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Alton Towers' Next Big Thing?

JoshC.

Strata Poster
If it's entirely enclosed, will the application have any details of the ride proper or just the dimensions and appearance of the building?

Best reference we'd have would be the Sub Terra application I reckon. See Towers Street and Towers Times for what we got then. In other words, not a lot.

Neither of those archives feature feature a particular document which showed a bit more (with some editing trickery by the sounds of it). See this article from TT:
1663841669867.png

That gives a bit more detail to what was going on in the interior, albeit no indication about potential ride systems. However, based on that particular image, it wasn't hard for goons to piece together the most likely ride system.

I expect we'll see similar sort of details in any plans we see for this...maybe not even something as detailed as the image above. But who knows.

For a bit more reference to a 'bigger' attraction, albeit with a different council, we can look at Ghost Train's plans (see Thorpe Park Mania). For some reason, that doesn't include the most detailed interior view that we got from the plans, but here it is:
1663842451982.png

Again, no indication whatsoever of a ride system from the plan. And in this case, much harder for goons to guess what it could be. People suggested an immersive tunnel (which I guess isn't too far from the truth), but equally quite far off. There was speculation of it even being an SFX coaster, which to be fair, from what you see there, isn't as far fetched as it sounds today imo.


tl;dr - we could end up seeing some level of indication for how the interior looks, such as big walls / rooms, which may help at least determine if an indoor coaster is likely. But that's by no means a guarantee.
 

CrashCoaster

CF Legend
Hoping for a tracked ride and not something like a flying theatre.
We don't need another low quality tracked Merlin Dark ride, thanks. Their flying theatre and mad houses they have built look much more superior imo than the likes of the Jumanji ride and Gangsta Granny, etc.
 

JoshC.

Strata Poster
The application now has one public comment uploaded, seemingly from a certain Mr John Wardley. The comment reads:
View attachment 20484

Not sure what to make of that...!?

This is presumably just yet another enthusiast submission, intended as a joke. The Project Exodus planning application has had a few, which read like they were submitted by illiterate 12 year olds, saying something along the lines of "plz aksept dis plan 4 Thorpe park new ride. Is very mean of u 2 not, we need a new ride!!" (I wish this was a joke, but that's genuinely how they read)
 

Peet

Giga Poster
This is presumably just yet another enthusiast submission, intended as a joke. The Project Exodus planning application has had a few, which read like they were submitted by illiterate 12 year olds, saying something along the lines of "plz aksept dis plan 4 Thorpe park new ride. Is very mean of u 2 not, we need a new ride!!" (I wish this was a joke, but that's genuinely how they read)
Yeah my first thought was that it was a goon wind-up, but in that case I would have expected some actual content to the comment. But yeah the chances of it actually being JW are pretty slim.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
For some idea of the building size, the building that will accommodate the ride alone is to be approximately 3,266m2. And the extension at the front will be 400m2, so the entire building will be around 3,666m2.

For comparison, the Duel building is around 3,000m2 including the indoor queue line, so this will be Towers’ largest dark ride building by a fair margin (a solid 20% larger than Duel is not an insignificant difference, in my view).
 

Matt N

CF Legend
I’m not sure this will be a flying theatre, personally.

To me, a surface area of over 3,000m2 sounds too big for one. They actually take up surprisingly little ground space; Sky Lion at Legoland occupies an area of less than 1,000 square metres, so even if you were to add a potential second theatre into the mix, the building would be no larger than 2,000 square metres. This is over 3,000m2, and actually more like 3,500-4,000m2 when you add in the space required for the queue.

I also reckon there’s a chance that a flying theatre could be too tall for Towers, but I could be completely wrong there.

I reckon it could still be an indoor coaster. I’m sure you could get one to take up relatively little space if you were resourceful in designing it.
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
I’m not sure this will be a flying theatre, personally.

To me, a surface area of over 3,000m2 sounds too big for one. They actually take up surprisingly little ground space; Sky Lion at Legoland occupies an area of less than 1,000 square metres, so even if you were to add a potential second theatre into the mix, the building would be no larger than 2,000 square metres. This is over 3,000m2, and actually more like 3,500-4,000m2 when you add in the space required for the queue.

I also reckon there’s a chance that a flying theatre could be too tall for Towers, but I could be completely wrong there.

I reckon it could still be an indoor coaster. I’m sure you could get one to take up relatively little space if you were resourceful in designing it.
Not even 'that' resourceful... Smiler, including it's coaster, building and outdoor queue has an area of a little under 4500m2

The black hole took up just 2000m2

blackhole.PNG
 

Pistonjuice

Roller Poster
The building will be a very similar size (slightly bigger) to the new DarKoaster in Busch Gardens...I think a ride like that would be a nice addition.
 

Jamesss

Hyper Poster
We don't need another low quality tracked Merlin Dark ride, thanks. Their flying theatre and mad houses they have built look much more superior imo than the likes of the Jumanji ride and Gangsta Granny, etc.
Yes because a madhouse is exactly what Alton Towers is lacking. 😆

In all seriousness, I just don't want it to be an indoor flat ride, especially with Hex being next door. A water ride, coaster, or tracked dark ride would be great. If it were good quality that would be a bonus.
 
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