Dave
TS Founding Member
Paultons will always be damned by geography, Drayton definitely could push hard on this though.
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2024: General Discussion
- Thread starter Craig
- Start date
Paultons will always be damned by geography, Drayton definitely could push hard on this though.
Jb85
TS Member
End of its life?
Hmmmm
Makes me think the deal on ripsaw 2 (or whatever it’ll be called) is that they kept headcount the same….
So Blade was the natural cut.
Or they are planning on something in that area? They’ve looked a coaster there before haven’t they?
Real shame though. Can’t be arsed to visit next year as it stands atm. More same old same old and to be honest I’ve done the rides to death. Need some new experiences.
Couldn’t give a hoot about the dungeons going, as long as it’s not just left to rot like the remainder of the park.
This has left me thinking thought Merlin must have some sort of long term investment plan. Maybe concentrating on each park in one go? Chessington being the starting point
Hmmmm
Makes me think the deal on ripsaw 2 (or whatever it’ll be called) is that they kept headcount the same….
So Blade was the natural cut.
Or they are planning on something in that area? They’ve looked a coaster there before haven’t they?
Real shame though. Can’t be arsed to visit next year as it stands atm. More same old same old and to be honest I’ve done the rides to death. Need some new experiences.
Couldn’t give a hoot about the dungeons going, as long as it’s not just left to rot like the remainder of the park.
This has left me thinking thought Merlin must have some sort of long term investment plan. Maybe concentrating on each park in one go? Chessington being the starting point
Bowser
TS Member
Winter Update | Alton Towers Resort
www.altontowers.com
I know it’s in a couple of other threads but this is the death knell for us going next year. That’s two more 1.2m rides gone so for my kids who are under 1.4 it’s just a waste of a full day now.
Similar situation for me. Now in fairness we only went on The Blade once, though partly because it was a trek for the only 1.2m ride in that area and partly because it was broken one time and never went on Flavio because frankly i'm not driving 300 miles to go on a travelling fairground ride.
Equally we didn't do The Dungeons and the optimist in me says they HAVE to be doing something with that space.... right? Did someone from AT read my post about The Flying Dutchman?
But yeah, removing 3 family rides and adding one 1.4m ride is objectively very poor.
GooseOnTheLoose
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Ug Bugs
I never said that LinkedIn was anything but an online CV, I said that she was still sharing Alton Towers content, which would suggest that she's not going anywhere over the closed season. It was to counter the narrative creep of "Scott O'Neil's gone and now Bianca has closed her Instagram?! Omg she's going!"
The fact that her Instagram account was solely created for Alton Towers updates underlines my point. You don't want a singular person, who won't be around forever, to be the face of your brand. It was clearly an experiment, but one which isn't continuing. Why keep pushing those updates to the account of Bianca, and raising her profile? I wouldn't be surprised if we started seeing similar content, which would have been posted to her account, on the main channel.
James Watkins
TS Member
Bowser
TS Member
Should we set up a GoFundMe?
Second consecutive year the park has lost more rides than it has gained. Does reek of the park being quietly downgraded in the portfolio when you compare the investment going on in the southern trio.
Poisson
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Giant Squid
They've binned off some crap (Dungeons, Flavios) and it's sad to see the back of Blade but all the fibreglass was really coming apart at the end of the season, either spend the money they don't have or it goes.
Net 0 gain/loss of good rides. 1 in, 1 out.
Net 0 gain/loss of good rides. 1 in, 1 out.
A lot of concern is rather you’ve lost two family friendly rides and gained 0. For those of us who need to drag our kids there
The boat we can agree on. They’ve got a perfect building. The park is screaming out for a family attraction. Gruffalo (while worse then bubbleworks) is always in such high demand.
Bowser
TS Member
Danscott22
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Smiler
This is a valid point to be fair, particuarly when The Blade was originally supposed to close 10 years ago next summer. It's bad that stuff is going, but the other two really are deadwood.
Poisson
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Giant Squid
I am trying to be optimistic. I never expected them to get a good flat ride until they have actually gone and done it.
owenstreet7
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Taron
The likelihood is, Flavio was going to be moved on anyway and was on borrowed time.
The fact it's going is most likely because it reached the natural end of it's lease so it's going back to the operator and on the fair circuit.
The Dungeons had marginal impact on the capacity because it's been running at very reduced capacity for years. Hopefully this will be redone and reopened as a full attraction.
The Blade was also on borrowed time and was likely to have gone as soon as it became uneconomical to repair and extend it's lifespan. It is like Triggers Broom however what should've been done is a new flat ride or swinging ship in anticipation (Munity Bay would've worked for a slightly smaller pirate ship like Blue Barnacle).
I definitely hope we see two flats in X Sector mid season or in 2026. I'm anticipating we could see flats as part of Project Horizon but that's wishful thinking
The fact it's going is most likely because it reached the natural end of it's lease so it's going back to the operator and on the fair circuit.
The Dungeons had marginal impact on the capacity because it's been running at very reduced capacity for years. Hopefully this will be redone and reopened as a full attraction.
The Blade was also on borrowed time and was likely to have gone as soon as it became uneconomical to repair and extend it's lifespan. It is like Triggers Broom however what should've been done is a new flat ride or swinging ship in anticipation (Munity Bay would've worked for a slightly smaller pirate ship like Blue Barnacle).
I definitely hope we see two flats in X Sector mid season or in 2026. I'm anticipating we could see flats as part of Project Horizon but that's wishful thinking
owenstreet7
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Taron
9 years and counting 
QTXAdsy
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Black Hole
And already the negative clickbate videos are doing the rounds on YouTube...at least those content creators will being making revenue thanks to the algorithm feeding on negativity and thankfully Merlin at large can pay for someone's bills for a whole year the more they make those videos more so than what the average wage at Towers is like which is honestly depressing in itself.