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2018: General Discussion

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The UV inside the ride is an interestingly one really. Currently, it doesnt look how it was intended but there's an interesting story to it!

When the ride was created, it had a pretty bespoke UV technique, by high quality scenic artists (some of the best for UV in Europe!). It wasn't the 'glow in the dark' effect people think of as UV now, it was very subtle, not your standard blue, pink, yellow.

It allowed scenery to be really detailed, without shining visible light everywhere, still in surrounding darkness. Flat shapes could look like real stonework, or all sorts of scenic details like overhanging branches and foliage could be seen without spilling light everywhere. It all relied on the blacklight effect.

However the UV lighting was mostly all removed by 1993. Alton Towers's marketing department wanted to change the ride to be 'darker and scarier' because (despite pressing for a family attraction throughout its design) they launched the Haunted House as being incredibly scary. The original ride was intended to be more surreal and surprising than pure horror, personally I think it works best this way. You could call it 'Tim Burton-esque' I guess.

So the ride was mostly dropped into darkness, meaning loads of incredible scenery that had previously relied on blacklight no longer got seen. A lot was also painted over.

In recent years there had been some at Alton Towers who noticed how much of the original scenery had UV treatment, so wanted to bring it back.

In 2016/7, the first wave of UV didn't look too bad, but the tubes were visible and distracting (and the rest the new lighting was very poor that year). The surviving UV paintwork had also faded much after so many years, and the original studio that innovated this style of UV artwork had since closed.

Unfortunately the latest wave of UV lighting this year was LED and totally the wrong method, despite good intentions. With the current state of LED UV, I don't think it should even be called "UV" (nor do many in the lighting industry, which I am not). It produces visible light, showing mechanisms or revealing scenery as actually being flat shapes. Its brightness looks much cheaper and more 'glow in the dark' than the effect was ever intended to be.

Interestingly there are LED lights currently being made by some brands that claim will produce true blacklight, but I dont think theyre available just yet. Of course, the old flourescent lamps and tubes are still available. However the UV strobes for flying heads need a special filter that is no longer manufactured, so would need to be especially sourced, until LED technology catches up.
 
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Not park related but the chained oak tree has been having some branches removed. We were there in August and some of the branches were rotten and quite a large one had fallen. I dont think anyone died though. Was tempted to bring a piece home with me and carry out some mad experiments on it but I got blind drunk instead. Couldn't sleep that night as the room kept spinning.



 
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So, 2018 is almost at its end. And what a great season it's been! Wicker Man has turned out to be a fantastic addition to the park, if you ask me, and I've genuinely really enjoyed the times I've spent at Alton this year! The ATH was really nice in March, too, and it was nice to get back there! So, I ask you all; what has been your favourite Alton Towers memory of 2018? For me, it would have to be riding Wicker Man for the first time; the ride massively exceeded my expectations, and I would have to say that it was probably my biggest surprise of 2018!

Have a great new year, everyone! And here's to an even better 2019!
P.S. I also found a great article on TTSP summing up Alton Towers' 2018, if you'd like to read that: https://www.towerstimes.co.uk/blog/2018/12/30/2018-year-in-review/
 
Apart from the awesomeness that is Wickerman, Thorpe seems like it was a better season overall for me (with the obvious exception).
Mind you it being my first Thorpe season may have had something to do with that.

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Although the first half of the 2018 season was almost completely ruined by staggered opening times, and the whole season was plagued with poor operating hours, poor ride availability and substandard operations in general; things to note being the removal of baggage holds and SRQs in particular. Yet with that said, after they got their act together and the staggered openings were removed, there was a considerable improvement.

Yes, there were other issues like Wicker Man downtime and ERT downtime (and overall reduction of ERT) practically rendering the whole point of entering the park early pointless, as well as broken effects on attractions throughout the park, and poor customer service and social media replies.

But as a whole, this has been a good year. Not the “comeback” year I had originally hoped for, mainly due to the aforementioned issues, but still a good one. Wicker Man is fantastic, Merlin actually got so much right. Obviously, it’s not perfect, but they have shown their ability and willingness to create an extremely complete experience which has managed to capture the imagination of so many people. I’d probably say Wicker Man saved Alton Towers from themselves this year...
 
I'd have to agree with @Matt N here, it's been the best season in years. Obviously the new coaster has helped, but it's an excellent ride and a perfect edition to the current line up.

The general atmosphere in the park has been positive and staff have been great.

Whilst the other Merlin parks are at an all time low and falling apart, Towers has been by far the best of an awful bunch.

Having said that, it's highly unlikely I will return next season as there are much better quality parks across Europe to explore, and adding a pay-to-ride Dungeons attraction is a p*ss take.
 
One other thing I forgot to mention; I attended my first ever ride opening weekend in the form of Wicker Man's official opening weekend on 24th & 25th March! I didn't actually ride Wicker Man until the Sunday, but I loitered around the area for a bit on the Saturday evening, and the atmosphere was electric! Everyone seemed so excited and amazed by Wicker Man, and the fire performers and the Beornen really added to the atmosphere, in my opinion!
 
My favourite part of the Alton Towers 2018 season came in the form of personally visiting new parks on the continent and continuing to see better operations, rides, theming and culinary options than Towers can muster.

The world cup atmosphere in the Courtyard was alright I suppose.
 
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