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2021: General Discussion

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Danscott22 said:
But we want permanent flats, not temporary fairground ones. You don't expect to see a fairground waltzer and a techno jump in the UK's leading theme park. It doesn't make up for the constant removal but not replacing. Not sure anyone's saying its embarrassing, I just find it strange.
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I’m not sure they will be an ‘announcement’ as such. The marketing this year will all be around Gangsta Granny, so I expect these rides will just ‘be there’ when people arrive.

I hope that they prove popular enough to convince the powers that be at Merlin to release some capital expenditure to invest in permanent flat rides.
 
AT86 said:
I’m not sure they will be an ‘announcement’ as such. The marketing this year will all be around Gangsta Granny, so I expect these rides will just ‘be there’ when people arrive.

I hope that they prove popular enough to convince the powers that be at Merlin to release some capital expenditure to invest in permanent flat rides.
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Ah good point I hadn't thought about that. Maybe so!
 
These rides are entirely temporary, and hired in. Do not worry. I bet this is part of the "let's build a case" for Merlin. Rides per head will drastically increase with a few extra flats in the park, and will help them get the case together for the funding to put 2 or 3 permanent flat rides in by 2023.

I actually can't wait for this season.
 
Altonadvocate1 said:
but I can't see Disney doing this.
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Disneu don’t worry about ride capacity in the same way so wouldn’t do this, but they have done similar, usually to make money instead of improving the guest experience which is what Alton Towers is trying to achieve.
Disney added unthemed marquees in Tomorrowland a few years ago to sell them as private cabanas for rental. They have added chairs and clipboards as a drawing experience in the Animal Kingdom. Disney also often use festival kiosks to add more dining options and they are more themed but still as other temporary way to make money.

so yes Disney wouldn’t add fairground rides to increase ride capacity, but they would do other stuff that doesn’t look as polished or themed as it should.
 
Ethan said:
Enthusiasts: Alton need more flats and filler attractions
Alton: Get more flats/filler attractions
Enthusiasts: Why are they doing that its embarrassing
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Obviously some travelling rides werent what people were asking for and they haven't got these rides permanently anyway

But it doesnt matter, this is a covid capacity measure. It doesnt even matter if guests say they like them, as long as they can prove they increased park capacity by having more flats maybe it will remind Merlin budget people why flats are needed.

Then we might get proper flats back in all the locations they were removed.
 
Its all well and good adding these flats, but like everyone else has said they're just fun fair rides. People don't travel to alton towers to go on a waltzer or twister. This is the exact reason they don't probably invest in flats as the public are interested in the roller coasters not fair rides
 
Ethan said:
Its all well and good adding these flats, but like everyone else has said they're just fun fair rides. People don't travel to alton towers to go on a waltzer or twister. This is the exact reason they don't probably invest in flats as the public are interested in the roller coasters not fair rides
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But flat rides in a theme park aren’t fair rides. Look at Talocan, Ripsaw and Ramesis Revenge, they are all completely different to a fair version. Even things like pirate ships aren’t normally seen at fairgrounds. Properly realised and themed flat rides belong in theme parks.

But for this season I think guests will just get a surprise when they turn up and find a few extra rides hopefully with short queues.
 
jon81uk said:
But flat rides in a theme park aren’t fair rides. Look at Talocan, Ripsaw and Ramesis Revenge, they are all completely different to a fair version. Even things like pirate ships aren’t normally seen at fairgrounds. Properly realised and themed flat rides belong in theme parks.

But for this season I think guests will just get a surprise when they turn up and find a few extra rides hopefully with short queues.
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Imagine the waltzer on an hour queue lol
 
rob666 said:
For 99% of the population, all rides are funfair rides.
In the finest tradition...it is better than nothing.
Anything that might reduce the coaster queues is fine by me.
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I don't think it'll reduce the queues that much tbh. Are people really going to have a tough choice between a waltzer and the smiler
 
Ethan said:
I don't think it'll reduce the queues that much tbh. Are people really going to have a tough choice between a waltzer and the smiler
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Maybe you wouldn’t. But not everyone is a coaster enthusiast. In fact 99% of people in the park aren’t.

Not everyone likes big coasters. Not everyone is tall enough for big coasters. Not everyone wants to spend all day riding coasters. They might want to mix it up.

As has been mentioned these temporary flats have seemingly been chosen because they are family thrill, not balls to the walls thrill like Smiler and will therefore be aimed at different guests. Enterprise and Blade often got queues of 1hr last season so there is demand for these types of rides and not enough of them in the park.
 
AT86 said:
As has been mentioned these temporary flats have seemingly been chosen because they are family thrill, not balls to the walls thrill like Smiler and will therefore be aimed at different guests. Enterprise and Blade often got queues of 1hr last season so there is demand for these types of rides and not enough of them in the park
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Wait do people really class waltzers and twister as family thrills?! Last time I went on a waltzer it was that crazy I literally couldn't remember at one point what was going on and why I was there (I was quite young though I guess)
 
Ethan said:
Wait do people really class waltzers and twister as family thrills?! Last time I went on a waltzer it was that crazy I literally couldn't remember at one point what was going on and why I was there (I was quite young though I guess)
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Those types of rides tend to be manually operated, so the operator can adjust the intensity depending on who rides.
 
I just really hope they're going to spread them out over the park and not just have them clustering up the lawns or something.
 
I actually think the idea of getting some fair rides in is great but I think they need to be careful which they choose, some rides (pretty much anything by KMG, Huss, Fabbri or even maybe Technical Park) can look fine in a park even in fairground lighting and colour packages as a temp solution (preferably without the backflash). On the other had the like of Waltzers, Twister, Jump&Smile and Miamis are exclusively fairground rides and will always just look like a fairground has been dumped in the park.

The obvious and much preferable alternative to this would be if they went vintage fair style; Carousel, wave swinger etc like Carter's Steam Fair and actually make it a season long Vintage Fair event on the lawns paired with a little entertainment and HB Leisure doing Coconut Shys etc.
 
evilcod said:
I actually think the idea of getting some fair rides in is great but I think they need to be careful which they choose, some rides (pretty much anything by KMG, Huss, Fabbri or even maybe Technical Park) can look fine in a park even in fairground lighting and colour packages as a temp solution (preferably without the backflash). On the other had the like of Waltzers, Twister, Jump&Smile and Miamis are exclusively fairground rides and will always just look like a fairground has been dumped in the park.

The obvious and much preferable alternative to this would be if they went vintage fair style; Carousel, wave swinger etc like Carter's Steam Fair and actually make it a season long Vintage Fair event on the lawns paired with a little entertainment and HB Leisure doing Coconut Shys etc.
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I actually know what the rides are, but they are nothing special. Can't really divulge them though til it's public knowledge.
 
Skyscraper said:
I actually know what the rides are, but they are nothing special. Can't really divulge them though til it's public knowledge.
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They don't need to be special, I'm not saying they need to be big thrill rides. Its more the type of ride, some rides are just fairgound rides in visitors minds.
 
evilcod said:
They don't need to be special, I'm not saying they need to be big thrill rides. Its more the type of ride, some rides are just fairgound rides in visitors minds.
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They're just classic rides that are found at virtually all fairs.
 
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