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Alton Towers' Next Big Thing?

Matt N said:
After a long period of inactivity, Theme Park Worldwide has today posted an update on Project Horizon, both in terms of concrete things and in terms of what Shawn’s own sources (who have previously proven quite reliable) are telling him about the project’s status:
In summary:
  • Shawn’s sources are leading him to believe that Project Horizon is still going ahead and will be opening in 2027, with land clearance beginning in early 2025 and major construction work starting in mid-2025.
  • Shawn has suggested that the ride could potentially be an Intamin Multidimensional Coaster, with some form of “double deal” having been formed encompassing both Horizon and the upcoming Chessington coaster. He’s alleged that “a number of manufacturers” were consulted for the attraction, but that Intamin “were the key frontrunner”.
  • He has heard rumours of the ride being space-themed.
Now of course none of this is confirmation, and Shawn himself was keen to stress this, but if true, it is certainly quite exciting and promising with regard to the ride’s status!

It is worth noting that minor stuff is still happening with this project, albeit slowly. Just recently, the updated Woodland Management Plan, submitted by Alton earlier this year, was approved.
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hopefully it won't be as disappointingly short as the one at CWOA
 
Rob Coasters said:
According to someone elsewhere, this is a revival of the original Horizon application.
The park is allegedly wanting to amend the conditions so they do not have to do a full soil assessment before it goes ahead.

Planning Application - Staffordshire Moorlands District Council

How to make a comment, support, or object to, an application.
publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk
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Scared the soil assessment will come back 99 percent fiberglass from all the old ride vehicles they dump back there
 
Rob Coasters said:
According to someone elsewhere, this is a revival of the original Horizon application.
The park is allegedly wanting to amend the conditions so they do not have to do a full soil assessment before it goes ahead.

Planning Application - Staffordshire Moorlands District Council

How to make a comment, support, or object to, an application.
publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk
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Possibly... This is an application to discharge conditions 13 and 19... But more often you'd apply to discharge conditions when you feel you've done what is required to comply with those conditions. Guess we'll find out soon. (Or in January if they've broken up.)

13. The development hereby approved shall not commence (excepting works necessitated to comply with this condition) until a remediation strategy to deal with the risks associated with contamination of the site in respect of the development hereby permitted, has been submitted to, and approved in writing by, the local planning authority. This strategy will include the following components:

a) A site investigation scheme to provide information for a detailed assessment of the risk to all receptors that may be affected, including those off-site.

b) The results of the site investigation and the detailed risk assessment referred to in (a)and, based on these, an options appraisal and remediation strategy giving full details of the remediation measures required and how they are to be undertaken.

c) A verification plan providing details of the data that will be collected in order to demonstrate that the works set out in the remediation strategy in (b) are complete and identifying any requirements for longer-term monitoring of pollutant linkages,maintenance and arrangements for contingency action. Any changes to these components require the written consent of the local planning authority. The scheme shall be implemented as approved prior to the first operation of the attraction.

Reason:- To ensure that the development does not contribute to or is not put at unacceptable risk from/adversely affected by, unacceptable levels of water pollution in line with paragraph 174 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
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19. Prior to any ground works or excavation associated with the development hereby approved, a Soils Management Plan shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the LPA that has due regard to stripping and reserving existing soils or other material from the existing areas prior to spreading at agreed locations on the wider resort. The submitted soils plan shall include information regarding the reservation and storage of the existing soils on the proposed spreading areas. Spreading areas will require their existing topsoil cover to be stripped, reserved, temporarily stored and re-laid in accordance with the DEFRA Construction Code of Practice for Sustainable Use of Soils on Construction Sites. Development shall be carried out in accordance with the approved plan.

Reason:- In order to control the spreading of soils throughout the wider Alton Towers Resort an to ensure that planted areas are effectively protected from inappropriately located spreading of spoil and to further protect against any impacts on the registered garden or other heritage asset.
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So Yeh, seems I was right and they're submitting the following documents needed to comply, and thus discharge those conditions...

- Contaminated Land Remediation Strategy Review, prepared by PCA Safety Ltd;
- Soil Management Plan, prepared by PCA Safety Ltd;
- Proposed Site Plan (Proposed Bund Location) (ATPH-SA-XX-XX-DR-A-0103 ref. P.06), prepared by Smytheman Architectural; and
- Ground Investigation Report, prepared by LK Consult
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Is it starting to look like the project may be back on?
 
Further movement has been taking place, apparently ground work could begin within the next few weeks:

It also says here than any significant excavation has been ruled out, so this will be a small ride (the building has a footprint of 233x151 feet x64 feet high).
 
Take this with an absolute bucket load of salt, but this person on Facebook is claiming that construction on Project Horizon has begun?:
I’m sceptical myself, but I thought I’d share anyway in case anyone else thought it was significant.

If this is significant (and I’ll admit to having my doubts), then I guess something is finally happening?

EDIT: If you can’t view the link, the source is Theme Park Obsessed and the text says:
**BREAKING NEWS!**

Project Horizon has officially BROKEN GROUND!!! 🤩

After years of uncertainty, the construction walls are up and diggers have begun clearing the site for this brand new ride! (Intamin Multi Dimensionsal Coaster). A staff member has also confirmed it actually started last week!

You can hear noises from around all around The World of David Walliams so it is certainly happening! 🏗️

I am so happy this project is happening, I know loads of people gave up on it but I never did, are you excited this brand new project is happening?
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When this is true and they finally started, hopefully this coaster will be open to the public, before I will visit next year.
 
The_bullgod said:
When this is true and they finally started, hopefully this coaster will be open to the public, before I will visit next year.
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You'll be lucky, if I remember correctly had at least a 2 year construction phase and that's if it has in fact started, something I doubt
 
VonRolland said:
You'll be lucky, if I remember correctly had at least a 2 year construction phase and that's if it has in fact started, something I doubt
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The construction phase was 18 months, if I recall. So if this has started, I’d be anticipating a 2028 opening.

It would make sense if it had started, seeing as the planning application expires if construction hasn’t started by next month unless they extend it.
 
Matt N said:
The construction phase was 18 months, if I recall. So if this has started, I’d be anticipating a 2028 opening.

It would make sense if it had started, seeing as the planning application expires if construction hasn’t started by next month unless they extend it.
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Opening date will depends on if they're starting it to build the ride or starting it to ensure they don't lose the permissions if you know what I mean
 
Complete speculation but 2028 would be a good fit opening wise, ten years since the last "big" coaster and after Legoland and Chessingtons 2027 additions. Then before Thorpes 50th in 2029 which i really would hope they would do something decent for.

But this is Merlin tbf
 
Take this with an enormous pinch of salt, but ParkCast has received some interesting info from an anonymous social media user about what was supposedly the original plan for Project Horizon, with a slide deck being sent:
If you don’t want to watch the video, the short summary was:
  • The originally proposed version of the ride has been cancelled, and was to be an Intamin straddle coaster similar to DarKoaster.
  • The ride was to be themed around the history of Alton Towers, with the storyline being that of an old folly that was discovered within the gardens that had a black hole within it. The ride would resultantly have been a “revived” Black Hole of sorts and had lots of callbacks to it.
  • Dark Forest and the Burger Kitchen were to be rethemed alongside this ride, with the new theme being more around Alton Towers itself and its history.
  • This version of the ride was cancelled due to the capacity being considered too low.
What do we think to this?

As much as I’m the one sharing this news, I did so mainly to give people the opportunity to debate the argument. I’ll admit I’m a bit sceptical of its legitimacy myself.

Firstly, Dark Forest seems like an odd choice of area to retheme in conjunction given that Horizon is a good way away from it. Wouldn’t Walliams be a more logical choice, particularly given how that area is widely received as a damp squib?

Secondly, something about the whole theme idea just screams “fan made fantasy” to me. I know John Burton liked his nostalgia references, but they were often more implicit and subtle rather than being that on the nose and a core part of the ride concept. That theme idea sounds phenomenally self-referential even for Burton; it sounds like the sort of thing an enthusiast would have dreamed up on a forum, but not the sort of thing a park creative would actually have gone with.

To be fair, I think a straddle coaster possibly seems to be a logical choice of planned ride hardware given the alleged £12.5m budget mooted in 2022, so I can believe that aspect. But the rest seems quite far-fetched to me, if I’m honest.

How are we to prove that it’s legitimate when it came from an anonymous social media account and an enthusiast with PowerPoint, an AI subscription and some time on their hands could easily have made it?
 
Matt N said:
Take this with an enormous pinch of salt, but ParkCast has received some interesting info from an anonymous social media user about what was supposedly the original plan for Project Horizon, with a slide deck being sent:
If you don’t want to watch the video, the short summary was:
  • The originally proposed version of the ride has been cancelled, and was to be an Intamin straddle coaster similar to DarKoaster.
  • The ride was to be themed around the history of Alton Towers, with the storyline being that of an old folly that was discovered within the gardens that had a black hole within it. The ride would resultantly have been a “revived” Black Hole of sorts and had lots of callbacks to it.
  • Dark Forest and the Burger Kitchen were to be rethemed alongside this ride, with the new theme being more around Alton Towers itself and its history.
  • This version of the ride was cancelled due to the capacity being considered too low.
What do we think to this?

As much as I’m the one sharing this news, I did so mainly to give people the opportunity to debate the argument. I’ll admit I’m a bit sceptical of its legitimacy myself.

Firstly, Dark Forest seems like an odd choice of area to retheme in conjunction given that Horizon is a good way away from it. Wouldn’t Walliams be a more logical choice, particularly given how that area is widely received as a damp squib?

Secondly, something about the whole theme idea just screams “fan made fantasy” to me. I know John Burton liked his nostalgia references, but they were often more implicit and subtle rather than being that on the nose and a core part of the ride concept. That theme idea sounds phenomenally self-referential even for Burton; it sounds like the sort of thing an enthusiast would have dreamed up on a forum, but not the sort of thing a park creative would actually have gone with.

To be fair, I think a straddle coaster possibly seems to be a logical choice of planned ride hardware given the alleged £12.5m budget mooted in 2022, so I can believe that aspect. But the rest seems quite far-fetched to me, if I’m honest.

How are we to prove that it’s legitimate when it came from an anonymous social media account and an enthusiast with PowerPoint, an AI subscription and some time on their hands could easily have made it?
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Simple, it's bullsh*t
 
I think it's worth keeping in mind that these sort of storyboards are made regularly for new projects. Sometimes they are proposals for a new project, with many different ones being made, but all under the same project name. Sometimes they are after a ride type has been decided, but still with loads of different themes / stories considered. And even after something is decided, it can go through variation iterations.

I don't know how legitimate this is. The whole "I've got something but I'm not going to share it but I'm going to tell you all about it" vibe is silly regardless. But my point more is, if this isn't fan-made rubbish, it's possible this was a consideration for Project Horizon, even if it wasn't the final consideration.
 
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