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2013: General Discussion
delta79
TS Member
Slugjc said:
It hangs around with the ents team a lot. But it does pop up with some ride staff.
I did like the ride ops goodbye on the mine train "thank you for riding the runaway mine train, the original Rita Queen of speed" a few of the parents on the train laughed at that.
Slugjc
TS Member
Scott said:The other day they said 'please place all loose items, bags and your dignity behind the yellow line' (or words to that effect)delta79 said:
You see its always there. Never seen the choo choo lady. But there was a lad doing a sarcastic version when I last visited, the bloke checking my lap bar just looked at me and said "Give a bloke a microphone and he thinks he's the next Vernon kaye" made me chortle.
Dave
TS Founding Member
Ents does seem to be the one area of the park where things have taken a big improvement, the Pirate show is not as cringe-worthy as last year and the Park Keepers and their new car thing is really good.
Not expecting much from Scarefest this year as i think the park have been panicking about the Smiler delays so i imagine budgets wont increase for it but i can see ents getting a further push next year.
The park itself is in a better state than it has been for a few years, with X-sector getting it's refresh and a big new ride. But they do desperately need to look at the state of valley and operations/ FT/ opening times. Kinda hope that now the massive increase in numbers has been proved not to be a flash-in-the-pan thing they might loosen up.
Not expecting much from Scarefest this year as i think the park have been panicking about the Smiler delays so i imagine budgets wont increase for it but i can see ents getting a further push next year.
The park itself is in a better state than it has been for a few years, with X-sector getting it's refresh and a big new ride. But they do desperately need to look at the state of valley and operations/ FT/ opening times. Kinda hope that now the massive increase in numbers has been proved not to be a flash-in-the-pan thing they might loosen up.
BigAl
TS Member
I think Alton Towers did used to actually have a few actors roaming around the park as park keepers back in the 90's, except the old park keepers actually looked like park keepers thanks to their costumes and the make-up they used to make their faces look like they actually had mud on them.
Dave
TS Founding Member
BigAl said:I think Alton Towers did used to actually have a few actors roaming around the park as park keepers back in the 90's, except the old park keepers actually looked like park keepers thanks to their costumes and the make-up they used to make their faces look like they actually had mud on them.
Towers used to have loads of great roaming actors, i remember the old washer woman (who was a man) on a scooter and the adventurers in Katanga. As well as loads of great costume characters.
These days whenever i say "improvements" i'm talking from their lowest point
we are not back to the highs that's for sure. Though i know the creative lead in Ents (many faces of....) is very passionate about roaming entertainment so i think we will see more crop up as budgets allow.
delta79
TS Member
Dave said:These days whenever i say "improvements" i'm talking from their lowest point
I agree, thing are going the right way since the creative lead took over the role.
(he is going to get ribbed for this part of the thread you know
)
Dave
TS Founding Member
delta79 said:(he is going to get ribbed for this part of the thread you know
and?
One thing i do think would be nice is if they could get all of the actors on Towers Street after 4pm would be a nice atmosphere for park close. They never seem to be around at that time.
Just a couple of little things to know right now:
Those interested in alcohol (imagine someone on here like that?!) should know that Strongbow has temporarily been replaced by Blackthorn as the draught cider in Marg's.
Also, Mexican Cantina is currently only opening on weekends (I'm wondering if this is the same for Refresh@Ripsaw given the amount it's been closed lately?)
Those interested in alcohol (imagine someone on here like that?!) should know that Strongbow has temporarily been replaced by Blackthorn as the draught cider in Marg's.
Also, Mexican Cantina is currently only opening on weekends (I'm wondering if this is the same for Refresh@Ripsaw given the amount it's been closed lately?)
jmc
TS Member
Went yesterday (Saturday) one of the hottest days of the year expecting hell.
I was pleasantly surprised to be able to get on every single ride (some more than once) with ease. Whilst The Smiler was attracting queues of 250 mins, it seems to be having a positive effect elsewhere on park by soaking up lots of guests! Not a single fastrack needed
However the state of the park is quite bad. For example the bookworm now looks like he has been decapitated as his head is literally hanging off. When you go with people who dont scrutinise the park as much as us enthusiasts and they comment that the park is filthy, it isn't good.
I was pleasantly surprised to be able to get on every single ride (some more than once) with ease. Whilst The Smiler was attracting queues of 250 mins, it seems to be having a positive effect elsewhere on park by soaking up lots of guests! Not a single fastrack needed
However the state of the park is quite bad. For example the bookworm now looks like he has been decapitated as his head is literally hanging off. When you go with people who dont scrutinise the park as much as us enthusiasts and they comment that the park is filthy, it isn't good.
BigAl
TS Member
The Bookworm has been in a bad way for a while now. The appalling attempt to fix his ripped throat fell apart and made it look worse than before they attempted to make it look less pitiful. Such a shame because he was a wonderful animatronic and very popular when Storybook Land was more than just the one attraction.
Also noticed today that there are a couple of signs on Riverbank Eye Spy that are falling apart (clearly rotten) among other things on it that have seen better days (like all of it).
I also wish they'd keep on top of the amount of litter there. I've never known Alton Towers and Chessington to be as filthy as they have been this year.
:/
Also noticed today that there are a couple of signs on Riverbank Eye Spy that are falling apart (clearly rotten) among other things on it that have seen better days (like all of it).
I also wish they'd keep on top of the amount of litter there. I've never known Alton Towers and Chessington to be as filthy as they have been this year.
:/
djtruefitt
TS Team
If that whole area get re-themed this closed season I imagine they won't want to spend any more sorting it out, if its just going to get binned, or changed in a few months.
In terms of litter, I haven't really seen much of a problem apart from in queue lines, but there really isn't anything the park can do about this, other than add more bins. I know all queue lines gets cleaned each night, bit of course they can't litter pick in the day (because people are in the queues!). Some areas could do with a few more bins, Towers should look which bins are overflowing at the end of the day and add another one or two bins there.
Towers also have staff walking around all day litter picking, so either these aren't doing their job correctly or Alton need more of these staff!
In terms of litter, I haven't really seen much of a problem apart from in queue lines, but there really isn't anything the park can do about this, other than add more bins. I know all queue lines gets cleaned each night, bit of course they can't litter pick in the day (because people are in the queues!). Some areas could do with a few more bins, Towers should look which bins are overflowing at the end of the day and add another one or two bins there.
Towers also have staff walking around all day litter picking, so either these aren't doing their job correctly or Alton need more of these staff!
Dave
TS Founding Member
Or its actually not any worse than before, the park is however quite busy at the moment so it will be harder to keep up. Even in 2010 they never had such a prolonged period of high guest numbers.
I haven't noticed a major litter issue, as for the book-worm and river-bank, its generally accepted that both these areas are part of the new family development announced a while back so i imagine they wont be around for much longer.
I haven't noticed a major litter issue, as for the book-worm and river-bank, its generally accepted that both these areas are part of the new family development announced a while back so i imagine they wont be around for much longer.