The Sub-Terra site first came into use
as part of the theme park in 1992 when this corner between the
Monorail and entrance to Thunder Valley became home to The
Beastie, when it was relocated from Festival Park where it had
been known as the Dragon Coaster.
The Beastie in Thunder Valley
Dynamo in Forbidden Valley
The Beastie operated on the site until
it departed for Adventure Land in 1997. And with the departure of
this little coaster, the site then seems to have sat empty until
2002, when Dynamo began to ply its trade on the site as part of
the new Forbidden Valley lineup. The ride was so at home in this
corner of Forbidden Valley the site itself has become synonymous
with the ride.
The site shortly after Dynamo was removed
And with the golf game
However Dynamo's
occupation of the site was relatively short-lived and due to
continuing technical issues the ride was removed from the site
early in 2004. All was not lost though as the site briefly became
home to a golf game (as was the trend at Tussauds at the time).
But this had not been the original plan for the site; the park had
actually wanted to install a tethered balloon ride on the site,
which would have offered guests a spectacular view over the
Staffordshire countryside.
The proposed Balloon
Ride
The Lava
Lump
The park's
application for a Balloon Ride was soon withdrawn however as it
was believed the height of the ride would infuriate the park's
neighbours and instead eventually the Lava Lump was relocated to
the site after it had been removed from Ug Land to make way
for Rita. The climbing wall was soon also joined by a set of
trampolines and so for the past few seasons the area has been a
game zone.
But whilst guests
have been taking to the sky for all this time, whether by climbing
or bouncing, it turns out that perhaps we should have been more
concerned with What Lies Beneath...
October 2011
February 11th 2012
Thanks to DanB and
CoasterMadMatt for providing some of the pictures for this update
March
17th 2012
Thanks to James6 for providing the pictures for this update