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Controversial Alton Towers Opinions

With the park reopening today and staying open until late, I have a potentially unpopular Alton Towers view; I think the late openings in March are a bad idea.

I’m not opposed to the principle of late openings by any stretch (I love a night ride as much as the next person!), but in March, I think Alton After Dark just pulls people to the park when it’s not really ready for high crowds. There are always teething problems in the initial days; this doesn’t matter so much if it’s just a regular weekend, but on the Alton After Dark days, people come to the park in large numbers, which magnifies the issues.

My visit to Alton After Dark last year was, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst day I’ve ever had at Alton Towers. This was admittedly caused in large part by poor weather, but ride availability was poor and some of the usual early season reduced capacity shenanigans were out in force. I feel this might have been less of an issue had it not been a “special” marketed late opening day.

If the park wants to do late openings, I feel that they should maybe do them later in the year once things have settled down a bit. Or perhaps do late openings more often so that the ones in March aren’t such a big “event”?
 
Matt N said:
With the park reopening today and staying open until late, I have a potentially unpopular Alton Towers view; I think the late openings in March are a bad idea.

I’m not opposed to the principle of late openings by any stretch (I love a night ride as much as the next person!), but in March, I think Alton After Dark just pulls people to the park when it’s not really ready for high crowds. There are always teething problems in the initial days; this doesn’t matter so much if it’s just a regular weekend, but on the Alton After Dark days, people come to the park in large numbers, which magnifies the issues.

My visit to Alton After Dark last year was, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst day I’ve ever had at Alton Towers. This was admittedly caused in large part by poor weather, but ride availability was poor and some of the usual early season reduced capacity shenanigans were out in force. I feel this might have been less of an issue had it not been a “special” marketed late opening day.

If the park wants to do late openings, I feel that they should maybe do them later in the year once things have settled down a bit. Or perhaps do late openings more often so that the ones in March aren’t such a big “event”?
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They are only really economically viable before the clocks go forward. Beyond that sunset is so late it will mean the park would need to open much later.
 
It will also help to spread the early crowds, some turn up later for the dark rides...as some young families clear off early.
But first days are for the unwise...
Too many silly queues, vloggers, inexperienced staff and reliability issues.
Things are often so much better after a week or two.
 
I know it wouldn’t be dark at certain times of year, but couldn’t they just market it as “late” riding or similar? The likes of Blackpool do this successfully.
 
Not sure if I'd say this is controversial as it has been mentioned a few times by some on here and that is regarding the Flume and Rapids that they indeed got rid of the wrong water attraction.

I'm sure many have already thought about and that is what if when building Wicker Man it was the Rapids and not the Flume that had gone instead? Yes I'm aware that towards the end the Flume was needing major work and likely would have gone eventually even if the Smiler crash never happened but all the same, given that IIRC Thorpe were planning to upgrade Logger's Leap for modern standards yet the budget was eaten up by trying to fix DBGT which that ride would as we know was a waste of money so it isn't hard to think that maybe Towers' Flume might have been given a second chance to live another day if the Rapids site had been chosen to build Wicker Man on instead of the Flume.

So instead of getting Air changed into Galactica for the 2016 season in which the former would remain as is, that money could have been spent on a new look Flume would finally be themed into the rest of the area with say new themed pieces and new boats from Mack as part of a larger pirate theme, as well as now reduced maintenance and running costs if Mack come in to overhaul it for modern standards and being a pure family ride might have had better success than what Galactica ever did in those post Smiler accident days as we can all agree that Galactica was pretty much a flop.

Also, given the fact that it costs a lot to run the Rapids not to mention how many feel that they are a shadow of themselves these days, does make you wonder with hindsight that they would have saved more on operation costs (likely helping with other issues with Towers as we know like more money on staffing or maintenance likely?) and that Katanga Canyon would finally have a new attraction in that area after many years plus could you imagine a woodie using parts of the Rapids route like say the shared tunnel with RMT would have been a highlight to have 'racing' trains and a woodie might have suited that area very well all things considered. Likely Wicker Man might have been themed as some African spirt have been awaken by the mining company digging the land (like we haven't heard that before? LOL)

So yeah, I'm starting to think with hindsight Towers got ride of the wrong water attraction and honestly, Towers do seem to build attractions in the wrong area like how I've banged on about how Thirteen should've been built in Gloomy Wood instead of a half arsed Dark Forest and that Rita could have been built anywhere else other than Ug Land but those are neither controversial.
 
Did flume close before the accident on splash canyon or after? Prior to that I'd have said keep the rapids out of the two of them
 
QTXAdsy said:
Not sure if I'd say this is controversial as it has been mentioned a few times by some on here and that is regarding the Flume and Rapids that they indeed got rid of the wrong water attraction.

I'm sure many have already thought about and that is what if when building Wicker Man it was the Rapids and not the Flume that had gone instead? Yes I'm aware that towards the end the Flume was needing major work and likely would have gone eventually even if the Smiler crash never happened but all the same, given that IIRC Thorpe were planning to upgrade Logger's Leap for modern standards yet the budget was eaten up by trying to fix DBGT which that ride would as we know was a waste of money so it isn't hard to think that maybe Towers' Flume might have been given a second chance to live another day if the Rapids site had been chosen to build Wicker Man on instead of the Flume.

So instead of getting Air changed into Galactica for the 2016 season in which the former would remain as is, that money could have been spent on a new look Flume would finally be themed into the rest of the area with say new themed pieces and new boats from Mack as part of a larger pirate theme, as well as now reduced maintenance and running costs if Mack come in to overhaul it for modern standards and being a pure family ride might have had better success than what Galactica ever did in those post Smiler accident days as we can all agree that Galactica was pretty much a flop.

Also, given the fact that it costs a lot to run the Rapids not to mention how many feel that they are a shadow of themselves these days, does make you wonder with hindsight that they would have saved more on operation costs (likely helping with other issues with Towers as we know like more money on staffing or maintenance likely?) and that Katanga Canyon would finally have a new attraction in that area after many years plus could you imagine a woodie using parts of the Rapids route like say the shared tunnel with RMT would have been a highlight to have 'racing' trains and a woodie might have suited that area very well all things considered. Likely Wicker Man might have been themed as some African spirt have been awaken by the mining company digging the land (like we haven't heard that before? LOL)

So yeah, I'm starting to think with hindsight Towers got ride of the wrong water attraction and honestly, Towers do seem to build attractions in the wrong area like how I've banged on about how Thirteen should've been built in Gloomy Wood instead of a half arsed Dark Forest and that Rita could have been built anywhere else other than Ug Land but those are neither controversial.
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In hindsight, I completely agree.

At the time, it was as said by other users that it was before notable incidents on rapids rides such as Splash Canyon which may have played into the choice.

I definitely think The Flume could've had either a full refurbishment or a modern spiritual replacement (which it could still happen eventually).

I think Wickerman on the site of Katanga Canyon could've been rather exciting and having that with the Runaway Mine Train could've made for some interesting interactions.

I definitely wonder what was going on when the decision was made to get rid of the flume and replace it with a rollercoaster that is completely the opposite in nature without filling the gap elsewhere.

I'm hoping that something similar whether that's a flume, shoot the chute or a water coaster is on Bianca's list for future plans. 🤔

Don't get me started on Thorpe Park and Loggers Leap as this was entirely preventable although the gap isn't as glaring and the replacement was incredible. I'd also hope we will see something similar too eventually but at least we still have Tidal Wave there.
 
Flume was closed for quite a while before WM was even announced. In that sense I wouldn't say WM was a direct replacement for Flume, they decided to close several rides post-Smiler and one of which happened to leave a suitable spot for redevelopment
 
The Flume was hanging and was always going to be ripped out. I suspect it was just closed earlier than planned, and it's been down hill for the place ever since.

The rapids can be an excellent attraction. It just needs some theming and water features. I miss the Flume very dearly, probably more so than most. Some of my happiest memories are on it. But I'd probably be more upset when (and it is a case of when) the completely underutilised rapids closes.
 
I think in light of the post-Smiler crash, this resulted in a stripped-back woodie compared to the large-scale one that was planned for Forbidden Valley. The Flume site offered a convenient plot of land that a smaller woodie could sit on.

In an alternative reality, maybe Forbidden Valley got the large-scale woodie, and The Flume remained SBNO for another 5+ years, with a possible flume or other water ride replacement down the line.
 
The flume was costing towers hundreds of thousands every year in compensation claims, that’s what I was told when I worked on it.

It was always breaking down so people were hurting themselves either on the station due to the sudden stops and it was sudden catching many people out, or when they were constantly being evacuated, boats bumping into each other and in some other absolute messy situations that I won’t mention.

However due to the constant breakdowns it was arguably my favourite ride to work on, never knew what you were going to get.
 
It’s unrelated to the topic at hand, but after that recent topic about The Smiler’s music, I have two unpopular X-Sector opinions:
  • The Smiler enhances X-Sector: I’ll preface this by saying that I don’t massively rate the ride itself, but I’ve always felt that The Smiler really enhances X-Sector as an area. It has huge presence, and I feel that the whole thing has a real sense of energy and gravitas about it that X-Sector as an area lacks without it. When The Smiler wasn’t operating post-crash, or when it was only Oblivion around, I always remember X-Sector feeling like a slightly lifeless area, but I think The Smiler as a visual piece breathes a wonderful sense of life into the area!
  • I don’t particularly rate Oblivion’s theming, and think it could do with a Nemesis Reborn-style thematic update: People always rave about Oblivion’s theming, but I don’t particularly rate it, and when the time comes, I think it needs a Nemesis Reborn-style thematic update far more than Nemesis needed one. Where the original Nemesis theming was at least somewhat timeless, I think Oblivion’s whole thematic execution is very “of its time”, and not necessarily in a good way. From the generic drum and bass soundtrack to the Windows Movie Maker-style queue videos playing on old TVs to the rather dated-looking concrete buildings, I think the whole thing looks very “late 90s” and could do with an update. The theme was originally intended to raise suspense, but I’m not sure it does that anymore, and I think an update to something more like Oblivion’s Italian sibling would improve it. Do a more dramatic, suspenseful soundtrack, add some more theming in the queue and area and make the theme a bit less thin, and modernise the buildings, and you’d have a far stronger theme, in my view.
 
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Does anyone actually rave about Oblivion's theming though? I don't think anyone has massively said that a few orange chevrons, some mist and a soundtrack (albeit a good one) is good theming. I don't even think it really has one
 
Danscott22 said:
Does anyone actually rave about Oblivion's theming though? I don't think anyone has massively said that a few orange chevrons, some mist and a soundtrack (albeit a good one) is good theming. I don't even think it really has one
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Whenever the topic of revamping it comes up in the Oblivion thread, it feels as though lots of people don’t want it changed at all, and people also talk about Oblivion’s theming positively in that recent thread about The Smiler’s music.
 
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