Speculation has risen about the rumoured scare maze being built around Dark Forest as Rita and Th13teen rides shut for opening day.
Alton Towers opened yesterday and it’s safe to say it wasn’t the best opening day the park has ever had.
With numerous rides breaking down throughout the day, queues going as high as 2 hours on only a 25% capacity and a none socially distanced fire alarm evacuation on The Smiler, things were a little rough, to say the least.
Alton Towers haven’t had it much easier today either (Sunday) as they’ve issued a statement regarding today’s guests being eligible for free tickets.
What bugged people, even more, was the fact that the Dark Forest in its entirety was closed.
Barriers were placed in front of the towers so you couldn’t even walk past Hex (closed for the foreseeable) or head up that way whatsoever.
The rumor mill went into overdrive with some ridiculous statements but the fact of the matter is Th13teen can only run with a minimum passenger weight and well Rita, i’m not too bothered about that one being closed.
I also heard that the David Walliams land was having a new feature added and work was taking place up there. Once again, that’s somewhat plausible but highly doubtful as most of that area is finished for the current attractions planned it just needs tidying up with a few more finishing touches to bits and pieces to Gangsta Granny the Ride.
Certainly not the kind of work you would need to close off the area and even when it was being built the area was open to the public anyway so I’m scratching that one off the rumour list.
Now I never take people’s word as gospel but after speaking to a few people close to the park there were three stories that all added up.
Complete speculation of course (I still don’t believe them) but very curious as all three individual stories said the area was closed for a new Scarefest scare-zone or addition for the 2020 season.
Dark Forest is very close to the Alton Towers gardens and it was announced earlier this year that the gardens would be transformed for the 2020 Scarefest event in some capacity.
Even if Thi13teen couldn’t run on a limited capacity, Rita can so they closed that area for a reason and they may just be adding a few things here and there before reopening and corden another section off further down.
All three stories added up with them all saying Rita would be back open in a few days time and Alton Towers have just today confirmed that Rita will be reopen soon on social media.
Out of all the rumours this one seems the most plausible but shutting off a whole area just for that seems somewhat farfetched.
For the time being my money is on that rumour until confirmed otherwise.
A nice wide outdoor scare area, rethemed with a path into the gardens for a unique socially distanced Scarefest.
Now that sounds right up my street!
Update July 13th – Guests state that Dark Forest now has the Scarefest soundtrack already playing in the area consistently.
A bit early don’t you think?
Another glimmer that something is certainly happening around that area in preparation for Scarefest.
