Enchanted Village

General discussion regarding the UK's No.1 Theme Park. Talk about anything and everything Alton Towers here.
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Lee
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The Alton Towers Resort have resubmitted plans for lodges and tree houses. See our news article below to keep up to date on the new development application.

http://www.towerstimes.co.uk/blog/2014/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... ion-plans/
Plans have today been submitted by the Alton Towers Resort for an extension to the Alton Towers Accommodation offering. The proposal describes a plan for; 61 double lodges (122 units in total, each accommodating upto 5 people), 10 tree houses (housing upto 8 people), a restaurant, play areas, parking and an associated service building. It is expected the development will be a luxury offering alongside the woodland walk area area of the Resort.

The only parking around the lodges is proposed to be 9 disabled spaces, with other guests parking to the North of the site. The initial parking application included an extension to the car park, which will now be relocated due to the proposed hotel expansion. Also within the application, are details of a spa expansion to create a spa garden to the East of the complex.

These new plans follow on from an application which was previously submitted in October 2012, but were subsequently withdrawn in May 2013. The plans for “150 lodges, associated reception/restaurant and servicing buildings at Alton Towers Resort, along with hard and soft landscaping, disabled car parking and associated drainage works” were due to be located on the site of where car parks ‘O’, ‘P’, and ‘J’ currently stand. The proposed development included a mix of lodges, huts, and ‘hobbit’ hole style accommodation sleeping between 4-5 people. However, these plans faced strong opposition from local residents and after a decision was not reached, despite the application being due to be considered in February 2014, the Alton Towers Resort took the decision to withdraw the application.

This latest application appears to suggest that the Alton Towers Resort are continuing to follow their long term development plan, in which it is made clear that additional accommodation is required in order to help continue the growth of the resort and in order to encourage more guests to extend their stay across multiple days.

TowersTimes will be keeping a very close eye on these developments and will bring you any updates as soon as we have them. In the meantime why not head on over to the TowersTimes Forum to discuss the latest plans for the Alton Towers Resort.
Last edited by lewis97 on Fri May 08, 2015 8:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Dr.Kelham
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Certainly sounds very much like centre parcs :)
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With thanks to lewis97 :)
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Dom
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I guess it is something a bit different, But don't really see the appeal to be honest.It just seems like it will be a glorified Camp Site. And guaranteed AT will over price them like they do with the hotel rooms. I guess i will just have to wait and see.
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Ladyofthelake
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I've been having a quick read through the plans and it certainly seems like an interesting development. Very different from the current offering, which I suspect has been done quite deliberately to help broaden the options and attract as many different people for overnight stays as possible.

Have found the following regarding what the lodges will look like:
The overall design of the proposed development has been carefully considered to provide a unique experience to visitors. It will complement existing themed structures within the theme park.

The lodges and development have been themed to reflect a traditional lodge of children’s fairy tales. Therefore the materials proposed will include a blend of natural materials and an element of rustic influences. Specifically, the materials will include a timber shingle roof, timber doors and windows, stonework walls and uneven timber barge boards. The lodges will also benefit from a feature chimney and timber fencing around the covered terraces that will create the entrance area for each lodge. The restaurant and service buildings will consist of similar materials to be in-keeping with the ‘fairy tale’ theme.


This would seem to suggest that the resort will be going for a high level of theming across this new development. To me, the 'fairy tale' theme suggests that this new development will aim to create some form of escapism for guests. It will be interesting to see how this theming turns out.

Judging by what has been proposed, I would expect that this new accommodation will be quite expensive. It will be interesting to see of there are any changes in the pricing strategies for the hotels as a result of this new addition.
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BenBowser
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It sure does look good. I wish the site of the Car Park extension would be used as an entertainments complex, with a slight adjustment to the existing Hotel layouts. I wish they'd spend the money they are using for the Spa extension on refurbing Extraordinary Golf. Still a great accommodation addition though. :D
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lf2001
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The treehouses sound fun. I really hope the resort build this new accomodation!
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Inferno Attractions
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That area could be used for some great expansions of the Theme Park. In my opinion this sort of thing really will not fit in well next to the other Hotels and the Theme Park
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lewis97
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Inferno Attractions wrote:That area could be used for some great expansions of the Theme Park. In my opinion this sort of thing really will not fit in well next to the other Hotels and the Theme Park
I don't think you're clear on where the proposed site for for the expansion is, as it's not really in a location that would be viable for the theme park to expand into.

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Inferno Attractions
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Oh sorry :( . But still I don't think a CenterParcs will fit right next to (Or not quite as close as I thought) a ThemePark and also right next to Two big hotels
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Alex
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ladyofthelake wrote: The overall design of the proposed development has been carefully considered to provide a unique experience to visitors. It will complement existing themed structures within the theme park.

The lodges and development have been themed to reflect a traditional lodge of children’s fairy tales. Therefore the materials proposed will include a blend of natural materials and an element of rustic influences.
I take it the "rustic influence" is inspired by The Smilers track :-k
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Lee
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This is closes any rumours the resort plans to bring horror mazes back to the Hotels, as the plans seem to be in the same area in which a field of a thousand screams was placed, if I'm not mistaken.
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Ladyofthelake
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This concept art has just been posted by ATG on Facebook:

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No idea where they got the image from though. If that image is correct, it does look quite nice. No doubt they will be quite pricy though.
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Lucieloo
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Wow that looks amazing!! :O
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Altontowersbarlow
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I think this a wonderful idea and looks like it will provide a unique and magical experience. I like the glade like atmosphere as it will hopefully encourage people to "escape" to Alton towers and therefore bring some magic back to the park :)
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lf2001
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Wow it looks very nice! Would really like to go and stay in one of them :)
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Ryan.
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Not sure if anyone has seen this yet but the documents for the lodges application are up on the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council website: http://publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov ... PKID=51414

There are a lot of elevation drawings and site plans that are worth taking a look at. I have to say I'm quite impressed with what they are proposing :O
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Danny
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One of of the images it says hotel extension approved by planning permission for AT hotel. Did anyone know about this?
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haydn!
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They were given permission to extend the hotel quite a few years ago, something like 40 extra bedrooms, but they've never developed it.
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Ladyofthelake
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haydn! is right. The Resort does have approval for plans which were approved a couple of years ago which, as far as I am aware, are still valid. Whether it is still these plans which the resort wants to go ahead with is unclear. If there are any changes to the plans originally submitted, then I believe that they will need to submit new plans.
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cookiee_munster
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that picture posted above is way different to the original proposal of the "hobbit holes" i never really liked the original concepts anyway, but this to me looks like some odd little wooden village from the 1700's?

why can't they go down a more contemporary route regarding tree houses and camping pods?
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