Inferno

Does anyone know the relevance of “JBS Works” to the back story, which is on the side of the Saw warehouse and on various signs around the plaza?

Interesting to hear/read about the troubles Towers are having (again) this season, with staggered opening and many rides not opening until well after opening time if at all. I have heard a lot about a shortage of engineers being one of the main causes of all the problems. My thought.... Has Alton Towers just become bigger than is feasible to operate? It's an enormous site with actually quite a few rides, not to mention the 6 hotels.... If you think about the sheer number of staff required to (for example) run a hotel, let alone six, as well as run the daily opening routines and maintenance on all the rides across such a large site, it equates to a huge number of people. When you also think about how remote the location is, they need to draw employees in from far and wide, which is going to be difficult for a company that doesn't appear to have the money to compete with other companies who might attract potential employees with the same skills and interests, who would prefer a permanent (not seasonal) role. Considering AT isn't open all year, thus isn't making money for a portion of the year, AND the fact that many of the staff are seasonal, it must be a constant headache to fully staff such an enormous place. When you compare this situation with that of Thorpe Park's for example, as an outsider at least, it would appear that running a smaller park with fewer aspects (no hotels, smaller site, closer to towns/cities for employment etc) is more advantageous. Unless of course the business runs and brings in money all year round, like Universal will.

Fantastic news about Zodiac seemingly making a comeback soon. It seems Thorpe are a lot more prepared for the season ahead than Alton Towers, which has several rides closed for the foreseeable future, and is continuing to struggle to open rides at opening time every day. Hopefully Thorpe will be able to continue with their good operations and availability that they’ve had for several years now. It’s encouraging to see only 2 rides listed to be closed, for just 2 days at that.

Well put Cal - I agree. Really, since they were never going to invest in it again, it was time for Rumba to go, and I don't think anyone's going to be surprised by that. It would have been good to have had the opportunity to ride it one last time, but I expect the ever-changing situation at Merlin has meant the decision to close was made after the park closed last season. As much as it's a shame to see it go, it's not like we have lost one of the greats, like Loggers Leap. I think really the biggest shame is that Thorpe's reputation for water rides has dwindled so much. Here's to whatever comes next - hopefully the area won't be left to rot for long.

I think the loop and a couple of other places weren't done. Weird isn't it.

This is fantastic news. Despite the financial issues at Merlin, it's encouraging to see that there is still a lot of development happening across the UK parks. The River Splash location is a great place for a major ride. Good to see such a large SBNO ride being removed and replaced.

Various videos online appear to show that several rides are now being tested ready for opening. Not long to go now. Nemesis Inferno has had some new parts on the seats by the look of it, and bizarrely Detonator has been painted (I didn't think it really needed it to be fair, but it's encouraging to see this sort of thing happening). Tidal Wave's support structure has also been painted and is looking nice and clean now. Disappointingly, the Colossus re-paint appears to have not been completed however. There also doesn't appear to have been much progress on the new launch pad area, which will be a shame if the entry way is a construction site when the season starts, however it's difficult to get a view of that area to see if anything's happening, and the work will be quite out of view from outside of the boundaries. It will be interesting to see what else (if anything) has changed around the park. I know this will be a 'nothing' year overall, but often Thorpe tend to do a lot of 'general' stuff around the park to keep it looking good.

I've seen some pictures on social media of fencing surrounding Rumba, and a digger parked on the path by the wave machine. If they have gone to the effort of putting up a substantial fence, this must mean that RR has been made inaccessible for either a decent refurb during the season, or it's being blocked off for good. My money is on Rumba's site being the preferred location for the next major ride. I wonder if we are seeing the very early stages of prep for it to be decommissioned, to make way for something else. And if that is the case, I would bet they'd want to open it before Universal, so I would bet probably 2029 or 2030. Could we see land clearance happening towards the end of the year I wonder? Either way - they certainly wouldn't be putting that fence up around a ride that they're expecting to re-open soon...

Oh, no stage? Although this is basically just an open space, it is an open space near the entrance which is a good thing. It's also a bit of a blank canvas for the future if they want to make it in to a sort of 'Main Street' of sorts. My hope is that this momentum extends across the bridge and over to the entrance plaza in the next couple of years.

It's a shame it's now back to the usual chaos. Hopefully they can come up with another way of applying restrictions. Unfortunately the sort of people who are bold enough to abuse a system like this will be the ones who shout the loudest when they can no longer do so. I expect there will always be a backlash no matter what Merlin do. I agree about the annual pass situation - in years gone by it used to be that Merlin made all their money from selling things to people inside the gates, but now thanks to the silly prices etc that income has melted away and the old strategy of just getting people inside seems a little redundant. It seems they need to start focusing on making money from every visit rather than getting them in and hoping they'll spend once in.

I wonder if it’s something that became a victim of its own success, and because of that just spiralled out of control over the years. Many parks can be busy but still have fast moving queues, and actually to be honest if theoretically Merlin somehow abolished RAP (and fastrack) all together, you could almost argue that queuing would barely be an issue for anyone at all, even on busy days, because the single queue would simply just keep moving at a pretty fast pace, at least on the high capacity rides anyway. I wonder if the issue is that over the years RAP and Fastrack have made standby queues at UK Merlin parks appear unbearable on peak days, causing RAP to appear more essential…. Which in turn causes queues to worsen…. Which in turn causes RAP to appear even more essential… and so on. Just a thought. But I do think this idea that standby queues on peak days can be silly might be the reason RAP is relied upon by so many.

Ah so that’s what this is about. I’ve seen the topic come up a few times on social media but didn’t really know what the reason was. Please forgive my ignorance - I mean no offence at all by any of this. I’m just interested and intrigued by it all. I also fully accept that not everyone’s needs are visible, and I’m privileged enough to never have needed to use a RAP. RAP absolutely baffles me. One thing that has always come to my mind is that there simply can not be that many people who find it impossible to wait in the normal queue because they can’t handle crowds. There just can’t be. I know nothing of the subject, but I really struggle to accept the sheer number of RAP users are genuine. The percentage of RAP users seems incredibly high compared to non RAP users. People who have difficulty with crowds would still have to deal with the worst crowds throughout the day - entrance, security, food, pathways etc. queues often offer a break from the busy and chaotic crowds. Of course there will be a good number of people who struggle with queueing etc, and I’m very pleased that arrangements are in place for them, but I’ve always been baffled at the sheer number of people who qualify for the pass. I’m convinced that the system has been utterly abused by selfish people who claim to have priority over others. It just has to have been. And that isn’t fair on the other customers, especially those with a genuine need to use the RAP. I have to say that, although I don’t fully understand the subject, I am pleased to see changes being made. I really hope it’s for the best, and it goes some way to fixing the system which is very clearly not working. Enforcing something like this must be very difficult. I really hope whatever they have done has weeded out some of the abusers and doesn’t affect the genuine RAP users. As Benin said - it can’t go on like it has been.

What does everyone think about Rumba's fate then? There have been people saying the rafts are still stripped down and lined up along the fence in their usual winter spot. I thought this was always the case around this time of year, and nothing out of the ordinary, but I suppose it could be the end for Rumba? With all the cost cutting, I suppose it would make sense to ditch an old ride like Rumba given the number of staff it needs, and apparently the amount of energy required to run it. That said, if they were planning on ditching it, why go through the effort of removing all the boats and stripping them down? I expect it'll be open again this year, even if it is on reduced hours and only during the summer months (except school trip season). They might as well keep the capacity there while there's nothing lined up to replace it, unless money is just too tight.

Does anyone realistically think this project will ever happen now? I’m starting to think it might be unlikely considering the ongoing issues at Merlin. I’m also unsure how popular the area would be. Stage shows have never really been all that popular throughout the years at Thorpe. Now that entertainments aren’t a priority for Merlin, perhaps this development has been reconsidered. Clearly the plan was very much in place for it all. The plans were drawn up in detail and the application went through the council. The park even teased the “last beach party” as being in 2025 on that cryptic poster. You’d think the development would have started by now wouldn’t you… although I suppose it could still happen during the open season. I can’t help but think though that the money would be better spent by putting it towards more of a proper “Main Street” sort of setup. A bigger and nicer investment that will stand the test of time. Not specifically a Main Street, but that sort of thing. Rather than this more low budget development.

So I’ve just been having a look around at prices etc for trips this year, and have noticed something about the prices Merlin are charging for their “short breaks”. It looks like the prices aren’t quite as ridiculous for some dates this year, but I think they’re still too much. Having done my usual bits of spot checking etc, I’ve just done a quick comparison test on a super off peak 1 night / 2 day stay on the cheapest dates I can find, and for 2 adults and 1 toddler to stay at ATH on 22 March it’s £368. That’s very good for Alton Towers, but considering that’s the super off peak price I still think it’s a lot for what it is. By comparison with the notoriously expensive Disney, if you go end of Jan next year it’s £419 at Santa Fe, although to be fair AT aren’t booking that far in advance, so for fairness sake if you go start of Feb this year it’s £477 to stay at Santa Fe. Bearing in mind this is entry to 2 parks until well in to the evening too, and the prices per night improve if you stay longer. I have always struggled to understand why Alton Towers hotels are so expensive even in super off peak, and have yet to stay in one during the open season. Does anyone know what the occupancy rates are at AT? It would be interesting to know if they regularly sell out, or if their prices are kept high despite low occupancy.