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2026: General Discussion

Having watched numerous vlogs and updates of social media from the opening it’s clear to see that not much has got done over closed season.

I used to really enjoy watching all the updates on socials and watching the buzz about the place but each year it seems to be getting less and less.

I really do worry for the future of Towers’ having worked there and helped commission and launch The Smiler it is completely different back then and it shows in my opinion the general lot and care for the place seems to have disappeared and now with long term and committed staff leaving it seems like it’s only a matter of time before it turns into a generic theme park.

I hope if they do sell that someone with great enthusiasm and passion takes over and doesn't let it rot anymore than it has.
 
Excalibur said:
I hope if they do sell that someone with great enthusiasm and passion takes over and doesn't let it rot anymore than it has.
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I’ve been wondering this the past couple of days, because at the moment it’s clear Merlin has no clear intent to invest at Alton Towers.

Which brings up the point of why keep the park stagnant if Merlin need to pay down debt inherited from a different leadership in an a different economic environment. The only way I can see things continuing is either Merlin see growth potential with the park and invest to bring people in droves or sell the park to a more willing operator and use the funds to invest in areas they do see growth potential for the company.

Alton Towers is a much more sticky business than Merlin is, there’s always going to be an operator willing to run the park and it’s such a sizeable business in the area that local authorities won’t let it go away entirely due to the significant loss of employment and tourism in the area. I can’t really see the paradigm that Alton Towers is in currently lasting.

This has a very different feel to the cutbacks of 2016, as at least at the time we knew about the development of SW8 and the prospect of renewal at the park with the TLC program. Additionally the 2016 cutbacks with ride closures seemed a bit more concrete than the temperamental availability of attractions that we see now. You knew which rides were shut but you still got on the essentials and must-dos.

I felt really sad seeing the state of the park from TPWW’s opening day vlog especially with Katanga Canyon practically being a ghost town when that essentially feels like classic Alton Towers. I really hope the status quo doesn’t hold and that we see renewal soon.
 
Bert2theSpark said:
I’ve been wondering this the past couple of days, because at the moment it’s clear Merlin has no clear intent to invest at Alton Towers.
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This ignores that in the past four years alone we've had The Curse at Alton Manor, Nemesis: Reborn, Toxicator and Bluey the Ride: Here Come the Grannies. You've also had two new permanent structures built for new scare maze attractions. Two new scare zones. A refurbishment of Hex. A refurbishment of the Skyride. Theming elements restored or added to attractions. Relaying of broken pathwork (and not just tarmac thrown over it) and the new light show for Alton After Dark. That's just off the top of my head.

Many areas of the park have also taken a step back, yes, that's undeniable. Merlin's clearly investing in Alton Towers though... just not at the rate that it actually really probably needs.
 
GaryH said:
Invest yes. Maintain no. Big difference.

Has been a bit of a standing joke the past few years when a new ride opens as to how long the effects on it will last.
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It’s most likely a case of Merlin putting in the millions initially but then basically saying ‘here’s your brand new ride, market it, but we’re not going to give you any extra operating budget to staff the ride or maintain it, you have to work that part out yourself’
 
Yeah....investment into new attractions hasn't been lacking. They cant be blamed for that.

Upkeep of the park and existing attractions has been incredibly poor though in places. Clearly the park management team just haven't been able to achieve everything they wanted with the budgets Merlin have allocated them.

Its sad to see a theme park that once hit the 3m mark now slip back down to 2 to 2.5m whilst parks like Europa Park have pushed for 6m in same period. Towers could have easily broken through the 4m mark with more resources allocated to them. An extra 1m visitors in a year brings in a hell of a lot of revenue too.

Merlin have been short sighted. They thought growth was only achieved by expanding their number of locations and forgot that their existing ones could have provided more income with more money provided to them.
 
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