It has today emerged that Alton Towers Resort are due to hold a public exhibition event on Monday 19th September for emerging proposals to add a new indoor attraction on the former site of Alton Mouse in Coaster Corner.
In leaflets distributed to local residents (thanks to David Ford for the photo), the Resort state that a new attraction building is being proposed for the area to the west of The World of David Walliams and The Alton Towers Dungeon. Only very limited information on the nature of the attraction is available at this stage, with it simply stated that the new indoor attraction will provide a new experience for visitors and will add to the existing attractions at the Resort. It is anticipated that some further details on the attraction may be forthcoming at the public consultation events. These will take place at 1-3pm and 4:30-6:30pm on Monday 19th September, in the Alton Towers Conference Centre, with several members of the project team in attendance to answer questions on the proposals.
Located in the most south-western part of the theme park, this area became known as Coaster Corner due to being home to three notable rollercoasters – 4 Man Bob, Alton Mouse, and Alton Beast – for a number of years. However, the removal of 4 Man Bob in 1990 marked the start of the end for Coaster Corner. The area has not been accessible to theme park guests since 1992, when Alton Mouse was removed and Alton Beast was relocated to Thunder Valley (now Forbidden Valley) as The New Beast, due to noise impacts on the nearby village of Alton from the rides operating in Coaster Corner. Over a similar period, Adventureland 4-11 and its attractions were also disbanded, increasing the size of the area in this part of the theme park no longer being utilised for attractions. Therefore, it seems as though the Resort are looking to address the primary historic issue with using this location, being the wider noise impact of attractions situated here, by having the proposed new attraction be based indoors.
Nowadays, the land is a backstage area used for storage and waste/recycling facilities. We have outlined what is broadly the prospective site in the following images. To the south-east is The Alton Towers Dungeon, and to the north is Merlin Magic Making Studios North. Staffordshire Moorlands District Council’s online interactive planning map is also helpful for identifying where Alton Mouse and Alton Beast were formerly located, based on where the outlines of their original planning applications are shown. It also highlights the site of Bunbury Hillfort, a scheduled monument – this is a legally protected archaeological site, so it would be expected that the development would be designed to avoid encroaching into the area corresponding to this, marked in purple on SMDC’s map. Although it is the former Alton Mouse site that is specifically referenced as being the location of the new attraction building, this is right to the west of the area, with a significant amount of space in between this and the currently accessible areas of the theme park. It therefore seems likely that more of this area will be utilised as part of the wider development, perhaps for supporting rides and facilities such as food and retail outlets. For context on the scale of the entire potential development area, we have cut and pasted The Smiler into the middle, showing the substantial size of the site. Depending on the layout, opening up this area may also provide guests with a closer look at the Flag Tower again, which is the western-most feature on these maps and has been inaccessible for many years.
Whilst people familiar with the situation have cited the location as that of the next Secret Weapon, it has not yet been confirmed by the Resort that this site is going to be used for Secret Weapon 9 (SW9). There is also no guarantee that the proposed indoor attraction relates to the development of a roller coaster for Alton Towers. It is worth keeping in mind that, beyond prior precedent, there is nothing to say that the next Secret Weapon has to be a rollercoaster. The development could instead be a large scale dark ride or some other attraction which isn’t rollercoaster-based. All we know for sure is that something new is happening in the old Coaster Corner, and that John Wardley referenced SW9 at our recent TowersTimes 20th Birthday Celebration, as well as stating that the new rollercoaster technology he has been most impressed by “is coming along here”.
Being in such early days of hearing about this new attraction, it is only possible to speculate about prospective themes. With the attraction expected to be accessed from the area where Flavio’s Fabulous Fandango currently resides, this raises the prospect of it being an expansion of The World of David Walliams, which opened last year. However, with such a large potential site for the development, it could easily stand in its own right as a separately themed area. Another potential theme is that of Jumanji, following the announcement earlier this year of an agreement between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Merlin Entertainments to develop and operate attractions, rides, lands, retail outlets and themed hotel rooms based on the Jumanji film franchise across Merlin’s Resort Theme Parks and Waterparks in Europe (including the UK) and North America. However, with it now confirmed that Chessington World of Adventures will open a World of Jumanji area in 2023, it is up for debate as to whether Merlin would want to have Jumanji-based attractions at two of its UK Resort Theme Parks, especially when Alton Towers is arguably less suited to featuring the intellectual property (IP) compared to Chessington. Of course it could be a different IP entirely, or even an original concept, which all Secret Weapons to date have been.
No timeframe for opening the attraction has been given at this stage, although information shared at the public consultation would be expected to give a better sense of this. However, recent consultation events held by other Merlin Resort Theme Parks, could provide an approximate benchmark. Chessington held a public consultation for Project Genesis in May 2021, around 2 years prior to its planned Spring 2023 opening, while Thorpe Park held a public consultation for Project Exodus in December 2021, just over 2 years prior to its intended 2024 opening. Therefore, it seems likely that 2025 is being targeted by Alton Towers for opening this new indoor attraction, which would also mean that it doesn’t clash with either of the other park’s major investments. This would also fit around other upcoming developments at Alton Towers, with Duel expected to be rethemed for the 2023 season upon closing this month, and Nemesis’ track replacement potentially being completed for the 2024 season.
Are you excited to find out more about this proposed new attraction? TowersTimes will be sure to bring you all the details as they are released. In the meantime, let us know your thoughts about this latest news via our social media channels.
