Matt N

Hi guys. It's been 4 years since Alton Towers' 8th Secret Weapon, Wicker Man, opened, so I thought SW9 deserved its own speculation thread!
 
I made this thread, however, because we've now had confirmation as good as any that SW9 is well and truly in the pipeline; Nathan Graveson, a designer who worked for Intamin and designed the likes of VelociCoaster, Toutatis and the Parque Warner Madrid launch coaster, has announced that he is now a project director for Merlin Magic Making, and has stated SW9 to be one of MMM's upcoming projects. He said the following, and the bolded explicitly references SW9:
"I also have a massive announcement. Since my recent departure from Intamin as a thrill coaster designer, I have recently been hired by Merlin Magic Making and have officially been made the project director and designer for Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and the Legoland parks. This means I have now moved from just coaster layout design, to full coaster and theming design, which will test my artist qualifications I got at University, all them years ago. When I worked for Intamin I was actually allowed to do some area design as well, so you will see that at Parc Asterix for Toutatis, which I designed the theming for and looking back, I worked closely with Universal Orlando on the Velocicoaster project. I can officially say that the final project that I did for Intamin was the new Batman coaster at Parque Warner Madrid, which I can tell you is the best layout I have done for a coaster, which I look forward for you all to see and ride. So, look out in the future as us at Merlin Magic Making are going to be developing some incredible attractions, Alton Towers' Secret Weapon 9, Thorpe Park's Project Exodus, Chessington' "World of Jumanji", and the various Legoland Projects coming. So I say thank you for the amazing reception to my coaster designs at Intamin and I look forward to your reactions to our future attractions!"
Source: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/chessington-world-of-adventures-resort.97/page-293#post-374226
 
So what do we think SW9 might be, then?
 
I'm not really sure myself. I personally reckon it could be some sort of Intamin Blitz Coaster or similar, but I'm not sure whether that's just me saying what I want rather than what I think will happen. Whatever happens, though, I don't think it'll be your typical ride; both Chessington and Thorpe's recent new coaster announcements have certainly been pretty crazy, out-there choices, so I don't see why Alton's wouldn't be the same!
 
But what do you guys think SW9 might be? I'd be really keen to know!

Natural England have today Withdrawn their objection(s) to project exodus.
 
If I have got this correct, this is separate to the environment agency’s objection which relate more to flooding then anything else.

One less hurdle and hopefully stuff starts to pick up as we reach September.
 
Maybe a sign of things to come….  Or maybe not 😝
 

Looks like the Duel redevelopment could be coming very soon 👀

(via @ThemeParkGuide on Twitter)

The back to back could be a very practical idea- for families/groups of 4 they can face each other which would be nice.
Although I imagine for people you don't know it would be slightly awkward depending on how close the seats are hah.
 
I think another (family) coaster is what chessington has needed for a while to divert demand from rattlesnake/dragons fury/vampire so great to see this sort of investment happening, with an IP that parents (and grandparents) will also recognise. Given the jumanji brand has been around since 1995, I imagine it'll stay relevant for a good while yet.

Love the simplicity of the back to back seats idea.
 
The only other thing I can think of is to simplify the restraints - no seat belts maybe?  Wouldn’t save much time but every little helps on a one train wonder 
 
 

I’ve found a theory on Twitter from JAMMY that could possibly explain why John Wardley is “impressed” with the capacity of the new coaster while also keeping to what we know about it only having one train and excluding any theories about 2 trains and fancy station setups:
Basically, JAMMY’s suggestion is back to back winged seating similar to what the Vekoma Invertigo has. This would double the capacity per train from 24 to 48, and would result in 4 riders per row per side rather than 2. It would also suit a shuttle coaster; as I said above, this has been done before on the Vekoma Invertigo models.
 
In theory, this would effectively double the theoretical capacity from 720pph to 1,440pph, but it should be noted that the park time would be roughly twice as long (2 minutes rather than 1 minute) with a 48-rider train compared to a 24-rider train. However, this would still boost the capacity to 960pph, or a 48 rider train every 3 minutes, which is fairly decent.

Clearly not many posts on this park but I was there last Saturday when the temperature was around the thirty degree mark, and Drenched was so, so welcome. Four times on the ride, and four times on the bridge - I don't get that wet in a bath.

As its a skyline issue I think somewhere between 100-150ft is where the colour change needs to happen.
 
Something that varies from park to park since Towers obviously is anything above tree height that needs to be a darker colour.

Leaked early through this article... 
Nothing we didnt know really apart from the the price tag at a hefty $20.5 million (£17 million)! Eek! 
https://deadline.com/2022/08/jumanji-theme-park-opening-2023-1235092817/

@Matt N the trains were broken/unreliable. The original manufacturer Arrow Dynamics went bankrupt.  This meant that parts couldn’t be sourced to fix the trains. Due to this Merlin got Verkoma involved. Fortunately Verkoma provided new trains. 

@Matt N when I stayed at Chessington for a few days,last month I wanted to ride Tiger Rock. Unfortunately both days Tiger Rock was closed. I was told it was broken and awaiting a part. I’m hoping that next time I’m at Chessington Tiger Rock would have been repaired and opened. I’ve been to Chessington many times but haven’t ridden Tiger. Rock In fact I never rode the ride it when it was Dragon Falls.

I'd imagine there's probably a reason why Stealth is painted the way it is, so I presume the transition point will be very similar to that of Stealth's. Pure assumption, mind. I could be completely wrong.

I think it's unlikely the maze would move like-for-like as is. I don't think it was built or designed to be taken down and moved, so much of the scenery simply wouldn't survive a move. This is unlike other mazes which have moved, which were designed in temporary areas and could be taken down and rebuilt.
 
That's not to say that the Creek Freak brand would not return (either in a 'reimagined style', a la Big Top or in a Creek Freak Massacre 2: Electric Boogaloo scenario) in the future. But the maze, as in, moving is almost entirely out of the question.

Calling it now, looking at Summer 2024 opening - really can't see them getting all that needs to be done, done in that reduced timeframe...

Ooooh, but seriously. I have an update.
 
Here's the current state of the Old Town area:

 
Lots of weeds growing up through the paving. That certainly indicates very little human movement and interaction in the area.
And yes, Rocky Express is equally untouched.
 
I believe that whilst the main construction period is due to start autumn / early winter this year (if all goes to plan), the park had planned to do some preliminary work this summer. This seems to have been bought to a pause, although is no real indication - and should not be read as such - as to whether the park think the planning application will be approved or not.

I agree with you both with the Entrance and Dome area alot better with Imascore music playing. Oktoberfest and parkvibes tracks are also personal favourite event tracks of mine. It was refreshing to hear the old nemesis inferno track when it came back and I like the current mix of old in the queue and the new in the station booming out and the jungle tracks should definitely be left for the surrounding area Mr Monkeys to Wilderness. I also prefer the old town imascore playing even if was a short loop to the old country music they play now. With Lost city I think the old track should of played since the start of the season for its 20th but unlike Nemesis I prefer the new lost city stuff more to its old track

TBF I agree with that. The newer station one is excellent, and as far as I am aware still exists. But the Jungle tracks that played around the Inferno queue were just too slow and calming, which didn't suit the ride IMO

I personally prefer Chessington. The place has done a lot of work over the years to bring rides back to scratch and we can argue for the hills whether Runaway Train with its mountain landscape is better then Scorpion Express is with its Mexican inspired surroundings, the fact is, a lot of rides are looking really nice right now. There's been a concentrated effort and I think the park is the best its looked for twenty years. 
 
For me, Chessington is the closest we have to a theme park with European sensibilities. Where theme parks have a sense of fun and discovery. 
 

Different colour flags and they rename the food stands 🙃

Even though I don’t often comment on these types of threads, I overheard a conversation between a ride host and a group of pre-teen boys on Maelstrom at Drayton Manor last week while I was waiting for my restraint to be checked.
Boy 1: *points excitedly at Shockwave* “That blue ting looks proper sick, bruv! It looks like a water ride; I bet you get proper wet on it!” Boy 1: *turns to ride host* “Is that one a water ride?” Ride Host: “No. Does it look like a water ride?” Boy 2: “Nah, bruv; that’s the one The Inbetweeners went on, init?” Ride Host: “No, we’re not even at the right park; The Inbetweeners went to Thorpe Park…” I felt a lot of second hand embarrassment for them… the ride host did not look very impressed.

Well, I’m not quite sure what to make of this, but by some absolute miracle, I somehow managed to get 91/100 on a university assignment!
 
This was even in a module I really struggled with and I didn’t think I would do very well in, which makes it even more surprising…
 
I’m not entirely sure that I deserve this grade, and a small part of me is worried it’s a joke, with the real feedback hidden somewhere else, but I’m certainly very happy to have attained this grade (well above the threshold for a First)!

To be honest, I don't think size has anything to do with quality of a ride. My two favourite B&M inverters for example are Katun and Nemesis. One is absolutely mahoosive and the other is tiny. Quality normally holds out so GCI for example, generally are a excellent manufacturer whether thats Wodan or Wicker Man. 
 
B&M Hypers, I think at the end of the day is personal preference. Not much separates any of them, in fact for me the only 300ft one I've done is Leviathan and that was nowhere as interesting as Behemoth in the same park. 
 
The highest ride I've done I hated. Much love Dragster, but I hate everything about you. 

I am often surprised by the differences between people. Our likes and dislikes are affected by our physical and emotional states, either temporary or permanent and has brought me to the conclusion that if we all liked the same thing, there'd be one heck of a queue for what we like.

Easily over 25 on stealth in a row on a mega dead day in september 2019, no queue, gate by unload platform open, straight back round.

I haven't counted rides for a good few years now but I'd say these are the top 3 I've done in a day.
 
Nemesis: Back when it had single rider and it was right next to the exit. It never had a queue and most of the time you got on the same train you came off if you were quick enough. Used to love lapping this. 
 
Inferno: On a very empty annual pass day a good few years ago we stayed on this for an afternoon. No idea on a number but easily 20+
 
Stealth: Quite a few times last year on offpeak weekdays they just left the gate in the station open so you could re-ride, most of the time getting on the train in front. Unsure on ride counts but easily 20+ a couple of times.
 
I've also rode Slammer for pretty much a whole day before but wouldn't have been a high ridecount due to how long it took to load. Used to do Detonator quite a bit in a day too.
 
 
They do yes. I find Thorpe are definitely the most lenient with re-rides out of the merlin parks. Alton isn't even worth asking.