The Alton Towers Dungeon

General discussion regarding the UK's No.1 Theme Park. Talk about anything and everything Alton Towers here.
Post Reply
User avatar
Braaadd-14
New Member
New Member
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2017 1:18 pm

This will no doubt be an upcharge attraction, almost paying for its self and the staff who will run it
User avatar
Tom170499
Member
Member
Posts: 508
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2013 6:15 pm
Location: Leeds

It’s safe to say that if this is an up charge attraction, I won’t be visiting next year. It’s already terrible value for money without adding another up charge attraction. 
Image
User avatar
jackf1tz
Member
Member
Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:18 pm
Location: Near Mutiny Bay

Or you could just, you know, not go in the upcharge attractions.
User avatar
abigsmurf
Member
Member
Posts: 450
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:01 am

jackf1tz wrote:Or you could just, you know, not go in the upcharge attractions.
He's kinda saying he won't.

Gotta say, though, closing an attraction included in the ticket price (one of the parks increasingly small selection of 'ages 6-60' rides at that) to replace it with one that costs an additional amount would be a bitter pill to swallow and I honestly think it would be a very bitter pill to swallow for most guests.

Buiilding something new that has an additional fee is one thing, replacing something existing is a whole new ball game. It wouldn't help either that the ride/experience doesn't exactly sound like it's going to provide an experience drastically outside of what you'd expect from a theme park ride. 

I'm hoping common sense will prevail and it won't have an additional charge. 
User avatar
Tom170499
Member
Member
Posts: 508
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2013 6:15 pm
Location: Leeds

jackf1tz wrote:Or you could just, you know, not go in the upcharge attractions.
So there’d be no point going because there’d be nothing new for me to experience. 
Image
User avatar
Dom
Member
Member
Posts: 2464
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 11:00 am
Location: Salisbury, Wiltshire
Contact:

It depends on which shows they have. If they go for the generic shows, than don't bother going as you will have already seen them. But they may do new shows for just the AT one, so that would be a reason to experience it. 
User avatar
Robert.W
Member
Member
Posts: 1200
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 12:38 am

This won't be an upcharge attraction. It'd be pretty stupid of Merlin anyway. Nobody's gonna waste their time going near that area if they know all they'll be doing is paying to experience a "new" attraction which on the outside will look just like all the other dungeons, even if inside it is an entirely different experience.
Image

Image
Image
User avatar
Adz
Admin
Admin
Posts: 7038
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2003 6:37 pm
Location: Yorkshire
Contact:

I’m really conflicted about this. I do really enjoy The Dungeons, but unless they go to significant effort to integrate it with the history of the park and surrounding area then I fear it will feel out of place.

Let’s clear up a few rumours to start with though. This is certainly not something for Scarefest. The Dungeons are a historical and educational attraction at heart and Merlin ferociously protects its brand from being portrayed as a simple scare attraction. It would defy pretty much all the work they’ve done over the last 10 or so years to dumb it down to a pop up Halloween attraction.

It’s almost certainly not going into Sub Terra either. It’s simply too small (and that space is seemingly about to be used for something else anyway).

I very much doubt it will go into the towers either. Unlike the scaremazes which are temporary structures (yes) The Dungeons would require a significantly more permenant set up. Ideally they could pull another Hex type scenario where it appears as though you’re in the towers but you’re not, though I can’t really see a location where this would work without either tree removal or moving vital existing infrastructure.

This leaves Wobble World or Charlie as the most likely locations apart from building a new structure elsewhere on park. Of those two, one of them houses a very successful seasonal scare attraction whilst the other houses a disused dusty boat ride. Logic would dictate that we are looking at Charlie as the most probable location. We also know that the area is set for a revamp for 2019 along with various markers and survey points having been seen recently. Charlie is also set back far enough from the core CCL area that it could carry its own identity fairly easily.

TLDR; I think it’s going in Charlie. ;)
Image
User avatar
Justin
Member
Member
Posts: 2703
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2014 2:51 pm

Robert.W wrote:This won't be an upcharge attraction. It'd be pretty stupid of Merlin anyway. Nobody's gonna waste their time going near that area if they know all they'll be doing is paying to experience a "new" attraction which on the outside will look just like all the other dungeons, even if inside it is an entirely different experience.
I have to disagree with you. I strongly believe they will use the Warwick model which will see guests pay an additional charge, except if you are a PMAP or VIP. Tickets will be timed in order to control guest numbers. There is no way they will let a Merlin in-house IP, such as the Dungeons, be installed without a charge. The actors alone will cost!
User avatar
Robert.W
Member
Member
Posts: 1200
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 12:38 am

Justin wrote:
Robert.W wrote:This won't be an upcharge attraction. It'd be pretty stupid of Merlin anyway. Nobody's gonna waste their time going near that area if they know all they'll be doing is paying to experience a "new" attraction which on the outside will look just like all the other dungeons, even if inside it is an entirely different experience.
I have to disagree with you. I strongly believe they will use the Warwick model which will see guests pay an additional charge, except if you are a PMAP or VIP. Tickets will be timed in order to control guest numbers.  There is no way they will let a Merlin in-house IP, such as the Dungeons, be installed without a charge. The actors alone will cost!
Alton is a different type of attraction than Warwick, and Merlin need to understand that one way doesn't fit all of their attractions. It would be ridiculous for them to take CATCF from the lineup only to replace it with something which guests have to pay extra for. I don't think it's impossible that it'll be an upcharge, but I think Merlin need to be a bit more clever than that if they want to make it work properly, especially in terms of guest experience. 
Image

Image
Image
Stan.H
Member
Member
Posts: 1037
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2015 10:04 am
Location: astroworld

What I think Towers should do in regards of entrance to the attraction is to trial run a virtual queueing system, with specific time slots for people to return in. On top of that however, I think there should be an option to pre book a time slot (with a small fee) on the website before your visit, in order to guarantee a spot, this should also be able to work as a ‘combi-ticket’. MAP and Season Pass holders should also be able to pre-book for a small fee, just like the ordinary guests, but maybe a lower costs (20% less?). This should also be included for PMAP and VMAP holders, but free of charge or maybe just the booking fee for the time slots to be processed. Not 100% sure however if a virtual queue would work, as Thorpe's system did fall flat on its face, but i’m sure if Merlin look at how Universal do it, i’m sure they can find a way round it in order to make it work.
User avatar
Robert.W
Member
Member
Posts: 1200
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 12:38 am

Sorry, but I don't see how The Dungeon should be treated differently to any of the other rides and attractions at the park. When it was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, people queued for it just like they did all the other rides, and I fail to see why that would be any different just because it has a new theme. So what, it might get long queues – just like all the other rides which don't have silly money making schemes that get people to pay extra for time slots! I have no problem if they want to trial virtual queueing, but in no way should it cost guests anything extra.
Image

Image
Image
User avatar
TheDuke
Member
Member
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2016 8:38 pm

As much as I hate the idea of it it will most likely be an up charge attraction. I mean look at how Sub Terra turned out and it used far less actors(probably).
Stan.H
Member
Member
Posts: 1037
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2015 10:04 am
Location: astroworld

If it’s time slots are anything like the other Dungeon attractions, then pre-booking time slots is 100% necessary. As I stated in my idea, there is a free option too. Nobody is forcing you to pre-book a time slot, (I’m not sure what costs actually are) but I think £5 is acceptable for a 30/60 minute experience don’t you think? There is no way Merlin would make it fully free of charge. So, there is a free option, but people have to be willing to wait; or, for a small cost guarantee a spot and not have to wait as long on the day.
User avatar
Robert.W
Member
Member
Posts: 1200
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 12:38 am

Pre-booking time slots won't be necessary. People will queue and be batched in groups which is a system proven to work perfectly well, so there's is no need for any additional paid option to "secure a place". A 60 minute experience is way too long (in honesty, a 15 minute experience is more than enough), and given that it will be located in the CATCF building, a 60 minute experience would probably be impossible to create anyway. There are way too many other things to do at the park for people to waste that much time doing just one thing.
Image

Image
Image
User avatar
Dom
Member
Member
Posts: 2464
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 11:00 am
Location: Salisbury, Wiltshire
Contact:

The London Dungeons are prebook for MAP holders. Its so you can guarantee your entry into the attraction. Its also not been confirmed that it will be in the CATCF building (To my knowledge) and that anywhere is still fair game. Sub and CATCF seem the likely locations and ones that many seem to think will be used. I would imagine it would be a 30-45 minute experience. 

Part of me feels that putting it in park is the wrong way to do it. They should try and put it near the hotels somehow and have it open late for late leavers and hotel guests to enjoy. It would make it feel more like a resort adding something new to do in the evenings. Won't happen, but just a thought
Swarm Chris

Having it accessible in the evening would make a huge amount of sense and would add to the lineup of after hours activities. They certainly need things for people in all those hotel rooms to do after 4pm!

The Sub-Terra building would just about allow this, extending the area open for the Rollercoaster Restaurant by only a small amount.
User avatar
Robert.W
Member
Member
Posts: 1200
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 12:38 am

As a theme park, Alton is a very different attraction to London's South Bank. It wouldn't be impossible for The Alton Towers Dungeon to function the same as every other attraction at the theme park does, just like I've said in previous posts.

There technically isn't a reason for there to be a pre-booking option, unless in the unlikely event that the attraction itself is longer than 15 minutes, in which case a free virtual queueing system / time slot system could be used so that there isn't any excessively long queues between run-throughs. However I just don't believe that an experience lasting any longer than 15 minutes would be successful, for a wide variety of reasons, some of which I have already highlighted.
Image

Image
Image
User avatar
Dom
Member
Member
Posts: 2464
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 11:00 am
Location: Salisbury, Wiltshire
Contact:

I agree that there is no reason why it can't be run like a theme park attraction. At its essence, its basically IAC or DBGT. Guests move from room to room and it all moves relatively smoothly. But given its a Dungeons brand in the AT brand, the question has arisen as to how entry will be run. They can either treat it like a Dungeons attraction and give Premium MAPS a chance to book a time slot  to guarantee entry and let VIP pass holders just rock up and make everyone else book tickets for it, similar to how Scarefest mazes do it, or it will be run like a ride and let guests queue to enter and then have a fastrack option. 

I think you are forgetting how successful House of Monsters is for the resort. Yes its a SF attraction so its seasonal, but it doesn't last that long, but you feel like you've done a ful experience and had a ball doing it. I think that lasts somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes. So not too long. There are so many different options they have that I think it will be very hard to speculate to an exactness what will actually happen. It's all speculation at the end of the day.
User avatar
Robert.W
Member
Member
Posts: 1200
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 12:38 am

I completely understand what you're saying about this being a brand and how it is an attraction which could in theory work using that type of pre-booking system. But when another system works just as well (if not even better), and especially as a year round attraction, using the regular system which is already in use on all the other attractions is not only simpler for guests, but also being cheaper means people will keep returning to do it over and over again, thus making it more successful.

In terms of how long the experience should last, 15 minutes, maybe even slightly longer, is definitely a good length for an attraction of this type, and although it can be compared to House of Monsters in terms of the actual experience if offers, you've got to consider that the park is open for longer during Scarefest, so guests have more time to spend doing longer attractions. 
Image

Image
Image
Post Reply