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Is it possible they were expecting attendance to be lower? If big queues continue, I can see them pulling the dust sheets off some of the smaller outlets, especially those in Dark Forest before the summer.

Depending on what SW8 turns out to be, I'm fairly certain we'll see some form of flume/water-drop ride re-appear at the park in the future as they're still extremely popular, they don't have to be massively expensive and they're marketable. There's a couple of potential locations, but my money...

Not quite as simple as that. Until they were merged financially in 2013, Merlin theme parks were all operated as individual/independent businesses so Alton Towers paid more in interested because they'd borrowed/owed more from Merlin/banks etc than Thorpe Park. Which isn't unreasonable...

I'm getting my information from Companies House, where Alton Towers Resort Operations file their profit/loss statements between 2007-2012 (2013 onwards, they don't incorporate the full resort, only management of the Estate) and prior to 2007, it was a different trading company name...

You do both realise for a long period of time it was actually Thorpe Park that was the group cash cow? Alton Towers spent the first half of 2000's making losses in the millions and Thorpe Park has considerably better profit margins. The group will already be 'helping out' by absorbing the losses...

In the short term, it will be very difficult to improve the reputation, but unfortunately - there is no going to be any silver bullet fix to the parks reputation or financial challenges and it will very much be a case of things will probably get worse before they get better. It's simply a case...

Closing un-popular, high-maintenance or rides with poor operational cost to value ratio makes perfect sense in the short term. The park effectively lost around £30-40million a year in turnover from the gate numbers decline. No business, in any market, or especially one as debt ladened as Alton...

Not suprised they're pushing back major investments. The parks issues now stem from lack trust - people don't see Alton Towers as safe anymore. Major investments in roller coasters (or any major attractions) would most likely see little to no return on investment until they fix that - especially...

Merlin only have a dominance in UK if you take a very narrow view of the UK leisure and tourism industry. Theme parks don't just compete with theme parks. They have to compete with everything from your local cinema to historical landmarks.

Would Alton Towers be better off part of another group, possibly debatable, but would Alton Towers be better off alone? Quite possibly not. Alton Towers (and most Merlin theme parks) invest considerably more money than they make each season. That's only possible because they have a larger...

I'm not entirely sure I agree with the stance Zamperla can't do quality. There's no doubt there off the shelve rides are targeted at the lower end budget, but what's to say their bespoke work is not better? After all, all/most Disney Resorts feature their rides and they're up there near the...

It was never earmarked for removal. The long term plan referred to relocation only. The long term plan is also noncommittal, it's simply a framework to pre-notifiy the council of the intended scale and level of development across the site. There really is no need for bargaining tools. Whilst...

Sitting on £93 billion profits is not a bad thing. They're earning more money than they could possibly spend and it's great to see a multi-billion dollar company operating with the ideology of a small business and not surviving on borrowed money! Display and track-pad wise, I'm not too sure...

I don't think Spinball has ever been a 'problem' from a legal or planning perspective in the past, it was always Oblivion that got mentioned in Court so it may not carry much weight in that regard - though it's not secret management hate the ride so I do agree it's days are certainly numbered...

I'd expect, or hope the park would look to have a decent family coaster/thrill ride replacement in place before they remove Spinball - but that said, it's not unlike Towers to leave gaping holes in their line up!

I'm guessing all they'll need to do is submit plans to refurbish it, which are a pretty cert to be accepted. They then have the usual 5 years that a planning permission lasts to move the bats and kick off the re-furb.

I love how they've managed to take this down in just a few weeks, yet still haven't managed to take the Christmas tree by the lake down!

Shanghai is costing £3.7billion ($5.5 billion or 34 billion Yuan) - that's taking into account the initial theme park and resort developments, plus the extra $800million Disney agreed to contribute in 2014. So the budget is massively different, but this is Disney where their attractions have...

Can you provide links/reports to back this up? The only thing I can find talks about a Kuwait company holding a 75% stake in the company planning the park, and they've only invested a un-disclosed 7 figure sum. At the very most, that's 0.5% of the total money required, £2billion. I'd love to...

Well, if the park has an entire budget of £270million, those attractions are going to be basic and off the shelve! I'm surprised GDF are getting involved in this, with the current state of the energy industry across Europe - money is incredibly tight, and investment in energy infrastructure...