I would definitely add a new world's first roller coaster and turn Scarefest into a spectacular event. I have created this topic so you can discuss what you would add to the Alton Towers Resort to make it more amazing than it already is. Use your imagination, collect and share your extraordinary ideas. Go for it:

I would buy a load of B&Ms. Wouldn't everyone do that? 

I'm confused about this topic. Do I own Merlin or just Alton Towers? If I'm not Merlin, what's my budget?

Basically, if you could add or remove or do anything to the resort, what would you do? Your budget is unlimited, as long as you don't go over top with things.

I would...
-Strengthen the theming of Air (not sure how, but I think I might darken the tunnel and add blue lights at the sides like in the advert. This is just an example.)
-Add a big coaster to the valley. It would have plenty of airtime and may even be wood, but I'm not sure.
-Invent and install an invisible, sound-proof field of some sort for the park to keep the Ropers at bay (with gaps at the entrances and exits of course). Either that or I would buy the Ropers a house far, far away that they couldn't turn down.

I'd do more than that of course but I have to admit my imagination isn't as wild as I'd like it to be at times!

^Blue lights in the Air tunnel have already been done. 

Ah, OK then. I haven't been since 5th October so I don't know about anything that's been done in terms of lights between then and now.
I looked it up on Google images (as you do) and I was wondering if they were like that for the Scarefest or will it be like that for the whole season now?
(I still think it would look cool if there were lights along the sides like in the advert though)

-I would add a new B&M in Forbidden Valley.
-Add a flat ride in the Dark Forest.
-Add a new hotel or something like that.

^Why in Forbidden Valley, may I ask?

NemesisJaney54 wrote:

Ah, OK then. I haven't been since 5th October so I don't know about anything that's been done in terms of lights between then and now.
I looked it up on Google images (as you do) and I was wondering if they were like that for the Scarefest or will it be like that for the whole season now?
(I still think it would look cool if there were lights along the sides like in the advert though)

I do believe that it is for the entirety of the season! 

Yay! From what I saw they looked fairly atmospheric, which is always good.

- Buy the annoying neighbours' houses, that solves the noise problem. Rent them to staff or have them as extremely luxury cottages to rent. Or re-sell them with a covenant that the new owners cannot moan about noise as the theme park was there before them!
- Plant really tall trees around park to solve the visual ride issue.
- Lock John Wardley in a room with red bull and coffee and not let him out until 'Nemesis The Revenge' is designed.
- Buy the entire Swiss catalogue.
- Build the 'Booster Bike Broom Stick Ride' in Dark Forest.
- Build the cross valley woody.

I would add:
- A terrain hugging wing coaster in the Air car park!
- A cross valley woodie!
- A zacspin in the Dark Forest!
- Get rid of Rita!
- Get a multi launch in the valley with big drops and air time!
- A big drop tower!

^Is it really necessary to add an exclamation mark to the end of everything you suggest? 

Oh and a 'big drop tower', would not get planning rights, due to the park's construction limit of 25m. Even if you did own the park.

I would try to develop more family rides so there is enough for the younger ones to do. I also would try to get into a position where all the rides are maintained when the park is closed as I don't believe that rides should be closed when people pay such large entrance fees. I know sometimes it can't be helped but there is no reason why they do servicing during the daytime.

Restore the towers and have a really good dark ride or walk through.
Extend Skyride to go past X Sector and back to Main Street .
Replace the flume with a more modern water coaster.
Have later opening in summer and Fright Nights.
For closed season use open the gardens with a reopened Swiss cottage in the gardens and theme it similar to Octoberfest German bar, fire pit outside. Also have it open late at night for hotel guests, lit walkway to Woodland Walk to Towers hotel. Restore the garden steps and pathways.
Clean the ponds near pagoda fountain and have fountain working.

1: Make The Sanctuary a permanent addition.
2: Add a flamethrower in the Nemesis Stall Turn area facing into the loop pit.
3: Put some very very creepy animatronics in Sub Terra to the likes of The Lava Monster in Journey To The Centre of The Earth.
4: Give Th13teen a deep back story.
5: Move Blade to Mutiny Bay.
6: It's time for Submission to go.
7: Submission's place a Technical Park Pegasus.
8: The Smiler's indoor section full of mist and strobes with Smiler faces on the walls
9: The Smiler post roll brake run, orange light room, roller door on the exit - keep the orange lights as they do look good but they would speed up to a strobe, sound effects from The Sanctuary Marmalisation room and some water sprinkle for good measure. With some Kelman audio explaining that your about to undergo marmalisation and what you just experienced was just the start of things to come. Your re-birth as a smiling advocate is just moments away and that you will smile.always.
10: The Smiler Flasher change for LED strobes.
11: Actors in the Exit corridors with big smiley faces.
12: On-board audio for Oblivion.
13: A huge hypno-disc placed on Enterprise.
14: LED lights placed on the Air-crafts alike to the LEDs on Rip Ride Rockit. These can be changed to any colour or speed setting being perfect for daytime in the tunnel and Scarefest/Fireworks at night.
15: Bring back Energizer - I don't care where we put it, but I want it back.
16: Overhaul Ripsaw back to 1997 standards (full power, aligned water jets, all the theming put back on).
17: Call Intamin and get the first 2 air time hills changed to zero-g rolls, theme Rita in a castle ruin theme, maybe some possessed horses.
18: Put some more "action" in the last part of the rapids.
19: Overhaul The Flume to a battle between pirates and ducks.
20: It's time to end Fastrack, or at least use the American method where you scan your park ticket and you get a time to come back. In ending Fastrack, this also opens up a front row queue for The Smiler.
21: FULL REFURB OF ALL MAJOR RIDES, mainly Nemesis' station and Oblivion queue buildings.
So there is my 21 Steps to my Better Towers

rhino18 wrote:

^Is it really necessary to add an exclamation mark to the end of everything you suggest? 

Oh and a 'big drop tower', would not get planning rights, due to the park's construction limit of 25m. Even if you did own the park.

I'd dig a lot so it went underground, like Oblivion!

^I've always thought that where Sub-Terra (coincidently a drop-type attraction) is, they should've extended the ravine and placed a small 2nd/3rd generation Intamin in there instead.

Obviously though, that's VERY unrealistic. 

Some nice toilets.
Put The multi flavour vending machines that Burger King have in the park .

You really have two options here:

1) Spend loads and loads of cash on expensive rides, theming etc to create a dream park, and then have the worry about where the money will come from and if it will in fact bring enough new guests through the doors to pay for it all.

2) Forget about making lots of profit and be realistic with it, build what you know will get enough people through the doors and which will also not make the park bankrupt in a few years too.


For me there needs to be investment in two areas:

1) Family attractions and young children (look at how many people visit Legoland each year?)
2) Thrill rides for teens and adults (how many people visit Thorpe?)

I believe you have to cater for the two and have a healthy balance for it to work successfully. Now if you look at the current line up of rides and attractions, they really do have a good line up, so improving what they have does not really mean that they need to spend hundreds of millions of pounds.

One area where I feel is wasted and could be so much better is CCL and Coaster corner. I love CCL and the theme works very well for me, but there really isn't a lot for people to do there. So what could be changed?

-Charlie, needs to be changed to Toyland Tours, they can still keep the glass lift at the end, but have it going through a toy factory. For me Charlie does not have any magic and it is a big disappointment for lots of guests.
-Ice Age 3D I love and this really works well for the area, of course at some stage this will need to be changed to the next IP which is popular with kids, but for me this works.
-Twirling Toadstools - keep it
-Driving school - keep it
-Frog hopper is ideal

-Now the old Nickelodeon place needs to be used for something, it is a waste of space, make it a shop/Costa cafe etc.
-Coaster corner, this could be an extension of CCL, there is enough room for QUIET, low height attractions which will be suitable for families, plus if they put up a heigh fence to minimise noise, then this could be a great young kids area, add a small junior coaster, a Wave Ride like at Legoland and another smaller ride (Sea Storm at Chessington type ride).

I believe it is very important for young families to come, there is a lot of money to be made here as even if it is 1 child, there will always be two parents or even grandparents. Plus with pre-school children, these guests if you give them then ride discounts can come during the week keeping the park busy when it is quiet.

There is also another great bonus, if the young children enjoy it, they will want to come back and if you can keep all ages engaged, then they will come back as a teenager, then adults and eventually in 20 years time with their own kids. So by having rides for all people, you can boost the numbers and invest in the future.

Now here comes to be big investments, you can spend 15-20 million on a big ride, yes it will draw a large crowd, but for that price you can also get more bang for your buck if you spend it on smaller attractions.

-Flat rides would add a lot to the park, a KMG Afterburner, S&S Swing, even a Top Scan. These kind of rides are cheaper, don't take up a huge amount of space, but can easily eat through a good number of riders per hour and give the guests a much better variety of attractions.

My first shopping list would be:
-Junior coaster
-KMG Afterburner (to replace Submission)
-Top Scan
-Flying Carpet (like Quantum)
-Cross valley woodie
-Flume replacement
-A big dark ride
-Improved larger family offering
-A bird enclosure like Lorakeet Lagoon at Chessington, this is very cheap, takes up minimal space, but young children and even big kids love to feed the birds.

I also believe that more effort needs to be made to have things like shows for guests. Alton has lost many of its gems over the year, so bring back the parrot show, the ice show would be good (even if only during high season), plus animals like the Sea lions are also popular. If you read back through history at what made the towers successful in the past, lots of these have been lost over the years.