The reasoning for further cuts is because the midways are struggling now as well. But of course, Merlin won't cut them back or stop investing in stupid numbers of those even though it is clear people are fed up of them. Instead, they tighten the budget further on Towers because why not, they've already ruined the park. The second half of 2017 was actually really good for the park numbers wise and many were expecting a better 2018, if not at least the same plus WickerMan. But no, Towers gets a nice new coaster and a fresh amount of cuts.

 

Merlin sure know how to make money. Hopefully with falling out of the FTSE100 too the shareholders will boot Varney off and whip the company into shape. They have the money to do great.

To be fair though m8 Merlin have painted Towers St. Bar & Grill bright orange so that does make up for the staggered openings.

Merlin seem intent on ruining Towers - so many peeved people on FB and quite rightly so.  4pm closures for a park the size of AT is daft and staggered opening times this year are ridiculous - seriously Nemmy and Galactica not open until midday?!  Nemmy is generally the first ride I head to when I visit and get a few rides in on that to start the day off- I wonder if they are opening that area at midday to get more business for the rollercoaster restaurant?! ?

 

 

 

28 minutes ago, MattyMoo said:

To be fair though m8 Merlin have painted Towers St. Bar & Grill bright orange so that does make up for the staggered openings.

That's where the entire years budget went ?

2 hours ago, Han30 said:

I wonder if they are opening that area at midday to get more business for the rollercoaster restaurant?! ?

 

 

 

No, they are permanently closing Burger kitchen in Forbidden Valley for that! The nearest alternative will be Pizza Pasta all the way back in Katanga Canyon.

 

Well well well look who has back tracked there information.

Didn’t see this coming (or maybe I did).

 

 

It wouldn't be closed season without Merlin announcing something and then changing their minds

 

Who knows - maybe Sub Terra will be announced as open next

Towers should invest in a Vekoma boomerang, so their coasters go back on themselves as well... 

This is what I hoped they would do. I bet Towers were able to negotiate with Merlin on this. Great to see flexible closing times too, so they can stay open when it’s busy yet shut if it’s not.

I would praise them for this change of decision but quite frankly shouldn't have got to the point of needing to change, as it was simply ludicrous.

 

They might JUST get my custom now. 

They've probably cut the Tiger Rock budget to allow for the "longer" opening at AT

Also, for those curious, it has been confirmed that the Rapids will be open from start of season, in the 'open by 11am' category.

So things are still worse then the 2017 season but they've shown that it could be worse so now we're all okay with it even though we are still losing hours. Oh and 'flexible closing' has always been there, they just rarely ever act on it.

So what other parks proudly state that 'half of their rides will be open when the park opens'? Portaventura opens rides later but then it's often open until 10pm/12pm/3am(!) from a 10am open.

 

I want to see this as good news but assuming that Nemesis/Galactica now open at 11 isn't really that great. The fact that Nemesis was on ERT last year shows just how reliable it is (when was the last time it was down for an entire day?), I can kind of understand Galactica opening later due to it's VR and more complicated trains (see DBGT).

 

I want to be positive about Alton Towers but it still feels off. On the flip side I'm happy that Thorpe is getting later openings and things like SAW: Alive opening during the summer. I think it shows where Merlin's loyalty lies currently.

YAY THINGS ARE STILL WORSE THAN LAST YEAR BUT THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE SHOWED THE ELITE WE ARE NOT TO BE TRIFLED WITH!

 

 

I sense this is only through the sheer will of a handle of Towers employees who know that the situation they're in is unwinnable, and that getting further operational budget from Merlin is akin to drawing blood from a stone...

 

This is not something to be celebrated...

On 12/01/2018 at 9:52 AM, MattyMoo said:

SW8: "It's not a John Wardley ride, but it's a great, fun, ride" #burn

 

While his dark rides are indeed legendary and his contribution to the UK scene unrivalled, his reputation in some people's eyes as the World's best coaster designer is just silly, Nemesis is brilliance, the rest is alright, he isn't God.

 

As for the opening times s**tshow, not really much more I can add that hasn't already been said. I'm over getting upset or annoyed by Merlin cost cutting anymore. If it wasn't for the new coaster there's no way I'd even think about visiting this year, which let's be honest spoilers things a bit. Idiots.

Another update to the opening times with no mention of any 11am opening times: 

 

With this many U-Turns you'd think the Tories would be running the park!

Prediction: After 12 consecutive announcements, ERT will start at 3am, for 3 hours, with the park then open at 6am for all guests with all rides open including Sub Terra, with the park then closing at 10pm with an extra 1 hour of ERT after 10pm.

 

You heard it here first #JartPower

Good, so they should wind all opening hours back to 10am. In no way do I praise Merlin for making Towers reduce the opening times in the first place, but at least they weren’t as self destructing as to just stick to it and just let the backlash and complaints continue. Really they don’t need more negative online/media coverage than they already have. This whole opening hours thing should never have happened in the first place anyway.

Unfortunately the old thought of 'all publicity is good publicity' still rules in many (PR) departments. To them this entire debacle is a positive thing. 

Looks like the website was at fault, the 11am openings are correct

 

 

15 minutes ago, streetmagix said:

Looks like the website was at fault, the 11am openings are correct

 

 

Non PR speak, human error strikes again and someone didn’t get the memo 

In my opinion, this was a PR exercise.

 

Alton Towers announced hugely exaggerated cuts to opening hours & ride availability, then reversed them so they were slightly better but still massively cut back on last year.  Because they appear to have "listened to feedback" this caused people to see it as a positive.

 

If however, they had announced the finalised cuts to opening hours & ride availability first, people would have seen it as a negative and there would have been no positive to placate angry customers.

 

It's unbelievable that people are actually PRAISING them for reducing the value of the product?!