Scott
Former TS Team Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
It might seem premature to be writing something that, on the face of it, looks like a season review. Which to be honest, it generally is. However, we're near enough to the end of the season now to reflect well enough on what has gone on... The only saving grace can be Sacrefest and Fireworks - and it will be interesting to see if this year's event is well received after 2011 Scarefest was widely regarded as poor by the site.
It's strange to look back to the start of the season and see how we all had so much hope. 2011 was a horrible year for the park in many ways, and it was horrible for enthusiasts too (even though I wasn't on TTF at the time I am aware of the mass petition sent to AT as well as Merlin's copyright attacks and so on). 2012 seemed to bring some fresh new optimism, alongside a couple of new attractions. Although weather was poor, the park was praised during Feb HT for its operations and determination to get rides to work! Impressive stuff and something to look forward to throughout the season? Perhaps.
The season began slightly negatively though - with Sub Terra v1 being an unfinished and poorly worked attraction at its opening. However, this seemed to be out-weighed by the fact that most members who were visiting commented on how cheery the park felt, how welcoming the staff were and how fantastic the general atmosphere of the whole of Towers was! Something definitely improved on from 2011 and something that was well received and a positive start to the season...
What started so well though, seemed to slowly evaporate as the season went on. Cutback after cutback, followed by U-turn after U-turn from Merlin and the park seemed to force the originally great atmosphere out of the park and as we began to hit peak season reports of poor service, long queues, Fastrack abuse and more became rife on the forums! Whatever promising start there was back in February and March had soon seemed to drift into negativity - despite the positive reviews of Terry v2. On top of this, a poor run of bad luck with ride maintenance caused more headaches. Blivvy has been suffering all season and of course there was Rita's cable snap!
What started so well has seemed to become a bit of a poor season in terms of satisfaction, maintenance and general 'feel' of the park (something echoed by the recent thread on queue close information) - but where do you think it all went wrong? Was it the attempted cuts? The ride downtime? The overselling of Fastrack? A combination of everything? It just seems so strange to have felt so positive in the early weeks and months before the positivity crumbled when peak season kicked in!
Hopefully the park will have an amazing Scarefest and Fireworks and here's to SW7 in March!
It's strange to look back to the start of the season and see how we all had so much hope. 2011 was a horrible year for the park in many ways, and it was horrible for enthusiasts too (even though I wasn't on TTF at the time I am aware of the mass petition sent to AT as well as Merlin's copyright attacks and so on). 2012 seemed to bring some fresh new optimism, alongside a couple of new attractions. Although weather was poor, the park was praised during Feb HT for its operations and determination to get rides to work! Impressive stuff and something to look forward to throughout the season? Perhaps.
The season began slightly negatively though - with Sub Terra v1 being an unfinished and poorly worked attraction at its opening. However, this seemed to be out-weighed by the fact that most members who were visiting commented on how cheery the park felt, how welcoming the staff were and how fantastic the general atmosphere of the whole of Towers was! Something definitely improved on from 2011 and something that was well received and a positive start to the season...
What started so well though, seemed to slowly evaporate as the season went on. Cutback after cutback, followed by U-turn after U-turn from Merlin and the park seemed to force the originally great atmosphere out of the park and as we began to hit peak season reports of poor service, long queues, Fastrack abuse and more became rife on the forums! Whatever promising start there was back in February and March had soon seemed to drift into negativity - despite the positive reviews of Terry v2. On top of this, a poor run of bad luck with ride maintenance caused more headaches. Blivvy has been suffering all season and of course there was Rita's cable snap!
What started so well has seemed to become a bit of a poor season in terms of satisfaction, maintenance and general 'feel' of the park (something echoed by the recent thread on queue close information) - but where do you think it all went wrong? Was it the attempted cuts? The ride downtime? The overselling of Fastrack? A combination of everything? It just seems so strange to have felt so positive in the early weeks and months before the positivity crumbled when peak season kicked in!
Hopefully the park will have an amazing Scarefest and Fireworks and here's to SW7 in March!