feeling very sheepish come 2025 or whenever it opens for all I know!
 
Matt N said:
I'm not sure they'd get away with putting an XTREME Spinning Coaster where Spinball is, personally, nor do I see them doing it. The planners are known to hate the ride that's there already for spoiling the view of the Towers Ruins, and I don't see a Mack XTREME Spinning Coaster making that any better. If anything replaces Spinball, I think it'll be an expansion for CBeebies Land; that land is prime real estate for future CBeebies stuff if Spinball were to be removed.

There's certainly nothing wrong with "willing things into existence", though! I mean, that's exactly what I and many others did in the Exodus thread last year... even if us B&M Hyper advocates were vindicated somewhat when the park revealed the alternative layout proposal, our theory didn't ultimately come true, and at the time, I will accept in hindsight that there was very little concrete evidence supporting a B&M Hyper aside from our own will for one to come, no matter how hard I may have argued that there was concrete evidence at the time. So if I were to criticise "willing things into existence" (I'm not, for clarity), then I would be the world's biggest hypocrite!

And to be honest, I could certainly see a Mack XTREME Spinning Coaster as a potential option for SW9... just not on that site. My comment above was merely explaining why I don't feel SW9 will go there, and I apologise if I come across disparaging, as that's not what I intend. You could well be right and I could be feeling very sheepish come 2025 or whenever it opens for all I know!
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Don't worry Matt, it wasn't a totally serious suggestion :) There are 3 sites that I'd think more likely, and one of them includes coaster corner, which is an extremely long shot in itself.

The cbeebies stuff is the most valid reason that it won't happen, from those you cited. It certainly is prime real estate for Cbeebies. I'm not entirely sure there is a need or desire to expand it further, Particularly after David Walliams, but if that is on the cards, it's the obvious spot.

The noise is not an issue though, a mack spinner is literally silent in comparison to Spinball, and they would make a meal of that in their application. "Look, we know there's a noise issue, let us do this or Spinball stays" Not in those words obviously, but they certainly could and would use that to their advantage.

The biggest reason though, IMO is space. They could certainly fit one there, but it would be a smiler situation with a really compact layout and almost everything else (queue, shop, etc) sitting underneath the layout. Not sure how much of an appetite they'll have for building another coaster like that after 2015.

Edit. God typos everywhere!!!
 
We've now had confirmation as good as any that SW9 is well and truly in the pipeline; Nathan Graveson, a designer who worked for Intamin and designed the likes of VelociCoaster, Toutatis and the Parque Warner Madrid launch coaster, has announced that he is now a project director for Merlin Magic Making, and has stated SW9 to be one of MMM's upcoming projects:
Nathan Graveson said:
I also have a massive announcement. Since my recent departure from Intamin as a thrill coaster designer, I have recently been hired by Merlin Magic Making and have officially been made the project director and designer for Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and the Legoland parks. This means I have now moved from just coaster layout design, to full coaster and theming design, which will test my artist qualifications I got at University, all them years ago. When I worked for Intamin I was actually allowed to do some area design as well, so you will see that at Parc Asterix for Toutatis, which I designed the theming for and looking back, I worked closely with Universal Orlando on the Velocicoaster project. I can officially say that the final project that I did for Intamin was the new Batman coaster at Parque Warner Madrid, which I can tell you is the best layout I have done for a coaster, which I look forward for you all to see and ride. So, look out in the future as us at Merlin Magic Making are going to be developing some incredible attractions, Alton Towers' Secret Weapon 9, Thorpe Park's Project Exodus, Chessington World of Adventures' "World of Jumanji", and the various Legoland Projects coming. So I say thank you for the amazing reception to my coaster designs at Intamin and I look forward to your reactions to our future attractions!
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Source: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/chessington-world-of-adventures-resort.97/page-293#post-374226
 
Matt N said:
We've now had confirmation as good as any that SW9 is well and truly in the pipeline; Nathan Graveson, a designer who worked for Intamin and designed the likes of VelociCoaster, Toutatis and the Parque Warner Madrid launch coaster, has announced that he is now a project director for Merlin Magic Making, and has stated SW9 to be one of MMM's upcoming projects:

Source: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/chessington-world-of-adventures-resort.97/page-293#post-374226
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I can confirm that there is no Nathan Graveson at Merlin Magic Making. Some old friends who work in management checked the employee database and can find no such person at Merlin Magic Making.

Sent from my F104EvII_EEA using Tapatalk
 
CineramaMax said:
I can confirm that there is no Nathan Graveson at Merlin Magic Making. Some old friends who work in management checked the employee database and can find no such person at Merlin Magic Making.

Sent from my F104EvII_EEA using Tapatalk
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Yep. Intamin Forever, doing certified Intamin Forever things. I'd wager the reason he left is because he knew the jig was up and wanted one last lie in before he departed.
 
I really hope Merlin invest in flats across the park along with the work on Duel, Sub Terra, getting Hex sorted along with the Nemesis retrack prior to any SW9. Realistically with all of that in mind I can't see a major coaster investment before 2025 if the Nemesis retrack opens in 2024.
 
Swat said:
I really hope Merlin invest in flats across the park along with the work on Duel, Sub Terra, getting Hex sorted along with the Nemesis retrack prior to any SW9. Realistically with all of that in mind I can't see a major coaster investment before 2025 if the Nemesis retrack opens in 2024.
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I can't see SW9 opening any earlier than 2025 maybe even 2026 tbh!! That Nemesis retrack isn't going to be cheap, they're obviously splashing the cash on a Duel refurbishment potentially, they may be replacing Enterprise next season as well! I can only see sub terra being a scare maze for the next few seasons as well in all honesty!
 
Ethan said:
If they are getting a flat or two, I just hope they don't slap one of those fashionable Zamperla Nebulaz in that Enterprise spot. Not a fan at all.
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Ideally they need at least 3 new supporting rides one in Forbidden Valley to go alongside Sub Terra (If it does turn out to open) One in X-Sector and one in the Dark Forest. That would just cover the lost of old rides rather than be an addition to the line up. They have space for 2 in X-Sector so the space for at least 4 supporting rides would be a big investment but are Merlin willing to fund everything that Alton needs over the next few years.
 
I've suggested before if they were reliable and didn't make a racket and were actually smooth that something similar to Harley Quins Crazy Coaster would of suited in X Sector maybe to replace Enterprise. Think it would of gone well with The Smiler theme. Just as long Merlin didn't promote it as a coaster.
 
TBH I imagine Merlin would be all over a Tourbillon. Visually they look impressive and would be so easy to theme to X Sector. Capacity would be an issue - not that that would bother them.
 
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