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I've just seen on Linkdin that Russ Gaines, who was the commercial director for the last 6 years has left his role at the park. He was a very public figure, appearing in lots of Jack Silkstones videos and clearly had a lot of passion for the park, so its a shame to see him go. Don't really know what impact hes had at the park during his time but always a shame to see someone with clear passion leave.

https://www.towerstimes.co.uk/news/2025/07/11/alton-towers-resort-update-july-2025/ Bianca is out. Big shame in my opinion. Shes was a breath of fresh air and has done a lot of good for the park since shes been there. Sounds like she wanted to do a lot more too, but has never had the budgets to do so. Will be interesting to see what happens next. Towers needs someone good and long term.

Stealth is scheduled to be closed 23rd - 25th July. I assume this will be launch cable replacement.

Thorpe have certainly done a lot right the last couple years and its great to see. It was great to see an American enthusiast group so enthusiastic about Thorpe are Hyperia in particular on twitter. Believe Hyperia got its record throughput of 54 trains in an hour on their ERT too. I used to love Nemesis but have never liked reborn as much as the original. Inferno seems to get better and better every year, can't beat an old school B&M.

Nice to see! Will certainly look nice at Fright Nights if it’s still going then. Colossus already looks great at night as it benefits from the smoke from crows. Interesting choice to add a new smoke machine when they can hardly maintain others on park…

From next Monday till 21st July Rumba is scheduled to open at 1pm. I imagine this is due to the school trips and 18+ rule? Hours for Rumba certainly getting less and less each year though.

Noticed on a few visits this season after the cycle has finished on Rush there is a wait of nearly 2 minutes until the restraints are released, which is really awkward and leaves a lot of people very confused and questioning whats going on. I know it has to wait for air pressure to build up after the cycle before restraints are released, but the time it takes to do this has significantly increased. Its also running particularity poor, hardly reaching full height. I believe Rush goes through a more extensive winter maintenance program once every 3 years which includes having the top come off which I believe is this closed season. Hopefully it gets the work it needs to get running well again as its running pretty poor at the moment.

Yeah I remember that. Little things like that add so much in making the area feel more alive. Wasn't there 1 or 2 more locations that triggered that sound too? Or am I imagining things, its been a long time 🤣

Has anyone seen any of the queueline TVs on this year? Very strange decision to invest time and money getting them working again last year for them to be switched off a month later? I have a lot to praise about Thorpe in recent years, but their upkeep of any kind of effects has always been shocking. Not a single effect working on Swarm Island. The water by the fire engine is currently green and they haven't even bothered to fill up the area by the helicopter with water this year. No Inferno mist effects or Stealth smoke effects on Sunday too. How hard is it to keep a smoke machine going 🤣

Last 3 days its operated fine. Was open all day today with less than 10 minutes downtime. Sunday and Monday has a few breakdowns but nothing major. For future reference, you can look at the history of queue times/downtime on this website. https://queue-times.com/parks/2/rides/91?given_date=2025-06-09#day Search for Stealth, and put in what date you want to see on the calendar and you can see the queues for that day on a chart.

Agreed with Fright Nights. Although quality has improved the last couple years, I do the mazes once on a quiet night and that’s it really. I’m not paying to stand in a queue for a chance of a good run through when there’s rides with no queues. Mainly just go for the extended opening hours but even that’s been cut back, loosing the 9-10pm is a shame. Ghost train is interesting. Sooner they close and stop pumping money into that the better but closing it also means spending money for something else. Doubt they’ll want to keep that SBNO being in the centre of the park.

Certainly interesting seeing the amount of people saying its rough/rattly now. I do wonder if the wheel changes are a permanent solution to the valleying or if its just a temporary fix whilst a long term solution is figured out?

I do agree, does seem very stale this year across the board. Last year was high investment though with Lego, Towers and Thorpe all receiving major new coasters though so its to be expected I guess. Do wonder if there were any cuts though, was Thorpe meant to receive a flat on the Slammer site? I only bothered with a Thorpe pass rather than a Merlin pass this year. Chessingtons a dump and I have no interest in traveling 4 hours to get to Towers when they only bother to open 10-4 during the week. Toxicator will still be there next year. In regards to adverts, I certainly get a lot of them on my phone across all social media platforms. Maybe theres been a shift towards that instead? Would certainly be a lot cheaper and I imagine they'll be able to get across to their target market. Thorpe passholder group closure was a real shame. It was great to have inside insight into what they're working on, being able to ask questions and them actively ask and act on feedback. Although there isn't anything new this year at Thorpe I've still really enjoyed all my visits this season. Its still got its issues but I still believe its by far the best run merlin park and has the best opening hours. I personally haven't noticed any changes operationally apart from the reduced events? I've never specifically gone to Thorpe for their events except Fright Nights so the reduction in ents hasn't made any difference to me. This has definitely hit the other parks more though. For Towers Oktoberfest is a big loss. Always enjoyed the atmosphere on the lawns and extended opening hours in September. The Legoland stunt show has got to be the biggest loss out of them all. Stupid decision.

I've definitely noticed it's a little rougher and a bit jolty since the wheels have been changed in my opinion. I haven't been on since the support/braces have been added to the bottom of the seats but have seen some comments saying its made it even worse which is interesting? They have recently reinstalled the splash down which indicates it could come back in the future. It hasn't been seen working again yet though since it was turned off last season.

I still remember my exact location watching it on the news for my first time too! Is an interesting thought what the park would be like now if the incident didn't happen, as it certainly was the start of Towers downfall in my opinion. 10 years later, the park continuous to have one of the worst opening hours for a major theme park worldwide, 10-4pm midweek...