The Alton Towers Dungeon

[Doublethink]

This announcement seems to be being met with about the same level of apathy as Walking Dead The Ride at Thorpe (which I feel was justified) 

[Nickolai]

Except you don't have to pay extra to ride TWD:TR aha!

[Stan.H]

Except you don't have to pay extra to ride TWD:TR aha!

Don't give Merlin ideas!!!!!! :lol :lol

[Tom170499]

I outright refuse to pay anything extra to experience this if they go down the route of an upcharge attraction. The park is already terrible value for money.

When will they learn that actor led attractions arent sustainable? Give it one season and I guarantee they’ll have removed the actors due to costs.

[ChelsBartsATFan]

Hi everyone! I’m a newbie
I must admit I’m a little bit disappointed with the announcement of the Alton Towers Dungeon introduction for 2019. I completely agree it’s more of a one time experience and that actor led attractions are never consistent or sustainable.
I personally would have liked to have seen a family friendly dark ride, maybe a 3D track attraction like Spider-Man at Islands of Adventure in Florida.
I also think the park is really lacking some flat rides. You go to Dark Forest and there’s only 2 coasters there and same with Forbidden Valley. Yes you have the Pirate Ship, but who really goes on that!? Haha. I think a great addition to the park could be a free fall tower, particularly either at the sub terra site or where ripsaw use to be and then at least one more flat ride maybe similar to samurai at Thorpe Park or even the slammer!

[daboywunda]

As far as I know, the drop towers are very much still in the NST building - just very well hidden behind the Project 42 sets, but I could be wrong. Also, Warwick Castle's Dungeon does not have a drop tower, therefore it is entirely possible Alton's will not have one either.

That's quite true, if it is to be on the scale of Warwick. Thing that makes me think this is that Alton have the same drop towers that other Dungeons *have sitting unused in N:ST / storage and would be mad to not use them given that there seems to be no signs of them wanting to bring N@ST back to life very soon.
Also remember.. it was stated in the MTDP years back that Blade is nearing the end of it's life and can't be repaired much more, SW9 is coming up "shortly" (it'll already be well into planning by now), they have planning permission in principle for a coaster at the top of FV and the natural removal of Blade and N:ST (plus Ripsaw previously) frees up quite a lot of space...
In my head, the bigger picture is more than just drop towers going into the Dungeons, but the chess-playing strategy of freeing up enough space for SW9 without having to cram it in some-where..

[Bert]

To move the N:ST drop towers into the Charlie building would require a lot of effort and planning just to move the ride which does not take into account that the ride system had restraint issues. All of this would cost a lot of money and time to do it.

[Dan]

As was reported yesterday, Alton Towers have officially confirmed that The Alton Towers Dungeon will open at the theme park in 2019!

TowersTimes takes a look at what we know so far.

[SJW]

Paid or not paid, that is the question.

[Chris]

It's just disappointing that Merlin cannot come up with exciting new ride concepts. It's another horror themed attraction that a lot of people will not pay for if it is an upcharge. Alton Towers has never particularly had a 'horrible history', so I'm sceptical about how unique the attraction will be to the park.

The location is silly - effectively splitting up Burger Kitchen from the rest of Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Wish I had more enthusiasm for it!

[Alex]

Such a shame they've gone down this route however I'm not sure they'd ever have the budget to do a dark ride justice

[Justin]

It's just disappointing that Merlin cannot come up with exciting new ride concepts. It's another horror themed attraction that a lot of people will not pay for if it is an upcharge. Alton Towers has never particularly had a 'horrible history', so I'm sceptical about how unique the attraction will be to the park.

The location is silly - effectively splitting up Burger Kitchen from the rest of Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Wish I had more enthusiasm for it!

I'm sure they will retheme Burger Kitchen. I can't see them leaving it how it is.

[lewis97]

As posted on TowersTimes Facebook earlier this afternoon, five posters have appeared around the park, seemingly providing a hint as to the shows that will feature in The Alton Towers Dungeon - these being The Plague Doctor, The Judge, The Highwayman, The Torturer, and The Haunting.

[Bert]

I know that The Torturer, The Doctor and The Judge are typical Dungeon scenes as I know the other Dungeons have the same scenes.

But I’m unsure in The Haunting and The Highwayman, I think The Highwayman is used in the other dungeons but I’ve never heard about The Haunting though.

Also 5 scenes with at least 3 being copy paste style is a bit lazy, would have thought with the location they would incorporate The Towers/Staffordshire history in some way and utilised Charlie boat system.

Seriously hope there’s more to this. Very disappointed.

[Stan.H]

I totally agree with Bert, I hope that this isn't all to the Towers Dungeon; as it does come across very lazy. Especially because Towers has such an extensive backstory and history behind it (which many parks don't have), it seems like such a shame not to use that in a Dungeons attraction, as otherwise, it's such a wasted opportunity. 

I really hope that this isn't all they are planning on doing, so fingers crossed Towers read some of the comments made and hope to incorporate that into the attraction! 

[Swarm Chris]

These just remind me of cheap seaside attraction posters. Zero magic, wonder or adventure that I'd expect from a theme park.

Also if anyone intends to enter. The prize is for 4 people. Stargazing Pods hold 4 people. No expense spared on the prize. :sus:

[MakoMania]

What an exciting development.........

:P

[lewis97]

But I’m unsure in The Haunting and The Highwayman, I think The Highwayman is used in the other dungeons but I’ve never heard about The Haunting though.

The Highwayman is a scene at The York Dungeon, but doesn't appear to be anywhere else though.

Although I haven't come across any other shows called The Haunting, there are shows at the Hamburg, Berlin and Amsterdam locations which use the same female character in their branding, so it could be a variant on whatever those scenes are.

[Coaster Chall]

I'm a little curious about it but at the same time, I do wish it could've been in the Towers or a new building in Coaster Corner built from scratch. But I see it, in a way that the CCL Entrance will probs be moved closer to Toadstool and that allows an entrance near the skyride station and then repaint Skyride, Burger Kitchen and maybe even a flat ride on the spot of that floating hb game in those big balls on water. Something like a Samurai but maybe themed to one of the stories in the Dungeon or a horror theme, so that you have Dark Forest and CCL but then a Dungeons Plaza area in between. A mini Area like Wickerman's plaza/area

[Bert]

But I’m unsure in The Haunting and The Highwayman, I think The Highwayman is used in the other dungeons but I’ve never heard about The Haunting though.

The Highwayman is a scene at The York Dungeon, but doesn't appear to be anywhere else though.

Although I haven't come across any other shows called The Haunting, there are shows at the Hamburg, Berlin and Amsterdam locations which use the same female character in their branding, so it could be a variant on whatever those scenes are.

Wait, wait, wait. They are recycling all of the scenes from previous Dungeons and not designing any scenes unique to the backdrop of the park, putting the location in the space of a major dark ride which they may not even utilise, putting it in a family area which is in desperate need of an overhaul and then they have the audacity to charge people who have already paid to get into the park?! 
What are they thinking!