The magic has disappeared!

[DiogoJ42]

Smiler ride host today looked like they were chewing on a wasp... IMO
Smile!!! it might never happen

Pretty sure it already has happened.

 

[bluesonichd]

Pretty sure it already has happened.

again, it might never happen again

 

[James]

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

Given the waterpark used to be open until 10pm, I highly doubt working hours for staff would be an issue. In this kind of area unsocial hours are expected.

 

[PeteB]

I'm assuming that by magic we are referring to the 90's stuff. Pretty much goes as follows:

The magic era: 1990 - 2002
Beginning of the end: 2003
Final nail in the coffin: 2005

For the past 10 years Merlin have ran around pretty much taking a dump on any memory of magic. Any remaining magic was left there purely by accident, and of course Merlin took a dump on that too.

It's an absolute undeniable fact the magic is never coming back, at least not under Merlin's ownership, and the people who work at Towers are either too young or too ignorant to understand what all the fuss was about anyway.

While I'm happy to see the work going on with the TLC program, to me it doesn't deserve any special appreciation because it's all work that should have been carried out ongoing anyway, especially for how much it costs the average guest to have a day out at Towers.

High pricing isn't so bad if there's a perceived value for your money, but in my opinion towers have the lowest value for money of any theme park I can think of.

 

[CGM]

The magic era: 1990 - 2002
Beginning of the end: 2003
Final nail in the coffin: 2005

I'd say this is a fairly accurate summary.

It's why in some ways Splash Landings makes me a little sad. It marks the end of that era and it's the last truly great thing that the park did, the last thing that was undeniably world class. When it opened, it represented a level of theming quality and immersion that had never been seen in the UK before.

If Alton had continued to produce projects of that quality, we can only imagine where the park might be today. For me it's a little peek into what could have been.

Unfortunately, the reality was that it was a project out of sequence with the direction of the park. Hotels take years of planning and construction and by the time Splash Landings opened, Tussaud's had stopped caring. It was to be downhill from then on.

 

[jon81uk]

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

Completely agree wth this. Getting older and over-familiar with the parks makes them less special. One trip every two years means the park feels special and a treat. Going 10 times a season and you start to only see the negatives. This is one of the reasons I no longer have an annual pass.

(Edited just to add, I do actually do AT once a year for Fireworks and the magic is still there for those 20 minutes while the fireworks are on. But I also haven't been to Thorpe for three years (before Angry Birds))

 

[bluesonichd]

Going every 2 years...
So if this year was your 2 year visit how disapointed would you be !
Everything closed , nothing to do , walking around feeling hungry ... You would never ever come back again.
A lot of the public are in this catagory, infrequent visitors. If this is their year to visit and expect the same experience from a few years ago, I think it will be many years until they decide to come back again.

 

[GaryH]

Hmmm, I would disagree somewhat with the "getting older and less magic" comments. I've been going there since 1983 every year multiple times. Every time I have looked forward to my visit, and even in recent years, there were trips where you felt the "magic" (granted, not recently though). The "magic" is different things to different people, and it could be those "triggers" have since been removed.

The problem is that over the years the emphasis has shifted from providing a magical day out, to proving a day out which maximises the profits of Merlin at the expense of the customer experience. Shorter opening hours, poor ERT line up, limited time in water park, expensive hotel stays, lack of open rides and facilities, poor entertainment, while prices have gone up and up. And this TLC project - as good as it is, to me, they are merely doing things which should be done every year anyway as part of the ongoing maintenance of the park. And i'm noticing they are using it as an excuse now for closed rides. The amount of times I have read on their facebook "sorry, this ride is closed so it can undergo some Towers Loving Care" etc.

Granted a young child will still "feel the magic" if they visit but only because they have no grasp of money or what value for money is.

So I wouldnt say age or the number of times you visit is a huge factor, because years ago I could visit many times in the year and still have "that feeling" every visit. Nowadays, I tend to come away from the place feeling a bit deflated and with emptier pockets..... (except Fireworks - always enjoy that night!)

 

[Oatcakedodger]

Completely agree wth this. Getting older and over-familiar with the parks makes them less special. One trip every two years means the park feels special and a treat. Going 10 times a season and you start to only see the negatives. This is one of the reasons I no longer have an annual pass.

(Edited just to add, I do actually do AT once a year for Fireworks and the magic is still there for those 20 minutes while the fireworks are on. But I also haven't been to Thorpe for three years (before Angry Birds))

you contradict yourself saying going the park multiple times is why the magic isn't there but go on to say you visit once a season and you feel the magic for 20 minutes while the fireworks are on!

 

[jon81uk]

you contradict yourself saying going the park multiple times is why the magic isn't there but go on to say you visit once a season and you feel the magic for 20 minutes while the fireworks are on!

That doesn't mean the rest of the park has magic, just the fireworks. The park lost its magic for me a little when I had an annual pass and visited three times or more a year. I stopped the annual pass, skipped a year and then started annual visits for fireworks only. If my only visit was in the summer I wouldn't go every year as there isn't as much drawing me to the park. Same reason I haven't done Thorpe Park for three years (I don't like Fright Nights).
Bascially if it wasn't for Fireworks, I wouldn't go every year.

 

[Andrew]

I'm posting this as a slightly different view to some people.

I don't get the chance to visit the park often, mainly due to money, travelling and a busy life schedule. But when I do I get a feeling before I go of excitement and it's only comparable to when I was a child waiting the night before Christmas.

On the morning of the trip, I'll be excited. I'll look forward to the place where I've had some great memories and I look forward to making more. I probably haven't been for a year or so, so I look forward to revisiting with my friends and family and actually having a great day.

My point being, I don't visit often which means each visit is always like my first time there again. To me, the magic is still there. And I think that's mainly due to the fact that I don't visit every other week or 5 times a year or whatever so I don't get bored of the place and I don't go around nit-picking about each thing that's wrong (sure there are things wrong but that's not my point)- I just enjoy my day.

Maybe the magic is still there, but many people have simply been that many times that it's just worn off. I guess the only example I can give of this would be working in a toy shop. When you visit Toys R Us as adults, you may feel like you're being thrown back to being a kid again filled with wonder and awe at the shop. There's a sense of magic surrounding it I guess. But I worked there so I was there every other day and it just became a normal place to me, with no magic. It lost what was once special to me...

So, I guess, maybe that's what's happened to some people on here too. Maybe because you've visited that many times that it's just become another place...

 

[danni87]

I think the magic is still there but it's definitely dimmed. For me, it's a lot of different factors that make me feel like this... The lack of flat ride variety, the loss of the little things like Nemmy's red water. The whole day just feels like less of an experience than it used to and you get charged more for it!

 

[QTXAdsy]

I'm posting this as a slightly different view to some people.

I don't get the chance to visit the park often, mainly due to money, travelling and a busy life schedule. But when I do I get a feeling before I go of excitement and it's only comparable to when I was a child waiting the night before Christmas.

On the morning of the trip, I'll be excited. I'll look forward to the place where I've had some great memories and I look forward to making more. I probably haven't been for a year or so, so I look forward to revisiting with my friends and family and actually having a great day.

My point being, I don't visit often which means each visit is always like my first time there again. To me, the magic is still there. And I think that's mainly due to the fact that I don't visit every other week or 5 times a year or whatever so I don't get bored of the place and I don't go around nit-picking about each thing that's wrong (sure there are things wrong but that's not my point)- I just enjoy my day.

Maybe the magic is still there, but many people have simply been that many times that it's just worn off. I guess the only example I can give of this would be working in a toy shop. When you visit Toys R Us as adults, you may feel like you're being thrown back to being a kid again filled with wonder and awe at the shop. There's a sense of magic surrounding it I guess. But I worked there so I was there every other day and it just became a normal place to me, with no magic. It lost what was once special to me...

So, I guess, maybe that's what's happened to some people on here too. Maybe because you've visited that many times that it's just become another place...

I do agree with this as the same thing happens to me that I can only visit Towers once every two years. As a result of this when I go down, I have to really make the most of it no matter what shape the park might be in. Suppose the same thing can be said about M&D's and the amount of times I've visited and bashed the place, then again it is a crappy park so nothing new there.

That said in my travels to Towers I can't honestly say I've had a 'bad' trip so the magic is somewhere, just perhaps misplaced. Thing is as well had it not been for the criticism on here about the park and the state it is run, then I might have been just another blindly, optimistic and dumb tourist who thought the park was great and nothing more than that.

The same thing can be said about EP. Yes, the park is grand and a lot better run than Towers, but many of us on here don't get the chance to get to Germany so when we do get there, we have to make the most of it and fortunately for us, it is always worth it. I'm sure if one of us lived in Germany and visited the park often, that person might have some problem with the park the more times he or she went.

In the end, it's just how routine you visit a place that can damper things down for you.

 

[Oatcakedodger]

In my opinion it isn't the frequency that I visit the park that has dampened the magic, I've had MAP for my family for the past 4 years and always came away from the park having a good day, full of great memories looking forward to the next visit. Saturday morning and the excitement was there for me, parking up, catching the monorail and the magic was there trying catch a view of Nemesis's repaint and first view of Galactic but an hour into the day and the closed shops, boarded up closed rides and food outlets quickly brought us back down to earth with a bump!

 

[CoasterCrazyChris]

It's why in some ways Splash Landings makes me a little sad. It marks the end of that era and it's the last truly great thing that the park did, the last thing that was undeniably world class. When it opened, it represented a level of theming quality and immersion that had never been seen in the UK before.

Yeah and even this Merlin managed to ruin with their budget poor quality refurbishment programme a few years ago.

The place is more like a crèche now than a Caribbean themed hotel. That's on top of the slashed waterpark opening hours, rip off average quality restaurants, lack of freebies and shabby neglected rooms.

You are meant to give your guests what they want, you do not expect to come back after a day on park to a closed water park after spending hundreds of pounds on one nights stay.

 

[Leah]

The magic is still there. I saw it yesterday for the first time in years. Seeing nemesis repainted, going round a working duel, watching smiler duel, even end games at scarefest, all magic.

It's just the things like lack of theming in dark "forrest", the decay of theming in FV, effects breaking, gimmicky rides, bad marketing, massive upselling, that makes the park look run down. It could be so much better, and that's why I am hopeful for towers loving care.

 

[PeteB]

Yeah and even this Merlin managed to ruin with their budget poor quality refurbishment programme a few years ago.

The place is more like a crèche now than a Caribbean themed hotel. That's on top of the slashed waterpark opening hours, rip off average quality restaurants, lack of freebies and shabby neglected rooms.

You are meant to give your guests what they want, you do not expect to come back after a day on park to a closed water park after spending hundreds of pounds on one nights stay.

This! And then I cringe every time I have to look at the so called "enchanted village".

But as for the park, the magic was never about how nicely painted the fences are or anything like that, it was about over the top efforts made to make your day feel special. The staff played a big part in that as well.

Its all to do with the experience.

 

[GaryH]

From what I understand, in another blow to the magic, the original ship singers and band have now been completely removed from towers, contacts not renewed, and this year the 'sisters' are back doing their mundane drab singing act on the ship.

 

[Dave]

1) The magic is mostly something generated as a child and age doesn't really help.

2) opening day is mostly AP holders so Facebook has limited scope to show what the GP think.

3) Every year people moan about the staff on opening day.... Every year people forget it's hundreds of new staff learning the job.

4) Expecting amazing things at the beginning of a season that follows the hell that was last year is foolish.

5) The resort are basically holding their breath when it comes to this season, if things go well this first few months things will edge back in (like ents).

6) TLC is a great thing but assuming one closed seasons work is going to fix 15 years of neglect is a bit much.

7) Accountants are still in charge!

8) We won't know what is happening to the way the park is run for at least 3 seasons. Are the new leaders in the resort going to keep the energy?

9) despite all the above the best option really is to be open minded but don't hold your breath.

10) The park was stupid increasing gate price!

 

[GaryH]

1) The magic is mostly something generated as a child and age doesn't really help.

I respectfully disagree with this one..... To some extent the magic could be even more than when your kid because you have many more years of memories to reflect back on...... But , I also understand what your trying to say in how kids would perceive the place.