Alton Towers Flat Rides

[Mit deLuxe]

So I've been thinking, where the hell have all of Alton Towers flat rides gone to?

We used to have Ripsaw, Submission, Boneshaker/Energizer, Dynamo, Nemesis Sub Terra......

The list goes on, but do we have an actual reason for having such a low amount of them?

I know the accident had a big impact on footfall, so the need for flat rides to reduce queue times on the coasters would have been diminished.

Is there any news on Alton receiving something in the future?

What are everyones thoughts on this?

Apologies if this discussion comes up a lot, I haven't posted on here in years.

 

[Thekingin64]

Merlin Cutbacks effectively. A lot of rides were unpopular and/or took a lot of operating costs. Believe Ripsaw went to Chessington as parts for Rameses, not sure about the rest.

Flat rides is what a lot of UK parks lack. I love a good flat and wish the UK were better at building and operating them (excluding seaside parks and funfairs)

 

[Temmie Coasters]

I hope they add a flat ride soon as Enterprise and the Blade don’t hold up to the coasters Alton Towers have. I would love for them to bring back Ripsaw, even though this is unlikely as Chessington got rid of their topspin. I think something like a huge underground drop tower which is heavy themed, maybe put it in Ripsaws spot and theme it to relate with Nemesis. But that’s just my opinion. I still do hope we get a thrilling flat ride soon.

 

[Ethan]

A themed breakdance ride

Won't happen, they're quite outdated nowadays.

A chair swing ride with fountain like Wellenflug at Phantasialand.

They literally had one for years, and it's gone.

An extended Zamperla Disk'o.

Possible, I guess. But I'm not sure where they'd put one, or why they'd want one.

A Topple Tower

Research the history of previous Topple Towers and you'll see why no park will ever get one!

 

[Sandman]

I think Thorpe has a decent enough number of flat rides, they're probably due a coaster if anything within the next few years. Alton could definitely benefit from investing in a couple of flat rides/dark rides now though. I'd love to see a big Intamin Gyro Swing like Loke at Towers (or BPB for that matter).

Great capacity (especially for a flat), visually appealing from off ride, and with some creative terrain work and theming, it'd go down a treat at Towers.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Thrilling flat rides appear to have gone a little out of fashion in many parks out there. They usually don't get the fanfare of coasters and so are a lot harder to keep track of, but I can't remember many new installations in any of the parks I follow in recent years. The ones that get attention tend to be the very large and record-breaking ones (Giant Discoveries, basically), but outside Six Flags' smaller parks, there haven't been many high-profile flats out there recently.

I think Thorpe has a decent enough number of flat rides, they're probably due a coaster if anything within the next few years.

Thorpe has quite a neat lineup of thrilling flats, but let's not forget that the newest one of those (Rush) celebrates its fifteenth birthday this season. Save for the two small flats in Old Town and the Dodgems on the midway, all of Thorpe's flat rides were built before 2005. For the record, they've built three coasters and refurbished another since then, so if they're due anything, coasters don't seem to be it.

Regarding flats, one of the minor parks in Norway has a quite interesting policy: leasing them from travelling funfairs for a season or three. A lot at the back of the park is dedicated to whichever flat is in season. It keeps the lineup fresh without incurring too high costs for the park. Granted, it means themeing is usually out of the picture, but guests hardly complain about having a new thrill ride appearing every other year or so. Not sure if there are enough travelling flats of the size required to satisfy operation conditions at a larger park, though. You sort of need something that can carry a couple dozen people at a time to keep capacity high enough. I guess rides like that cost a lot of money, and well, that put us where we are now. When a good flat costs almost as much as a small coaster, you might as well build the small coaster and hype it up like mad through marketing. That seems to yield a bigger return than a flat would.

 

[Sandman]

Thorpe has quite a neat lineup of thrilling flats, but let's not forget that the newest one of those (Rush) celebrates its fifteenth birthday this season. Save for the two small flats in Old Town and the Dodgems on the midway, all of Thorpe's flat rides were built before 2005. For the record, they've built three coasters and refurbished another since then, so if they're due anything, coasters don't seem to be it.

Don't get me wrong - if Thorpe were to get a new flat ride I wouldn't complain. But I don't think the GP know or care enough about how old the current line-up of flat rides are to warrant investment in a new flat when the park has the best line-up of flat rides in the UK and probably one of the best in Europe, thinking about it. The fact they have a bunch of flats is good enough in comparison to some places *cough* Towers.

The thing the GP are more likely to recall is that there hasn't been a new coaster in a while. Even I, as an enthusiast, regularly forget that the Walking Dead ride exists because it's very uneventful. The Swarm is surprisingly like 8 years old. I'd definitely say Thorpe are due a new coaster soonish, the last major ride investment is also 4 years old this year and that isn't a coaster so I think many were let down by that. I think they are definitely approaching new coaster territory now.

The difference with AT is that they've steadily removed all of the major flat rides. Towers have seen 2 additional coasters since The Swarm debuted, which is good. But they need some decent filler attractions to pad out the crowd levels and to justify a visit (in my opinion). I've not been interested in the place for a few years now, mainly because it feels like there's no depth to the Towers experience anymore. It's just a few coasters which are unreliable at the best of times, and then not much else. Then you go somewhere like Europa Park, which on paper should be of a similar caliber, but in reality it's just leagues ahead in terms of the experience on offer.

As much as I like coasters, I don't think that quantity beats quality. Sure you could probably get a coaster for the cost of a big flat ride, but I don't necessarily think that's going to be the best option in the long run. A decent flat ride with the right marketing is still going to work. I'm sure Merlin could market a cardboard box if they had to!

 

[Pokemaniac]

If I'm not entirely mistaken, Alton's flat rides were also a fair bit older than Thorpe's. It could simply be that Thorpe is headed the same way, it just hasn't got there yet. It's inevitable that old rides have to go at some point, but Alton chose not to replace them when that time came. I wonder if Thorpe will do the same.

My home park TusenFryd has gone along the same track, for the record. It used to have a fair number of flat rides, which in recent years have been removed one by one without replacement.

A decent flat ride with the right marketing is still going to work. I'm sure Merlin could market a cardboard box if they had to!

And therein lies the issue, I'd say. I think coasters intrinsically have a bit more market appeal to them than flat rides, so Merlin chooses to rather build a small coaster and market it a little, than to get a big flat and market it a lot for the same effect. The years they aren't building coasters, they go for the cardboard box approach: get something cheap and temporary and market it as the new biggest thing ever. TusenFryd had a stunt show on its parking lot during the high season be the "new big thing" for four years straight. Thorpe seems to have gone for those escape rooms, inflatable castles, festivals and other similar stuff instead of building filler attractions. It certainly is a strategy for the short term, but that's the time frame investors seem to think in too.

 

[VonRolland]

Merlin Cutbacks effectively. A lot of rides were unpopular and/or took a lot of operating costs. Believe Ripsaw went to Chessington as parts for Rameses, not sure about the rest.

Flat rides is what a lot of UK parks lack. I love a good flat and wish the UK were better at building and operating them (excluding seaside parks and funfairs)

What was left of Ripsaw ended up at Heide before there's was scrapped a couple of years after that
I think when TP does come across the same problem as AT there gonna be in a situation, personally i find TP without flats is a halfday park at most where as Towers isn't, certainly will be interesting to see