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2024: General Discussion

It’s quite amazing just how excited the vapid gaggles of social media seem to be over this. From what I can see there’s very little to get excited about this season, let alone to parrot the Merlin marketing trope of it being an “extraordinary” year. The only extraordinary element of all this is just how easily people have fallen for the hype.

It’s refreshing that this forum is (as usual) adopting a much more balanced and thoughtful view.
 
venny said:
It’s quite amazing just how excited the vapid gaggles of social media seem to be over this. From what I can see there’s very little to get excited about this season, let alone to parrot the Merlin marketing trope of it being an “extraordinary” year. The only extraordinary element of all this is just how easily people have fallen for the hype.
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What a positive person you are… Nemesis returns, Hex returns and we get coasters in the dark in March for the first time. How can it not be an exciting season. That’s a huge jump up from last season so I don’t see how anyone can be negative about it
 
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venny said:
It’s quite amazing just how excited the vapid gaggles of social media seem to be over this. From what I can see there’s very little to get excited about this season, let alone to parrot the Merlin marketing trope of it being an “extraordinary” year. The only extraordinary element of all this is just how easily people have fallen for the hype.

It’s refreshing that this forum is (as usual) adopting a much more balanced and thoughtful view.
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That's the spirit, judge the season before it's even started.
 
Hang on there a minute...
These are things that simply (nearly) return us to the status quo...with the loss of three fairground attractions...and still no suggestion of a return of the skyride for the many of us with access issues.
Just because last seasons offering was very poor does not make the return of some attractions this year "fabulous".
Not really.
Good to have them back nonetheless.
 
I'll save my judgement for opening day. Fingers crossed everything is working and we don't just get 2 extra hours of trying to get on rides that keep breaking down :tearsofjoy:

There does seem to be a slightly more positive atmosphere heading into this season than previous ones though which is refreshing
 
Ethan said:
What a positive and happy person you are… Nemesis returns, Hex returns and we get coasters in the dark in March for the first time. How can it not be an exciting season. That’s a huge jump up from last season so I don’t see how anyone can be negative about it
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Danscott22 said:
That's the spirit, judge the season before it's even started.
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I’m not judging the season, clearly nobody can at this stage. I’m judging the information that’s available to us and putting that into the context of the seemingly blind optimism the announcement of what “new experiences” are available this year.

Rob has already pointed it out, but to review what we know thus far:-

- A ride that was closed for pretty much all of last season as a result of what appears to be a lack of maintenance (and also not doing a proper refurb during its last year long closure during TLC) is reopening. Net result: we’re getting a ride back that shouldn’t have been left to rot in the first place.

- Something (as yet undefined) is happening in CBeebies Land.

- The park’s event lineup has been significantly reduced, with two events cancelled. As many have pointed out the really positive steps that were taken to make Mardi Gras an excellent event are now out of the window.

- We’ve been offered the opportunity to give Merlin more money for “VIP experiences”.

- Nemesis is reopening, which means we have a ride back.

- The primary element around which Wickerman is themed and was marketed is apparently going to work again, which it should have been doing last season, but wasn’t. Basic maintenance of effects is not something to spin as “extraordinary”.

- The park is opening later on three days at the very start of the season; possibly some of the coldest times of the entire season. In isolation, not totally unwelcome, but I’d much rather that we had the longer hours for Oktoberfest, which were cut last year.

- All of the temporary flat rides have been removed, which will mean their ridership will now further clog the queues for other rides. There are no announced replacements.


In summary then what’s been announced seems to boil down to no new attractions to replace removed ones, some basic maintenance taking place and the park’s event lineup being slashed. You’ll therefore forgive my bemusement.
 
venny said:
Longest post in the world
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I sort of get the relevance to this as well, as both my children are under 1.4m so from their perspective nemesis reopening means nothing other than perhaps a new hoody. They have actually lost rides with the disappearance of the Retrosquad.

Don't forget as well the new height restriction for RMT which is going to cheese off a lot of people with children who could ride it last year but won't be able to this year.
 
dave___ said:
I sort of get the relevance to this as well, as both my children are under 1.4m so from their perspective nemesis reopening means nothing other than perhaps a new hoody. They have actually lost rides with the disappearance of the Retrosquad.

Don't forget as well the new height restriction for RMT which is going to cheese off a lot of people with children who could ride it last year but won't be able to this year.
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Did we ever get any idea of why the height requirement was changed on RMT? It must have been a decision they didn’t take lightly. I’m curious as to why it’s taken this long to do it and what triggered the change.
 
Surely the loss of MG wont be a massive issue if the funds are redistributed into the other events. Less is more hopefully is how they are looking at it
 
venny said:
I’m not judging the season, clearly nobody can at this stage. I’m judging the information that’s available to us and putting that into the context of the seemingly blind optimism the announcement of what “new experiences” are available this year.

Rob has already pointed it out, but to review what we know thus far:-

- A ride that was closed for pretty much all of last season as a result of what appears to be a lack of maintenance (and also not doing a proper refurb during its last year long closure during TLC) is reopening. Net result: we’re getting a ride back that shouldn’t have been left to rot in the first place.

- Something (as yet undefined) is happening in CBeebies Land.

- The park’s event lineup has been significantly reduced, with two events cancelled. As many have pointed out the really positive steps that were taken to make Mardi Gras an excellent event are now out of the window.

- We’ve been offered the opportunity to give Merlin more money for “VIP experiences”.

- Nemesis is reopening, which means we have a ride back.

- The primary element around which Wickerman is themed and was marketed is apparently going to work again, which it should have been doing last season, but wasn’t. Basic maintenance of effects is not something to spin as “extraordinary”.

- The park is opening later on three days at the very start of the season; possibly some of the coldest times of the entire season. In isolation, not totally unwelcome, but I’d much rather that we had the longer hours for Oktoberfest, which were cut last year.

- All of the temporary flat rides have been removed, which will mean their ridership will now further clog the queues for other rides. There are no announced replacements.


In summary then what’s been announced seems to boil down to no new attractions to replace removed ones, some basic maintenance taking place and the park’s event lineup being slashed. You’ll therefore forgive my bemusement.
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I broadly agree, mainly about the fact there doesn't seem to be any real replacement for Retrosquad, so the park is still down a couple of rides as Ripsaw and Enterprise have not been replaced. Also yep VIP experiences aren't anything to get overexcited about.

But the later closing in March does make some sense, with sunset in March being before 7pm there will be a couple of hours for night rides and it being Easter holidays it will be busier. Whereas at Oktoberfest sunset is after 7pm so no chance of rides in the dark really and its September when the park is quiet, the event is trying to draw more people in at that quiet period but an extra hour or two of rides in the light isn't as big an advantage compared to a chance to do them in the dark.
The loss of Mardi Gras also doesn't make sense to me as it should also help to fill the quieter April days.
 
Connor98 said:
Did we ever get any idea of why the height requirement was changed on RMT? It must have been a decision they didn’t take lightly. I’m curious as to why it’s taken this long to do it and what triggered the change.
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Almost certainly its to do with the shared lap bar and a larger person and a smaller one sharing a row, a new risk assessment was probably done and may have caused an insurance requirement.
 
venny said:
All of the temporary flat rides have been removed, which will mean their ridership will now further clog the queues for other rides. There are no announced replacements.
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Most enthusiasts have celebrated the departure of the retro rides as if it meant that they were being replaced. Shot them in the face now hasn’t it because we’re currently left with 3 empty spaces. As a result these enthusiasts have said they’d rather have no rides than the retro squad, to which I say they’re stupid. Who cares if something is themed into an area. What GP visitors will care about that. A ride is a ride and now we’re left with nothing
 
Ethan said:
Most enthusiasts have celebrated the departure of the retro rides as if it meant that they were being replaced. Shot them in the face now hasn’t it because we’re currently left with 3 empty spaces. As a result these enthusiasts have said they’d rather have no rides than the retro squad, to which I say they’re stupid. Who cares if something is themed into an area. What GP visitors will care about that. A ride is a ride and now we’re left with nothing
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Who celebrated their departure? Most posts on here were along the same line as @venny, the park needs the ride capacity. It was celebrated that Bianca hinted that she is aware they need flat rides, but without concrete evidence of them coming most people I think were still thinking its bad for 2024.
 
Spark said:
Surely the loss of MG wont be a massive issue if the funds are redistributed into the other events. Less is more hopefully is how they are looking at it
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Two points here: -

- I don’t think there’s any guarantee that the savings from cutting the two events will be redirected to what’s left. That’s certainly not been the case in the past. Even if the funds are redirected, why instead can’t we just have more funding for Scarefest on top of the existing events? It’s a lucrative enough event for them to substantiate additional funds, but the mentality recently seems to be exactly the opposite, i.e. why spend money if people are already visiting.

- The events earlier in the year offered something different to attract people to visit. Knowing that there might be a new scaremaze in October when I’m visiting the park in April doesn’t really improve my experience.
 
venny said:
The events earlier in the year offered something different to attract people to visit. Knowing that there might be a new scaremaze in October when I’m visiting the park in April doesn’t really improve my experience.
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Or it causes you to make one visit to the park only, in October for Scarefest as there is no additional incentive to come in April.
 
venny said:
Two points here: -

- I don’t think there’s any guarantee that the savings from cutting the two events will be redirected to what’s left. That’s certainly not been the case in the past. Even if the funds are redirected, why instead can’t we just have more funding for Scarefest on top of the existing events? It’s a lucrative enough event for them to substantiate additional funds, but the mentality recently seems to be exactly the opposite, i.e. why spend money if people are already visiting.

- The events earlier in the year offered something different to attract people to visit. Knowing that there might be a new scaremaze in October when I’m visiting the park in April doesn’t really improve my experience.
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A turnstile hasn’t even opened yet, I understand some of your reservations. But I’ll hold judgment until I see it with my own eyes. Just because there isn’t an event on doesn’t mean the park might not have increased its entertainments offering for example. If getting some of the basics right, (cleanliness, presentation and operations) means losing an event which was basically just some bunting, singers and food trucks then I’m all for it, get back to a good level of operation first then look at taking it further.
 
Surely the return of Nemesis and Hex more than offsets the capacity loss of the Retrosquad?

I agree that none of the news for 2024 is particularly celebration worthy in myself, but it certainly is a huge step in getting back to somewhere near where the park should be.

The next step over the medium term should certainly be new flat rides, Horizon, area refreshes, increased entertainment and better food and drink options but it’s such a big job that as long as we’re seeing signs of progress each year most lovers of the park will be satisfied.
 
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