Is Galactica at Alton Towers finally getting a re-theme?

It’s pretty widely known that Alton Towers is not doing well at the moment, ride availability this season hasn’t been great, Nemesis Reborn has spent some of the busiest days of the year over Scarefest with only one train running and earlier this year Wickerman shut for several weeks after a foreign object caused smoke to come from a part of the track.

Rumours have been circulating for a while that Is Galactica (formerly Air) is going to get a re-theme and with a Phalanx-themed fireworks event taking place over the weekend Alton Tower’s Phalanx Expo logo is hinting even more that perhaps a re-theme could be on the cards.

Why does Galactica need a re-theme?

Air was opened in 2002 at Alton Towers and then re-themed to Galactica back in 2016 where it became a VR experience. This experience was never great, slowed down loading times and was pretty unreliable before it was eventually scrapped but kept the Galactica name.

Over the last few years Galactica has looked more and more tired with not even a jet wash of the tired tracking taking place during closed season. This became even more out of place when Nemesis Reborn opened earlier this year after its re-track and dramatic transformation of Forbidden Valley.

All of this has left Galactica looking out of place and in dire need of at least a good tidy-up.

Is Galactica going to become Phalanx Themed for 2025?

Whilst not officially confirmed by Alton Towers it’s looking increasingly more likely. The Phalanx Expo logo unveiled for Alton Tower’s fireworks 2024 looks very similar to Galactica using the same colour scheme and at this point Alton Towers are either trolling us to fuel the rumours or sneakily confirming that Galactica will finally get some TLC over the closed season and a new theme for 2025.

This would tie in nicely to the continued refresh of Forbidden Valley coming in 2025 with the opening of the green/black themed ‘Project Ocean’ which is widely expected to be a Ripsaw replacement (e.g. a Huss Top Spin) with Alton Towers teasing us with the tagline ‘Submit to the spin’.

What do I hope for a Galactica re-theme?

If Alton Towers do go ahead and theme Galactica to the Phalanx for 2025 I think we’ll see the same colour scheme that the coaster currently has with only some light theming refreshes…don’t expect anything on the same level as Nemesis.

If that Phalanx Expo logo is anything to go by then we can probably expect a re-theme of the Galactica portal, probably some flags, a slightly redesigned station and probably a jet wash of the track…I would be very surprised if Alton Towers go for a full repaint given the colour schemes we can see on the logos.

So is this happening or confirmed?

No, this is pure speculation but I’d suggest it’s looking pretty likely. The space theme doesn’t fit in Forbidden Valley and the Air to Galactica rebrand basically flopped.

I guess we have to watch this space and keep a look out for updates from people visiting Alton Towers over the closed season!

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