I completely understand the points being put forward about rose tinted experiences. I have read some examples of this on this forum and there is sometimes a misconception that all was well in the Broome era for example (when it certainly wasn't!). Just the other day I was challenging my gran when she was harping on about the "good old days" when the perception of the world, in her view, was that it was much more wholesome and safe. Never mind beatings in schools, corrupt police forces, higher murder rates, lower mortality rates, rape being laughed off, mental asylums warehousing people who needed help and kids programs on the BBC being presented by pedophiles.
But then she would point out that in the post war period we set out to fix the ills of our broken country and set up the welfare state, created the NHS, offered good pension provisions, built social housing, designed homes and communities with quality living and play spaces, built concorde, built the motorway network etc all at a time when we were heavily indebted as a nation with the odds against us. This, all in stark contrast to the present "Post modern" era.
I think the same can be said for Towers. It wasn't a bed of roses in the 80's. I was also born in 82 and can remember being taken to AT in the late 80's. The park was little more than a posh funfair with a Vekoma corkscrew in an amazing country estate. But the park tried so hard. It tried it's best to be a proper theme park. Who cares if 1001 Nights was a clapped out fair ground flat, it was still a fun ride, in the shadow of the Towers and Corkscrew in the bustling and vibrant Festival Park. The whole park tried so hard and every year it seemed to get better and better as new and modern attractions came thick and fast. The professionalism of the park operation began to match the new hardware an expensive infrastructure that was coming in. The park was forwards thinking and still determined to be a world class resort with every new project. Those projects weren't built on Disney budgets, but arguably better value for money by the clever creativity of their design making up for the massive difference in actual cash spent.
In summary, it was the will and the attitude that was there at the time which is lacking now. AT was a world class park then, built on a budget. It still had a knackered old Jet star 3 in a tent up until the mid 2000s but even managed to disguise that relatively well just by giving a damn about the guest experience.
I went to Florida with the family in 93 and 94. Although AT never stood up to Disney (neither should it either IMO), after a summer of riding Nemesis in its opening year (trust me, it was absolutely stunning back then!), when I visited the likes of Sea World, Bush Gardens and universal in the Autumn, AT stood proudly alongside them in terms of guest experience. These days that gap is as wide as the Premiership is from league 2.
Of course it would be silly to expect the park to carry on investing large sums of cash forever. The 80s and 90s where all about building a Theme Park, a park that now fully exists. Anyone on here demanding expansions, new themed areas, a 200ft B&M, Disney esque theming etc are being unrealistic. But that's no excuse for the park to at least not maintain its position by updating itself and inspiring it's guests with new and world class experiences every few years. All the park had to do was stay with the times. Instead its heritage and brand has been heavily relied upon to carry it through for the last decade. Now that the brand has been severely damaged, it's very concerning to see how it's parent company are responding.
Yes you can still have a good day at Towers. Yes its still a large park in a beautiful setting with great infrastructure. Yes it still has some decent classy coasters (now ageing however), and it still has evidence of past glories dotted around. But relatively speaking, it's an inferior park than it was a decade ago. Others around the world have moved on or kept up appearances whereas Towers has almost downgraded itself. There's far more to the decline of Towers than simply "rose tinted specs". So what if it's "technically" a better park than it was in 20 years ago. The Simpsons is now technically better than it was 20 years ago with its cheaper but clearer computer generated HD animation, but it's no where near as funny or popular.
