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ALTON TOWERS
United Kingdom (Abbreviation: AT)
Merlin Entertainment Group
---- THE LATEST BUZZ ----
(10/12/2024) Alton Towers Confirms New Ride Coming To Forbidden Valley in 2025
(6/4/2024) Project Ocean, ScareFest and More
(4/27/2024) Alton Tower's Future Is All About Storytelling
(3/16/2024) Nemesis Lives!
(3/16/2024) Stunning Nemesis Reborn Video and Bluey??
 Park News - (7/21/2024) One thing Alton Towers has been known for over the years is some rather interesting marketing strategies, often creating some very interesting narratives that will surely get picked up the local media and get people talking about the resort once again. Case in point, this week Alton Towers has officially appointed a “grandmother” to serve as the park’s first Chief Thrillseeker who’s job it is to test the park’s various roller coasters and thrill rides.
Jackie Smith has been appointed to this prestigious position, who is a 72-year old grandmother of four, but she’s got a hell of a background. Jackie was also the first woman to join the Parachute Regiment of the Red Devils back in 1971 when she was just 19, and within two years she was awarded the Regiment’s prestigious Red Beret. After a career that included undertaking 5,000 parachute jumps, Jackie is now making her mark on Alton Towers to ensure that all the park’s thrills are elevated to the appropriate levels.
Follow the link to see some fun pictures of Jackie at the park, taking on the new Nemesis Reborn.
(6/4/2024) Chall Chats has posted a new video with construction updates from Alton Towers, with a look at how things are moving forward on “Project Ocean” and what this new attraction just might turn out to be.
The video also goes over the rumors for this year’s Scarefest event happening this fall as well.
(4/26/2024) In a fascinating article over at Blooloop, Alton Tower’s Marketing Director, Larry Roles, speaks at length about how storytelling is the future of the Alton Towers experience. As frequent park guests know, the attractions at Alton Towers are usually about much more than the new ride hardware that creates the physical experience, but about the deeper storytelling involved to create the parks’ unique attraction experiences.
It wasn’t enough to just build a B&M Inverted roller coaster, the park came up with the whole storyline about how an unground dormant creature was accidently awoken, and how The Phalanx launched a plan into action to essentially pin the creature down to the ground with the roller coaster itself. With the park itself being built around the grounds of the Alton Towers structure itself, it has led to the creation of many stories about curses, ghosts and other supernatural forces providing the backbone for many a storyline.
So while the art of storytelling has always been alive and well at Alton Towers, I would also suspect the fact that Universal is now making plans to sneak in the back door and build their own brand new theme park in the UK is going to encourage Alton Towers to increase their efforts going forward.
(3/16/2024) Some incredible new night-time drone footage showing off the new Nemesis Reborn coaster in action, will the full effects package running have been released by the park and looks incredible! You can check it out below!
In other Alton Towers news, Blooloop reports that the resort will be offering special themed rooms at the CBeebies Land Hotel themed to the kids animated show, Bluey. The new rooms will be available for stays starting on May 25th.
(2/10/2024) A new video report from Chall Chats confirms a list of new updates regarding Alton Towers this season. This includes the confirmation that HEX will reopen for the 2024 season, the new “Alton After Dark” special event in the park with extended hours and nighttime rides (a rarity at Alton Towers), a Pirate Takeover themed special event during the half-term holiday, along with the return of Oktoberfest and ScareFest in the fall. More good news for the park is that the Flames will be returning to Wicker Man this season, new lift-hill climb experiences will be coming to Oblivion and Wicker Man, a 10th Anniversary of Cbeelies Land, the return of the SkyRide sometime during the season, and of course the long-awaited return of Nemesis as Nemesis Reborn.
(10/23/2023) Alton Towers have confirmed that the three “Retrosquad” rides that were added as temporary additions three seasons ago will now be leaving Alton Towers for good on November 5th. These rides are: Spinjam, Twistatron and Funk N Fly.
(8/3/2023) According to an announcement made by Alton Towers, the park has confirmed that Hex and Skyride will now remain closed for the rest of the 2023 season. Teams have been working to get these attractions up and running, but the park has made the tough decision to keep them closed, saying “this step is essential for the long-term delivery of these attractions. This will allow us to carry out extended maintenance on Skyride, which is required to help us preserve the experience for the future. We continue to invest in Hex – The Legend of the Towers, as we know this is a much-loved attraction. The extended closure will help support our teams carry out maintenance work and training on the ride. I want to assure you that our teams are working hard to bring this back as soon as we are able.”
2024 - Nemesis Reborn - (3/16/2024) Enjoy the videos below showing off the new Nemesis Reborn attraction experience, including a look around the queue with all new props and scenery, a giant ‘living’ eyeball for the creature, surrounded by teeth that move, a variety of actors doing various things throughout the zone, and a look at the crazy looking special-effects filled station interior. Plus a look at a new POV video showing off the ride experience itself.
What else can I say other than “Nemesis Lives!” and all is right inside Alton Towers once again.
(2/25/2024) Alton Towers has posted a teaser video about the return of Nemesis Reborn, confirming the opening date as Saturday, March 16th.
(1/21/2024) A great comparison shot of old Nemesis vs the new Nemesis Reborn can be seen below, along with a video below that showing off the newest version of the Nemesis now making some test runs.
(1/10/2024) Alton Tower’s has finally unveiled some new teasers about the upcoming reopening of Nemesis. For starters, the new animated graphics now refer to the ride as Nemesis Reborn. We also get a good look at the new Nemesis creature itself, just as new parts and pieces of the creature are arriving in the park itself as part of the new themeing package.
(7/23/2023) Theme Park Worldwide has posted a new video showcasing the construction progress on rebuilding Nemesis at Alton Towers. They have also noticed some interesting design changes to the trackwork on the new Nemesis, particularly on the vertical loop, which now has thicker spine sections to connect to the supports, and that the inversion is actually made up from three different track segments, where formerly it was done with two longer segments. So clearly B&M did choose to re-engineer the track from the designs used for the original version.
(6/22/2023) Coaster Studios has posted a new Nemesis update after a recent visit to the park. As we’ve seen before, more of the new black track with the red veins has been put into place as the crews look to take advantage of the summer weather. Lots of fun teaser signs are now up along the pathways, some from the Phalanx and others telling guests to “#SeekTheTruth” and uncover what is really going on behind the Nemesis mystery.
Now I’m going to say what everyone has been saying… while the track looks pretty slick and cool right now, what it is going to look like by next year when Nemesis reopens? How will it look 5 years from now? Roller coaster track does fade under the sun, and I’m not so sure they’ll be able to repaint those red veins back on when the time comes, or at least not in quite such detail. So I am quite curious what Alton Towers’ long term plan is.
(6/12/2023) A great video has been posted showcasing a view of the entire Nemesis construction site as it currently looks, along with a look at all the track parts now stored on site, along with a look at the rest of the Forbidden Valley section of the park.
(4/29/2023) The Phalanx forces are back at Alton Towers to mark the arrival of the first new pieces of Nemesis roller coaster track as part of the refurbishment of the park’s epic ride. Gone is the old light grey track and instead we see new pieces of dark black track arriving on site, complete with deep blood red veins painting along the side that just make it look completely creepy.
According to Screamscape sources, the new track pieces have been quietly arriving in the UK from the track fabricator in the US for weeks now, but to keep from spoiling the surprise f the new look, the track segments have been arriving just with a plain black paint job and were stored at an off-site location about 15-20 miles away in the Derbyshire area. We can only assume that this is where the custom paint theming is being applied to the track segments by local artists before being shipped to the theme park for installation over the 2023 season.
A few weeks ago Screamscape was sent some pictures (see below) of the new track arriving in the UK, but hearing that a bigger reveal with extra theming was on the horizon, I opted to hold off a bit until now.
(1/1/2023) Pictures showing off a load of black painted B&M track sitting at the plant in Ohio have been posted to Facebook by TowersTimes. They believe the track could possibly be new track destined for the rebuild of Nemesis at Alton Towers, but this would also indicate a major color change for Nemesis, which was previously a more natural grey color with dirty/dark splotches all across it.
So far only three B&M coasters are being built for 2023 (Legoland Germany, SeaWorld Orlando and Chessington) and none of them have black track, so if this isn’t for Nemesis, then it would be for another yet-to-be-announced 2024 coaster project. Otherwise a color shift wouldn’t be completely out of the realm for the reborn Nemesis, as sister coaster Nemesis Inferno at Thorpe Park was build with black supports and dark red/crimson looking track.
(10/23/22) Alton Towers has now posted details for a last-ride event for Nemesis that will give you the chance to ride the park’s most popular coaster with the ride’s creator, John Wardley. Currently Nemesis is under the control of The Phalanx, a secret organization tasked with keeping the beast under control. As told through the story of the ride, the roller coaster is actually a complex device built to pin down the actual Nemesis beast. A final list of test specimens are to be selected to brave Nemesis on the final ride day on November 6th.
After this, Nemesis will close down an undergo ‘an exciting revamp’ before it can return to service in 2024. If you have what it takes to become one of the final riders, you can nominate yourself to take the last ride here where winners will apparently be chosen by The Phalanx at random.
(9/23/22) Alton Towers has confirmed that you have until November 6th to ride Nemesis before they shut it down to undergo extensive track replacement. They have also confirmed that this renovation project will keep Nemesis closed for the entire 2023 season, and not see the coaster reopen until 2024.
(1/25/22) Back when Universal Orlando chose to tear down and completely rebuild their Incredible Hulk coaster from B&M, it was somewhat of a unique event. At the time, no one had ever just kind of come out to say that they felt their coaster had reached the end of it’s lifespan so quickly and needed to be replaced, after opening in 1999 and then shutting down the original coaster in September 2015 to replace it with a new copy of Hulk that opened in August of 2016.
While we’ve seen many coasters replace sections of track in the off-season over the years, a process especially well known to fans of The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, about the only other time I can recall a coaster being taken down and entirely rebuilt from the ground up would be when Disneyland did it to Space Mountain, closing the 1977 ride in 2003 and replacing it with a modern built version that opened in 2005.
Now you are probably wondering why I am bringing all this up on our Alton Towers news page. This is because Merlin and Alton Towers have submitted plans to do nearly the same thing to the park’s extremely popular Nemesis coaster (also from B&M). Nemesis first opened in early 1994 and has now submitted plans to remove and replace the majority of Nemesis’ track (they are keeping just the station and lift hill) along with the majority of the ride’s support pieces.
The layout will be kept the same, but the track pieces will be filled with sand this time, which is now a common method of making the coaster run quietly, which is sure to please the neighbors.
Keep in mind that the application to perform this work was just submitted, so the park still needs final approval to go ahead with it. Assuming this is approved, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t, then if I had to guess we may need Nemesis close sometime later this year in order to get it rebuilt in time to reopen for the 2023 season if possible. Or at least we hope it will be ready to roll again in 2023. It took nearly a year to replace Hulk and given the way that Nemesis interacts with the ground and surrounding landscape, replacing it may end up being a bit more complex.
???? - New Indoor Attraction / Project Horizon - (2/19/2023) According to an update posted to TowersTimes, Alton Towers was approved to move forward with their large new indoor attraction project, aka: Project Horizon. As before, I believe the timeline on this wouldn’t see it open until 2025. Follow to link to read more details about what the structure itself will likely look like from the outside, as well as the placement of it in the park.
(11/23/22) The latest word on the proposed new indoor coaster project for Alton Towers (referred to as Project Horizon) is that construction on the large building for the indoor ride is set to begin in Spring 2023 and the ride is expected to open in Spring 2025.
(11/6/2022) According to a post by TowersTimes, the new indoor Project Horizon planning application mentions that the new attraction inside would be some kind of indoor roller coaster. A family friendly indoor coaster would be a good fit for the park that has been without such an offering ever since they closed Black Hole in 2005.
(9/5/22) In other news it has come to light that Alton Towers will “hold a public exhibition event” on September 19th featuring proposals to add a new indoor attraction on the former site of Alton Mouse in the former Coaster Corner section of the park. According to the limited information in the leaflets, the proposal will be for a new attraction building on the site. As for the location, Towers Times mentions that guests have not had access to the former Coaster Corner area since 1992, following the removal of the 4 Man Bob and Alton Mouse from the area, and the relocation of Alton Beast to the Forbidden Valley area as “The New Beast”. Noise from the outdoor rides in this area was always an issue with the locals, so the area has sat unused for many years, so building a new indoor attraction should be a viable solution to breathe new life into the site. A new video on the CoasterChall channel also discusses this new development in further details (see below).
In other news a post to Twitter shows off markings on the ground in the park said to be placed just outside of the Enterprise ride, hinting that it could be related to an SW9 project.
Keep in mind that the park is also planning on closing Nemesis for a complete rebuild that will likely see Nemesis closed for all of 2023 to reopen in 2024, so between Nemesis, Duel, and this new indoor ride project, and whatever SW9 turns out to be… there a lot of activity being planned for Alton Towers all at once.
2025? - Project Ocean - (10/12/2024) While we still don’t know what it is yet, Alton Towers is starting to promote the fact that a New Ride is indeed coming to the Forbidden Valley in 2025, and asking for guests to sign-up to be the first to get the latest info when they drop it.
For those not familiar with the park over the years, the Forbidden Valley is the dark section of the park known for years as being home to Nemesis, now updated as Nemesis Reborn, along with other nearby creepy attractions such as Nemesis Sub Terra, The Blade and Galactica. Theme wise, control of the area has been overseen by the mysterious Phalanx group who have overseen the capture, containment and control of the Nemesis creature and it is likely their role will come into play once again as the park prepared to unleash the new 2025 attraction.
Attraction wise, I’m a bit unsure myself of which project this is now planned for 2025. Previously the park was proposing building an indoor structure for an indoor attraction for 2025 while a new outdoor flat ride concept was said to be in the works for Forbidden Valley in 2026, but given that the park has confirmed that the new 2025 attraction will be in Forbiden Valley, the two projects could have swapped timelines.
(2/10/2024) While we still don’t know exactly what Alton Towers has planned for their “Project Horizon” indoor attraction set to open in 2025, the park has now filed some early plans for yet another attraction concept to follow… maybe in 2026 or 2027. According to the post on TowersTimes about this “Project Ocean” concept, the new attraction will be placed in the Forbidden Valley area not far from where the temporary Funk N Fly ride sat for the past few seasons.
According to the filings the new ride is said to be a “more fixed” attraction than the portable Funk N Fly, so this will be a park model ride. Interestly enough the concept would place this ride outdoors, but mounted to the top of a 4.8 meter tall building structure. The overall scale of the new ride is said to stand 18 meters above ground level, and take up a footprint of 11.5 x 14.5 meters. Due to the size of the neighboring treeline however, the attraction will remain invisible from outside the park. A guest pathway that leads towards Galactica will actually run under the attraction structure, along with two tall circular structures that will sit on either side of the attraction, standing about half the height of the ride itself.
The concept art shown in the filing shows a large square box building where the ride will be placed, but since the ride was said to be outdoors, this is assumed to just be a representation of the envelope that the ride structure will utilize. Even based on these very vague early descriptions, this new addition sounds like it will be a very fascinating visual addition to the park’s landscape.
While we don’t know exactly what is coming, the visual here did give me one good idea, especially with the placement of the load and unload staircases on either side of the platform, which seems to indicate that riders may be loaded and facing in more than one direction on the platform. My first impression is that this could possibly be an S&S Screamin’ Swing ride. While these can be modified to be made slightly bigger or smaller based on what a park wants, I believe this would fit right into the general footprint envelop posted by the park, with the basic Screamin’ Swing standing 19m tall and able to be modified to fit within the available footprint. And those two circular structures on either side could easily contain the two required massive air-tanks that propel the two arms swing movement.
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