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Park News - (6/15/09) You’ve got to see this latest cross promotion Alton Towers has got involved with, as they’ve loaded a train full of underwear models into Rita: Queen of Speed and Spinball to test out the latest Ultimo bra designs. The video clip is safe for work however as it provides Thrills with No Spills.
  (6/13/09) I’m not sure how good these rumors are but I’ve been told that the park is considering repainting Rita another color to fit in better with the look of the new 2010 project. One suggested color was green since it would also let it blend in better with the trees too. Our other rumor claims that the park may be looking at what other ideas and attractions they could fit into the old Black Hole structure, but I’ve been unable to find a solid lean on what direction they may be thinking.
  (5/25/09) According to this news article Alton Towers is banning children from wearing “high heels” into the park to keep them from trying to cheat the minimum height requirements on their thrill rides. Apparently they’ve caught way too many kids wearing several pairs of socks, sticking things in their shoes, altering their shoes or just wearing shoes with heels as a way to boost their height.
  (5/16/09) According to this article, Alton Towers revealed that they are looking into the possibility of building a third resort hotel due to the fact that the two hotels they already have are able to stay booked solid even in the off-season when the park is closed.

2009 - Cloud Cuckoo Land and Sharkbait Reef - (4/10/09) Another video showing off the new Cloud Cuckoo Land at Alton has been posted to YouTube.
  (4/1/09) A video showing off Sharkbait Reef has been posted to YouTube.

  (3/4/09) A construction video showing off the state of the things at Alton Towers has been posted to YouTube.
  (2/12/09) Alton Towers has announced a new land for 2009 called Cloud Cuckoo Land, which will replace Cred Street and feature a new theme for the former UG Swinger. The park will also add Sharkbait Reef in Mutiny Bay where you can come face to face with creatures from the depths. You can see more at ThemeParks-UK.
  (12/17/08) According to a post at ThemeParks-UK, Alton Towers will open the new Sea Life attraction on March 22nd.
  (10/14/08) In addition to the other new attractions mentioned below, we’ve heard that a new Sea Life attraction will open on Mutiny Bay. I’ve also heard that the UG Swinger will be moved to the rethemed Cred Street area.
  (8/29/08) According to a reader the winter brochure from Alton Towers mentions the following as new attractions for the 2009 season: A new children’s area with a “fantabulous” indoor play area, all new gondolas as part of a refurbishment for the Skyride and more street entertainment and characters. You can see the brochure online here.

2010 - SW6 Coaster - (5/3/09) Yet another video document from Dr. Rockwell in search of the Night Watchman has him wandering around in the woods. At the end of the video, be sure to turn up your volume all the way to see if you can head what I’m hearing. Still no official word if these videos are connected to Alton’s new coaster in 2010, but Dr. Rockwell does deny it in his own post to the video channel. At this point, they want to tell a story about the Night Watchman… and if it is for the coaster, they’re not going to come out and say that… so I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

  (4/24/09) A couple of odd videos have started to appear on YouTube lately, leaving some fans to wonder if they are really the first bits and pieces of a new Viral promotion for the new 2010 coaster. Of course, these also stand an equal chance of just being a bit of fan fiction.
  Our first video is a little something from someone called TheNightWatchaman2010, which is almost kind of a teaser for the 2010 coaster.

  Next up are a couple of videos posted this week by a “Dr. Henry Rockwell” that have almost a Blair Witch style to them. Though I think I like the second one better than the first.


  (4/1/09) New images and artwork showing off Alton Tower’s 2010 coaster project have been posted to UK Rides this week, including a few better drawings of the new coaster’s layout. While you can clearly see a point where it switched to run backwards briefly before going forward again, one of our reader did perhaps nail the concept on the head, describing the ride as a “mini Expedition Everest”. Could this indeed be a new family mine-train style coaster, similar to Disney’s Everest? The similarities of how the track switches direction, followed by a helix element (taken backwards) before switching forward again are quite telling when you view the ride in this frame of mind. This also makes me wonder if the park is working with Vekoma on this project as well.
  (3/18/09) The local news confirms that Alton Towers was given permission to build their new £12 million coaster for 2010. They also confirmed what I predicted from the limited artwork seen so far, that the coaster would have a backwards section.
  (3/13/09) Screamscape has heard that Alton Towers was given approval to build their 2010 coaster project. The park is expected to make a press release to confirm the details on Monday.
  (2/13/09) According to the report filed on Alton Towers Almanac the decision on if Alton will be allowed to build their next new coaster has been delayed due to the large number of public complaints.
  (2/10/09) The new 2010 roller coaster proposal for Alton Towers has been recommended for approval despite several letters of protests. I’d have to say that in times like these a company willing to invest millions to ensure tourists have a reason to keep coming into the area and spending money is not something they want to turn away.
  (1/29/09) According to this news article reprinted at Alton Towers Almanac the proposed 2010 coaster for Alton Towers may be delayed due to claims that the coaster may extend into a historic area where an “Iron Age hill fort” may exist. While a crew will come out to investigate, Alton claims that the fort is nowhere near the new ride zone and is actually on the opposite end of the proposed site.
  (1/19/09) There are three things certain in life… Death, Taxes and that the locals that live around virtually any given theme park in the UK are going to show up with pitch forks and torches to complain about any major new roller coaster proposal. Especially at Alton, where they have a notoriously cranky bunch of neighbors. It looks like the complaints have already started, despite the fact that 3 out of the 4 council members taken on an on-site tour of the proposed coaster were in favor of it.
  (1/12/09) Alton Towers has submitted plans for a new “replacement rollercoaster” for the Corkscrew that you can see yourself here. Move over to the Documents section and you can view some of the application information as well as see the location and basic themeing for the ride’s station. I’ve pulled a few key images from the documents for everyone to see here, but the layout of the ride is very interesting in some of them, looking as if the coaster may actually have forward and backwards sections perhaps. They are mainly focused in showing off how this coaster will have even less of an impact on the outside view of the park than the Corkscrew, as it will stand 2 meters shorter and hide entirely below the tree line and how only 41 trees will have to be removed to make room.
  I’m going to speculate a bit and go with the idea that the new coaster concept is being taken from the “Dark Forest” concept art revealed in an online survey last July which detailed a story of some dark ruins and a wild rollercoaster escape ride that hinted at forward and backwards sections as well as mentioning the idea of a “Tilting Coaster”. Could this be a new version of the Vekoma Tilt concept reborn?
  (12/11/08) According to this link a reader sent in, Alton Towers has submitted an application for a ‘replacement rollercoaster” for the Corkscrew.
  (10/14/08) I don’t know if the park has officially put this name to use or not, but the new rumored 2010 coaster project has already been given the SW6 codename by some fan sites such as ThemeParks.UK. The interesting thing is that previously all of the completed Secret Weapon projects from Alton (SW3 - Nemesis, SW4 - Oblivion and SW5 - Air) have all been B&M projects. Have Alton and B&M joined up for a fouth time?