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Alton Towers: Where more effects are broken than work?

AstroDan

AstroDan

TS Team
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While reading this post and looking at the photographs - please listen to this song. Thank you. Do not read on until it is playing.

On my most recent visit to Alton Towers, I couldn't help but notice the sheer number of broken effects around the park. Pretty much every major ride had an effect that was either broken or not working as it should have been.

I am aware that, in theory, there are those committed to ensuring that ride effects are in working order. After all, Alton Towers is a theme park - not a mere amusement park. However, it seems there is no system in place where these things are routinely checked to be in working order. This baffles me.

I would imagine the blame lies at the door of the technical services department. I appreciate that getting the basic rides open is the priority, which has been hard to come by this season. However, the sheer scale of the broken effects issue is embarrassing.

I also recognise that a very small number of effects are broken due to reasons that are a little more complex, rather like the Duel trommel. The weather may impact Nemesis' water falls. But - irrespective of this - the impression to guests is poor. And... subconsciously, it all just makes the park seem a little unloved.

It should be the job description of one person or another at each ride to check these effects on a daily basis and ensure they are working.

Over at Galactica, the portal has no mist...
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-PAXP-deijE.gif
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The station TVs are not showing the Galactica loading information...
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The large screen is also turned off entirely, and there is no audio...
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The projectors in the Galactica shop, which project a moving starfield onto these... are off
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Also in the Valley... the Nemesis bus is not smoking today and hasn't been for some time
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Not only are the waterfalls no longer red, but they're off entirely. I didn't manage to get a photo of the lake at the bottom, but it's full of green algae! Gross!
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The Nemesis gun was lovingly restored 2 years ago. But the smoke isn't working now.
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The Duel trommel remains off, and TLC works within seem to have stalled
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There is no smoke coming out of the tomb...
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The Oblivion misters are off... and so too were several mister elements on the Marmaliser
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Inside Hex, and there's no smoke coming from the old oak tree
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The bell was not ringing as it should over at Runaway Mine Train
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In addition to these broken effects - there were others. I didn't even enter Dark Forest or CBeebies Land and Wicker Man was closed all day, so don't know what was/wasn't working in those areas (although I know Entertainments cover WM). But, for example, all of the plumbing water feature in Splash Landings was off. So it's not restricted to the park.

If Alton actually looked after everything all of the time, they would save money in the long run as things wouldn't need replacing... madness.
 
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I can understand air, sorry Galactica. Tvs project and audio being turned off with only the last 3 rows being galactica, and the rest being air.

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delta79 said:
I can understand air, sorry Galactica. Tvs project and audio being turned off with only the last 3 rows being galactica, and the rest being air.

Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk
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That as the case may be - it still looks garbage as they are blatantly screens that blatantly should show something. Even if they just had the Galactica logo frozen. As for the mister on the portal and the projections in the shop though...
 
I keep repeating it. Oblivion's mist add's so much to the ride experience. Now instead of staring into oblivion and the unknown you can face the fear of dropping into the manky concrete abyss. It's just a mist of water, not that difficult or expensive to maintain.

Not broken but needed are some smoke effects inside Galactica's pre lift hill tunnel, more manky concrete is the order of the day.

Off the ride effects subject but who needs a stroll through the gardens when you can meander through The Smiler's manky concrete queue line.
 
Austin Towers said:
Not broken but needed are some smoke effects inside Galactica's pre lift hill tunnel, more manky concrete is the order of the day.
Click to expand...

What is missing from Galactica's tunnel is the blue lights they installed the year before it rebranded from air.
Now they have only 3 row per train as VR then these need to return.

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I remember the park went through a phase like this in the early ish 2000s with lots of stuff broken. Then we got people in senior management such as James Paulding who took an interest in getting things like this put right (and they did). It seems like the park needs those kind of people and that kind of love again.
 
Jordan said:
Bring back the Fawlty Towers forum, I say
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Oh wow that's going back a long way, that disappeared long before TS was even a thing.

I had high hopes for effects just a few weeks ago as it seemed they were making an effort on Smiler in particular - some of the marmaliser effects had been fixed and the dispatch smoke effect repaired for the first time in ages. A couple of weeks later, some of the effects are off again.
 
Ride effects are there as the designers and manufacturers intended so to give guests the fullest and best experience possible. They're not there as a bonus or just for the sake of it. Some effects may be added/removed/replaced to improve or alter the experience but if they're present they should work.

Parks (not just merlin's) seem to have the attitude that if you can get on a ride and off again at the end then you've got your money's worth. Wrong. It's not much to ask for the experience that was originally intended. It's what we pay for.

Different subject but same attitude as above. We got stuck for almost 10 minutes in the 'flying position' after coming back into the station on Manta in SWO today. No biggie really but there was no announcement to tell guests what was happening, no feedback or guidance from ride hosts, no apologies, just the basic automated 'we are experiencing technical difficulties announcement' which was more for people waiting to get on the ride than the ones stuck on it. We weren't worried in the slightest but some people were clearly not comfortable.

Felt a bit like the 'it's better than nothing' attitude we all know and love. You got to ride, be thankful, now clear off.
 
I notice a lot of things around the park which kinda fix’s into this topic and also the TLC topic anyway.
This been my 1st visit to the park this season it looks worst than it’s ever has.
From the moment you step on towers street it looks very odd with the building that was painted 2 years ago chipping off In places or very dirty so looks a mis match of new and old.
CBeebies land now a 5 year old wouldn’t know the the difference but I would have guessed as just like Thomasland at Drayton Manor they would have to keep the rides in top shape.
On the postman pat ride some of the buttons didn’t work and the figures all need a good painting.
The lunch box the wallpaper coming off the wall in places and the floor all worn out.
The Go jetties ride none of the effects worked.
Mutiny Bay some of the effects wasn’t working on Marauder's like the lights and smoke wasn’t on also the paint coming off in places badly and you can see the original tea cups design.
Duel was a joke all around the ride you can see the light from outside where the fans are which is pointless in a dark ride. Also too much lighting in places as it ruins the effects.
CCL just looks like a big building site.
The Smiler indoor section looks weird now without the projectors and a yellow light in its place. On the whole you would think the Smiler was the older of the 2 coasters in X sector.
 
I honestly think that these new AP's have shook up the park for the worse, it looks to me as though they have gone for low profit margins on the passes as there is less money coming from the entrance price, meanwhile any lost revenue coming from the passes are being spent on stuff like fastrack, food, drink etc and not put back into the operational budget.

I could be completely wrong but that's my impression about it.
 
Perhaps I am being naive, but basic water/mister effects are just that - basic! It is just water, hardly state of the art special effects.

I find that the current condition of effects at AT to be wholly embarrassing given they pay thousands of £££s to have them installed but never make any effort to operate/maintain them. They would be best suited to not building rides with any effects at all!

:)
 
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