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2025: Toxicator - General Discussion

Probably needs time to wear in the mechanicals, the same as when you get a new clutch on your car.
 
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I’d love to go to some of these peoples houses and start writing on their walls and see how they react.

Definitely a cultural thing here. I’ve been to many European parks and never see this level of vandalism.

Towers don’t help themselves mind. Limited rides availability, boring queue lines and slow moving queues lead to this.

You would have thought they would have learnt.
 
Just a reminder that theme parks like Towers are going to be for many teenagers the first time they get independence.

Of course they’re going to be cheeky about it. Merlin Magic Making need to be designing their queues to be of arms length from any theming…
 
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Danny said:
Given Galactica's perspex screens get equally vandalised, there sadly doesn't appear to be permanent solution or strong, visible deterrent to the Temu Banksys of the world.
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Yeah but far easier and cheaper to replace pieces of perspex as and when needed than repairing a painted concrete wall!
 
Steve74 said:
Yeah but far easier and cheaper to replace pieces of perspex as and when needed than repairing a painted concrete wall!
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Yeah it's cheaper and easier, but it's still not a deterrent and will sit there vandalised for just as long before anyone gets around to sorting it. It'll still look horrendous and be an open invitation for these cocktrumpets to spread their incessant scrawlings on.

Really the only feasible deterrent is more visible CCTV, signage and presence of security.
 
Bert2theSpark said:
Just a reminder that theme parks like Towers are going to be for many teenagers the first time they get independence.

Of course they’re going to be cheeky about it. Merlin Magic Making need to be designing their queues to be be of arms length from any theming…
Click to expand...
That isn't an excuse for property to be vandalised and damaged though, it should be a ban from the parks when people are doing it but the enforcement clearly isn't there
 
Jb85 said:
I’d love to go to some of these peoples houses and start writing on their walls and see how they react.

Definitely a cultural thing here. I’ve been to many European parks and never see this level of vandalism.

Towers don’t help themselves mind. Limited rides availability, boring queue lines and slow moving queues lead to this.

You would have thought they would have learnt.
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Literally minutes after posting this saw someone doing it, called them out. There excuse was “everyone else has done it”. I told them the ride is new and some people spent hours building it.

I could’ve started on Merlin Magic making budget cuts but didn’t go there lol.

Wouldn’t mind as well was only about a 10 min queue!
 
danlouislucy said:
That isn't an excuse for property to be vandalised and damaged though, it should be a ban from the parks when people are doing it but the enforcement clearly isn't there
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I agree, although my post was meant more to be more of an explanation of why the behaviour occurs rather than an excuse. But designing attractions with these concepts in mind means that things don't need to be escalated to enforcement. The ride team will be too fixated on operations to notice, and it would be a needless call for security to deal with. Sometimes, a more preventative approach is needed to avoid these issues from occurring entirely.

This happened with the Galactica bridge, and has now happened with Toxicator. The behavioural lessons haven't been learnt when it comes to attraction development.
 
Bert2theSpark said:
Just a reminder that theme parks like Towers are going to be for many teenagers the first time they get independence.

Of course they’re going to be cheeky about it. Merlin Magic Making need to be designing their queues to be of arms length from any theming…
Click to expand...

Totally echo this. Don’t get me wrong it shouldn’t be a think, but it is and has been for years.
So adjust …..
 
Perspex isn't cheap and gets scratched quickly.
Concrete paint and stencils are cheap...each whole panel could be redone for fifty quid or so, then slap anti vandal varnish on top for the future quick cleaning.
All done for a few hundred quid in total.
Schools use the stuff by the bucketful.
 
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@Bert2theSpark hit the nail on the head, I think. The only way to prevent graffiti in queue lines is to keep theming out of arm’s reach of guests.

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the cleanest, least graffitied section of queue line in Alton Towers is Thirteen’s indoor queue line… that one is the only notable bit of queue line that has all the theming out of arm’s reach!

You also notice it in places like the Harry Potter rides at Universal Orlando. Those rides have so much theming, and it remains immaculate 10-15 years on in some cases because it is all kept out of arm’s length of guests.
 
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Hid said:
They need to ban pens and stop selling pens to people, and remove them instantly if caught and fined to pay for damage
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Lol
But on a serious note - if they are bag searching on entrance why aren’t they questioning why people carry marker pens?
 
Matt N said:
You also notice it in places like the Harry Potter rides at Universal Orlando. Those rides have so much theming, and it remains immaculate 10-15 years on in some cases because it is all kept out of arm’s length of guests.
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I would hazard a guess that queues that are moving very regularly are much much less likely to become damaged by the public. Obviously flat rides are more limited to how frequently a queue can move.
 
In the images above, the graffiti is etched into the concrete, so removing pens will not make a difference to Toxicator.

I agree that theming, walls, etc., should be out of arm's reach, more so in an area where you're predicting guests will wait a long time. The indoor queue on Th13teen you can reach quite a bit there easily, but it's fairly quick moving, so people don't get a chance to start writing on the walls. Generally, if it's a quick moving area or there's something to entertain, you will see little to no grafitti and that's evident in multiple areas around Towers.

Placing queue lines that you know will be stagnant right next to concrete walls that can be easily scratched was asking for trouble.
 
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