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A staff member told me Oblivion was meant to have a huge station overhaul for this year, including 5 lines into the station (not sure what the 5th would be for?) which would include the return of the SRQ, but was pushed back to next closed season. Hopefully that still happens for next year! And agreed was nice to see them smashing throughputs on it for once. On Tues they were using 2/4 trains (every other train) as it had no queue, first time in years I've not had to wait on the break run!

I was in the area due to work so I thought it would be rude not to pop in Tuesday and Wednesday, so thought I'd share some thoughts from this season below. I didn't bother visiting with no Nemesis last year so was my first time in a couple years, meaning it was also my first time on the Curse. Was really impressed with this, couldn't comment on what effects were working/broken as I'd never been on before. Easily my favorite dark ride in the UK. Main reason for visiting was to get as many rides as possible on Nemmy. Got 5 on Tuesday, but was only open half a day so was expecting a better day on Wednesday, but with it only operating with half a train I only went on it twice. One of them I got in the queue just before 4pm, and it still took 85 mins with no fastrack/rap. Got back on Sub Terra for the first time in yearssss, same as I remember nothing special but nice to have a filler attraction back, something towers really lack. The park in general looks really fresh. Oblivion in particular looking really good. Could tell the Smiler has had some touch ups but still looking pretty poor in some places. Towers always seem pretty consistent on the effects and audio front. Audio everywhere was sounding great, didn't notice any broken/distorted speakers. A lot of their speakers are still bose too which I prefer. Operationally wise, pretty poor. The staff were all doing a great job with what they had, but every major coaster bar Nemesis has started the season on reduced capacity. This isn't just due to it being a weekday as well, as I've heard it was the same on the weekend. Rita - 1 train Thirteen - 2 trains (3rd train currently in pieces under the lift hill) Oblivion - 4 trains 1 station. No complaints here, team were smashing it and it didn't have a queue. Smiler - 3 trains Wickerman - 2 trains Galactica - 2 trains 1 station Nemmy - 2 trains Tuesday, till around 20 mins before closing 1 train. Opened on Weds on half a train and remained like that all day. Few other points; - Never been the biggest fan of Wickerman but I was really enjoying it this trip. It was absolutely flying round in the rain on Wednesday, the back row and front row rides I had are the best I've ever had on it. 6 years on its still looking like a brand new ride, solid edition to their lineup and nice they're looking after it. - Same goes for Smiler, never been the biggest fan but no matter where I was sat was riding really smooth and really enjoyed it. Single rider queue on it is lovely too. - Pleasantly surprised to see roaming actors at Nemesis, Curse and Wickerman on an offpeak weekday. They do add to the areas, and I wish Thorpe had this approach rather than the cringe we get there. Would prefer a few actors at Swarm and Saw than the 'thrill makers' - Love the fact the park opens early, believe the entrance opens at 9. On Wednesday I got in just after 9:30, went straight to dark forest. By just after 10, I had done 2 rides on Rita and and Thirteen thanks to them both opening early. - Galactica really doesn't fit in with Forbidden Valley anymore and is looking in a state. The track looks pretty terrible, half the TVs off, projector off in the station. Just looks like they've given up with it, so hopefully a re-theme coming with the new flat next year. - 4pm close. In my opinion if queues are anything more than 10 minutes, especially a park the size of Towers, it should never close at 4. 5pm minimum. - As someone who really likes flats, there really isn't a lot to do apart from going coaster to coaster. It seems they're going to address this though, I do hope there is more coming than the 1 they've already put plans in for.

I noticed Russ mentioned this too, but unless I'm imagining things they were definitely spinning all of last season 😄

Have also heard it was due to the rattling, and would make sense if it was worse further back. I personally didn't notice a rattle on any of my rides, but I didn't get further back than row 5 unfortunately. Apparently it was running 2 today, still only front 4 rows though. Not as painful as 1 train though at least. Hopefully they can get this sorted before the Easter holidays!

Well this aged well, been on 1 train all day today and only loading the front 4 rows. With RAP at the exit, only the front 3 rows being loaded from the main queue.

Agreed. If it was H&S I'd rather they just made the queue slightly taller. I know its a different park but it amazes me the Nemesis airgates were aloud to stay but this isn't aloud. I was thinking that re the floor. Hope that does get sorted as they've put a lot of work in to make the area look great, but that looks terrible...

Got back on Nemesis today. Overall, they've done a great job with the area and I do like the new colour scheme. I do prefer the original music, and the original queue line too. Yes the new queue offers new views of the ride I hadn't seen before, but I quite liked queuing down in the pit and getting close to the ride. It didn't open till around 1ish today so was a bit busier than I expected. They also decided to take a train off 20 mins before park close, causing a queue. Weird decision unless there was an issue with the train. Apart from that though, they were running it flawlessly as usual with little to no stacking. Strange decision to remove the front row queue. Was also annoying having a batcher in the station so you can no longer choose a row. Hoping this doesn't last long, they never bothered with that before and it never seemed to be an issue. Hoping for a better day tomorrow and to get on the back row.

The queue for Detonator has changed so you no longer queue on the platform, which is a shame. Was always good watching peoples reactions while queuing, it was also a good way of seeing it had a short queue when walking past. I imagine this could've been a H&S decision though maybe? Do like the sound of the new audio though, although do think the voiceover will get annoying quickly

Looks stunning. Actually quite like the changes they've made, the new soundtrack sounds nice Didn't bother with Towers all of last season but I'll be there asap for this alone

Oblivions first drop is my favorite in the UK, and Kondaa outside of UK Definitely think Hyperias has the potential to clinch the title for me 😃

I've always loved the Colossus entrance, but really hate what they've done with that. At least they recognize that and are going to make improvements though. Apart from that, I love what they've done. For the first time in a long time, I like the direction the park is going in and feel the current management know what they're doing and are making the right decisions. Hoping with the removal of Slammer at the end of the year we get a new flat in its place, that'll finish that area off nicely. No black mirror means we get a nice maze space back hopefully. They haven't given up on the Stealth SRQ queue by the sounds of it so hopefully we'll get that this season too!

Makes sense re the viewing area, I was initially a bit gutted about this, but it wouldn't have looked like the concept art with all the additional fencing required. SRQ and front row queue in the station (as expected) is great news. If Stealth also gets a SRQ this year can see myself being at the park a lot...

Nice to finally have some transparency from Alton Towers Thought this was a good watch. Bianca clearly has a lot of passion and does seem to making the right decisions for Towers. The future is looking bright (finally) I hope these 8pm closes at the start of the season are successful too would love to see more of them throughout the season

Agreed, the best I’ve ever seen it look. I didn’t actually realise how bad Stealth looked until they started to do this. You can also see on the stairs the new TV which will show pre loading information to try and speed up dispatches. All stealth is missing now is a single rider queue

Can we add a dislike reaction so I can dislike every post from Parm Pap?

Still roaring away too 🥰 Really noticeable how slow it goes over the loop, but not really concerning I imagine this is due to the cold and new wheels etc...

They certainly provided a lot of entertainment over the years! I can't have been the only one who would watch someone struggle for ages before telling them how to turn the tap on? 😆

Opening times for this season have been released on the website. Overall I'd say its an improvement on last season, and its nice to see that Thorpe continue to have the best opening times out of the UK Merlin parks. Less closed days than last season and more 7pm openings, however Oktoberfests seem to have been cut as no 7pm closes during Oktoberfest this year. I've said it plenty of times before and I'll say it again, the only improvement I'd like to see is the return of 10pm closes for Fright Nights. The extra hour in the dark really makes a big difference. I'd love to see the return of a 10pm closing event during summer but I doubt that'll happen due to demand unfortunately. Also, the Sunday opening this year is strange? But I assume thats due to a buyout day on the Saturday.

More details about some of the work happening as park of the 'sparkle project' announced, including repainting Samurai back to its original red and black. Nice to see them spending a good amount of money on TLC. With multiple repainted rides, a new coaster, a refurbished area + more Thorpe is really going to look the best its done in years!

The more I see of this, the more I love it... https://twitter.com/AttractionSc/status/1728394310658162839/photo/1

As much as it'll be nice to have Nemesis back, Hyperia for me. It took me a while to get exited for Hyperia and although I still have my doubts I do believe we could have something quite special here!

Looks like a good replacement - better than I expected to be honest and fits in with the surrounding area well. For anyone wondering, as expected Detonators original soundtrack won't be returning, it'll be a new one 😢

Very true, if they weren't essential and people didn't notice then I guess there was no reason for them to be replaced. I was thinking it could be reliability related, back in the day I used to see Detonator have downtime on every visit pretty much, nowadays I never see it go down. Who knows!

Original black hole soundtrack on Detonator and the pistons back 🤞 I doubt we'll see the pistons back though unfortunately as I imagine theres a technical reason why they were removed

The only answer is more attractions or lower the capacity to help with the crowds really. I've mentioned it many times but the 10pm closes do make a big difference too, and I do hope they find a way to bring them back. More Fright Night dates doesn't really seem to make a difference as the peak nights are the same every year regardless of how many days they're open. I remember in 2019 they started Fright Nights at the end of September, and the first few weekends were dead. It clearly wasn't financially viable as they've never done that again since.