Legoland Windsor Resort have submitted an application to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council to make amendments to the submitted and approved application for the Haunted House ride.
Proposed to be located on the same site of the previously proposed Haunted House ride (to the south east of Driving School and Boating School and to the south west of Atlantis), the new plans indicate that changes have been to the type of ride proposed to be constructed. Plans now refer to a ‘turning room’ style attraction, thought to be a ‘madhouse’ type ride similar to Hex: The Legend of the Towers at Alton Towers Resort. Previously an indoor drop tower ride was planned for the attraction. This change in ride type means there are also some minor changes to the size and shape of the building with it now being slightly narrower, but a little longer, although the overall footprint of the building has been reduced. Changes have also been made to the queue line area. Whilst the location of the queue will remain as originally planned, some minor changes have been made to its layout and it will now be levelled out to account for differences in ground level on the site.
The external appearance and theming of the building housing the attraction have also been amended in order to account for the change in ride type, and also seemingly to style it with a more generic Lego theme as to the previously planned ‘Lego Monster Fighters’ brand which was planned to be used for the original attraction. If approved, it is anticipated that the Haunted House will open during the 2019 season.
These new plans for the Haunted House ride replace those originally submitted in May 2014 and which were approved following a lengthy appeals process in November 2015. Due to the initial refusal of the original plans, and the time the appeals process took, by the time permission was eventually granted the Resort had already missed the funding cycle the attraction was intended to be part of and had to go with alternative plans for the 2015 season. The proposed attraction also forms part of the long term plan for Legoland Windsor Resort which was submitted for approval back in June 2017 and identified the Haunted House site as an area which would see an attraction developed for the 2021 season. This long term plan had identified another area for development for 2019, however it is thought that this area will now be considered for development at another time with the current application saying that the timescales in the long term plan are only indicative and can be swapped or moved.
What are your thoughts on these new Haunted House proposals? Do you prefer the new ‘madhouse’ style ride, or would you have preferred the indoor drop tower? Make sure you have your say over on the Attraction Source Forum.
