Mike said:
The map on page 49 makes for some very interesting viewing, even seeming to contradict the report by saying "relocation of Spinball Whizzer" instead of "removal".
In the last plan, they mentioned moving Spinball next to Air and having it as part of an "evening entertainment" area. So there was other stuff around there, plus one coaster hotel guests could ride in the dark. I assume it's all kind of linked?
Joey said:
I'm with Jake. You cannot make a viable entrance to anyone but hotel guests over the other side of the park without drastically changing one of those areas, which there wouldn't be the space or funding to do. Even forgetting something as boring as the fact there's no space for an entrance amount of people to come in all at once and stand, hovering about, over there, it would be tragic if people weren't forced through the current picturesque scene.
It would be tragic, but there IS space.
The Monorail maintenance area is at the back of Gloomy wood and takes up a huge amount of space. IF the plans are to ditch the monorail, then that entire area opens up and becomes a viable new entrance, walk-able from both the current car park, and the "suggested new" car parks on the fields on the left as you come around the road to the current car parks. That would leave the guests very close to the back of Duel. There's a large open bit of "storage" that leads down to the monorail maintenance (where you can see the flume boats and rapids rafts in the winter stored). It would make a large area for a new entrance. They could potentially even keep the monorail and have a "half stop" and the sheds.
The entrance would filter (I assume) into the large gates next to Duel's entrance. It's currently used for staff getting back stage (no idea what is behind there to be honest other than the monorail shed and some storage, maybe a canteen or something?).
If you have a large "milling" area for people to faff on the other side of that, it wouldn't bottleneck as much as you'd think.
I agree that the Towers Street Entrance is one of the most iconic park entrances in the world, and it would definitely be a shame to see it go. However, there's the answer to how they could potentially move it if they wanted.
Personally, I would have thought an entrance/exit by Air leading into an "all year market" or whatever it was would be a better idea, but if the car parks are planned to be moved to those fields, then you'd be leaving guests with a ten minute walk to their cars after they leave.
