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SW9 at Alton Towers

CrashCoaster

CrashCoaster

CF Legend
I'm sure I created a topic on this when I first joined the site and it got locked, but since Wicker Man (SW8) is officially open, it can't possibly be too soon to start speculating as to what SW9 will be, and where it will go.

Personally, I could see anything from a multi-launch coaster replacing Rita, to a B&M wing coaster on the Galactica car park or a terrain-hugging RMC.

What do you think? Let the speculation commence!
 
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I have no idea. Not even an educated guess.
Personally I'd much rather see Alton focus their money and efforts on improving the park and the customer experience in general. Obviously that won't happen, but in an ideal world I'd like to see Sub Terra and Charlie reopened, a small package of flat rides to fill in the gaps left behind by Ripsaw, Submission etc, a water ride to replace the flume and just generally get all the shops and food outlets open, not to mention making sure things like the monorail and skyride are working at maximum capacity.
Once they've done all that, then we can start talking about a new cred.
 
I think they’ll go for something they’ve not got so far, so I think it’ll be an indoor coaster of some description, most likely in Coaster Corner so they can insulate the ride from noise. I’d love like an indoor family launch coaster or something of that vein. No dark themes, maybe a seesaw track section or a reverser table or something. Just something fun but not overly forceful. A stepping stone for kids.
 
I agree with Howie in that they should really take the money they would spend on the next coaster and spread that investment out over a few years to refurbish and improve the park itself, reopen/retheme/improve SBNO attractions, add a family water ride to replace the gap in the line up left by the flume and add some flat rides to soak up the crowds - because lets face it the queue times are abysmal there.
No need for another major coaster any time soon. While they would great benefit from a phased redevelopment of the park similar to that of Walibi Belgium.

However I doubt they will take that approach, and we probably will have another coaster in 4 years time. Whether they create another well themed experience ride or return to the gimmick or records way of things, will probably depend on if they see Wicker Man as a success.
 
Let's face it, they need another water-based experience. Having the rapids and the In the Night Garden boat ride as the only water-based experiences is, frankly put, poor. If the park does continue to recover, they will need more otherwise summer will be even more awful.

Ideally they need a new log flume. If they have to stick restraints in it so be it, but a log flume is a must in my books. But I reckon they'd be more likely to opt for a water coaster which they can market as a gimmick (regardless of what they've done with Wicker Man, they used the fact it was a woodie as a gimmick), than a log flume.
 
I think a major water ride could be a great way to freshen up the whole 'secret weapon' thing sometime in the future. Something like Chiapas or Valhalla (or a blend of both, with indoor and outdoor sections). I think the next few years though, they really need to give the park a good tidy up, as others have mentioned. Start getting a few flats in there, because right now AT's coaster selection is fine, it's everything else that brings it down.
 
The thing is, the Secret Weapon series has some sort of 'World's First' element included in the ride experience(even if the World's First isn't all that true). Most of the SWs have done this by introducing a new model or ride system into the world(bar Nemesis and Wickerman), so to speculate on SW9 is really difficult. We can't know for certain what a new model can do at a park. Although, as others have said, I do think something water-based could do well at Alton. Perhaps a full-circuit version of the launched Mack water coaster? We really can't know until it starts being built.
 
Something like Chiapas or Valhalla isn’t really possible under the direction/funding of Merlin. Building that much theming would be deemed a waste of money (Yes, WM has a decent statue, but has nothing else other than a few banners and wicker symbols, no landscaping etc).

Take a look at the new theming going on at Chessington for their log flume, a shell of what it used to be, with only one major addition of the tiger rockwork. It’s never warm enough in this country to build a water ride tbh, and unless they go out of their way to make it an exceptional attraction (spoiler: they won’t) such as chiapas, I can’t really say I’d want one?

I’m not fussed about them opening up SubTerra or Charlie, both are dismal excuses for dark rides, and are just not that entertaining once you’ve done them once. They do need more flat rides though. Enterprise and Blade are all thats left, and they’ve been part of the park for decades.

ATI, all of your “suggestions” are ridiculous tbh, none of them will happen. Rita isn’t going anywhere until it doesn’t work anymore, then it’ll sit SBNO for 3 years. A wing coaster would require too much height to be built at AT, the heavy trains mean that a layout is restricted in length without height, unless they went down the launched option, but I can’t see the benefit there. An RMC would be too “similar” to WM. We already have a terrain woody, that’s all you’re getting.

I’m not entirely sure what I’d want them to do next.
 
GuyWithAStick said:
The thing is, the Secret Weapon series has some sort of 'World's First' element
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In the Wicker Man interview they said that there focus is on building good rides and focusing on experience now, Wicker Man, Galactica and the Cbeebies Hotel followed this but marketing shoved some 'world's first' (Which weren't even used that heavily compared to Oblivion, The Smiler etc) at the last moment.

But they said they might do a 'World's First' in the future but it won't be the focus. I'd assume it's because they won't want a repeat of DBGT or The Smiler's issues.

Crazycoaster said:
no landscaping etc).
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Erm, Wicker Man does use heavy use of the terrain, Did you see the site of The Flume? It looks completely different!
 
Bert2theSpark said:
Erm, Wicker Man does use heavy use of the terrain, Did you see the site of The Flume? It looks completely different!
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Now see, “use of the terrain” and “landscaping” are two seperate entities. Don’t get them confused.

While the actual Wicker Statue looks nice, the rest of the area looks like a building site. Mud everywhere. No finishing, no rockwork or theming other than bunting and the statue. No care to get the landscape looking nice.

Then take a look at the detail that has gone into every section of Chiapas, down to the plants, sculptured rocks and architecture. Merlin just doesn’t have the skills or willingness to invest into creating something anywhere near the same calibur of ride.
 
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Yeah, some of the lead creatives at Merlin have worked on some beautiful things (with a lot of landscaping) before moving over to Merlin and then it changed.
 
Theme Park Plan said:
Stick a Toy Story Mania / Maus o Chocolate in the Charlie building. A quality family ride that all ages can enjoy and we all know there is nothing better than getting one up on a family member.
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But they've already got a shooting dark ride. We know they're very different attractions, but they're not different enough from a marketing perspective.
 
gavin said:
But they've already got a shooting dark ride. We know they're very different attractions, but they're not different enough from a marketing perspective.
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I mean, with the recent changes to Duel, they might as well close it down and relocate the attraction type elsewhere...
Am agreeing with others on here that instead of trying to build the next big thing, maybe invest into bringing the entire park up to speed?
Where would they even put something new in? My best bet would be where Spinball sits atm, but seeing how well CBBC Land is doing, I wouldn't be surprise they'll use that space to expand.
 
Having done a "GP-day" yesterday with my sister and family ; it struck me (and as a coaster-goon, it really pains me to say this) that Alton really needs something clever and exciting that isn't just another roller-coaster. Kinda what Thorpe tried (whether we think it succeeded or not is another discussion) with the Ghost Train.

I say this because we spent a whole day there, was a reasonably quiet day - yet didn't do all the coasters, but the coasters were the only things we did do (apart from Hex and the Skyride) and we weren't faffing around very much at all - so something other than a coaster, yet still a star-attraction type thing is what the place could do with.

Stick some highly themed indoor ride out the back of the towers and integrate its Q into the towers (ala Hex), and market the hell out of that.

Place has enough coasters for the moment. (heresy I know).
 
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