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The magic has disappeared!

Oatcakedodger

TS Member
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Thought long and hard about creating this thread but it's my feeling having visited today with my family, although it was good to get back on Smiler and Nemesis etc, the park for me felt really flat and tired looking, I'm pleased to see Ritas tunnel tidied up and Nemesis painted track and station but there's lots of room for the talked about TLC project to do! Don't even get me started on the farce in the shops and food outlet also feel the multiple ride closures will have massively negative impact on customer satisfaction, sorry for negative post but just giving an honest reflection of my first day of the season experience.
 
The magic vanished long before this season. They've had a good effort at attempting to reinstate it and in some ways, it's there. On the whole though, the magic has been dead for a long time.
 
Rip the magic :(
For me sat here in the secret garden, munching on a duck leg. I feel a bit. Meh !
No it's not the food it's just, well it's just park today.... Meh.
I have never ever ever felt meh on open day.
I need more gin !
o_O
 
Isn't the TLC a rolling thing due to be done over a period of years? I wouldn't write that off just yet.

I do however agree with the magic disappearing long before this season unfortunately.
 
Where were the street performers, or the lunch shows. What has been done with TLC is good, however the magic is not just good looking rides and theming. It is also the atmosphere, it the actor with the stop, go and dance board and his ATTP mates. its the pirates running around with sir edward in his mobility scooter boat. The park keepers and their funny antics.
 
The magic is indeed gone. It's been gone for a while now. The park no longer seems to instil that feeling of total escapism it once did, or have that electric atmosphere emanating from thousands of excited guests, and it's such a shame, because that used to be the best thing about Towers. Personally, I don't feel it will ever return either, as it would take so much work that wouldn't create immediate financial return, i.e a no go for Merlin. The magic was the result of many things, some of them more subtle than others, that have slowly but surely been wiped away in the past few years. A day that once would have created long lasting memories and left a buzz of excitement and awe now just creates a feeling of "meh".

I do think, however, that remnants of the magic still remain, for me at least. That little feeling when you turn into the main entrance, or see Nemmy diving through Forbidden Valley as you head over on the monorail, and the first glimpse of the towers themselves as you head down Towers Street. Alas, that may just be my childhood nostalgia kicking in, as after that, it's just another theme park these days really.
 
Reading through a few of the comments on AT Facebook page today, your not alone in you sentiments that the place has not had the best of opening days.... a lot of the public who regularly visit opening day seem to have taken to voice their complaints to AT, mainly about the number of closed attractions and the lack of food outlets resulting in very long queues for food elsewhere. Some also mention the increase in the gate price given the lack of rides this year.

Looking at the pictures of all of the closed outlets and rides does sadden me. Like I said, TLC can paint as many things as they want, but it wont make the place more attractive for me. Im going up next weekend but i'm not expecting the place to have the same atmosphere anymore.
 
Cold chips, damp salt, stupidly long queue in burger kitchen so left after 20 mins only to go to fried chicken outlet to buy frazzled chicken, ice age shop didn't apply discount on items to which the cashier replied "do you want to pay the higher price because my boss is on break" offer not applied in the sea life shop also, clearly some of the employees have just been given jobs with no training, closed shops, food outlets and closed rides made it an awkward day, only live half hour away and probably went last season 10-15 times, honestly don't think I will go again this season till scarefest/fireworks if they bother doing it!
 
Imagine what it will be like peak season if the reviews are this bad opening day. Prepared to give them a chance, I feel we will have a different park on our hands by 2019
 
Prepared to give them a chance, I feel we will have a different park on our hands by 2019

Why should paying guests have to wait three years for a well presented experience though? That's simply not good enough.

It shouldn't take an incident like what happened to The Smiler to give them a kick and start projects like TLC etc. In fact, things like TLC shouldn't even need to be introduced. That's the kind of stuff that should be happening regularly during the off season.
 
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Why should paying guests have to wait three years for a well presented experience though? That's simply not good enough.

It shouldn't take an incident like what happened to The Smiler to give them a kick and start projects like TLC etc. In fact, things like TLC shouldn't even need to be introduced. That's the kind of stuff that should be happening regularly during the off season.

I wholeheartedly agreed....

BUT...it hasn't been happening, they clearly have realised it should, and the work needed is a big job.

My biggest interest is to see if it is kept up after the 3 years
 
Just to add to the above, TLC is great and all that, although when you get a great project like TLC, then the park closes multiple rides, removes two rides, closes a lot of food outlets, cuts down entertainments to nothing... it leaves a sour taste in your mouth, doesn't it?

As usual it's one step forwards, two steps backwards with Towers. TLC is fantastic, and I hope they are able to continue with it beyond 3 years (as it really should be a part of normal annual winter maintenance). With so many closures taking place however, it's very hard to really enjoy and appreciate TLC when you can still see the park isn't improving in many other ways.

I feel sorry for ents the most. All that hard work since 2008 to bring live shows and street entertainment back to Towers, and all we have in 2016 is entertainment in CBeebies Land. Pitiful for the UKs leading theme park and Merlin's key resort.

This is the start of Merlin's 9th season with Towers, and so far they've failed here or there or somewhere every single year. I don't see the point anymore in saying 'things will get better'. They've had 8 years to do that.
 
Ah, the joys of loitering around the theme park online community for 15 years. This topic always rears it head every few years and whilst in many ways, the experience has deteriorated over the last 10-15 years, in others, it's considerably improved. The most likely factors however contributing to the 'drop in magic' are ones the park can't really influence or have little control over....
  1. You're getting older. It's no secret our imaginations become less active as we get older, so imagine you were 10 years younger or a young kid. Experiences like Mutiny Bay, fighting pirates or seeing your favourite characters from TV come alive in CBeebies Land, or a giant alien monster throw people around in the air... that would be pretty damn magical if you ask me.
  2. Bigger and better theme parks are more accessible than ever. The cost of travel to Europe today is a fraction of what it was 15 years ago and with Disney and Europa being more accessible, slowly our standards and expectations have increased too.

All that said, the park have neglected the basics for too long and the drab appearance of some areas doesn't exactly help evoke what's left of our adult imaginations. But, if year one of Towers Loving Care is anything to go by, they seem pretty serious (or at least a lot more serious than most expected) about improving the overall experience. I don't now doubt we'll see similar reburbishments and improvements in 2017 and 2018... but my concern is what happens in 2019, 2020, 22, 24... fingers crossed we're not waiting until 2030 for the lids to come off the paint cans again!

And finally... on the subject of the closures. The park have seemingly made a point of saying several of them are purposely closed for enhancement. If we see some of them re-open over the course of 2016, and improved, and the rest next year (no doubt replaced by some things open today that will be closed in 2017 however), it's not going to be all bad in the long run.
 
I can't say I share the sentiments having spent a weekend there.

Had a fantastic time.

Yes it's annoying that some rides are shut, and I don't think writing SW8 in front of an unmaintained moss covered log flume is particularly elegant, but, I had a good time non the less and the park looks in good shape.

I will agree that some of the staff lack training, it is painful waiting for drinks and things at times. To the contrary, however, this is my first trip where everyone working for Alton was impeccably mannered and cheerful, it really makes a difference. One of my own flaws is impatience and normally if i see someone who clearly hasn't been trained taking 10 minutes to do something that I could do in 3, I get massively stressed out, but when the person doing it is so nice and well mannered it does help.

One point I will make is they should open the water park later. It's annoying having to jeopardise time in the park in order to be able to et a decent amount of time in the water park.
 
One point I will make is they should open the water park later. It's annoying having to jeopardise time in the park in order to be able to et a decent amount of time in the water park.

This is something that has irked me for years. Having the water park open just for the same time the park is open (possibly even less) seems pointless to me.

Like you say, it's annoying having to sacrifice time spent in the park to enjoy the water park. It also must be annoying for guests staying in the hotel too. It would make much more sense having it open to 8/9pm so people staying could do a day in the park and then come back and spend a couple of hours unwinding in the water park.

Unfortunately I don't think this will ever change due to the costs that would have to be taken on board. A problem which is ever present and won't be going away for a long time unfortunately.
 
This is something that has irked me for years. Having the water park open just for the same time the park is open (possibly even less) seems pointless to me.

Like you say, it's annoying having to sacrifice time spent in the park to enjoy the water park. It also must be annoying for guests staying in the hotel too. It would make much more sense having it open to 8/9pm so people staying could do a day in the park and then come back and spend a couple of hours unwinding in the water park.

Unfortunately I don't think this will ever change due to the costs that would have to be taken on board. A problem which is ever present and won't be going away for a long time unfortunately.

I was staying in the hotel myself and had that exact problem.

To me it would make more sense to open 12-8, the. There's no issues with increased costs.
 
It would make more sense to open the waterpark for a couple of hours in the morning and then reopen it in the evening after the park's closed. 9-12 then 3-9? Practically the same number of total hours but in a more practical format.
 
I was staying in the hotel myself and had that exact problem.

To me it would make more sense to open 12-8, the. There's no issues with increased costs.

True, no increase in costs. But then you have the issue of having staff members working hours which are unsociable, causing issues there.
 
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