The World of David Walliams has closed for good, but the most interesting question may not be what replaces it.
It may be what Alton Towers decides to do with this entire corner of the park.
The themed land permanently closed on 3 November 2026 after just five operating seasons, leaving Gangsta Granny: The Ride, the Royal Carousel, Raj's Bouncy Bottom Burp and the surrounding buildings without a confirmed future.
Alton Towers has not announced a replacement theme or attraction, and there is currently no confirmed reopening timetable for the area.
But looked at alongside the neighbouring Project Horizon site, the former Alton Towers Dungeon, a long-unused 4D cinema and other underused buildings, this suddenly becomes one of the most interesting redevelopment opportunities anywhere in the park.
So what could happen next?
This is bigger than The World of David Walliams
Our original coverage of the closure looked at the immediate question of what might happen to attractions such as Gangsta Granny.
But the geography of this part of Alton Towers makes the situation considerably more interesting.
The former David Walliams land already contains several buildings and attraction spaces, but it is surrounded by further areas that are either closed, underused or already earmarked for potential development.
The Alton Towers Dungeon closed in 2024. The neighbouring 4D Cinema has been out of regular use for years. The former Nickelodeon building has also spent a long period without a major guest-facing role.
There is also the Driving School at the edge of the wider area, alongside food and retail spaces that could potentially form part of a more comprehensive redevelopment.
Viewed together, this is no longer simply a vacant children's land.
It is a sizeable section of Alton Towers where several pieces could potentially be reconsidered at the same time.
And then there is Project Horizon
The biggest piece of the puzzle sits immediately behind it.
Project Horizon is the codename attached to Alton Towers' approved plans for a substantial new indoor attraction in the former Coaster Corner backstage area.
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council approved planning permission for the development in 2023.
The approved plans allow for a main attraction building approximately 71 metres long, 51 metres wide and 20 metres high, with an additional entrance structure, plaza and queueing areas.
Most importantly when considering the future of The World of David Walliams, the planning documents place the public entrance to Project Horizon between the former Alton Towers Dungeon and The World of David Walliams.
Project Horizon is therefore not literally replacing The World of David Walliams.
It is a neighbouring development.
That distinction matters, but so does the opportunity it creates.
If Project Horizon eventually goes ahead broadly in the form covered by the existing permission, Alton Towers could potentially have a major new indoor attraction arriving beside a completely vacant themed area.
Developing those two projects independently would be possible.
Developing them together could be far more interesting.
Could this become one completely new land?
This is where speculation inevitably begins, but there is a logical case for treating the wider area as one redevelopment project.
Project Horizon could provide the headline attraction.
Gangsta Granny's existing building could support a second indoor family attraction.
The former Dungeon and 4D Cinema buildings potentially provide further indoor space.
Existing outdoor ride plots could then support flat rides, family attractions, food, retail and landscaping around them.
Suddenly, instead of asking what IP replaces David Walliams, Alton Towers could be considering something significantly more ambitious: an entirely new themed district built around several attractions.
Nothing currently confirms that this is the plan.
But from a park-design perspective, the timing of the Walliams closure makes it difficult not to look at the two sites together.
Simply retheming Gangsta Granny would feel like a missed opportunity
The easiest option would be to remove the David Walliams branding, repaint the area and install another family theme around much of the existing infrastructure.
There is some logic to that.
Gangsta Granny uses an existing Garmendale dark ride system with rotating eight-person vehicles. The building existed before The World of David Walliams and previously housed Wobble World, so the structure itself is not inherently tied to the IP.
The carousel and bouncing ride are similarly adaptable formats.
A relatively straightforward retheme could therefore return part of the area to operation faster and more cheaply than rebuilding everything.
But it would also risk wasting a rare opportunity.
Alton Towers does not often find itself with this much potentially developable space clustered around a proposed major attraction.
A cosmetic retheme might solve the immediate problem while leaving the wider area fragmented for another decade.
Don't waste the indoor space
One thing we would particularly like to see retained is indoor attraction capacity.
Gangsta Granny may not have been one of Alton Towers' headline thrill rides, but an enclosed family dark ride is a useful asset at a park so dependent on outdoor attractions.
We recently argued that UK theme parks need to think more seriously about indoor attractions and year-round operation.
This site demonstrates exactly why.
Alton Towers already has an indoor ride building. Project Horizon is itself planned as an indoor attraction. The former Dungeon and cinema add further enclosed infrastructure nearby.
Rather than replacing that with another area dominated by exposed outdoor rides, the park could use the redevelopment to create one of its most weather-resistant sections.
That would be valuable during wet summer days, Scarefest, Christmas operations and potentially any future attempt to extend the park's operating season.
Alton Towers still needs something for the middle ground
There is another issue Alton Towers needs to consider.
CBeebies Land serves younger children extremely well, while the park's identity is still dominated by major thrill attractions such as Nemesis Reborn, The Smiler, Wicker Man, Oblivion and TH13TEEN.
The space between those two audiences is more complicated.
The World of David Walliams was intended to help fill that gap with a recognisable family IP and an accessible dark ride.
Whatever replaces it should arguably continue serving families with children who have grown beyond CBeebies but are not yet ready for Alton Towers' biggest coasters.
That does not mean the entire area needs to be aimed at young children.
A new land anchored by Project Horizon could potentially combine a substantial headline attraction with a family dark ride and supporting experiences, giving different age groups reasons to visit the same area.
That would be much more useful than creating another isolated thrill ride surrounded by little else.
Should Alton Towers use another major IP?
One obvious question is whether Merlin will simply replace one licensed property with another.
There are arguments for doing so.
Recognisable brands can immediately communicate what a new area is, give families a reason to visit and support merchandise, food and hotel experiences beyond the rides themselves.
Merlin is already investing heavily in major intellectual property elsewhere in the UK, including the upcoming Minecraft World at Chessington.
But The World of David Walliams also demonstrates the potential weakness of building an entire land around one external personality or brand.
Licensing relationships change. Public tastes change. Brands that seem enormous when a development begins can look very different several years later.
Alton Towers' most enduring areas are largely built around concepts it controls itself.
Forbidden Valley, X-Sector, Dark Forest, Katanga Canyon and the mythology surrounding Wicker Man do not depend on maintaining a licensing agreement or the continued popularity of an external franchise.
There is a strong argument that this redevelopment should follow the same approach.
Could Project Horizon become the anchor Alton Towers needs?
Very little about the attraction inside Project Horizon has been officially revealed.
The approved planning application is deliberately focused on the building rather than the contents, with the internal layout and theming withheld for commercial reasons.
Planning material describes an indoor attraction, while other documents associated with the proposal have fuelled speculation that a rollercoaster could ultimately occupy the building.
Until Alton Towers announces the ride itself, however, its exact format should be treated as unknown.
What is clearer is the scale.
A building measuring around 71 by 51 metres is substantial by Alton Towers standards.
If that attraction eventually becomes the anchor for a redeveloped land stretching into the former World of David Walliams, it could completely change the feel of this side of the park.
Universal UK changes the stakes
There is also a much bigger deadline approaching for Merlin and the rest of the UK theme park industry.
Universal United Kingdom Resort is planned to open in Bedfordshire in 2031, bringing Universal's first major theme park destination in the UK and Europe.
Comcast NBCUniversal has committed more than £5 billion during the initial construction period, while the resort is being designed to accommodate around 8.5 million visitors annually when it opens.
That does not mean Alton Towers suddenly needs to become Universal.
Nor does it mean every visitor heading to Bedfordshire will be somebody who would otherwise have visited a Merlin park.
But it does mean the competitive landscape for major theme parks in Britain is about to change significantly.
By the time Universal opens, guests will have a completely new destination offering highly immersive themed lands, major attractions, accommodation, dining and entertainment on a scale the UK market has not previously seen.
Merlin therefore needs to be thinking now about what Alton Towers looks like when 2031 arrives.
A lightly rethemed family area assembled largely from attractions that already exist today might solve an immediate problem, but it is unlikely to feel particularly ambitious when a brand-new Universal resort is competing for visitors' time and leisure spending.
Project Horizon and the closure of The World of David Walliams have arrived at an unusually important moment.
There are still several years before Universal is due to open. That gives Merlin an opportunity to turn this whole corner of Alton Towers into something that still feels fresh and compelling when the UK theme park market becomes considerably more competitive.
That could mean a substantial new indoor headline attraction, a genuinely immersive surrounding land, a second family dark ride and enough supporting attractions, food and entertainment to create somewhere guests actively want to spend time rather than simply walk through.
Alton Towers does not need to outspend Universal. Realistically, it cannot.
What it can do is make better use of what makes the park unique.
Its historic setting, unusual terrain, established collection of major rides and ability to create attractions such as Nemesis and Wicker Man give Alton Towers an identity that does not need to imitate Universal.
But its next generation of investment still needs to feel ambitious enough to give guests a compelling reason to return once they have another world-class theme park competing for their attention.
What would we like to see?
Our preference would be for Alton Towers to resist the temptation to treat The World of David Walliams as an isolated retheme.
Use Project Horizon as the catalyst for something bigger.
Create a coherent new land covering the former Walliams area and the new attraction entrance.
Retain or substantially rework Gangsta Granny's indoor ride infrastructure rather than throwing it away.
Bring some of the surrounding dormant buildings back into meaningful use.
Add family attractions, food and places to spend time rather than allowing the area to become another route towards one headline ride.
And, ideally, build the theme around an original concept with enough flexibility to evolve over the next 20 years rather than another licence that may need replacing after five.
That would provide Alton Towers with something it currently lacks: a major, weather-resistant themed area capable of appealing to families and enthusiasts at the same time.
A rare chance to redraw part of Alton Towers
The closure of The World of David Walliams is unquestionably an abrupt end for an area that only properly opened in 2021.
But it could ultimately prove more important for what follows.
Alton Towers now has an empty themed land sitting beside a site with permission for a major indoor attraction, alongside several buildings and spaces that have been underused for years.
Opportunities like that do not appear often at a park constrained by historic landscapes, planning restrictions and challenging terrain.
Alton Towers could simply find another theme for Gangsta Granny and reopen the gates.
Or it could use the closure as the starting point for the most comprehensive redevelopment this corner of the park has seen in decades.
And this time, the decision has significance beyond Alton Towers itself.
By 2031, the UK theme park landscape could look very different. Universal United Kingdom Resort is expected to be welcoming millions of visitors, and the established operators will need to show why their parks remain essential destinations too.
Alton Towers has an opportunity now to make sure this corner of the park is part of that future rather than a reminder of its past.
If Project Horizon really is still on the horizon, the ambition should extend far beyond simply replacing The World of David Walliams.
