Attraction Source Forum

The monorail will be 29 years old next year (Alton Towers bought it second hand)

With the HUGE queues for it when leaving the park and most people opting to walk to their cars.

What do you think the future of the monorail will be, will it be there in 10 years time?

Do you think it needs new faster trains?

Do you think a better way to get guests inside the park should be built?

Do you think if Forbidden Valley expands and the new entrance opens near duel...
Could the monorail actually be inside the parks new bigger boundary!

I hope the Monorail stays.
It's really magical to see some of the park over-head after the 2 1/2 hours journey.

Oh wait. You're supposed to be able to see out of the monorail windows?

You can see through them, but don't plan on taking pictures

The monorails were filthy this year, inside & out. From the look of the thick green layer of algae growing on the top of them, they haven't had any proper tlc for sometime! An indication they're due for huge refurb or scrapping sometime soon maybe?

I like the monorail. I dunno about you but walking to and from the park with a whole day of standing/walking is a bit too much leg work

But seriously, i like seeing the rides on the monorail, it puts me in the mood for adrenaline. Like all areas of the park it needs work (cleaning, revamping etc) but I would not scrap it. It is popular.

Agreed, the Monorail builds up the right amount of anticipation, and gives your legs a rest.

I'm pretty pleased with the monorail alltogether. I think the music is awesome: " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; it really suits the movement of the train...It kind of sounds like a train moving. :-k

You all MUST of heard the rumour of moving the park entrance to somewhere round FV/GW though? & if they did that, there'd be no need for the monorail, you could access the park direct from the car parks! The skyway would then become a transport hub, one way for DF, the other way CBB/XS.& with some guests on foot splitting between FV & KC, there will be a more even spread of guests accross the park from the new entrance plaza.

This also leaves all of the current entrance plaza & towers street empty (other than shops). That's right next to CBeebies, which is already rumoured to be expanding.

My money's on the dismantling of the Monorail & Duel & the new entrance plaza between GW/FV as has been already suggested for 2016. CBeebies being expanded the same year (Possibly with the next SW, although I hope not!) & some reworking of the ride system from duel into a NEW haunted house put over in GW the year after, maybe on the site of the current burger restaurant (Ironically, the site of the original haunted house, Doom & Sons!)

No evidence, just speculation. With a good deal of logic & rumours backing it up!

Putting the entrance there would ruin the point of "best attractions at the back".

I don't think they should move the move the entrance or get rid of the monorail yes it gets some queues but that's just the way it goes if they have say 5 out of 6 trains on and they say they cant add the 6th then they cant. if you count a monorail comes every 60-70 seconds that means your moving nearly the whole time you are in the queue only the pushchair queue gets a long queue due to space. Also the reason why the queue is long to get out is because the trains need to space if there is one in the CP station and a train in the next block the train cant move its all for safety I think the trains move quick any way and have a great queue. It takes longer to get out of the car park then it does on the monorail!

I hope they don't move the entrance, Towers Street is iconic to Alton and there's nothing I love more than getting on the monorail and then walking down Towers Street early on a foggy morning looking at the towers through the mist. It really adds atmosphere.

I totally agree with Tom here, Towers Street is way too iconic for it to become redundant. Moving the park entrance could see Towers Street demolished and allow the expansion of CBeebies land...

Without Towers Street, Alton Towers wouldn't be as good. I LOVE it when you walk down with the music and the fountains and the ruins in the distance!

I would like to think that AT would just upgrade the monorail. Its a unique way to enter a park and i think that makes it special.

As far as I'm aware, the monorail got a bit of a revamp in 2011, so maybe they won't be rushing to invest. I wouldn't say unique as Disney does Monorail transport for parks and resorts, but definitely an enjoyable way to get to the park.

DannyG wrote:As far as I'm aware, the monorail got a bit of a revamp in 2011, so maybe they won't be rushing to invest. I wouldn't say unique as Disney does Monorail transport for parks and resorts, but definitely an enjoyable way to get to the park.

Unique to the Uk market, is what i meant.

I think the monorail should stay. It's part of the magic. Riding through FV and seeing all the rides just adds to the unique experience

If possible parks want to avoid having to have a transport service between the car park and the main entrance. There is a high level of, single direction, peak time traffic (at park opening and closing) with relatively little traffic during the rest of the day.

None of the Disney parks have replicated the Magic Kingdom's long journey (either by monorail or boat).

Ideal the main rides should be far from the entrance to let people get to move into the park.

If the entrance was moved to FV then that part of the park would become busy early on, with customers slowly moving deeper into the park. There would be some rush towards SW8 and SW9.

A large ride free entrance plaza makes a good entrance.

I think the monorail is great, and kind of magical as you pass by the rides going to the park. But when you arrive in the car park and you hear over the loudspeaker that there is a 20 min plus queue it doesnt really make a good first impressions if you havent been to the park before. People wont like having to queue before they even get into the park.