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2024: General Discussion

MaxPower said:
Having Nemesis and Hex back makes up for what capacity we've lost in the retro trash, I'm personally just glad they're gone.

Let's just hope they can improve uptime on all attractions this year as it was nothing short of shambolic overall in 2023.
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Yet in 2021 there was Nemesis and Retrosquad. Yes Sub-Terra has re-opened but it still feels like they are down a couple of rides, even if you just consider the loss of Enterprise. Overall it will at least look like the park has lost capacity as many people will walk into X-Sector and see empty sites that had attractions in them for the last three years, or 20+ years in the case of Enterprise.

As your signature states 'It's better than nothing', except it isn't really, it is still a lot of nothing.

Generally for 2024, although Nemesis is returning, as someone who hasn't visited since 2019, the only thing to draw me back would be Curse at Alton Manor, there is nothing else exciting about this season.
 
Can't disagree with any of that, the park has felt empty ever since the mass cull of rides in the aftermath of The Smiler debacle.

I've just had a personal hatred for the retro squad these last couple of years. Hopefully they might be able to add something to the old enterprise site as it wouldn't take much work.
 
Not sure if this has been noticed before but Flávio’s has been removed from the website too. I’d heard rumours that Towers has bought the ride so it seems like that’s not true.

As much as it was generic, it was at least themed to the area so wouldn’t have minded that staying. That will now be 4 flats down from last year if it doesn’t come back.
 
Dan19F1 said:
Not sure if this has been noticed before but Flávio’s has been removed from the website too. I’d heard rumours that Towers has bought the ride so it seems like that’s not true.

As much as it was generic, it was at least themed to the area so wouldn’t have minded that staying. That will now be 4 flats down from last year if it doesn’t come back.
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That's a shame. I would have preferred it if Flávio’s stayed.
 
Looks like another limp season ahead. 3 tacky rides gone, replaced by 2 rides that we already had for decades beforehand anyway. Three years ago we had both, now we're back to 2017 levels, plus a Sizzler and Gangsta Granny, minus Enterprise, the spa and edible food. What a miserable trajectory.
 
Is the return of Nemesis enough to haul my family all the way from Essex?

Probably not when the overall lineup is so lacking of support, opening times still restrictive, and the accommodation remqins on the avoid list. We've also hit that no mans land where my daughter thinks cebeebies is for babies but she's not quite 1.2 to ride the family thrill stuff.
 
Matt.GC said:
Looks like another limp season ahead. 3 tacky rides gone, replaced by 2 rides that we already had for decades beforehand anyway. Three years ago we had both, now we're back to 2017 levels, plus a Sizzler and Gangsta Granny, minus Enterprise, the spa and edible food. What a miserable trajectory.
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The loss of the Spa has hit you hard, must have been a regular attraction for you so sympathies.

Jokes aside although the return of Nemesis, Hex and Skyride is obviously welcome they need to sort out the lack of filler attractions and bridge the CBeebies to 1.3m gap as soon as possible.

They really need a minimum of 4 new flat rides of varying thrill levels and bring the Toyland/ Charlie building back to being a ride rather than an upcharge mediocre dungeons.

I suspect they are aware of that and unfortunately despite what some think you cannot ring Zamperla and get a new ride delivered in 6 months, generally the lead in time is a year but I would have liked at least one mid-season flat ride opening in 2024.
 
Dave said:
I suspect they are aware of that and unfortunately despite what some think you cannot ring Zamperla and get a new ride delivered in 6 months, generally the lead in time is a year but I would have liked at least one mid-season flat ride opening in 2024.
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No but Enterprise broke two years ago and Ripsaw was removed over five years ago, plenty of time to plan for replacements.
 
jon81uk said:
No but Enterprise broke two years ago and Ripsaw was removed over five years ago, plenty of time to plan for replacements.
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Indeed, the rot has been around for a long time now. But the people in charge at the moment at all levels of Merlin only started in 2023, my point is even if they intend to improve things I wasn’t expecting a flat ride at opening but I would have liked to have seen a late season opening of at least one and then bring in 3 for 2025.
 
I don't feel Nemesis is enough to visit this season, either. Hex and Skyride coming back are good, but I'm not going to praise Towers to high heavens for getting them open. Explanation and communication about those closures have been poor, and I feel they should be more transparent about these things rather than the usual corporate talk that's a load of nonsense.

If Scarefest improves considerably, I may consider visiting in 2024. Otherwise, I will happily wait until 2025 or even 2026 for Project Horizon.

I feel 2024 will be the year to showcase improvements in operating hours, park presentation and putting on better events.
 
Nemesis will need a lot of work but just nemesis won't draw people in I feel like they need at least 1 new flat ride
 
pluk said:
Is the return of Nemesis enough to haul my family all the way from Essex?

Probably not when the overall lineup is so lacking of support, opening times still restrictive, and the accommodation remqins on the avoid list. We've also hit that no mans land where my daughter thinks cebeebies is for babies but she's not quite 1.2 to ride the family thrill stuff.
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Indeed, it's a period we've just come out of. Now that my daughter has finally hit 1.4 it will be worth a visit now to get her on Nemesis and the other 1.4s are still relatively new to her.

As things stand presently, it's worse for your daughter than it was for mine. We used to enjoy riding Enterprise together, now there's nothing in X Sector at all for under 1.4s. Blade and RMT are both less accessible than they used to be with their height restrictions dialed up. Hex reopening will be essential as the area around Dark Forest will only consist of a 1.2 and a 1.4 without it and I feel this is still not a certainty after how badly it's been plagued with downtime for the past 2 years.

When the boys experienced that period, we had all of the above operating and accessible, the Rapids was still a half decent experience, we had the Flume and Charlie as well. So worth a 3 hour drive up. I couldn't imagine doing that trip now for a smaller roster of appropriate rides than is available 15 mins down the road at Brean.
 
Matt.GC said:
When the boys experienced that period, we had all of the above operating and accessible, the Rapids was still a half decent experience, we had the Flume and Charlie as well. So worth a 3 hour drive up. I couldn't imagine doing that trip now for a smaller roster of appropriate rides than is available 15 mins down the road at Brean.
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You can’t seriously compare Towers to Brean! I totally get the issue of not enough being available for those too old for CBeebies but shorter than 1.4 but mentioning Brean in the same sentence as Towers is madness. (In the nicest possible way, as a fellow south west dweller) Save your money until they’re tall enough for Towers, don’t go to Brean 😂
 
Alix said:
You can’t seriously compare Towers to Brean! I totally get the issue of not enough being available for those too old for CBeebies but shorter than 1.4 but mentioning Brean in the same sentence as Towers is madness. (In the nicest possible way, as a fellow south west dweller) Save your money until they’re tall enough for Towers, don’t go to Brean 😂
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The comparison was in the context of numbers, like number of accessable attractions and time it takes to get there to kind of back up the point you made about Towers being not worth the effort for a large demographic of families.

It was not meant in anyway to praise Brean, who have a shower above a squat toilet and mostly naked ladies spray painted on everything, or compare something like their ghost train to Alton Manor.
 
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