Leaderboard

Hi guys. I have exciting news; it appears that Alton Towers is holding a consultation about building an “indoor attraction” on the former site of the Alton Mouse, within 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. My personal hunch is that this will be a dark ride or some form of indoor family coaster, but I could be wrong there. What are your thoughts? The consultation is on 19th September. Also, just as a note for the moderators, I made a separate topic for this because it’s not confirmed that this is anything to do with SW9 despite the rumours, so I thought I’d better be safe rather than sorry. If you’d rather this be in with the SW9 discussion, though, I apologise.

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 that I saw elsewhere online, 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!

Interesting times! Didn’t expect it, but great news it’s an indoor attraction. There is quite a lot of room back there isn’t there? I’d absolutely LOVE for this to be the next secret weapon coaster - something along the lines of Revenge of the Mummy at Universal would be the dream but who knows! The timescales feel right for the SW cogs to be turning. A flying theatre or other type would be cool too though. I can’t see the Dungeons sticking around - perhaps they could go soon to make more space? That would be a decent space for a secret weapon, and bring some life to a bit of a dead spot area of the park. interesting times!

@Matt N it sounds like this indoor attraction will be an expansion of The World Of David Williams. I would expect a Flying Theatre themed to Grandpa’s Great Escape. My other theory is that the Alton Towers Dungeons are being extended. This could be why work is happening with Nemesis Sub-Terra. My rationale is the Drop Towers could be relocated to the expansion. Many Dungeon attractions have a Drop Tower that simulates a hanging. If Nemesis Sub-Terra had its Drop Towers removed,Alton Towers could add this experience.