Alton Towers has invited local residents to a public exhibition on proposals for a new ‘indoor attraction’.
In a leaflet seen by the TowersTimes group, two events at the park’s hotel will take place on 19 September.
Members of the project team will be on-hand to take questions from members of the public, the park said.
The proposed location of the attraction is stated as being the site of the former Alton Mouse rollercoaster, which closed in 1991.
It would lie to the west of the Alton Towers Dungeon, an area colloquially referred to as ‘Coaster Corner’.
Given similar timelines followed by park operators Merlin Entertainments, a full planning application could be seen later this year.
The enclosed nature of the ride is likely to mean that minimal details of the engineering design will be released prior to opening.
‘Secret Weapon 9’
The new indoor ride is likely to form the Staffordshire theme park’s next major capital investment, which are conventionally dubbed ‘Secret Weapons’.
If confirmed, it would be the ninth such Secret Weapon concept since the Nemesis rollercoaster and two earlier-abandoned concepts.
The last major ride investment at Alton Towers was the Wicker Man rollercoaster, which opened in 2018.
Although the target opening date of the new proposed indoor ride has not been revealed, it will in any case represent a significant gap between major investments.
Veteran ride concept designer John Wardley continues to work with Alton Towers, today as a consultant making up a larger development team.
He is been involved with every Secret Weapon project at Alton Towers to date, albeit to a reduced extent in recent years.
In a recent question and answer session, Wardley said that new rollercoaster technology which impressed him was coming to Alton Towers, without specifying what or when.