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2021: General Discussion

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ringo said:
Prebook system will let you modify existing bookings for next year
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Let's hope it limits people to absolute max 2-3 live bookings at a time too. It was a disgrace last season for the last few months (at least). Thousands of people not being able to book even 2-3 weeks ahead and then seeing the same people on the internet there EVERY weekend of the season. People who obviously just went on the booking page earlier in the season and booked every weekend. I mean, they were entitled to do that, they had an annual pass and it wasn't against the rules. However, in the interests of fairness to everyone with a pass, Merlin should have put in a way of stopping that. They've had ample time to learn their lesson from last season so it would be pretty poor to not implement a change ready for the new season.
 
Connor98 said:
I don’t think anyone has posted this yet, but there is some brand new drone footage of Alton towers, I was hoping to possibly see some cleaning and if Wicker man was having any maintenance, but looks pretty dead to me.
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We’re currently in a national lockdown...I imagine they’ll only be working on things that are time sensitive right now so they can keep the winter maintenance schedule going.
 
Connor98 said:
I don’t think anyone has posted this yet, but there is some brand new drone footage of Alton towers, I was hoping to possibly see some cleaning and if Wicker man was having any maintenance, but looks pretty dead to me.
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Amazing footage, thanks for sharing.

When you see it from above like that with all that amazing countryside surrounding the park it does make you wonder how they were ever allowed to build a theme park there!

Cleaning wise I think they tend to wait until Feb time, otherwise the rides will be sat for months getting dirty again.
 
This shouldn’t annoy me but it does, it looks like they’ve scraped 3 skyride gondolas already, 2 yellow and 1 red, you can see them sitting outside the shed, during some aerial footage from before the park opened this year there were 3 sat in the same place.
 
spinba11 said:
This shouldn’t annoy me but it does, it looks like they’ve scraped 3 skyride gondolas already, 2 yellow and 1 red, you can see them sitting outside the shed, during some aerial footage from before the park opened this year there were 3 sat in the same place.
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How can you possibly assume they've been "scrapped"? Maybe they have defects that are costly to fix, maybe they're not needed temporarily, maybe 100 different things... absolutely no reason or basis to assume that they are scapped.
 
Islander said:
How can you possibly assume they've been "scrapped"? Maybe they have defects that are costly to fix, maybe they're not needed temporarily, maybe 100 different things... absolutely no reason or basis to assume that they are scapped.
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Although you are right we shouldn't assume, typically if something at ATR is broken and it's going to cost more than a few hundred to fix... if they can get away with not, then they won't.

Leaving gondolas sat outside in the elements for long periods is hardly going to assist with any "issues".

See: Monorail trains / See: Duel Trommel / etc.

:)
 
AstroDan said:
Although you are right we shouldn't assume, typically if something at ATR is broken and it's going to cost more than a few hundred to fix... if they can get away with not, then they won't.

Leaving gondolas sat outside in the elements for long periods is hardly going to assist with any "issues".

See: Monorail trains / See: Duel Trommel / etc.

:)
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I am inclined to agree with AstroDan - the fact that these three gondolas have been left outside un-moved for an entire season (even though it was a much shortened one) speaks volumes. They won't see the "drive rope" on Skyride again. They'll probably just be cannibalised for parts if they have not already been done so - as it makes sense to store parts indoors where possible as opposed outside exposed to the elements.

I personally don't think we'll ever see the monorail run again. Come 2021 the trains will be 35 years old and despite various maintenance / upgrades the trains are on their last legs. One train (Daisy) was decommissioned a few years ago - presumably as a source of spare parts.

Even when I worked at Towers (late 1990's / early 2000's) it was well known that the monorail was on it's last legs & there was nothing in the long-term development plan relating to a replacement. NB: This was under Tussauds who were a bit more inclined to invest in infrastructure. With Merlin, as we all know, unless the accountants spreadsheet says the right ROI will be achieved, no investment happens. Time will tell what the new ownership of Merlin brings, but the fact remains that a new monorail would be somewhat expensive and does not boost visitor numbers.

I remember back in about 2004 chatting to a manager who has been at Towers for years (& still is there so I cannot name them). We were discussing theming & the general lack of it in places... the manager quite openly said "yes, we used to do theming but stopped taking it seriously after 1994 [Nemesis]". I think that says it all really.
 
Alton Towers said that the monorail was to be refurbished for 2020, so I’d imagine we may see it reopen in 2021 (or whenever COVID guidelines allow for it to) with a fresh lick of paint and refurbished trains, similar to what we saw in 2008.
 
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