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Audio has never been the same since they got rid of all the Bose speakers in my opinion. I miss the loud audio at the bottom of the lift too, much quieter now.

Will be interesting to see reviews from Scarefest this year and if theres any difference in quality. Its a good lineup this year, new maze and a new scarezone which is exactly what they needed in my opinion. I wonder if RWS have any input in design or its purely just from an operational perspective (employing actors.) If I was to guess, RWS are purely operational. One thing I've noticed though is the prices for the mazes at Towers. Thorpe this year 4 mazes £34 or £28 with AP discount 1 shots £8 or £7 with AP discount Towers this year 3 mazes £38 or £30.40 with AP discount Edge of the forest 1 shot (new maze) £16 or £12.80 with AP discount Compound or Mine Tours 1 shot £14 or £11.20 with AP discount £16 and £14 for a 1 shot through a maze is absolutely absurd, especially considering cost of entry etc..

Since this post theres been a couple of changes; - 6pm closes from 9th Aug - 31st Aug 4 - Mondays + Thursdays throughout September and October have been cut from 5pm to 4pm Don't think Chessie has ever had 4pm closes so thats a shame. Still no sign of any hours past 5pm in October, usually 7pm in the holidays + weekends.

Chessingtons opening hours for the whole summer holidays (and for the rest of the season) is 5pm. Same with Legoland. Going back, 6pm has always been standard, and for most weekends throughout the season. Infact a few years ago there was even a lot of 7pm closes in the holidays and weekends. Ouch.

The last few years, I'd say Thorpe park by a long way. Best ride availability, best throughputs and best opening hours. Crazy because going back 5+ years or so I would've always said Towers. 1 train ops on off peak days was standard at Thorpe, resulting in long queues even on quiet days.

Lineup has been released for 2025. - 4 scare mazes from last season returning - The crows scare zone - IT 4d cinema - Lucifers Lair - Creature Campus with a new show ‘Shock to the system’ - A new scare zone revealed soon ‘Something lingers in the shadows... a place even the damned dare not tread. This Halloween, we open the gates to an all-new realm - where lost souls wander in purgatory and time stands still. But beware: step inside, and you may lose all sense of where you're going... or why you came.‘ In an ideal world it would’ve been nice to see something new in Trailers place, but this is still a good lineup and to be honest another free scare zone is exactly what the event needs in my opinion. Looking forward to seeing more details and where it’ll be located?

Could’ve potentially been plans for a new flat this year or 2026 that had been cut? Or they just used part of the sparkle project budget to get it removed whilst they had the funds. Either way, shame to not have a replacement flat there yet. Hopefully soon 🤞

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...

Glad Stealth is back. Just in time for half term and school trip season too!

Its been back on 2 trains since Friday

Great day at Paultons today. I hadn’t been to the park for over 10 years, before the likes of Peppa Pig world so it was great to see how much the park has changed for the better since then. Ghostly Manor is a great addition to their lineup, fits the area perfectly and is finished to a really high standard. Seeing the coasters behind the scenes was really cool, particularly enjoyed watching Storm Chaser in the op cabin while it was being operated for the ERT. A little disappointed they went for a Gerst Eurofighter for their 2026 addition, but I do think it will be a great fit for the park. I think there are definitely better options out there, but think they chose this for budget reasons more than anything. Particularly disappointed that it will have OTSR’s rather than Lap Bars (the boos from the crowd were hilarious), and I do think that is a mistake. I understand their thinking, that they want it to be as accessible as possible and they feel like OTSR’s will be seen as safer by the GP, especially for their first inversion coaster. But ultimately, Lap Bars are more modern, and I think this will impact the overall guest experience and enjoyment of the coaster. New water ride teased for 2027 and then the accommodation is planned for 2030+. Great to see them investing so much and I do hope the 2026 addition is a success. They made it clear they are slowly increasing the thrill level rather than big jumps, so it seems this is very much a test. They seemed to keep repeating that this is their tallest coaster ‘yet’ and ‘to date’ so will be interesting to see Paultons future. Magma is going, they mentioned its staying in the UK so will be interesting to see what park has bought it. My understanding was that Edge will be staying where it is but just won't be part of the Vikings area.