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What is Alton Towers Succeeding In?

s_g_k

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Oblivion
There’s a lot of negativity at the moment aimed at Alton Towers, most of which is unfortunately probably justified.

But that got me thinking - What is Alton Towers doing well at currently?

I would say that the park is really putting the effort in to hosting some great events this year, and most major rides seem to be properly maintained from a theming perspective, albeit Duel and the waterfalls below Nemesis.

This is a positive thread - I’m interested to know your thoughts on what you think Alton Towers is doing well at!
 
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The park is generally succeeding, the hotels are not.
Well I’m sure the hotels are making money, they just aren’t providing a great level of service.
But I don’t think there is anything significant to criticise the park for? It’s generally providing a great product this year, from what I can see, I haven’t visited.
 
I'm going to change the question a bit and ask how the park has changed since 2019. We've had a few years of cuts in ride line-up, opening hours and entertainment. Many of these cuts seem to have been reversed since lockdown, I was surprised to see extended opening hours on weekends and new shows and events and new flat rides (albeit hired in fairground rides), I hope these changes and the new trajectory stay. There are definitely some things that need changing still, the hotels being the most obvious as discussed in the hotels thread but also the world of David Walliams and Duel being areas of the park that could do with work done to them.
 
Great idea for a thread @s_g_k and I'm always for a little more positivity towards Alton Towers.

In my opinion the park is doing much better this season then it has since about 2016. 2016-2018 was almost a dark age in Alton Towers. With constant budget cuts, cheap or no ride installation and just generally the park had lost a lot of its atmosphere. They started turning this around with Wicker Man and just general improvements over 2018.

I do feel the biggest changes though have come in the past two years. Partially due to the pandemic but also due to the parks new found determination to be the best it can be. The events are a key example of this and really do show the new direction. The increase in events demonstrates the parks new found want to improve the park even in difficult circumstances.

If the pandemic didn't happen I would have expected the visitor numbers to keep rising but obviously that's not the case. I do think considering the season started late this year I think they'll have a good attendance figure. I'd like to think going forward the park continue to demonstrate there new innovation and revitalisation so the numbers keep on rising.
So in general I think Alton Towers is on the up and am hoping for a much better future than what I thought was possible just a few years ago.
 
most major rides seem to be properly maintained from a theming perspective

I know this is supposed to be a positive thread but I simply can't see how you can list this as a positive. Most of the major rides are absolutely hanging theming wise and it's been well talked about. I thought the Oblivion queue line was so bad, I took a few pictures on Thursday around Oblivion, Nemesis and Galactica. I won't list them all now to derail the thread but I think most of us could fill up pages and pages of stuff showing how bad the situation is.

I know this seems quite conflicted after what I've just said, but I don't think there is a lot of negatively at the moment compared to discussions we've been having the past few seasons. I think the general consensus is that this season has been a massive step forward for the park and has taken many by surprise.

We've had the best events calendar I've ever known. Those events themselves being rather good. Entertainment has breathed some life back into the park. There's a long overdue new dark ride (let's not dwell on the embarrassing state of the area it's in though). Opening hours have mostly been very decent indeed, even if you do need a crystal ball to find out what they are. They've been letting guests in at 9am most mornings. And although I wouldn't want them to stay long term, the temp flats have given us 4 rides we didn't have in the preceding seasons.
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- Events are great and rapidly improving (Oktoberfest in particular is a fantastic whole park event)
- Best coaster line-up in Europe
- Opening hours are now generally good, with 7/8/9pm weekend closes throughout the season
- The majority of staff are excellent
 
I agree on the staffing comment. When I went for a pint at the Welcom Inn at the end of the day on my last visit, it was clear the barman was tidying up to close down however he poured me a pint regardless, and even gave us a discount despite the fact we’re not pass holders just because “we were friendly”.
 
Yes the staff at Alton Towers in my experience are generally pretty good and most ride hosts/operators are very effective and efficient. Had some great banter with the staff over the years too.
 
It succeeds at being the best park in the country. Let's be honest.....for all it's faults it's still a great place to visit.

If I could only choose one UK park to visit for the rest of my days it would be Towers.
 
No I haven't and you're right I shouldn't judge a ride I haven't been on. But they do look damn good

Zadra and Hyperion are for sure great. Abyssus is a good filler coaster and very fun, but I’d take towers line up any day instead of maybe 2 world class coasters. Energylandia also operate them like clowns, so I think Alton towers trump them on that side of things too. I’d say Alton towers operations are generally one of the best I’ve seen, apart from the odd discrepancy (obviously nothing on the level of Europa park) .
 
It succeeds at being the best park in the country. Let's be honest.....for all it's faults it's still a great place to visit.

If I could only choose one UK park to visit for the rest of my days it would be Towers.
I wish this was a compliment but in reality the other UK parks are s**t
 
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