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2026: General Discussion

Hid said:
possibly Carpriolo could be cool filler addition
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I'm not sure that a fairground ride that seats just eight riders per cycle and features G-forces of 5+ would be a good fit for a major family theme park like Towers.
 
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Blackrock said:
If they ever were to sell it who would potentially be the best buyer?
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The only other multi-park operator who could do the park service is probably Compagnie des Alpes, but they're unlikely to have the appetite for a plurality of reasons.
Blackrock said:
And is there scope to purchase the freehold for the land itself?
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Everything's available for a price, it's just how much are you willing to pay for it?

If they were willing to sell the park, which I don't think they are, I actually think that they would struggle for a buyer. It's not that the park needs huge amounts of investment to get it up to scratch, it's in a relatively decent state and you could get it sparkling for relatively low CapEx... it's the operational problem.

Difficult to get to, built in the wrong place, lack of a local tourist market, lack of a local population able to reliably and consistently staff the park.

Essentially you'd have to have someone take it over as a passion project, someone willing to put the work in to solve the other endemic issues plaguing the park outside of ride hardware, and that's unlikely to happen. It's far easier just to build something from the ground up.
 
What Towers needs for everything to be at its best is basically a billionaire sugar daddy who wants to run it as a passion project and not worry about profits in the short/medium term (or ever). Whoever runs it has to deal with the upkeep of the gardens/house etc and it's a drain on the resources that these investment firms just don't want on their balance sheet at all.
 
BarryZola said:
What Towers needs for everything to be at its best is basically a billionaire sugar daddy who wants to run it as a passion project and not worry about profits in the short/medium term (or ever). Whoever runs it has to deal with the upkeep of the gardens/house etc and it's a drain on the resources that these investment firms just don't want on their balance sheet at all.
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I’m not sure on a sugar daddy.

It just needs people who care, not what they’re doing and it’s independent from Merlin.

In a perfect world for me I think the Efteling management team would be perfect. High quality, excellent maintenance, mix of shows and rides, understand how to create high quality magical “whimsy” attractions, can maintain high quality garden environments and run their own hotels and F&B successfully.

The idea that nobody can turn what was a previously successful theme park resort around despite it being top of the tree and with enormous further potential is for the birds. Alton has remained the underserved workhorse for the brand, arguably ruined by being part of the wider group.

There are successful examples in the UK and Europe. Even Drayton is turning itself around.

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This is highly corrosive in the long term:

Long queues.
Gorging fast track.
Terrible food.
Closed transport.
Multiple closed attractions.
Staggered opening times.
Bad crowd management.
Insufficient parking.
Low quality expensive accommodation.
Underutilised waterpark.
Poor resort offering.
Shoddy and flaking environment.
Poor attraction mix (child/family/thrill/shows).
MAP and RAP issues.
Challenging transport issues (public transport, roads and no rail)
Poorly maintained gardens and historical estate.
Badly managed staffing issues.
Event mismanagement and inconsistency (Christmas, Scarefest, Oktoberfest, Mardis Gras, Festival of Thrills)

That’s where I honestly think the park is. And I don’t like saying it. I hope beyond hope it gets turned around but without to the birds point, some fundamentals being fixed, the chance of Alton being what it should be which is the British answer to universal, it’s on a challenge. Despite that it can be a damn site better than what it is. Which its own history has shown. I’m afraid Merlin has cornered the market, drunk its own cool aid and now can’t see the wood for the trees.

I read an interesting article recently about varneys new venture and how seeing “rubbish and cobwebs in the wrong place” from a customer perspective still infuriated him. Which made me realise, and given the recent events with Alton management, just how incompetent at producing a successful product their current management team and operating structure are. They just can’t do it. They are incapable of resolving any of the things pointed out above, on an operational, management, strategic or group level.

They can not fix those problems. It’s a good metaphor for the country.

They can’t get or attract the right skilled people.
They can’t manage their contract with Aramark successfully.
They can’t lobby government or local government to get any transport improvements of note.
They can’t get rides open on time.
They can barely keep the toilets clean without needing guest feedback.
They can’t make a cocktail without it coming from a can.

And yet, despite all this, the place clings on. Despite the cancer inside of it. I’ve watched the slow degradation and shitification of it over the past 15-20 years, paying more and seeing less. Most recently summed up by avoiding the now eye watering cost of the fireworks VIP package, which had become my annual visit.

I appreciate it’s a repeated point, but I honestly cannot wait to visit Paultons again, despite being in my 30s with a partner and no kids. With us not being the target market in the slightest. Despite there being a negligible amount of rides. Despite adoring the Staffordshire moorlands and being only 30 minutes away, I’d rather go Rudyard lake, Peak Wildlife park or Paultons any day of the week over Alton now as I just cannot stand giving them my money. Yes we don’t have any sort of pass so I’m not in the Merlin ecosystem and I have no issues paying whatever on the day, so perhaps I look at it differently.

But that place HAS to get away from Merlin to change. And as much as I’d hate maybe a French/Spanish entity buying a British park with great history, who may not understand what makes this weird place in the woods so special, with its real history, legend and a place we have visitor for leisure as a country for over a century I don’t so another way.

I’d be intrigued to see someone from Disney, Universal, Europa Park come and look at Alton in a “Kitchen Nightmares” style fashion as it would be a real eye opener. There are levels to anything. And I’m afraid Merlin has run out of road and history relying on the titans that built the places 30/40 years ago. They’re gone and the clowns are in charge.

They need to get away from Merlin, away from MAP, away from private equity, away from not owning their land. The turnaround mission however is extensive.
 
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I could see Merlin selling both Heide Park and Alton operations to CdA in a package deal if they are to

They'll certainly keep Gardaland, Chessington and Thorpe. And all Legoland Parj
 
I don't think Merlin is going to sell, and frankly I think we need to be careful what we wish for. Towers as an independent park, would have even higher operating costs, and it's already for sure Merlins most expensive attraction to keep, and so would likely struggle financially eventually.
Merlin clearly don't give Towers the operational budget and possibly local independence to run the park as it should be, but they do invest. I think it's far more likely we see Merlin split or sell a portion of the business off, taking some of its huge amount of debt it's been forced to take on by its private equity owners away, which would then put them in a better position, but it's incredibly unlikely to be Towers. It is profitable, reliable and with a good well-known brand, that despite current operational challenges is clearly not going anywhere anytime soon.
Blackstone particularly will want significant returns eventually, and although they might be willing to take some time to get there, they will certainly not let Merlin fail. I think we can see Merlin work to clear some of their debt over the next few years, alongside some investment, putting them in a better position. I have no idea whether there is an appetite to fix towers operating problems but it would be in their long term interest, and so perhaps once the balance sheet looks a bit healthier they could look at it.
I think we all find it incredibly frustrating as fundamentally what needs to be done wouldn't be horrendously expensive in huge company terms, and would likely improve their profit in the long term, but making a business case to do something that only indirectly improves profit is a hard case to make when they have such a large amount of debt to service.

Being purely speculative I do wonder if Merlin cannot be turned round within the next few years successfully we could see a split with Blackstone taking the Resort theme parks and some of the midways and Kirbi and possibly Lego Group involvement to take back the Legoland parks. Blackstone have a history of expansion, so they would then likely invest heavily, ready to a listing or a sale, possibly expanding the new Merlin Group. I think this is a much better option than Towers being sold to become some independent operation as it would still have large money backing for big investments.
Hid said:
I could see Merlin selling both Heide Park and Alton operations to CdA in a package deal if they are to

They'll certainly keep Gardaland, Chessington and Thorpe. And all Legoland Parj
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Not going to happen, Merlin have an annual pass business in Germany, and taking Heidi out of it would make that business a lot less valuable, and we know how much Merlins business model is based on their group annual passes.
 
A park that was short of capacity anyway, yet has two coasters out of action (three of you count Bluey), and two filler water rides down, on a beautiful early season day is just a recipe for disaster really.
 
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Smudgy said:
When everyone said “get rid of the retrosquad” they meant replace the retrosquad with actually well themed rides, but I guess Merlin had a different interpretation.
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Thw Retro Squad could of worked if they were themed properly into the areas, Twirlimg Toadstool, Enterprise and The Blade were all in effect funfair rides capable of moving
 
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Hid said:
Thw Retro Squad could of worked if they were themed properly into the areas, Twirlimg Toadstool, Enterprise and The Blade were all in effect funfair rides capable of moving
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No one had an issue with the rides themselves in theory (except the waltzers), it was the lack of theme. That said fairground rides are not designed for the long operating days in theme parks which is why manufacturers sell park models and traveling models.
 
On the note of travelling models and park models, did I once hear that Ripsaw was a travelling model of Huss Top Spin? Or did I completely make that up?
 
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