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Alton Towers' Next Big Thing?

I have a few updates for you all on this.

Firstly, the park recently uploaded 32 new documents addressing some of the concerns. There’s a lot to digest within those, but one of the main elements was a planting plan, where the park confirmed that they plan to plant English Ivy on the south wall of the ride building (which I’m assuming will function as a “living wall” type thing, as previously described within this thread), with climbing wires in place to assist its growth.

The park also provided some new external viewpoints to prove that the building would not be visible from Alton village. They provided a recent photo from the playing field in Alton to prove that the building will not be visible from that viewpoint, and they also provided a view from Alton Castle, which was specifically highlighted by a Parish Councillor. The view referenced was not from a publicly accessible area, and even at the most prominent position, the building would not be visible form this viewpoint. In a worst case scenario, a very small part of the top of the building would be visible from Toot Hill, but the tree canopy would obscure the vast majority of it.

In more promising news, the Planning Committee are meeting next week to discuss this application, and the council have recommended that the application is approved with conditions. Other than all of the usual conditions, the most notable conditions are that the building must be demolished within 6 months of the attraction closing (a similar arrangement to what is mandated for Hex), and the park must also provide plans for their next restoration project, the Scalloped Wall and Orangery, prior to any non-demolition work taking place on Project Horizon.

For a more detailed summary, I’d recommend looking at this post (and the ones after) by Dobba from TowersStreet Talk: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threa...pplication-submitted.6401/page-75#post-399817

It all sounds very promising, don’t you think?
 
AidanCKY said:
I really hope that this, along with Duels update, that the park will start to go down a route where it becomes more about details and magic than just breaking records etc.

Would love Towers to become more like Efteling or Phantasialand.
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Sounds good. The detail that’s sorely lacking for me at present is the absence of toilets that don’t make me gag. The current lot are like time-capsules that take you to a football stadium in the 90s - saturated with the smell of stale wee 🤢

Really, sort it out Merlin…
 
Nitefly said:
Sounds good. The detail that’s sorely lacking for me at present is the absence of toilets that don’t make me gag. The current lot are like time-capsules that take you to a football stadium in the 90s - saturated with the smell of stale wee 🤢

Really, sort it out Merlin…
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As this project is bringing with it a brand new area of the park, maybe we might see some new toilets built as part of that?

It’ll certainly be a good walk between Project Horizon and the toilets by Dark Forest (which I believe are the nearest ones to that area) if not…
 
I apologise for both bumping the thread and double posting, but I’ve had a thought about Project Horizon and what it could be.

I’ve heard a lot of talk about an Intamin Multi-Dimensional Coaster, and indeed, I myself have been quite a keen advocate of this ride type (it seems like a very plausible option to me), but I’ve thought of another option; could we see a LIM launched Vekoma family coaster similar to Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood or Lightning at Furuvik?

It would fit with the building not being massive for an indoor coaster, it would fit with the lack of height and apparent lack of digging (as per the planning application appendices), it would be a ride with very wide appeal of the type that Alton Towers arguably lacks (I believe the height restriction for Big Bear Mountain is only something like 0.95m?), and it would also fit with the budget possibly not being absolutely massive (£12.5m was quoted as the “construction budget” in the planning documents, but this could exclude other costs like marketing).

It also wouldn’t stop them from making it more of a dark ride/coaster hybrid (which I still believe to be quite plausible based on the evidence we have); this ride system could easily accommodate something along the lines of Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure or Revenge of the Mummy, where the ride slows every now and then and does show scenes.

I’m not necessarily saying that I think this is what it will be, but I certainly think it’s another option to consider.

I do, however, feel that this is likely to be more of an all-ages family attraction than an out-and-out thrill ride, and I also think that some kind of dark ride/coaster hybrid is more likely than a regular coaster in a shed. I’ve thought that for a while with the various pieces of evidence that we have from the planning application (building not being massive for an indoor coaster, not loads of height for an indoor coaster to work with), and I also feel that such a ride would fill more of an obvious gap within both Alton Towers and the wider UK theme park industry than a conventional coaster in a shed would.
 
Matt N said:
I apologise for both bumping the thread and double posting, but I’ve had a thought about Project Horizon and what it could be.

I’ve heard a lot of talk about an Intamin Multi-Dimensional Coaster, and indeed, I myself have been quite a keen advocate of this ride type (it seems like a very plausible option to me), but I’ve thought of another option; could we see a LIM launched Vekoma family coaster similar to Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood or Lightning at Furuvik?

It would fit with the building not being massive for an indoor coaster, it would fit with the lack of height and apparent lack of digging (as per the planning application appendices), it would be a ride with very wide appeal of the type that Alton Towers arguably lacks (I believe the height restriction for Big Bear Mountain is only something like 0.95m?), and it would also fit with the budget possibly not being absolutely massive (£12.5m was quoted as the “construction budget” in the planning documents, but this could exclude other costs like marketing).

It also wouldn’t stop them from making it more of a dark ride/coaster hybrid (which I still believe to be quite plausible based on the evidence we have); this ride system could easily accommodate something along the lines of Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure or Revenge of the Mummy, where the ride slows every now and then and does show scenes.

I’m not necessarily saying that I think this is what it will be, but I certainly think it’s another option to consider.

I do, however, feel that this is likely to be more of an all-ages family attraction than an out-and-out thrill ride, and I also think that some kind of dark ride/coaster hybrid is more likely than a regular coaster in a shed. I’ve thought that for a while with the various pieces of evidence that we have from the planning application (building not being massive for an indoor coaster, not loads of height for an indoor coaster to work with), and I also feel that such a ride would fill more of an obvious gap within both Alton Towers and the wider UK theme park industry than a conventional coaster in a shed would.
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If it's a Vekoma then that turntable switch track thing at the Vekoma test site could well be for this - come to think of it, it's a pretty pointless World's First so exactly the sort of thing Towers tend to go for!
 
Peet said:
If it's a Vekoma then that turntable switch track thing at the Vekoma test site could well be for this - come to think of it, it's a pretty pointless World's First so exactly the sort of thing Towers tend to go for!
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Ooh, that’s a good shout! We don’t have any obvious home for that technology at the moment, and it would be a plausible world’s first for Alton Towers to go for!

You could also pair that sort of thing nicely with some effects and/or a show scene… it seems very befitting of an enclosed coaster!
 
Whatever it is, I hope they prioritise capacity and not some 'for the sake of it' record or new tech that's going to cause downtime.

Capacity should really be a number one focus for AT right now. Even if they have to buy some off the shelf flats to coincide with a new coaster.
 
Matt N said:
Ooh, that’s a good shout! We don’t have any obvious home for that technology at the moment, and it would be a plausible world’s first for Alton Towers to go for!

You could also pair that sort of thing nicely with some effects and/or a show scene… it seems very befitting of an enclosed coaster!
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We have a very obvious home for that turntable. Dreamworld in Australia.

Screenshot_2023-04-14-19-17-40-62_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg
 
Sandman said:
Whatever it is, I hope they prioritise capacity and not some 'for the sake of it' record or new tech that's going to cause downtime.

Capacity should really be a number one focus for AT right now. Even if they have to buy some off the shelf flats to coincide with a new coaster.
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Unfortunately Alton don’t particularly care about capacity. This is a park that likes to stagger the opening of their major rides so that the few that are open gather big queues before they open the others. This helps maintain big queues throughout the park all day.

Instead of being able to do a few rides quickly in the morning, the queues will keep the number of attractions you do low, and make their fastpasses seem more valuable due to artificial demand.

It’ll be a bonus for them if it has a low capacity because the queues will be long and they can sell more fastpasses.
 
Crazycoaster said:
Unfortunately Alton don’t particularly care about capacity. This is a park that likes to stagger the opening of their major rides so that the few that are open gather big queues before they open the others. This helps maintain big queues throughout the park all day.

Instead of being able to do a few rides quickly in the morning, the queues will keep the number of attractions you do low, and make their fastpasses seem more valuable due to artificial demand.

It’ll be a bonus for them if it has a low capacity because the queues will be long and they can sell more fastpasses.
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I do think Alton Towers cares about capacity to some extent.

If they didn’t, surely Wicker Man wouldn’t have had 3 trains and no seatbelts seeing as most other GCIs have 2 trains and seatbelts? I’d also argue that the staffed baggage holds on Thirteen, The Smiler and Wicker Man are an active means to boost their rides’ throughputs. If Alton didn’t care about throughputs, surely these rides wouldn’t have had staffed baggage holds built into them, and Thirteen and Smiler’s baggage holds wouldn’t have been reinstated in 2022?

To my knowledge, Alton Towers also haven’t had staggered openings for a number of years now, although you can correct me if I’m wrong there.
EDIT: Sorry, I only just realised I double posted…
 
Half of Alton’s coasters don’t bother to open with the park regardless, so you might as well say they have staggered openings in spirit.

I want to be hyped for this, but having visited Alton and Merlin’s other UK parks in the last week, my interest in what they do in the future has been diminished unless systemic changes to the parks overall come with these new additions, which I honestly doubt. Them relying on funfair flats for a third year in row doesn’t spell confidence.
 
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Crazycoaster said:
Unfortunately Alton don’t particularly care about capacity. This is a park that likes to stagger the opening of their major rides so that the few that are open gather big queues before they open the others. This helps maintain big queues throughout the park all day.

Instead of being able to do a few rides quickly in the morning, the queues will keep the number of attractions you do low, and make their fastpasses seem more valuable due to artificial demand.

It’ll be a bonus for them if it has a low capacity because the queues will be long and they can sell more fastpasses.
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Well, it'll be to their detriment if they don't address the capacity issues.
People like myself do love the park, but haven't visited in years because it's not worth the trip due to the aforementioned issues, plus lacklustre opening hours.
A lot of families will avoid the place for the same reasons. The cost plus travel time is just not worth it anymore.
 
I love many of the rides at AT. I hate the ridiculous 4pm closures, especially THERE because the park is so massive. Been twice on such days and getting around all coasters can be a challenge even when you know where everything is. The now £68 walk up charge seems OTT. I'd expect Disney / Efteling opening hours for that.

Would love to see SW9 be a massive high capacity Vekoma indoor launcher like Guardians of the Galaxy or Tron but given the building size (which sort of matches the one at Movie Park Germany), I presume something like the Intamin multi dimension coaster is probably more likely. Could still be a Vekoma I guess.
The theming may have to do a lot of the lifting, which certainly helped for me to enjoy Wicker Man.
 
£22,638 to request approval for a small warehouse? I hope they got some good feedback on the project.
 
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