Future of the Dark Forest

[Danny]

I actually really enjoy the dark forest but Rita is its problem, this is what I'd do:
Rita: Theming so you shoot through a building with mist and light effects and one of the airtime hills should have a tunnel around it and lights in the tunnel like Space Mountain's. The outside of the tunnel could be themed as vines.

Now I love Th13teen and I understand that it was massively over hyped. I think they will turn the back car of the train backwards. Back row on th13teen is my favourite because there is massive air time going over that first drop. Doing it backwards would be brilliant!

But it does annoy me that they market it as a brand new ride when they do that. Yes it's enjoyable and a new experience, but it is annoying because it's not like much has changed.

[Maseyg123]

The main reason I dislike Rita is because it is obviously just plonked ontop of the area with no attempt to even blend it in, therefore I have come up with some small additions to themeing to help tie it in with dark forest. Starting with a paint job and removal of any race car theming. The track will be painted entirely dark green with a wood pattern on the supports, new trains will be added with a horse and carriage theme. A new front car with two horses will be added and the last car will have a small canopy on the back. Large fake wheels will be along the side of the car. Imagine a sort of stretch limo combined with a horse and cart and that's the basic idea. The new cars will also have Lap bars.



The launch will have a new bridge that runs under it, not only to theme the ride but it will also cover the path to prevent any falling debris which I believe has happened before. At the end of the launch the building will rethemed with a second floor, which the ride smashes its way through. mist and sound effects as the car passes through would be nice.
The rest of the ride is basically the same as how it was before, as its so high up its hard to theme it, but as you can see from the image above. It looks like much more intertwined with the area then it currently does.
The current queue line will be completely cleared and will remain empty for the majority of the year but a tent could be added for a scarefest maze in October.

The new queue will start along side the current single rider and fasttrack entrance and will follow down the side of Thirteen and curve around that area (Note I haven't plotted the whole queue and it will need to be much larger than what is currently above) Sadly the only way it will fit here will be with a similar cattlepen as it currently is, but will be using land which serves no other purpose.

Rita will also receive a new  covered station with a similar theme to that of the smashed building at the end of the launch. The dino Derby building (unsure what it is now) will become the new rita shop and the ride will exit directly into it. The interior of the station will have a steampunk style lab theme and to match the rides theme will also have a steampunk vibe. possibly similar to this:
F1 and F2 are possible flat ride locations. Personally with the possible removal of Ripsaw I would like to see F1 a Zamperla Suspended Windshear and F2 a Zamperla Discovery.

I like this idea, I can seeing it tying Hex into Dark Forest because of the horse and carriages

[schmatt]

I like this idea, I can seeing it tying Hex into Dark Forest because of the horse and carriages

I'm glad someone picked up on the link 
I've been incredibly bored tonight so decided to do a very quick edit to give people an idea of the new trains I had in mind. I didn't add the horses as I couldn't find a photo that would fit but they would go where the current blue front car is.


As you can see I've also done a quick mock up of the station interior. It will remain very dimly lit, similar to Thirteen then before launch the car pulls back and small amounts of mist are sprayed around the base of the car just below the platform, illuminated by a green light (to simulate a curse) the beggars laugh is heard, Discomfort horse noises can be heard and the Lighting strikes (Sound effect and main lights above cars flash) Almost immediately followed by the ride's launch.

Obviously the car's I've used are Mack as they had a simple photo I could edit on their website. The Intamin cars will be slightly different, mainly with the seats being lower in the car with a skirting but it gives you the general idea, and obviously not blue.

[JoeK]

I like this idea, I can seeing it tying Hex into Dark Forest because of the horse and carriages

I'm glad someone picked up on the link 
I've been incredibly bored tonight so decided to do a very quick edit to give people an idea of the new trains I had in mind. I didn't add the horses as I couldn't find a photo that would fit but they would go where the current blue front car is.


As you can see I've also done a quick mock up of the station interior. It will remain very dimly lit, similar to Thirteen then before launch the car pulls back and small amounts of mist are sprayed around the base of the car just below the platform, illuminated by a green light (to simulate a curse) the beggars laugh is heard, Discomfort horse noises can be heard and the Lighting strikes (Sound effect and main lights above cars flash) Almost immediately followed by the ride's launch.

Obviously the car's I've used are Mack as they had a simple photo I could edit on their website. The Intamin cars will be slightly different, mainly with the seats being lower in the car with a skirting but it gives you the general idea, and obviously not blue.

I like your new idea for Rita, but would the theme of the car (the canopy at the back in particular) be practical for the force of the ride?

[schmatt]

I like your new idea for Rita, but would the theme of the car (the canopy at the back in particular) be practical for the force of the ride?

If properly secured I can't see why it would be a problem other than it creating more air resistant, however the shape could be streamlined more to help this. There are plenty of rides with a large theming element on the car, eg Expedition Everest however obviously, EE does not include a high force launch. I am not in anyway saying this would definitely be possible and I understand where you are coming from. All in all, I personally have no idea but possible or not. It would be pretty cool

[Burniel]

Everyone's going on about how rita doesn't currently fit, but rita came FIRST

[Themeparksandy1981]

It didn't really fit into the ugland theme. Rita really isn't look like it's in a dark forest as it's all in the open. The dark forest theme really only works during scarefest and fireworks event. As otherwise it should be called light forest.

[schmatt]

A few more hours spent procrastinating expanding my idea;


^ First off The Shredder. A Zamperla Suspended Windshear themed around a machine used to cut back and burn the fastly growing forest. It wont actually look much different from how ripsaw currently does except for suspended seats and perhaps vines growing up the sides of the ride.


^ Rita's New entrance. Very similar to how it is now, but with a little bit more steampunk.


^ A new theming element on the second curve towards Thirteen's station. It will be themed as a tree stuck by lightning that the ride passes through giving a nice head chopper. Chains could be added to suggest that it is the chained oak.


^ And finally the street part of the area again but looking towards Rita's Station. The current food outlets will now have a indoor seating area and will have a sort of food court style operation. Along the frontage could be some sideshow style games also.

[Danny]

Okay your ideas to start with were brilliant but that's just going too far.
They would never get the zamperla as they have Ripsaw. They wouldn't get rid of Ripsaw for a new ride that offers nearly the same experience. And that last picture would completely ruin the dark forest. There's no frost anymore!

[schmatt]

Okay your ideas to start with we're brilliant buts that's just going too far.
They would never get the zamperla as they have ripsaw. They wouldn't get rid of ripsaw for a new ride that offers nearly the same experience. And that last picture would completely ruin the dark forest. There's mo frost anymore!

Ripsaw has been stated to be removed in the near future on the LTDP so this would work as a replacement, or more of an upgraded version. and my idea was to have the 'wall' from rita to act as a boundry between the forest and the town, which has been constructed to help keep the forest back. I have added alot more greenery into the area which currently has the food outlets so it would actually look more of a forest then it currently does. I also wanted to add alot of ivy to the buildings however I couldn't find a good image so I just left them bare. With the relocation of rita's queue line there is also the opportunity for much more greenery to be planted into the forest section of the area, to not only darken the area more; but to make it look much more like a forest.


Heres a before and after to show the difference, although this is UG land the DF currently is not much different just with rethemed buildings.

Rita's theme would be around the earl attempting to break the curse, which is why I have added alot of steampunk to give it a sort of victorian lab theme, then when the lightning strikes he rushes out to the chained out (new theming). Where as Thirteen will simply be themed around the forest and wraiths which is why Rita is located on the town side and thirteen on the forest. The other flat ride I had planned to theme as a enchanted tree throwing riders about. Think the whomping willow and that was the general idea.

[Benji]

Personally, I love the idea and dark forest is crying out for a good flat ride. It seems better than anything, so far, that Merlin have came up with to try and fit Rita in to the dark forest theme! But I think it would be easier if they scraped Rita in the next few years and put a whole new, more thrilling layout, multi-launch coaster in its place or somewhere else in the park. Possibly like blue fire at europa park

[Danny]

There is no way Rita is going anytime soon. I agree it will probably be the first of the biggies to go but not for at least another 6-8 years. It's so popular, comfy and I find it quite smooth. Gives some good airtime and works well for towers

[JoeK]

I like your new idea for Rita, but would the theme of the car (the canopy at the back in particular) be practical for the force of the ride?

If properly secured I can't see why it would be a problem other than it creating more air resistant, however the shape could be streamlined more to help this. There are plenty of rides with a large theming element on the car, eg Expedition Everest however obviously, EE does not include a high force launch. I am not in anyway saying this would definitely be possible and I understand where you are coming from. All in all, I personally have no idea but possible or not. It would be pretty cool

Agreed! It would indeed be cool lol
You got a good idea overall anyway! Especially how it links in with Hex and the horse and carriage thing :P

[Themeparksandy1981]

I'm sorry but I come to the conclusion that Merlin know it's coasters not flat rides that gets extra guests into the park. Since Submission was added Merlin has only added Sub-Terra&Heave Ho as flat rides to the park. I can't even remember the last time I went on enterprise,Submission or Ripsaw. So the next flat to be added to the park with be to replace another flat ride.

I think a all year round maze would work well in the dark forest. Even during scarefest cabin in the woods would work well.

[schmatt]

A coaster will obviously have a larger pull factor but they also cost considerably more. Plus they take up alot of space which Alton is sadly running out of. Slammer and Rush both were very popular when first brought to the park and rush still is. I think for it to work, the ride needs to be unique and give a good ride experience.
The problem with submission was the fact the ride is actually dire both onride and off ride.
although 'the shredder' doesn't necessarily give a new ride experience, it will be the first flat ride to have fire effects in the UK. The other ride could potentially be a Huss Jump2, marketed as the only of its type outside of America, which is such a considerably impressive looking ride it should have a large pull factor. Not only would these rides have a good re-ridability but they are also impressive to watch especially with fire and water effects. Ripsaw always has a large group of spectators and I believe these two would too.

[kierannewcombe]

I love all the ideas but there is no chance anything will happen on Rita until it is removed! They won't even do the Air tunnel so what chance have they got doing most of a ride?

[JammyBand]

Okay your ideas to start with we're brilliant buts that's just going too far.
They would never get the zamperla as they have ripsaw. They wouldn't get rid of ripsaw for a new ride that offers nearly the same experience. And that last picture would completely ruin the dark forest. There's mo frost anymore!

Ripsaw has been stated to be removed in the near future on the LTDP so this would work as a replacement, or more of an upgraded version. and my idea was to have the 'wall' from rita to act as a boundry between the forest and the town, which has been constructed to help keep the forest back. I have added alot more greenery into the area which currently has the food outlets so it would actually look more of a forest then it currently does. I also wanted to add alot of ivy to the buildings however I couldn't find a good image so I just left them bare. With the relocation of rita's queue line there is also the opportunity for much more greenery to be planted into the forest section of the area, to not only darken the area more; but to make it look much more like a forest.


Heres a before and after to show the difference, although this is UG land the DF currently is not much different just with rethemed buildings.

Rita's theme would be around the earl attempting to break the curse, which is why I have added alot of steampunk to give it a sort of victorian lab theme, then when the lightning strikes he rushes out to the chained out (new theming). Where as Thirteen will simply be themed around the forest and wraiths which is why Rita is located on the town side and thirteen on the forest. The other flat ride I had planned to theme as a enchanted tree throwing riders about. Think the whomping willow and that was the general idea.

I seriously LOVE your idea. If they added all of that stuff, the dark forest could become my favourite area of the park. It would be almost a disneyland type feel to it with the facade of the restaurants and everything. My goodness, I would be in awe if they did all of that. But please, don't touch my beloved Th13teen.

[DeanGaryCox]

I actually love the ideas floating around... but if we are being honest with ourselves, this is Merlin, I really doubt anything will be changed with Rita, until the day it is removed, which is likely to be the next main rollercoaster to leave the park (and i'm not talking about the next few years, but in the future when the time comes to remove the rides). Only then would reassess 13 and dark forest and possibly build a new ride, but it would fit in with dark forest - Rita was a relatively cheap ride, and guessing they didn't have the budget to theme it well to Ug Land, or knew it wasn't worth it due to knowing Ug Land would be leaving in the near future, which made it hard to give Rita a good theme with the new Dark Forest which was made specifically for 13.

The bottom line is it would take quite a lot of time, money and effort to make Rita fit in well with Dark Forest, and Merlin haven't shown they are willing to do anything that substantial with existing rides as it wouldn't really be marketable and appeal to the general public in a way that would attract more guests - it's only in recent years we've seen Merlin can do a decent job of themeing, although they still leave a lot to be desired.

[lf2001]

I dont think much will be done to the Dark Forest for a good few years yet. Since it's only a few years old. However I would like to see a flat added somewhere within the next few years.

[SamTP]

Surely it's really easy to theme a flat ride to Dark Forest... make fake branches wrapped round supports and say the power of the forest is making it move!