Attraction Source Forum

^Hmm.

I have a funny feeling it will be a quick lick of paint, renaming of attractions and a shed load of branding stuck up. Probably wih a few photo points with characters here and there and a range of meet and greets in the first few months.

Then, as if by magic after a couple of seasons it will look like the Flume and Charlie. The proof is staring right as us that this does not work at Alton, CATCF was almost solely based on the film franchise, then after all the hype of the film release was gone it becomes stale.

If they are going to do it, they should go the whole hog and completely re-theme and re-landscape the area to an immersive standard, however they have shown they cannot do it at Alton and unlike Spinball which was just shaken off as a missed opportunity with the (lack of) Sonic branding, they risk ruining an amazing (albeit jaded) area of the park here.

The thing is its more than just a new 4D show and an area re-theme. It's the re-theme of at least 5 attractions here. Now, you may think it won't take much because their kids rides, but some of the farmyard rides would need a lot of altering before they fitted with Shrek. Where do squuirrels, tractors and most of the farm animals appear in Shrek? Plus, its new audio for the rides and of course there will be merchandise on sale - all in all it will be costly. It seems they may be trying to fix something that aint broke here as they say.

I always say Chocolate factory would of worked with the old film, i think the Dahl empire over protected it. I dont feel those badly drawn little characters transist well to animatronics.

All the squirrel's car bodies would need be changed and the worm would look more appropriate as the big bad wolf if in the future they wanted to go down the burnt out movie franchise

Im more inclined to believe that the 2 areas (or perhaps even 3) would be meshed together in the future to create a new inclusive area, like 2015, not a movie franchise.

[quote=""fredward""]Maybe retheme Dungpile as Shrek's swamp!.[/quote]
Love this idea! It would work great. And I personally would love to see this retheme. Both areas are tatty, and in need of love. Storybook Land is the perfect place with Shrek opening the book at the start of all the movies. Fab job, keep us posted TT!

Whether this turns out to be true or not, its a lot of fun reading and speculating on this news.

While maybe a little late in the franchise, I'd welcome a Shrek re-theme. Thinking it over a bit I don't believe it will be necessary to include the Farm unless Towers are going for a major overhaul on the scale of Thomas Land at Drayton.
Currently Adventureland and Story Book Land offer a lot of wasted space. The pointless 'park' and The Beastie in Adventure along with The Dung Heap in Story Book Land and off course the large amount of land that the Ice tent takes up which is around the same size area as CATCF.
I'd be happy for the tent to remain if possible but I struggle to see how the 4D cinema would work. I Remember the Ice Tent as being a cold draughty dark place, not somewhere I'd install millions of points of new technology. Surely a lot of that has to be custom built under ground level also?
I'm imagining a land that could be expanded over time, a bit like Mutiny Bay, Year one could see the 4D attraction and a re-theme of Squirrel Nutty and the immediate area and later we could see a modern family Dragon Coaster that could weave it's way around the castle (4D tent) and the land of far far away. Something along the lines of Legolands Dragon Coaster area.

At least we will hopefully see an end to the Dung heap anyway. :hsmile:

EDIT: Just in addition, That Shrek in The Towers has got to be a mould from Tussauds, it may be there in readiness for the new attraction or it could be just in storage. We will find out soon I'm sure.


:hsmile: :hsmile:

But surely the mould is just for storage usage if it was placed in StoryBook Land it can be damaged/struck with various weather conditions if it's taking it's place where the Bookworm stands? Surely a model of that quality should take it's rightful place at Tussands.

[quote=""Voke""]But surely the mould is just for storage usage if it was placed in StoryBook Land it can be damaged/struck with various weather conditions if it's taking it's place where the Bookworm stands? Surely a model of that quality should take it's rightful place at Tussands.[/quote]

As had already been mentioned, Tussauds in London does have a Shrek (which is probably where this mould came from). Why would they bring the mould to Alton Towers though? Why not just make another model (if that is what they need) and bring it already finished to AT?

[quote=""buffaloBen""]
Yh i suppose that is a thing i missed about targeting England itself. Good point.

However just to be factual, Universal Orlando Resort attract more visitors a year than all of the UKs top theme parks put together. (Alton towers, Thorpe Park, Blackpool PB, Chessington, lego land)

Sorry to be intruding on the fact haha :hsmile:
[/quote]

I swear I have read/heard somewhere (possibly at the Th13teen meet?) that Merlin is now the second largest themepark/amusement business, behind Disney and just infront of Universal, and it's not just England where Merlin parks/attractions are located...

But anyway!

Call me cheesy but it'll be great fun to have a random stage where they could have Shrek Karaoke!

[quote=""fredward""][quote=""buffaloBen""]
Yh i suppose that is a thing i missed about targeting England itself. Good point.

However just to be factual, Universal Orlando Resort attract more visitors a year than all of the UKs top theme parks put together. (Alton towers, Thorpe Park, Blackpool PB, Chessington, lego land)

Sorry to be intruding on the fact haha :hsmile:
[/quote]

I swear I have read/heard somewhere (possibly at the Th13teen meet?) that Merlin is now the second largest themepark/amusement business, behind Disney and just infront of Universal, and it's not just England where Merlin parks/attractions are located...

But anyway!

Call me cheesy but it'll be great fun to have a random stage where they could have Shrek Karaoke![/quote]

I didn't mean Merlin on a whole just all of the Merlin attractions in England.



The Shrek Karaoke sounds a brilliant idea just outside shreks swamp house thing as the stage or something. :hsmile:

Merlin are the seond biggest opportator but they have alot more theme parks and attractions than universal do.

The indvidual universal parks have much bigger annual attendance than indivdual Merlin parks do ie last year Universal studios orlando was about 6m and Islands of Adventure was just over 5m however with Harry potter they have already seen an increase in Q3 of 1m guests over the same period last year.

The shrek attractions/ Areas in universal parks are very popular and the meet and greets with shrek characters also always have queues. Shrek will probably attract more guests to alton towers than any other family addition ever has.

The park has to move forward and these areas are now very dated and i am sure if you asked most non enthusiasts they wouldnt care in the slighest if these areas were updated. As has been said before adding an existing very well known world wide IP is much less riskier than adding a unique story and wll generate more income on the back of th investment including much bigger merchandise sales. As much as some people on here dont like it the park is owned and run by a corporate company and like most companies is out to make money.

When I was at the Thirteen event my guide mentioned that Madame Tussauds store a lot of their moulds in the Towers.

I'm also a bit dubious that the farm will be involved, maybe part of it will become Far Far Away and the rest left alone.


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They could probably get away with redeveloping Storybook Land and just the Dung Heap part of the farm as this is already separate. Plus it's accessed before you pass into the main area of the farm.

Theres quite a large area of usable space as can be seen below.



:hgrin: :hgrin:

The only way i could see it working would be if the story book area with the tent become Far far away with a new building replacing the tent and themed like the castle at Universal studios in singapore (although not as big as that one) and then if the farm was to replaced that themed as other areas from the films such as the swamp area.

If the theming was to be far far away i cant see them keeping the tent.

However a complete retheme on the scale that would be required does seem unlikly next season as would be a big budget project (although in the ten year plan they did state they would be adding medium to large additions over the next 10 years). I personally can see them just adding a 4d theatre showing shrek 4d and maybe story book land themed as the swamp area. If only they would add a new kids coaster themed as the dragon from the film like at Universal in singapore to replace the beastie. There is a vekoma roller skater at cyprus gardens which might be going spare as it doesnt look like being used in the new lego land (but i would have thought if alton were getting that ride it would have been sent at the same time as thorpe's rapids ride)

This all sounds very exciting but to be honest Shrek came out almost 10 years ago...

A little late if you ask me...

The whole Shrek hype died down a long time ago and its not really a timeless film...

But I'm sure Alton Towers will make it look great! :P

[quote=""thorpeparkjunkie""]The whole Shrek hype died down a long time ago and its not really a timeless film... [/quote]

It's to tie in with a batman style reboot; Donkey is murdered by a now deranged gingerbread man, Shrek, played by Johnny Depp is out for revenge. The film will be a live action, 3D affair...or at least that's what I heard!

In all seriousness though, the franchise is past it's better days, but it is a universally recognised brand that can be licensed comparatively cheaply, and is certainly no worse a brand than Nickelodeon's or Peppa Pig. Can't help feel that it will be a limited term association, much in the same way that Sonic is.

A special half hour Shrek Halloween special aired in America last night, it was kinda ok.

Universal clearly feel the franchise isn't dead or they wouldn't have spent many millions on a version of Far Far Away for Universal Singapore. There is also a Puss in Boots prequel/spin-off coming out November next year.

Clearly Universal have plans for Shrek in the future so I can see it being at Alton for at least 5 years.

[quote=""siralgenon""]To be honest I cant realy see how you can turn a farmyard into a fairytail town like Far Far Away which includes castles streets and houses. And what can the rides be re-themed into i.e Berry Bish Bash and the Tractor Ride. I think to pull of a land like Far Far Away it would have to be on a Wizarding World of Harry Potter scale

SIR ALGENON[/quote]

It doesn't have to be like Far Far Away, it can still be just a farm, since it already has talking animals it's pretty much fairytale as it is.

Call me weird, but i'm happy about this retheme, I know using an IP seems a little half-arsed, but it sounds like Alton are putting an effort and retheming an area or two if our rumours are correct, and considering the big addition for 2010, thats a pleasant surprise in my books...

But I won't be surprised if it's just a 4D cinema being built.

For anyone interested...

Puss in Boots (also known as Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre Killer) is an upcoming computer-animated adventure film being produced by DreamWorks Animation, directed by Chris Miller (who helped animate and direct Shrek the Third in 2007) and written by Brian Lynch, David Steinberg, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack. It is set to be released in theaters November 4, 2011.

The film is based on and follows the character of Puss in Boots from Shrek and his adventures before his first appearance in 2004's Shrek 2. The prequel's story centers on the swashbuckling cat and how he comes to meet Shrek and his friends, while introducing new characters. The Puss in Boot's website gave a short description of the film, "Puss In Boots" - one of the most beloved characters of the "Shrek" universe - tells the hilarious and courageous (daring, bold, brave) tale of Puss's (Antonio Banderas) early adventures as he teams with mastermind Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and the street-savvy Kitty (Salma Hayek) to steal the famed goose that lays the Golden Eggs.

The next film in the Shrek 'universe' is due out next year, so there's life in the old dog yet, and again

In May 2010 The New York Times called the principal Shrek characters "brilliantly realized" and said "nearly a decade after the first Shrek film they remain as vital and engaging fusions of image, personality and voice as any characters in the history of animation."

The film series has been a great financial success, with the films collectively being the fourth highest-grossing film series of all-time (behind Harry Potter, James Bond, and Star Wars.).

frankly, it's as good as anything else, and at least sympathetic to Alton's image.