It’s not been a great few years to Alton Towers with budget cuts, terrible ride availability and the introduction of staggered opening hours and it seems this is set to continue. In their first Winter Update posted on their blog yesterday Alton Towers announced the permanent removal of The Blade and 2 other attractions. Read on to find out all the information.
After operating at Alton Towers for 44 years making it the oldest ride in the park The Blade will be removed during this close season with the park saying it had reached the end of it’s operational life.
The Blade was a pirate ship attraction initially opening in 1980 as Pirate Ship in the area of the park now known as X-Sector. When Oblivion opened in 1997 Pirate Ship was relocated to Forbidden Valley and became The Blade. Since then it has continued to operate in Forbidden Valley with extensive work taking place in the 2018/9 closed season when the boat was stripped back and given an overhaul. Prior to the start of the 2024 season and the re-opening of Nemesis Reborn the ride was also painted, making the choice to remove it now even stranger.
The second attraction to not return for 2025 is the Alton Towers Dungeon which closed earlier this year to be transformed into the Scarefest attraction ‘Amigos in the Afterlife’ which received mixed reviews.
The Dungeons is in a building which houses a boat ride attraction and has been open since 1981 and has previously housed attractions such as Toyland Tours and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory before becoming the Alton Tower’s Dungeon in 2019 which opened as an up-charge attraction.
Finally, Flavio’s Fabulous Fandango which is situated in the World of David Walliams will also be leaving Alton Towers. This twister ride came as part of the retro-squad in 2021 to increase capacity and has been the last remaining (and probably best fitting) member of the group of fairground rides that came into Alton Towers.
With three ride removals for 2025 and only one new ride in the form of the Huss Top Spin in Forbidden Valley it’s looking like ride capacity is going to continue to struggle at Alton Towers and it’s a park I will be unlikely to visit as it’s never a good sign when lots gets removed.
Hopefully this is part of a bigger plan to eventually use the Dungeon’s building for a family attraction again and to see more permanent flat rides adding to the park but with rumours of budget cuts and less investment coming to Alton Towers and more being directed to Chessington and Thorpe Park the future of Alton Towers feels very uncertain at the moment.
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