Which Theme Do You Prefer?

Sun May 26, 2013 9:58 pm

TheBoyWithOneEye wrote: Ug land looked cheap

How? Aha, it was one of the best themed areas in the park!

Tue May 28, 2013 5:43 pm

I voted UG Land because I loved the bright colours and the happy feel of the whole area and now with the Dark Forest, I feel miserable and bored of the grey and dark green colour scheme. Alton Towers has too many 'dark' themed areas like Forbidden Valley (post-apocalyptic) and X-Sector (Military theme). The only bright and 'happy' area with good rides (so excluding CCl and McDonalds Farm) I can think of is Katanga Canyon. I hope that when a new area is developed, it has bright colours, a happy theme and good rides.

Mon Apr 13, 2015 1:50 pm

i prefer dark forest. for me it just hold memories and i like the creepy feel to it.

Mon May 18, 2015 9:13 pm

Even though I never visited it, I voted for Ug-Land as it was much better themed and wasn't Bob the Builder land.

Wed May 20, 2015 3:03 pm

UG Land for me!

It was just a really well executed theme (prior to Rita), the tree house!!!! Ahh the nostalgia

Like others have said though, UG Land is more or less still in existence, it's just had some brown paint and vines thrown at it.

Wed May 20, 2015 4:24 pm

I never got the chance to visit Ug Land, but I do like the Dark Forest. Ignoring all the unnecessary scaffolding it has a good theme, good music and some good rides. In coaster terms, Th13teen is better than Corkscrew in my opinion (never ridden the original Corkscrew but I've ridden a similar ride :P).

Wed May 20, 2015 6:56 pm

Ok- UG land prior to rita was one of the best themed ideas areas on the park, but some of the themes didn't make sense to me- Boneshaker made sense But while UG Swingers and Corkscrew had great theming, it didn't make much sense with the name apart from it was swings in UG land and a generic name for corkscrew- look at flamingo lands dinosaur themed lan- pterodactyl works as a name to fit in the area- you get the feeling you are flying like a pterodactyl! the name corkscrew doesn't fit in with dinosaurs much at all. Then Rita came along... Need I say much more? The name- while it is a coincidence- Alton towers Intamin Rollercoaster, Rita Queen of Speed, when has there ever been a queen at that time, and when have you ever heard about drag racing cars in the dinosaur times? Admittedly it was meant to be zany, but it would have been better if more realistic

Now onto the Dark Forest, yes it has scaffolding everywhere, yes Rita is barely themed but the scaffolding near rita is due to H&S- when the launch cable snapped the needed to go to extra measures to make sure no one gets injured- the theme makes sense now, it is about a possessed forest, taken over by the wraiths, but it is themed quite recently, rita has vines taking over parts of the area, the stalls have vines and rita is themed around escaping the demons/wraiths/dark forest, not about racing, the dark forest is not themed to an age, it's themed to the possessed Forrest taking over. Rita is themed to an escape from the dark forest, not drag racing thousands and millions of years ago, also it fits in with thirteen- Now onto thirteen

Thirteen, personally the second best themed coaster on park, next to nemesis which if built on flat land, would be worse themed than thirteen, the queue has theming like the van, the skeletons, the eerie music- then the station is amazing, the writing on the walls, the roof, the dispatch annoucements and then, the tesla- such an amazing, yet quite simple piece of theming. The actual ride is one of the best family coasters around, smooth as glass, and looks great. Then when it gets to the crypt the initial drop is always a suprise, and the wraiths, the sound effects of the floor crumbling, and the first time Riders :lol the way it is so dark, and the wraiths surround you with a little bit of light is brilliantly executed, like they're possesing you. Then you drop! The wraiths surround youand you go backwards, the theming before it goes backwards is good as well, and it is very thrilling!

Overall the area fits in better than UG land, the rides are better themed, I like the dark forest theme and they have two top quality coasters!

Sun May 24, 2015 1:57 am

I haven't been since dark forest but I don't think that the name corkscrew or the fact that ug swingers was just a swing detracted from the theming of ug land. Corkscrew can be (and was there) a description of a shape and the track looked like bones so it wasn't that out of place. It was also there before the ug land theme and they probably didn't want to rename their most famous attraction.

I agree with the above poster (Tom) who said that he dislikes the abundance of dark themes. I think merlin overdo the psychological thriller stuff with their rides in an attempt to make them sound scarier. We've had nemesis, oblivion, thirteen, smiler, saw and swarm all with dark themes! I like bright and fun themes too...and I think that's something people miss about ug land.

JustWill · Tue May 26, 2015 8:39 pm

Ooh OPINIONS. I like it :3

Ok, I like the concept of both of them.
UG Land now seems (to me) like a "dream of lost nostalgia". And, to be honest from all of the pictures, videos, accounts, etc. it looks like it was a fun, happy, "vibrant" area. However, due to me only being a part of the Alton Towers Fanbase (yeah?) since 2012, I've never been. And that's why I voted Dark Forest, becuase It's the only one of the two I can relate to. Sure, I'm pretty sure I'd have loved Corkscrew, but... Th13teen's one of my favourite rides and Dark Forest (due to my own reasons) is probably my favourite area of the park (I liek the music :3)

Wed May 27, 2015 6:15 pm

Dark Forest... Prefer sinister to over exited...

TH14TEEN · Sat Jul 11, 2015 9:20 am

Dark Forest because that area of the park is better suited to a darker theme with the woods, but mainly because th13teen is just a damn good ride!

Sat Jul 11, 2015 10:11 pm

I went for Ug Land. My reason for this is Dark Forest just doesn't feel like a themed area. It feels lazy. At least with Ug Land there was some decent themeing and the rides where themed to look like things that should actually be in Ug Land.

Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:41 am

Ug Land. Easy.

The Dark Forest had the potential to be one of the best themed areas on the park, however they got lazy with it after 13. Rita, could have been themed so much more as could the area its self. I love 13's theming (one of the best) and love the entrance sign. Thats it. It had so much potential and hope that AT re do it when they replace Rita.

Ug Land however at least tried. Plus it had little bits of theming such as the bones etc. It also somehow felt bigger (possibly due to more rides being located there). Finally there is also the nostalgia attached to it. When I was younger and smaller, that was the equivalent of Forbidden Valley, as it had Corky.

Mon Jul 13, 2015 6:12 pm

I really can't get into the DF theming - it's just so boring and samey. And the scaffolding entrances to the coasters doesn't seem to fit the theme at all - I was convinced they were only temporary while they built properly themed entrances but they never seem to disappear so are they meant to be part of the theming? Seems a pity they never put much thought into this part of the zone.

I used to like the UG Land theme - does anyone remember the Boneshaker ride? Think it was originally called The Energiser before UG Land theme came in. Why did they get rid of it? Thought it was a fun flat ride!

Fri Jul 31, 2015 6:15 pm

I used to love UG Land. I think it might have been that area that actually made me fall in love with The Towers and Theme Parks as a child. There was just something about that area. I felt it got ruined with Rita coming in. I have no problem with the ride just that it didn't really fit with the theme. We already have too many dark areas it would be nice to bring back something a bit more cheery!! Last time I went to Alton Towers we spent the least amount of time in The Dark Forest. I pretty much went on Rita then went back to the rest of the park. I don't like the area at all.

Mon Oct 05, 2015 5:57 pm

I must admit, a part of me liked UG land, as I did think it was a cute little area, but I doubt the park would be where it is today if they changed it to Dark Forest (Intamin Forest). I would like a few flats in that area though.

Tue Oct 06, 2015 7:20 am

Dark forest. No questions

Wed Oct 07, 2015 7:08 pm

Emporium wrote:I must admit, a part of me liked UG land, as I did think it was a cute little area, but I doubt the park would be where it is today if they changed it to Dark Forest (Intamin Forest). I would like a few flats in that area though.

Intamin flats?

Sun Feb 07, 2016 10:08 am

I will have to say ug land! Both for nostalgic reasons and otherwise. Corky was my first ever rollercoaster I went on, I'll never forget the feel of the area, the soundtrack and IMO there was much more themeing back then than there is in dark forest now. I personally loved the giant bones etc. Also, back then all the attractions actually fitted in with their surroundings, I'm looking at you Rita *cough*. If you call whacking a few vines on everything in sight good themeing then fair enough but I don't. And don't even get me started on thir13teens queueline! What the heck have two dummies tied to a tree got to do with anything? Awful! There is so much potential for the woodland to the side of the queue that has just gone to waste, shame they didn't put as much effort into that as they did the station. The only good thing about dark forest that really sets the mood is the soundtrack, that I love! And it does give you chills.

Tue Feb 09, 2016 10:47 pm

This is hard!

Having experiencing both lands, I quite like the Dark Forest, especially since it has matured. I do think a lot more can be done with the area though!

Although I like the dark side of coasters/areas, I do agree with Corkyforever and believe a lighter area with significant rides should be brought in; however, with care! Sometimes themes can look cheap, and rollercoasters are particularly prone to showing this, even if it is a great ride!

Which Theme Do You Prefer?

Which area theme do you prefer?