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Five/Ten/Fifteen year plan if you owned Alton?

New dark ride of a high standard.
New indoor family coaster
In addition replace Duel.
Re-open Towers St restaurant as a fish and chip shop.
Ensure the park has enough seating for food.
Closing time of 5-6pm all season and 7-8pm on Friday/Saturday in August.
Try to eliminate the focus on 2for1 vouchers and instead offer something like £35 online, £45 on the gate and £60 season pass.
Lots of new flat rides, family, mid-tier and thrill. Each area needs at least 1-2 more.
 
Entrance Experience
The first part of my multi-pronged approach is to make the entrance Experience better. The key here is to return a magical feeling from the moment you enter.

Firstly travel must be revised. Nobody should walk, it should always be faster to get transport. A new high capacity monorail with highly themed stations to link hotels and park. A train ride with fantastic views over the park,so guests can see rides testing and get wonderful view over the park.

Towers street should be reimaged as a detail driven themed experience. Designed to keep guests entertained until rope drop. Bakeries, cafes, shops a reimagining of what merchandise can be. The building are to have new facades, with balconies and other interesting spots to explore. The shops are to have highly themed small boutique feel whilst still being capable of handling many people at once.

Finally moments before park opens, guests are welcomed by a show. ITHOMK to play, with lights, special effects, animatronics and other show elements to count down to the rope drop. Bunting being strung across buildings, signs flipping to multicolours, an epic wacky statue to rise from the fountain. Some circus performers on a busy day. A show to welcome all to the park. The rope drops and people spill forth out of towers street.

Early rides are to be taken through a shop, through a tunnel with lights and sounds and to be spat out at the side of towers street. To ensure everyone gets a fun way to enter.

Ride & Queue Experience

The end to paid for fast track
A new flat ride in every major area for capacity.
Two new coasters, intertwined in a pit with potentially a (English) mining theme. Two rides are designed together to be intertwined but not necessarily built together
A large new family dark ride in current CCL
A new family coaster (potentially indoors)
Haunted house totally redone in same area

Themed Environments

Towers street overhaul as mentioned above
Tudor theme for CCL
Victorian/Industrial Revolution theme for dark forest
Redo of Katanga Canyon to same theme
Redo of haunted hollow and haunted house area with same theme.
Restoration of the great hall in the towers, to function as restaurant and events space

Food & Beverage
Improvements in quality generally as well as increasing range of offering.
Improvements of green initiative. Redesigning packaging and how some things are sold.
Extreme high quality food served inside the towers as a luxury option

Events

A renewed focus on both private and public events. Making use of the lawns and the towers themselves, but also including various sized themed event spaces in the new themed areas.

Resort Experience

Around the new monorail there is to be an extended after park selection. With new restaurants, a new bar, small bowling alley and cinema, arcade, soft play area and extended waterpark with night opening. All to be built ontop of the sheds, which are to be replaced with a budget hotel.

Total retheme of Alton towers hotel, to a high luxury standard with a variety of themed rooms.


_________

My overall general idea is to celebrate Britain and its history in new themed areas. Increase the range of experiences available from cheaper to the most expensive. And generally return a magical experience.

Over the next five years after that I would look to do the following

Install fountains in the lake for a goodbye show
Add two family shows, which should be funny for all
Renew the themeing on the smiler, and convert x-cite building into something interesting
Ceebebies should continue to get new investment, possible into the spinball area if we replaced this with the other three coasters mentioned.
The gardens should get new use, with tea rooms in the conservatory and on select days a tour with the gardener, who will be less busy as I've hired several pairs of helping hands to maintain them.

A general attitude of excellence shall be implemented, where we will act on constant improvements to all rides, effects and areas. Cleaning and maintenance to be at the heart of our every day activities.

Finally my office on the upper floor of the corner of towers street will be accessible from the park, so I can stoll down and talk to people, or just take in the park and continue to enjoy and value it.
 
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Christ. Where to start?

  • Scrap Fastrack
  • Raise ticket prices
  • Raise hotel prices
  • Stargazing pods capped at £100
  • Scrap RAP and introduce a strict but fair policy
  • Introduce incentives/bonuses for ride staff to increase throughput and reduce wait times
  • Headsets for ride staff and station PA systems as seen at Cedar Fair parks to help with guest interaction and operations
  • Front and back row queues on all coasters
  • Singe rider queues on all coasters
  • £10 return regular bus service from Stoke/Derby stations throughout summer, £5 for under 18's
  • Ride themed banners/arches scattered from entrance road to car park
  • Overhaul monorail so you can actually see out of the flipping window
  • Ensure maximum monorail capacity at all times
  • Gates open 9am to prevent big crowds at turnstiles, rides at 10am
  • Louder theme music in all areas of the park
  • More drinking fountains
  • Daily walking tours of Towers and Gardens
  • Free fruit for kids in Cbeebies Land
  • 1 X roaming actor in every themed area of the park at all times
  • Retheme CCL to an Efteling style fantasy area with world class boat ride in place of Dungeons
  • Stick Taron trains on Rita (new coaster ideal but people seem to like Rita tbf)
  • Talocan clone in old Rip Saw area with FV theme and fire/water effects
  • Rip out Duel and install an indoor family coaster, keeping spooky theme Ideally a Mack Inverted but perhaps a more cost effective Gerst Bobsled
  • Rapids - scrap them. It's too cold here. Low to the ground Intamin Blitz to replace it or a rather ambitious RMC if we can dig down low
  • Two new flat rides also squeezed into this area, Jukebox and Loke from Liseberg
  • Rip out Battle Galleons and replace with a tracked boat ride
  • More mist in Oblivion tunnel
  • Smiler queue line clean up
  • One of those Wonder Wheel things like at Disneyland Pixar Pier in the old Submission area, on a slightly smaller scale same height as Oblivion
That'll do for now.
 
Probably none of this is reasonable in such a short space of time, unless Alton suddenly became Phantasialand. But it has 2 dark rides both in desperate need of life, and two big coaster areas (Dark Forest and X Sector) that are currenty miserable places to be. Plus a desperate need for flat rides —all at the same time!

Refurbish the monorail, overhaul the stations, Towers Street and admissions plaza properly.

Big fat haunted house for Duel with a new ride system, lots of fun, no lasers but maybe some Atlantis Adventure style spinning for interactivity? Who knows. In the style of the original HH with energy and animation I think it could be a classic Alton Towers ride.

A really fresh family dark ride to replace Dungeon, plus a Vogel Rok style indoor family coaster nextdoor (new area theme—not David Walliams). Try finally fix the abandonment of this area, have lots of good food on offer etc.

Redesign Thirteen and Rita with a theme that works and is fun. New flats and new layout in that area, make it a place people want to be in.

For its 10th anniversary, refurbish Smiler completely. New queue, trains with lap bars and any retracking needed for future. Finish it off how it always should have been! New theme for X Sector more in-keeping with Alton's scenic/fantasy style.
 
I was thinking the same. Other than the pods (that should be capped at £80) the hotels are all expensive enough. They should never get over £200 a night bed and breakfast.

Agree, The current pricing is already obscene for what you get and this is coming from someone who absolutely loves staying on the resort
 
Entering/Monorail
The monorail station would be completely changed to make it into an experience. The monorail should feel like the first 'ride' you go on. I would turn the lights down and put lanterns in. Screens would detail a fake history of the towers. Sort of a pre-show of sorts. There would be screen doors either side of the station so no sunlight is coming in from them either. The Monorail would be restored and revamped. On the other side I would dress the enterance plaza up.

TowerStreet

Towerstreet would be completely revamped. The buildings would be painted to make it feel more like a street and the 'Police Patrol' would be stationed there welcoming people. The centre would be made into a more welcoming area and there would be karts for selling but too.

Events
I would strive to hold different events throughout the year. Including music and themes. These events would be heavily advertised. So for example Horror nights would have pumpkins everywhere from september with live actors appearing too. Banners would be round the park as well as big photo ops.

Other events such as 'The Power Of The Towers' would be more immersive and big displays / shows would accompany the events.

Rides

Close Duel and remove the entire ride. Relay the track to make it more immersive and scarier. Introduce 4D effects and screens as well as hologram style technology (similar to how they get the ghosts at disney and singers to redo performances).

invest in the rapids and get them back to their former glory.

Build a new drop ride similar to Tower of Terror centred round an abandoned mine and if possible place it near the mine train.

Clean up the current rides and bring more effects and interactivity to the queues

Areas
I would vastly improve the themeing of the areas, bringing in more effects, turning up the music and bringing in live actors for busier periods
 
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Year 1

Monorail refurbishment. Remove vinyls from windows and re-theme each train based on an area of the park.
Dark Forest re-theme. Stranger Things IP with the addition of a flat ride.
Lake show at park close during peak periods and weekends.
Entertainment additions. Talking fountain in Fountain Square. Fire hydrant on Towers Street that squirt at guests. Frog fountains to sing.
(Medium capex)

Year 2

Convert Towers Street Bar and Grill into Mackie Mayor style food hall.
Haunted Hollow TLC + covered indoor section.
Food and drink festival over the summer peak period on the lawns.
Fit smoke system ala Alpenexpress to RMT.
Convert Emperor's Grill to small cinema space for further evening entertainment.
(Low capex).

Year 3

New flat ride on Ripsaw site.
Bell Rock style light and fountain show on the ATH lake.
Dungeons relocation next to Sea Life to allow for winter season usage. Pirate overlay with elements from Darkest Depths to be utilised.
(Medium capex)

Year 4

TLC year. All coasters jet-washed. Theming fixed across the park and general tidying.
More outdoor seating areas and permanent seating at food outlets across the park.
Former Dungeons building to be converted into temporary museum / 360 dome theatre based on the Towers.
(Low capex)

Year 5

New coaster; Launched RMC to rival Lightning Rod utilising the valley landscape.
(High capex)
 
Yet people continue to pay it and they're usually close to capacity.

Only at weekends in the summer months and special events, else I think its not running at full occupancy.

My biggest changes would be with the "resort" as a whole. Once you are out of the theme park there is actually little else to do.

The waterpark desperately needs an expansion. It was built at a time when only the 2 hotels existed. The accommodation has now more than doubled but the size of the waterpark has remained the same. Its also pretty boring for adults.

ATH needs a makeover and could do well as a more classy hotel with some tweeks. Conversational maybe but I would remove the flying ship from the centre of the hotel atrium. I would put down some nice flooring, change the furniture and put a small stage in the area where the disused bar is. I would also put a piano there. Focus the hotel more on adult entertainment with a pianist playing during the evening, and a decent singer at intervals. Candles on the tables comfy chairs etc. Same with the Secret Garden restaurant, modernise it, rename it, give it a more classy higher quality feel. As for the Dragon Bar, this would make a nice cocktail bar. And for all areas, reintroduce table service.

Shift the childrens entertainment to Splash in the evenings and have stuff on in the Wigwam thing in Enchanted Sheds during the summer as well.

The Golf course needs a major overhaul, and thought should be given as to whether or not it could be covered it make it more of an all weather attraction.

Treetops needs to be open more often and advertised more around the resort, with option to purchase tickets when booking a hotel stay or park tickets.


While the resort is "acceptable" when visiting with kids, adults can see all the cracks, the poor cleaning, poor room standards, and when visiting without kids, the hotels are really poor. I would like to see standards improved across the resort and some focus and thought given towards adults without kids who want to visit the park and stay over and have a a more "adult" experience.
 
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I don’t understand your idea of removal of the ship and replacing it with a range when the ship is currently used as a stage? Removing it would do nothing except take away the icon and patriarch (Sir Alegenon) of the hotel.
Making the entertainment more “adult” wouldn’t make any difference there would still be kids around. Better to just train the bar staff better to make the cocktails well and leave it at that.
 
I don’t understand your idea of removal of the ship and replacing it with a range when the ship is currently used as a stage? Removing it would do nothing except take away the icon and patriarch (Sir Alegenon) of the hotel.
Making the entertainment more “adult” wouldn’t make any difference there would still be kids around. Better to just train the bar staff better to make the cocktails well and leave it at that.

The ship takes up a lot of space for a relatively small stage, which can only be seen if your sat to the side or front of it (there are seats behind). Removing it would allow for a lot more seating. As for Sir Alegenon..... would the non theme park community really care?!
 
The ship takes up a lot of space for a relatively small stage, which can only be seen if your sat to the side or front of it (there are seats behind). Removing it would allow for a lot more seating. As for Sir Alegenon..... would the non theme park community really care?!

Yes it wasn't designed to be a live entertainment venue, but the ship is the icon of the hotel. For me it would be like removing the castle from Disneyland (or Magic Kingdom etc) to make more room for a new coaster, or demolishing the Towers at AT to make space for a ride. Why not have a decorative feature just for the sake of being decorative? The atrium at ATH is one of the best hotels, it gives a great sense of wonder and the staircases and ship make a nice focal point. Better designed than many of Disney's hotels in my opinion.

There are much bigger problems at Splash Landings, Enchanted Lodges and the Stargazing sheds, where the same sense of place-making and design wasn't applied.
 
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