In December 2024, Alton Towers submitted a planning application for a new junior coaster to be located in CBeebies Land, said to be “perfect for our youngest thrill-seekers & their families to enjoy together” and codenamed Project Sunshine.
April 2025 – Plans Revised
Discussions with the council’s Arboricultural Officer, following the submission of the original plans for Project Sunshine, resulted in revised plans being submitted in April 2025 in order to reduce the number of lost trees. This was achieved by: (i) slightly repositioning the coaster’s layout towards the south-west of the site, (ii) removing the maintenance area from the station building, thereby reducing its overall size and the need to extend into the staff car park, and (iii) reconfiguring the entrance, queue line and exit. While all five theming features within the boundary of the coaster itself were retained, the sixth feature was repositioned, in order to be kept close to the attraction’s queue line entrance, and slightly reduced in size. Additionally, the number of themed areas within the queue line was reduced from five to three.
January 2025 – Plans Submitted
Following an announcement by the Resort in the week before Christmas 2024 of their plans to open a new junior coaster in CBeebies Land in 2026, the full planning application documents were published in early January 2025. These confirmed that Project Sunshine would utilise the site currently occupied by Postman Pat Parcel Post, with themed areas within the coaster’s queue line at the southern end of the site and a combined station and maintenance building positioned at the northern end. The fully enclosed station building would seemingly be a dominant feature of the attraction, with it having a maximum height of around 9.3m from ground level.
Based on the plans, the coaster would seemingly have a simple, broadly circular layout. While full details of the track and supports were not shown, after ascending an initial incline up to a maximum height similar to that of the station building, it appeared the ride would move clockwise through the layout around the perimeter of an area which would feature five theming features. Additionally, outside of the main ride area will be the sixth and largest theming feature – with this appearing to be accessible directly from the pathway running alongside the attraction, it seems plausible that it could function as a meet and greet space for the character(s) to which the proposed attraction is intended to be themed around.
Although the planning documents did not reference a specific IP, Bluey was considered the undoubted front-runner of likely IPs given the series’ ever-growing global appeal and its status as the No. 1 kids show on CBeebies and Disney+ in the UK.
