Alton Towers?... Meh!

Anyone else feeling a bit meh when it comes to the park? I mean don't get me wrong its still a great place. I just seem to have seriously lost interest in it. It started last year and I seriously concidered not get an MAP for this year, but The Smiler was enough to make me reconsider.

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I get what you mean but I think it is due to the smiler opening. We haven't really got anything to obsess over anymore. Going on Thursday maybe I will fall back to serious obsession...again.

Methinks my opinions are well known enough round these parts that I need not comment further.

The Smiler opening was what made me like the place again, but now The Smiler spend half its time down. Kinda proves the park manage to make a monumental balls up of everything they do recently, I just seem to have lost all love for the place.

The park is good but crap at the same time, it needs a lot of work doing to the whole park

Could you feel this way as you are used to the park and go so much that it is not special anymore?

To put it into context, I barely visit (2 times a year if I'm lucky) but these visits feel special to me and are just as exciting as my first time.

Maybe, if you didn't go so often and maybe just went a few times a year then you would appreciate the park more.

Hmmmm......



Enough to make me excited

It's the time of the season were many of you have visited so often the place has become stale, it happens every single year.

Don't visit the place as often and you won't feel meh.

I'm the opposite. I had a MAP for one year a few years ago and got a bit fed up. Have visited sporadically since then, didn't go at all last year and then got a MAP this year. I've been so many times this season and I'm just loving it more every time I go. I really feel like I've rediscovered that magic! I have to say though, I think a big part of it is joining this forum and making some friends to visit the park with

I havent been nearly as much this year as I did last year. I just dont enjoy the park as much as I use to simply because I feel nothing much has changed. The Smiler is a great ride (when it works), but the rest of the park looks naff and Im getting tired of things being broken, shops and food outlets being shut and just generally a rubbish day out.

The amount of times someone have asked me if I would like to go to the park and I just cannot be bothered and end up saying no is unreal. I would have a few years back, gone to the park for half a day and the rush off to work. Now I dont even go when I have the whole weekend off and people have offered to give me a lift.

I've had a similar feeling for a while now; it's not entirely down to the actual park it's more to do with my thoughts of the company, I suppose the company ethics if that's the correct word.

When I spend my cash I want to feel appreciated for my custom in an honest manor, this applies to everything not just Theme Parks; I want to feel like a valued customer and at Merlin attractions i'm just not feeling this at all, infact I feel the opposite, like they couldn't give a toss. It's hard to explain but I guess that when considering a trip I get these pre-thought that I will get angry during the day over one thing or another and the end of the day will no doubt cause further frustrations and so I'm thinking do I really want to shell out all that money to feel pissed off? I'd much rather spend the money on lager and watch from a far as other people get pissed off on FB/Twitter etc

I'm thinking it's probably down to my visiting so often in the past or keeping up to date on the latest money grabbing schemes, then again though if I only ever visited once every 10 years, wouldn't the effect be the same?

I'm trying to figure out what is different between the Towers & Merlin parks in general compared with places that I would happily visit without a second thought. I think it comes down to how blatant it is that you as a customer are there to be targeted by the company to part from as much cash as possible. The side stalls, the generic 'quirky' signs telling you that you need to purchase this or that in order to have a good day out. The other parks I like don't seem to do this. PA, EP, PL even Blackpool from what I remember.
Of course all of these parks are trying to up-sell to you just as much as Towers/Merlin are but it's done in a more discreet way and is seen as a way to make a great day better more than a way of making a frustrating day more acceptable.

I suppose the main thing putting me off is the opening times. I'm prepared to accept queues in parks that are open later but to be faced with large queues for a park that's open for 6 or so hours, queues that are self inflicted due to fast track, poor throughputs, breakdowns etc don't compel me to jump in my car and visit.

They need more EVENTS. On park, included in admission, EVENTS.

This is what keeps fresh air flowing at theme parks worldwide.

But apart from the last three weeks of the season, nothing ever changes.

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Ahh events. Chocolate Towers could have been a winner there. But they failed so epically in 2007. 2006 Chocolate Towers however was a big hit, I've never known the place to be so full of life outside of Halloween.

See if they brought Chocolate Towers back, like how it was in 2006 (lets pretend 2007 never happened) I think it would be a bit hit and prove to be very popular.

Some form of summer event may be a good starting point though. Even Oakwood pulls off a pretty good summer event, with fireworks! Alton Towers could go down the route of a stunt show to start maybe.

Aside from events more shows are needed on park. Something on a big scale and that can entertain all ages. The ice shows did that, all they need is something similar. A show with music, comedy, a little bit of magic. It doesn't have to be an ice show but something on the scale of that would really bring more life into the park.

I pretty much agree exactly with Crofty's post.
I don't feel in any way like a valued customer anymore. I visited 2/3 times last season and have been only once for a couple of hours this year to ride The Smiler. I have no desire to visit again until the end of the season.

Agree with both Dan and Crofty. If they had something to keep bringing me back I would go, but the park no longer has the wow factor for me anymore.

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Because of lots of recent family and personal problems/deaths. I wont be going until 2014. I want to be able to feel the magic of my first visit. The first trip on the monorail looking at nemesis and thinking WOW! Looking up at blivvy. Only 4 years ago when I was 9. I hope it doesnt feel stale when I eventually go.

Not at all. I have done in recent years, but the addition of a fantastic new coaster this season has breathed a lot of life back into the place.

I do agree that they need more events, but they've never had that. So if we're talking how I feel relative to how I used to about the park, much better at the moment.

BigDave said:

Agree with both Dan and Crofty. If they had something to keep bringing me back I would go, but the park no longer has the wow factor for me anymore.

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Click to expand...

They do... It's called The Smiler.

If you've visited enough already this season that the thing that's meant to draw you back has stopped having that effect - then it probably means your opinion is skewed by how often you've been?


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Been on it 5 times. Seems a lot, but compare that with others on here and its not. The Smiler is great, but all the recent problems is seriously turning what should be a great ride into nothing short of a farce.

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This season has been a weird one for me, the park actually has never looked as fresh for years with the addition of The Smiler and the X-Sector spruce up/ Blivvy repaint, also Hex is not as dire as it was having the drum fixed. Obviously the Smiler is a great ride as well and anew coaster is always a buzz.

On the flip side Nemesis looks dire, with theming stripping off and The Smiler has cheap theming that is already getting damaged. And plenty of the park feels neglected.

BUT

My big issue at the moment is how badly the park are portraying themselves, the PR response to The Smiler incident was amateur, with guests not told on Mon or Tue it was closed. There is no drive to boost numbers with events and the prices are just stupid at the moment.

People need to remember the really bad of 2011 (no investment, towers street market traders ect) to remember the season isn't as bad as it could be but my god a marketing and PR dept has never in the past been so successful in making a visit to a theme park seem so dull and poor value for money.