Ringo Posted July 18, 2018 Report Share Posted July 18, 2018 On 7/18/2018 at 4:42 PM, Coaster said: It's atrocious that they use TLC as a smokescreen to mothball rides, completely dishonest. Expand It’s no coincidence that “TLC” was dreamt up and run by a former marketing executive, they know how to bend the truth for gain Coaster 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted July 18, 2018 Report Share Posted July 18, 2018 Tbf, if they ever wanted to bring back that type of ride, it would probably be cheaper to buy and build a new one from scratch than fix the old one, especially if you take into account the cost of (re)theming. I imagine that would have been true at the end of 2016 / start of 2017 as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project LC Posted July 18, 2018 Report Share Posted July 18, 2018 Why spend money to attract new guests and win over the fans when you can just give the illusion of spending money to keep the fans happy. The parks supporting rides are basically non-existent at this point. Once again Merlin's shortsighted decisions have left the park in a state needing serious investment in the next few years to solve the issues. Merlin's business decisions have been poor and have been with the aim to maximise short term revenue out of the assests to please shareholders. They have invested with no consideration of maintaining the assets so that money will keep coming in for years to come. I have great concern that this behaviour will lead to the parks becoming worse and the theme park division getting into financial difficulty. Coaster 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshuaA Posted July 18, 2018 Report Share Posted July 18, 2018 On 7/18/2018 at 5:21 PM, ChiapasC. said: Tbf, if they ever wanted to bring back that type of ride, it would probably be cheaper to buy and build a new one from scratch than fix the old one, especially if you take into account the cost of (re)theming. Expand They never replace their flats anyway. Ripsaw got turned into a tacky game stall, Submission is just free space, and Sub Terra just got left to rot. Toadstools probably has the same fate.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted July 19, 2018 Report Share Posted July 19, 2018 It's mental that a company that LOVES parks having NEW things is so obsessed about needing an USP that basic flats don't get built... I imagine a lot of the park people end up screaming into cushions after meetings with Poole... Stuntman707, CharlieN, HermanTheGerman and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyMoo Posted July 20, 2018 Report Share Posted July 20, 2018 Surely an AirRace somewhere at a Merlin park is overdue... or just.... something new that's a flat Maybe AT could get some dodgems as a queue eater? I am pro having dodgems at theme parks, purely because it means not paying £3 a ride and they - tend to be - better maintained than at fairs. JoshC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringo Posted August 2, 2018 Report Share Posted August 2, 2018 Reports of an incident at Towers. https://mobile.twitter.com/TowersExpert/status/1025084198435147777 Edit, https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/emergency-services-alton-towers-after-1856252.amp?__twitter_impression=true Quote Emergency services were at Alton Towers this evening after a woman fell at the attraction's water park.Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service said the incident happened at about 5.50pm.A spokesman said: "A woman slipped in one of the tube water flumes and and became trapped due to a back injury. She was stuck. "We sent a crew from Sandiford, because they happened to be closest at the time and also the rope rescue team from Stafford. They weren't required. Expand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattgwise Posted August 2, 2018 Report Share Posted August 2, 2018 I was in the car park as they all arrived and naturally everyone assumed another ride had "crashed". Hope that the lady was OK. JoelAllen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuntman707 Posted August 7, 2018 Report Share Posted August 7, 2018 New boats are being tested on the rapids. Credit to our friends at Towers Street again for the news / pictures. People are hopeful this will mean that the waterfalls and normal operations will come back. Even if it means putting danger of death signs in the new boats, I’d accept that to have the waterfalls back on! JoelAllen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt A Posted August 9, 2018 Report Share Posted August 9, 2018 There's a Channel 4 documentary airing on the 23rd looking behind the scenes at Alton Towers and at the launch of the Wicker Man: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/inside-alton-towers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted August 9, 2018 Report Share Posted August 9, 2018 This is very exciting, wonder if it'll be like the 90s PB series - "get the damn thing open!" Han30 and Stuntman707 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringo Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 2018 Fireworks “Big Bang” tickets are now available. Big Bang Your package includes: - Golden Circle Fireworks viewing area - Priority Ride Pass on a choice of 3 rides - DigiPass - unlimited digital ride photos and 1 printed photo - 2 course fabulous buffet - 2 drinks vouchers for the bar in the venue - Post show soup & roll - Hot drinks, cordials and biscuits (from midday) - Poncho - Special limited edition pop badge - Children's entertainment (from 4pm) - Glow in the dark item for the children - FREE Standard Car Parking park entry included £80 (Child) £120 (Adult) AP / already got ticket upgrade £52.50 (Child) £87 (Adult) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Han30 Posted August 16, 2018 Report Share Posted August 16, 2018 That’s quite pricey though the pop badge would prob sell on eBay for £500 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuntman707 Posted August 16, 2018 Report Share Posted August 16, 2018 Towers mentioned on Facebook they will be sharing new content on National rollercoaster day. And here we have the awesome video from the Rollercoaster Restaurant showcasing all the coasters past and present at Towers! Marhelorpe, yeah and JoelAllen 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marhelorpe Posted August 17, 2018 Report Share Posted August 17, 2018 I didn't know Corkscrew opened in 1981! ? (Last 20 seconds) Happy this has been released though. ? JoelAllen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted August 24, 2018 Report Share Posted August 24, 2018 Lol guess no-one watched the documentary last night? If you didn't, you missed very little actual insight, apart from the ride designer guy being like Willy Wonka (lol awks), Wickerman being the first ride on park to have staff in costumes and character (even more lol awks), and no mention of the unfortunate opening weekend, which you'd assume which make it at least interesting... But nope, very clean and generic, much like a typical Merlin investment... Night and day compared to Magic Factory, which at least had discussion as to why they decided to build Oblivion... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project LC Posted August 24, 2018 Report Share Posted August 24, 2018 The only insight I took away from it was that Alton seems to have rather young teams. The documentary itself was poorly edited especially with the break down during filming the advert. I also felt like it was being padded out to fill the hour slot. Shame really as I was hoping it would focus more on the construction and development of the ride rather than mentioning the smiler every 2 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted August 25, 2018 Report Share Posted August 25, 2018 I didn't understand why there was such a huge focus on enthusiasts when they could have filled the time with more insightful stuff (though it was nice to see Fobia get some TV time). Also, "it's ****ed" was good but not quite "get the damn thing open" or "that is a new machine!" JoelAllen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuntman707 Posted August 27, 2018 Report Share Posted August 27, 2018 It felt like nothing more than a censored advert for Towers backed with screen time of enthusiasts. Probably the strangest part was where one of the staff was saying the Wickerman launch night was going to be a disaster. Then after the break there was no mention of it again and the whole incident was unexplained and forgotten about. There were no insights or honest interviews with ride hosts. It would have been nice to see more construction milestones. Also more insights into the artwork, design and IMA Score soundtrack. Overall it was very bare of an actual behind the scenes in favour of excessive screen time for enthusiasts who were more likely to have nothing but praise for Towers. I wanted to hear from more of the day to day staff and engineers from a first hand experience working there. I want Towers to embrace the criticism and explain exactly HOW they are going to improve. WHY are they closing outlets and staggering ride openings? - That’s the kind of documentary I was hoping for. Coaster and Robert.W 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringo Posted August 27, 2018 Report Share Posted August 27, 2018 On 8/27/2018 at 3:19 PM, Stuntman707 said: I wanted to hear from more of the day to day staff and engineers from a first hand experience working there. I want Towers to embrace the criticism and explain exactly HOW they are going to improve. WHY are they closing outlets and staggering ride openings? - That’s the kind of documentary I was hoping for. Expand That will never happen, Merlin wouldn’t sign off on anything that was critical of them. Others have commented the only reason smiler incident featured was to get viewers and then shoe horn them into the advertising of Wickerman for rest of the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted September 10, 2018 Report Share Posted September 10, 2018 Wanted to make a comment about Towers really as its the first time I've really seen the place busy since 2015. Operationally they were spot on. Full capacity on everything (aside from Galatica which we didn't go near, stupid VR) and near perfect operations. Nemesis dispatching before the second train hits the break run, Oblivion using both stations, Wicker Man dispatching quickly with minimal stacking. Blackpool was much the same on Saturday. UK operations blow American operations out the water. I was really impressed with Towers and its fantastic to see them back on form. Wicker Man has really done so much more for Towers then people realise. ? JoelAllen, Mer, Robert.W and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted September 12, 2018 Report Share Posted September 12, 2018 Good to hear Towers are delivering again on the operational point. Sounds like Oblivion in particular is performing better now amongst Nemy being even more efficient. I’ve usually found Wickerman and Thirteen the most efficient and Galactica the least. I think the VR needs to go as it’s really affecting throughputs,unless they opted for a Europa style system ala Alpen Express. Blackpool’s operations felt better last time I visited. Icon had the best operations and Grand National by far the worst. I guess in America it depends on the park as some likely perform better than others. Wickerman is arguably the best best ride Towers have built since Hex. JoelAllen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted September 12, 2018 Report Share Posted September 12, 2018 I don't think anywhere in America (aside from Disney, obviously) is particularly great for throughputs, nor are they completely terrible, just... average... Six Flags have a really poor reputation but the quality varies drastically... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted September 12, 2018 Report Share Posted September 12, 2018 It's not throughputs, its efficiency that I'm more about. No point running your ride on three trains if they are always stacked in the break run. A lot of the Cedar Fair rides just have you sitting waiting for the other train to finish loading. Thats one thing that only Oblivion is truly guilty off at Alton and Blackpool. The other rides, its just great to see the Nemesis team in perfect sync, the train heading straight into the station. The queue was up the hill but it never stopped moving. Same with Wickerman, Smiler and Thirteen ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted October 1, 2018 Report Share Posted October 1, 2018 I think Cedar Point’s operations were very good most of the time, although very different to the ones in the U.K. Every Park will be different for operations, whether that be due to different loose belonging rules, restrictions or the scale of ride vehicles and block systems. On my last visit, Nemesis took about 1 minute 20 seconds to unload and dispatch on two trains, which is pretty good as operations go and rarely stacked either. Towers is probably the best park in the UK as operations go. One of the the reasons why Europa is so high from a throughput and efficiency side is not just down to great operations, but the factor a lot of the rides are designed for max capacity with as many blocks possible without deterring the ride experience. Blue Fire has as many as five trains, Eurosat seven and Euromir May have as many as nine. So a comparison to Towers is irrelevant. There is no point dispatching a ride if the train ahead hasn’t reached or passed the next block stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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