What's new
By:
FORUMS - COASTERFORCE

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Alton Towers' Next Big Thing?

Exciting news; it appears that Alton Towers is holding a consultation about building an “indoor attraction” on the former site of Coaster Corner (the area behind World of David Walliams):
Those “in the know” apparently think that this is to be the next Secret Weapon.

I’ve got to say, I think this is brilliant news! A new indoor attraction will definitely add some variety to Alton Towers’ lineup, which should hopefully allay recent concerns about the park lacking filler rides! With this being in/near TWODW, I doubt that it’ll be anything too thrilling, but I think the park needs more middle-ground things with a more universal appeal at present, so I don’t think that really matters myself.

What are your thoughts?

The consultation is on 19th September.
 
Makes sense if they are building a coaster in that area to have it indoors as the reason coaster corner was originally closed was due to noise complaints.

Exciting news if it is a indoor SW.
 
It might not be a coaster, for all we know. I know SWs traditionally are coasters, but I don’t think there’s any rule dictating that an SW ride has to be a coaster.
 
If this is for SW9, I could see it being something like the upcoming DarKoaster at BGW, no doubt with some dystopian and apocalyptic theme.

I sort of doubt this is SW9 though.
 
Matt N said:
Exciting news; it appears that Alton Towers is holding a consultation about building an “indoor attraction” on the former site of Coaster Corner (the area behind World of David Walliams):
Those “in the know” apparently think that this is to be the next Secret Weapon.

I’ve got to say, I think this is brilliant news! A new indoor attraction will definitely add some variety to Alton Towers’ lineup, which should hopefully allay recent concerns about the park lacking filler rides! With this being in/near TWODW, I doubt that it’ll be anything too thrilling, but I think the park needs more middle-ground things with a more universal appeal at present, so I don’t think that really matters myself.

What are your thoughts?

The consultation is on 19th September.
Click to expand...
I must say being indoors they're being clever about this cause they know fully well the mouse was removed because of noise complaints back in 1988-91. But let's not get too excited cause they might not be happy with the idea of a ride being in close proximity to the flag tower again which was another issue that was held last time. However, I can imagine a family thrill coaster being built inside a building if they're looking at an indoor coaster, I know BGW are getting the DarKoaster in 2023 so yh! World's first would be interesting?! Maybe an indoor water coaster?! We can only speculate at this point 😁
 
I can't lie if this is for SW9, my excitement and expectation levels have dropped substantially. I don't see how they will be able to pull off anything too special with this if it's a coaster. I wouldn't say no to something like a flying theatre, and of course this will mean the end of Flavios (oh no). I just hope they sort out the Ice Age building/the rest of the Walliams area before this opens.
 
CrashCoaster said:
I can't lie if this is for SW9, my excitement and expectation levels have dropped substantially. I don't see how they will be able to pull off anything too special with this if it's a coaster. I wouldn't say no to something like a flying theatre, and of course this will mean the end of Flavios (oh no). I just hope they sort out the Ice Age building/the rest of the Walliams area before this opens.
Click to expand...
World's first indoor Volare?! That should make you more excited 😛
 
TowersTimes has done some comparison, and for some idea, the total land on offer back there could fit The Smiler with space to spare around it even without disrupting Merlin Magic Making to the North or The Alton Towers Dungeon to the South:
It’s a big plot; this is a larger plot than every other dark ride building in the park takes up by quite some margin!
 
No matter what it is, for me the best thing about this will be having Coaster Corner opened up again and just being able to wander through going "Hey that's where The Mouse was", "Wowww that's where The Beast used to be" and "Mmm this is where I saw Kylie". 🥒
Yep, there's a historical nugget for you young'uns - I was there the day Kylie came to Alton to open Coaster Corner - 1988 it was.

Screenshot_20220904-155919_YouTube.jpg

^Not my picture unfortunately, that's just a screengrab from a YouTube vid, but I was definitely there - saw her I did. Wasn't planned, was only there on a school trip, we always had 2 school trips there every year back in the day and this day just happened to be one of them.

Want another old fact? Of course you do, why wouldn't you? The first school trip I went on, circa 1984, the cost of the day out was £4.50, and that included the coach fare!!
I distinctly remember it being £4.50 because that was 4 and a half weeks pocket money. Either that or a shed load of extra washing up duties.
But that's enough nostalgic 80's waffle, to the present day then:

spicy said:
Well if it is a dark ride let’s just hope Merlin have learned from DBGT and invest in something worthwhile.
Click to expand...

That's the one good thing about Derren Brown's Ghost Train - it already exists, so at least they can't build it again.

I've got it! 💡 Indoor coaster, yes? Rocket recently removed from Furuvik, yes? And being refurbished in the Netherlands, correct? That's it - they're quite literally bringing back The Black Hole as part of the Retro Squad.

Remember, you read it here first, folks.
 
Last edited:
Howie said:
That's the one good thing about Derren Brown's Ghost Train - it already exists, so at least they can't build it again.
Click to expand...

^ that proper made me laugh, thanks @Howie!

I'm dead excited for this, because I have absolutely no idea what it could be. It's a nice feeling, to be an enthusiast and be completely in the dark about a new Alton project. I just wanna speculate til the cows come home!

Interestingly, I heard a rumor that Alton Towers Dungeons is also going next year...so the site could potentially be massive.

Personally, I'm really hoping for a Spiderman-style dark ride. Something so fun and impressive that it will please everyone. But I reckon we may be looking at a new coaster here. Could a Mack Xtreme Spinner fit indoors? Or will it be a new World's First? Either way, at the moment I'm just hoping that it's:

A. Not a Vekoma
B. Not themed to David Walliams
 
I wouldn't be disappointed with any of the following: Indoor coaster, Indoor water ride (akin to Valhalla) or a 'good' dark ride. Exciting times.
 
On an unrelated note, I've been on Google Earth scoping this area out and doing some comparisons with existing attractions to gauge some idea of what kind of space we have to play with here.

From what I could ascertain from a helpful guide I saw elsewhere on the internet, the Mouse site alone is around 1,795 square metres, the combined area available in and around both the Alton Mouse and the Alton Beast sites is around 4,005 square metres, and the Adventureland 4-11 space is roughly 2,005 square metres (could be a bit more if you felled the trees separating Adventureland 4-11 and Coaster Corner).

The whole combined area, if everything is amalgamated together and things like trees in the middle aren't considered (I didn't include the trees separating A4-11 and CC in either measurement) is around 7,079 square metres, but as I said, that is in very broad brush terms and literally includes everything within those 3 areas. I did exclude Merlin Magic Making to the North East, the Flag Tower to the North West, and the historic monument to the South, however, so it does take into account some of the boundaries faced.

For some idea, let's look at some existing indoor attractions as points of comparison:
Alton Towers' Other Dark Rides
  • Alton Towers Dungeon: 2,951 square metres
  • Duel (excluding garden queue line and Gloomy Wood area): 3,080 square metres
  • Nemesis Sub-Terra (excluding queue line): 743 square metres
  • Gangsta Granny (excluding outdoor queue line): 881 square metres
Other Merlin-Built Dark Rides/Areas
  • Derren Brown's Ghost Train (Thorpe Park): 3,680 square metres
  • Flight of the Sky Lion (Legoland Windsor): 869 square metres (Sky Lion alone), 4,627 square metres (entirety of Lego Mythica)
  • Lego Ninjago: The Ride (Legoland Windsor): 1,916 square metres (Lego Ninjago: The Ride alone), 2,843 square metres (entirety of Lego Ninjago World)
  • Ghostbusters 5D (Heide Park): 1,746 square metres (possibly excluding queue line)
Worldwide Enclosed/Indoor Coasters
  • The Walking Dead: The Ride (Thorpe Park): 2,563 square metres (excluding queue line)
  • Van Helsing's Factory (Movie Park Germany): 3,859 square metres
  • Movie Park Studio Tour (Movie Park Germany): 5,943 square metres
  • Arthur: The Ride (Europa Park): 6,185 square metres (rough measurement of entire area)
  • Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain (Disneyland Paris): 6,545 square metres
  • Revenge of the Mummy (Universal Studios Florida): 9,358 square metres (rough measurement of entire building)
  • Rock'n'Rollercoaster (Disney's Hollywood Studios): 11,552 square metres (rough measurement of entire area)
  • Space Mountain (Magic Kingdom): 12,183 square metres (dome alone)
  • Vogel Rok (Efteling): 3,987 square metres (possibly excluding some queue line)
  • Crazy Bats (Phantasialand): 5,953 square metres
  • CanCan Coaster (Europa Park): 1,985 square metres
Worldwide Dark Rides
  • Symbolica (Efteling): 4,273 square metres (possibly excluding some queue line)
  • Piraten in Batavia (Europa Park): 4,658 square metres (roughly... knowing the design of that Scandinavia/Holland area, god only knows if this is right...)
  • Curse of DarKastle (Busch Gardens Williamsburg): 4,280 square metres
  • The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (Universal's Islands of Adventure): 5,732 square metres
  • Transformers: The Ride (Universal Studios Florida): 3,079 square metres
  • Valhalla (Blackpool Pleasure Beach): 3,479 square metres
  • Challenge of Tutankhamon (Walibi Belgium): 2,816 square metres
  • Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin (SeaWorld Orlando): 4,643 square metres (ride building alone), 7,698 square metres (entire Antarctica realm)
  • Hotel Transylvania (Motiongate Dubai): 3,672 square metres (including facade)
In essence... I think they have a pretty big area to play with here! Bigger than any other Alton dark ride by a fair margin, and on par with some true dark ride and enclosed coaster heavyweights at other parks!
 
Isn’t this massive area full of sacred trees that can’t be cut down like in the rest of the towers? Pretty sure they had a hard time with thirteen keeping the trees safe. That shrinks down the useable area by quite a lot.
 
Lime said:
dc06f86494a5a139b2952532f0eb6679.jpg

You mean a massive RMC/Intamin/B&M/S&S Axis like this with an indoor section in Duel?
Click to expand...
Sure 🤣 I still think it's more likely that though that the Coaster Corner site will play home to SW9 rather than the Duel site! Alton towers has got very interesting recently what with duel's closure, this consultation happening and the markings spotted near enterprise!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top