Might as well put my own two pence into the positives and negatives so far:
Positives
The Sanctuary - So much better than Scarefest considering it is now a free attraction. It was fantastic to see all the actors giving it their best, despite not that many people realising it was there on the Saturday. I feel that all the actors who were carried over from the Scarefest version had improved greatly, and it was also great to see some faces from CoS and TotT doing a brilliant job in there also. I managed seven run throughs in total this weekend, and I enjoyed every single one.
The new street entertainers - I was a bit skeptical with regards to these three when I saw them roaming around the park on Saturday. However, after seeing much more of them today, I feel they're a great little addition to the park! The show they performed for us all was lovely, and I also particularly liked how they were in the queue line for The Sanctuary, interacting with the staff and also covering the rocks that had messages on them with tape, pretending that nothing was out of place with The Sanctuary. They reminded me of the street cleaners/builders who entertained guests at Sea World Orlando in 2010 who I thought were fantastic.
X Sector - I've loved the smell of fresh paint this weekend. Whilst the obvious flaw with the toilet block roof is apparent and The Smiler's support footers near the toilet block are hideous, I love how Towers have invested some care into X Sector this closed season, which despite it needing to happen, they didn't have to do. With regards to Bliv's station, whilst I'm over the moon they've hidden the atrocious previous station facade, I feel that the new panels are a bit too bright and standing out. I'd have preferred them to be white instead of the creamy colour they are.
The Burger Kitchen CCL Interior - I adore this interior. It looks smart, clean, and a place where anybody would want to eat.
Staff - I think the majority of staff in the shops and ride hosts have been an absolute credit to the resort this weekend. I could give so many mentions to all the staff who have helped up my mood this weekend, from the monorail driver who took us up to the hotel carparks this evening, down to the various shop staff and even the actors on The Sanctuary. Myself and Ben. had a really great conversation with one of the actors in the queueline with regards to the future of the maze and inquiring if they knew anything about being able to access the Towers. He was genuinely helpful and such an all round nice chap.
The paths - Not sure which parts are actually new and which are old, but many various areas of the paths around the park looked refreshed compared to last season, be it brand new brick patterns entirely or just a general jet wash. One part on the path from Katanga to MB stood out for me, although I'm not too sure if it was like that last season.
Negatives
Ride Ops - I know there is a large quantity of new ride ops this season, but they ruined many of the rides for me. Be it stacking and slacking, or trying to destroy various parts of my body with the restraints, I've not fully enjoyed various ride experiences this weekend down to the ride ops. However, I assume they will get better as time progresses, and I'm not willing to fully give them slack yet.
The Towers - I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that despite The Sanctuary being open, the Towers would be also. I was pretty gutted when asking the actors in The Sanctuary queue line if there was any safe way to gain access to the Towers only to be told no. I was genuinely looking forward to having a mini exploration of them at some point this weekend.
Rita's Tunnel - For obvious reasons.
The Burger Kitchen Food - I didn't have much from there this weekend, but from what I did have and from seeing what others had, I'm not impressed. The cheese on some of the burgers was shocking.
Attendance Figures - Whilst I was thrilled to get a decent ride count and enjoy an empty park considering it was opening weekend, I also felt that the overall lack of guests dampened the usual atmosphere. So a positive and a negative in a way.
Dave has covered a large quantity of other points I could have mentioned, but personally they didn't mean that much to me. So overall, a great personal start to the 2013 season and not a bad start to the season for Towers. A wide range of improvements can still be made, but overall, I'm very happy with the work done over closed season and the various additions added throughout the resort.