JoshC. Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 According to Towers Times, Merlin have filed a trademark for the name 'The Alton Towers Dungeons'. Taking it very much at face value, that suggests Alton Towers are certainly planning on getting a Dungeons-style attraction. If true, it wouldn't be the first attraction to get a Dungeons within it - Warwick Castle does have the Castle Dungeons, which is a 45 minute ish experience. I'm... intrigued by the idea. There's enough real history, and scope to embellish the truth (see Hex), to create a fun and unique Dungeons style attraction. But would it really work in a theme park environment, especially at a park where it's a stretch to do everything of note at the moment anyways due to the short opening hours? Also, would prefer to see the park get more rides. It'd be particularly good if it is something that can open after park hours too, and is an option to non-theme park guests, but I imagine that being logistically difficult. All depends on where they end up putting it too I s'pose. So what are your thoughts? Where could it go? Is this the right thing for the place? Is it the right time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project LC Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 I don't think this is the right move at all. I strongly dislike actor led attractions as I get no enjoyment from them. On top of that they have high running costs and they are polarising with audiences. I can see the dungeons working at Alton towers if implemented correctly but by no means should they be trying to install it now. They have almost no flat rides, the park is full of closed shops and food outlets and the opening hours are terrible. There are better investments to be made. planenut 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 Not my thing but could work. The Sea-Life centres were good additions to their respective parks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streetmagix Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 I mean, it's not the worst idea in the world. If they decide to use the Sub Terra building that end of the park could then be open in the evenings (Rollercoaster Restaurant, Galactica, Nemesis, Dungeons and Mini Golf). There are other areas of the park that need more urgent work rather than a new attraction. Just cleaning up the park would do wonders really, the less said about The Smiler the better, more flat rides, more entertainment and longer hours should be higher priority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marhelorpe Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 Another actor-led attraction with a dark theme once again? *sigh* Do Merlin ever learn from their mistakes or stretch the imagination beyond home-brewed and commercial IP's? The park is currently in desperate need of 'filler' attractions, primarily flat rides and on-park entertainment, not another bleedin' walk-through horror attraction that will likely up-charge guests who need to be aged 12+. Saddest thing about this? Doesn't surprise me one bit Merlin have decided to do this. The bar is that low with them for me now... Stuntman707 and Coaster 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 It's a weird one this, like, it's not a bad idea in principle (especially if they're re-purposing the CatCF building); but it's not something the park needs right now whatsoever... Imagine having the limited hours and then adding an attraction which takes 30-45 minutes to go through (assuming) would not be the smartest thing... Just got to wonder what the management think the problems are in the park, or if the KPIs are so weighted towards positivity because anyone negative doesn't get told to do one it's completely ignored... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobF Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 15 minutes ago, Benin said: It's a weird one this, like, it's not a bad idea in principle (especially if they're re-purposing the CatCF building); but it's not something the park needs right now whatsoever... Imagine having the limited hours and then adding an attraction which takes 30-45 minutes to go through (assuming) would not be the smartest thing... Just got to wonder what the management think the problems are in the park, or if the KPIs are so weighted towards positivity because anyone negative doesn't get told to do one it's completely ignored... #paidforattraction= additional revenue = higher profit= sole kpi for park Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 Is there anything to say that it would be an upcharge attraction though? The Sea-Lifes aren't so maybe they'd follow that concept as a 'taster' for the bigger midway versions... Only this one would have effectively 3 rides in there in used in CatCF, with the simulators, boat ride and potentially re-using Sub Terra... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshuaA Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 I honestly don't dislike this idea, but with the current state of flat rides at the park I think this is the wrong move. Alton have a pathetic lineup of flat rides and it really wouldn't cost Merlin much to buy a few and add them in.. Enterprise and The Blade are really the only two left and both of them seem to be close to death.. I guess it wouldn't be a terrible addition.. Sealife at Chessie and Alton work I guess, but obviously it will require a crap ton of actors.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuntman707 Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 I bet it will be an upcharge attraction. All Merlin ever seem to do now at Towers / Thorpe is horror and I’m getting rather bored of it tbh. I just wish they would build more fun, happy and colourful flat rides. Get a mascot. Add some fountains / fountain shows, entertainment shows & parades. There’s really nothing in the UK offering all of what you can get at parks across the channel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 The dungeons are always something they do pretty well, so I could see this working especially at a park like towers which had the history / setting perfect for it. Would be interesting to see if it’s an up charge of part of the day ticket, could also potentially be another thing for hotel guests when the parks closed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Doyle Posted July 3, 2018 Report Share Posted July 3, 2018 Now I absolutely love the Dungeon attractions, however the issue I have with having these smaller scale ones in Warwick Castle and soon to be Alton Towers is the fact they charge extra for them. The reason I have for this is because if I am a standard pass holder, why on earth would I pay extra to do a condensed 45-50 minute version of the Dungeon when I can go to Edinburgh,Blackpool,York or London and do a 80-90 minute Dungeon included in the price of the annual pass??. Plus maybe I am being ignorant or something but what dark history do the towers have in the same way the other dungeons do? Now If they don’t upcharge for it (which I strongly doubt they will given it will probably sell well), use some interesting dark historical events (whatever they may be) in their scenes and find a way to keep the queues respectful (how Warwick Castle use free timed tickets in their Halloween attractions for example) then this potentially could be a good addition to the towers line up given all the Dungeon attractions are highly entertaining attractions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted July 3, 2018 Report Share Posted July 3, 2018 My thoughts? Towers doesn't need a dungeons, it needs operations sorting out, more support rides, more water rides and appealing opening hours. Matt 236, Martin Doyle, JoshuaA and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted July 5, 2018 Report Share Posted July 5, 2018 There are a number of things Towers could really do with getting. A Dungeon type attraction is not necessarily one of them. The Park desperately needs more in the form of supporting attractions, whether that be water rides, family attractions, flat rides or even a couple of shows. There isn’t much to do if Thirteen and/Rita go down for lengthy periods of time except walk around the gardens, to the nearest ride or wait until it reopens. Getting a Dungeons type attraction is not a terrible thing, but not a brilliant one either. If they can make this work successfully hats off to the park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted July 5, 2018 Report Share Posted July 5, 2018 1 hour ago, Matt Creek said: There are a number of things Towers could really do with getting. A Dungeon type attraction is not necessarily one of them. The Park desperately needs more in the form of supporting attractions, whether that be water rides, family attractions, flat rides or even a couple of shows. There isn’t much to do if Thirteen and/Rita go down for lengthy periods of time except walk around the gardens, to the nearest ride or wait until it reopens. Getting a Dungeons type attraction is not a terrible thing, but not a brilliant one either. If they can make this work successfully hats off to the park. I'd level all that stuff at Thorpe more then Alton right now. Altons problem is the short opening hours with the later ride opening times. At the moment there isn't enough time to get everything done. There's enough to do for those interested (Gardens, Sea Life Centre, Rapids, Duel, Hex, walk around the Towers if they are open) but the short hours do not help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted July 5, 2018 Report Share Posted July 5, 2018 I think some areas need the support more than others (Valley, X-Sector and Dark Forest mainly, though DF can at least use Hex and CCL if need be as backup)... Definitely need a Flume replacement though, Rapids are clearly struggling there, but really then you're looking at probably a total of 5 actual new rides needed? (2 in FV, 1 in XS, 1 in DF and a Flume) Cloud Cuckoo Land needs something done to it drastically, it's a shame they're limited to what they could do there, though they could easily do an impressive indoor dark ride/cred in the Charlie building if they really wanted to... The problem is luring people up to the area as no-one ever really strayed much beyond Charlie when it was open, now it's like a ghost town... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringo Posted October 11, 2018 Report Share Posted October 11, 2018 Now confirmed as happening https://www.altontowers.com/theme-park/dungeon/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted October 11, 2018 Report Share Posted October 11, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt A Posted October 11, 2018 Report Share Posted October 11, 2018 Construction work is apparently going on around the Charlie ATCF building, seems quite a likely spot to put it, can't see where else it would go apart from inside the towers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattgwise Posted October 11, 2018 Report Share Posted October 11, 2018 What a ..... L7123456 and Coaster 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted October 11, 2018 Report Share Posted October 11, 2018 Concept of it is fine. Execution of it in a park like Towers is just not going to be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted October 12, 2018 Report Share Posted October 12, 2018 It was going to happen indefinitely and could be an amusing attraction for a good proportion of visitors. My biggest criticidm to the project project is not only the fact they are opening ‘yet another’ dark themed ride in what’s supposed to be a happy upbeat area, but the fact this could be an upcharge attraction. Something the park don’t necessarily need, at least in their current position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuntman707 Posted October 22, 2018 Report Share Posted October 22, 2018 Confirmed by Towers Street, the dungeon will be an upcharge attraction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted October 22, 2018 Report Share Posted October 22, 2018 Will be really interesting to see how this works for them - I can see it being pretty popular if it’s priced right - it’s also another attraction helping capacity which is always a good thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuntman707 Posted October 22, 2018 Report Share Posted October 22, 2018 Hopefully it’s priced fairly and they give access to annual pass holders. Would certainly help spread the queues in the park so long as the price is right. Now it just needs Fastrack to make it a triple price attraction! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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