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Talbot Street Lock In

I have been to Splash Landings three times and stayed there, first visit was back in summer 2004, next was Spring 2005 (April) and finally summer of August in 2009, it has some good humid effects when you walk through, I once got a visit from Baby Bear one breakfast morning in April, just to say hello.
This is the barrel outside.
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I suspect that American parks would probably might of used the original name for Calypso Springs, too bad though as it sounded like a good name for it.
 
The past 40 years have been a bit of rollercoaster for the park and the mid-2000s were one of the more difficult periods and a far cry from the golden days of the 90s.

The 2004 addition of Spinball Whizzer was not the park's finest hour. Whilst the coaster is a fun ride, it's addition was let down by a rushed development period, which lead to an installation of a ride that did not have the necessary capacity, installed into a questionable corner of the park.

On the other hand, the season also saw the park's ageing Log Flume received a much needed refresh to become The Flume: Unplugged, bring some bathtime with attitude to the park.
2004.jpg
 
The past 40 years have been a bit of rollercoaster for the park and the mid-2000s were one of the more difficult periods and a far cry from the golden days of the 90s.

The 2004 addition of Spinball Whizzer was not the park's finest hour. Whilst the coaster is a fun ride, it's addition was let down by a rushed development period, which lead to an installation of a ride that did not have the necessary capacity, installed into a questionable corner of the park.

On the other hand, the season also saw the park's ageing Log Flume received a much needed refresh to become The Flume: Unplugged, bring some bathtime with attitude to the park.
2004.jpg
The log flume needed its refurbishment but Spinball should belong at a park like Paultons or Drayton!
 
Quite a few things changed around in 2004:
  • The Rapids boats got changed to yellow.
  • Ripsaw blue pylons removed.
  • Boneshaker became SBNO.
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There was a lot more attractions that stopped operating that season, Dynamo, Cred Street Carousel, Vintage Cars and 3D Cinema were also SBNO. Not to mention the poor Swan Boats that were replaced by the Splash Kart Challenge. The only year when more attractions closed was 1993.

2004 was not a great year.
 
From memory certain of those attractions (such as the 3D Cinema) were closed mid season. So they still featured on the map and guests were heading over to experience them, only to find it closed.

Was that also the year they decided to cancel the Halloween Spooktacular mid season too?
 
2004 was an absolute trash year for the park. By the end of the season, the whole back end around Cred Street had been boarded up for cost-saving, and all of a sudden, UG Land was out-of-bounds, too. Of course, this was in anticipation of a hugely unexpected new coaster, but that felt really odd when the rest of the park was in a proper state. Events got cancelled, rides opened significantly later in the mornings for the first time, leaving people just aimlessly strolling around looking to ride something open until 11AM or noon, and crap like Splash Karts appeared. No Halloween event, despite the success of Spooktacular and TOTT the two previous years.

All this just a year after opening a massive new hotel and water park, too. As I recall, things felt relatively back to normal in 2005, but for that one year, the place was in it's worst state, surpassing anything we've seen in the last decade.
 
During 2004 and 2005, the park rounded off each day with the Towers Street Carnival.

The event would see the cast of the shows around the park, as well as costumed characters from different areas, descend on Towers Street for a procession followed by a party with a combination of song, dance, games and the chance to grab a photo with your favourite characters.

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I recall really enjoying this - the long awaited return of entertainment to Towers St, and of course Henry Hound. Shame it was short lived.
 
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2004 was an absolute trash year for the park. By the end of the season, the whole back end around Cred Street had been boarded up for cost-saving, and all of a sudden, UG Land was out-of-bounds, too. Of course, this was in anticipation of a hugely unexpected new coaster, but that felt really odd when the rest of the park was in a proper state. Events got cancelled, rides opened significantly later in the mornings for the first time, leaving people just aimlessly strolling around looking to ride something open until 11AM or noon, and crap like Splash Karts appeared. No Halloween event, despite the success of Spooktacular and TOTT the two previous years.

All this just a year after opening a massive new hotel and water park, too. As I recall, things felt relatively back to normal in 2005, but for that one year, the place was in it's worst state, surpassing anything we've seen in the last decade.
I'm not sure, I think the post-Smiler period was pretty bad too, I wouldn't want to choose between.

2004 also has the distinction of being the point they started doing cheap stunts for marketing purposes. Poor Oblivion looked daft: http://gallery.towersalmanac.com/displayimage.php?album=238&pos=1
 
I'm not sure, I think the post-Smiler period was pretty bad too, I wouldn't want to choose between.

Yes, admittedly I'm biased as I was visiting the park a lot around 2004, whereas in the past five years, my visits have been infrequent. I've particularly enjoyed the debate in this topic, however, it's a telling reminder of how nostalgia can either blinker or batter your memory.
 
That Fanta sponsorship was laughably dire. Not only was it almost comically gaudy, but the drop is actually closer to 200ft than 150ft, so the signage actually makes the ride seem less exciting.
 
Did I imagine it, or did one of the signs once say that the drop was 10,000ft during that sponsorship? I also remember seeing a photo of a “looking down’s the fun part” sign directly above the “don’t look down” sign.

2011 sure was an interesting year for Oblivion, to say the least...
 
Was it true that this forum emailed Nick Varney asking him to remove the sponsorship and he visited the next week telling Alton Towers to "get this **** off my ride"? Very funny if true, thank goodness it didnt last long.
 
Was it true that this forum emailed Nick Varney asking him to remove the sponsorship and he visited the next week telling Alton Towers to "get this **** off my ride"? Very funny if true, thank goodness it didnt last long.
I believe it was back when we were on TTF, but yeah - I'm fairly certain it's true. :p
 
Was it true that this forum emailed Nick Varney asking him to remove the sponsorship and he visited the next week telling Alton Towers to "get this **** off my ride"? Very funny if true, thank goodness it didnt last long.
I think that may have been true, actually; I think @AstroDan led a group of members on TTF (as it was then) and wrote a petition. I’ll look for it!
 
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