Alton Towers to build a new roller coaster for 2026!

The week before Christmas saw a flurry of announcements from theme parks in the UK including Chessington submit planning permission for Project Play. Alton Towers also posted on their social media that they have submitted planning permission for a new roller coaster with a planned opening of 2026.

Before you get too excited, no, this isn’t Project Horizon which Alton Towers gained planning permission for nearly two years ago although this is still on the cards but very delayed!

This planning application is for “The proposal is for the removal of an existing attraction and to replace it with a new attraction and ancillary buildings (station and maintenance buildings) within the CBeebies Land area of Alton Towers.” according to the application submitted to Staffordshire Moorlands Council.

Alton Tower’s own social media tells us this is for a new junior coaster for CBeebies Land which they intend to open in 2026 if planning permission is granted.

Where will this coaster go?

We know from their planning application (which doesn’t yet have the supporting documents) that this new roller coaster will replace a ride at the park and current rumours suggest it could be the end of Postman Pat although, with the ridiculous decisions by the park of late I wouldn’t put it past them to remove Spinball Whizzer!

Postman Pat’s ride however takes up a large area and would be ideal for a junior coaster so is probably the most sensible place for it to go although the ride is actually only just 10 years old as it was new for the opening of CBeebies Land back in 2014.

What Roller Coaster will we see?

There’s absolutely no details on what type of coaster we’ll see here but I’d expect it to be more thrilling than Octonauts but will very much a family coaster. It would be great to see some kind of family-thrill coaster like Gold Rush at Drayton Manor but with Chessington’s Project Play planning permission pointing to a set of Zamperla rides I wouldn’t be surprised if Merlin have gone for a package deal and have a Zamperla coaster here. Zamperla even debuted a new family coaster at IAAPA last year although one of these could be wishful thinking!

What next?

Over the next few weeks we should see supporting documentation uploaded to the planning application which will give more clues about the type of coaster and which ride it will be replacing. We’ll then see planning permission (likely) granted and work will probably begin early in the 2025 season with the theme confirmed later in the 2025 season (although the popularity of Bluey suggests an ideal theme!)