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2024: General Discussion

Interesting updates

As ever I’m worried they’ve butchered hex…

The quiet, the mystery of being in a building like that is all down to atmosphere

Unrealistic affects (screens/projection mapping) could be really jarring. Wind, rain and sparks look great, hopefully it’s along this vain

Considering the update from TPW I think it’s fair to say the parks not going to be ready until later in the season which is a shame.

Given an extremely popular ride is about to reopen I thought hex being reopened would be a necessity given the lack of skyride/retro squad

Let’s hope all rides are running at full tilt and they’ve really restricted them MAP numbers. Otherwise I worry about capacity and experience this year. I’d argue if Dungeons is finally on the way out, make it free until August? Adds some much needed capacity.

I wonder if we will see the meadows finally semi hard standing finally…
 
In terms of parking charges, my opinion depends on the public transport links available. For Disneyland Paris, there are direct and frequent links to most of western Europe so I don't mind as much. For Alton Towers, public transport is poor to non-existant so I would consider it more of a stealth tax.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
In terms of parking charges, my opinion depends on the public transport links available. For Disneyland Paris, there are direct and frequent links to most of western Europe so I don't mind as much. For Alton Towers, public transport is poor to non-existant so I would consider it more of a stealth tax.
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Considering ticket prices are around £35-£40 I don’t think car parking being £10 is too bad. If you bring your own food and don’t spend money inside the park then that’s an alright amount to be spending on a day out. Think it’s well worth it for a premium theme park
 
Lift hills and thrills have just mentioned in his vlog that Blivvys drop has had significant work done, including a spruce up of the concrete, new misters and a repaint inside the tunnel!

the parking increase was bound to happen sooner or later and I agree that it should be free, but considering I’ve just spent £15 on parking to have a mooch round Cardiff, it’s about the going rate for parking these days!

EDIT: grammar
 
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Ethan said:
Considering ticket prices are around £35-£40 I don’t think car parking being £10 is too bad. If you bring your own food and don’t spend money inside the park then that’s an alright amount to be spending on a day out. Think it’s well worth it for a premium theme park
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It's also another incentive to get regular and semi-regular guests to get a MAP or Towers pass that has parking included.
 
Ash said:
Interesting updates

As ever I’m worried they’ve butchered hex…

The quiet, the mystery of being in a building like that is all down to atmosphere

Unrealistic affects (screens/projection mapping) could be really jarring. Wind, rain and sparks look great, hopefully it’s along this vain

Considering the update from TPW I think it’s fair to say the parks not going to be ready until later in the season which is a shame.

Given an extremely popular ride is about to reopen I thought hex being reopened would be a necessity given the lack of skyride/retro squad

Let’s hope all rides are running at full tilt and they’ve really restricted them MAP numbers. Otherwise I worry about capacity and experience this year. I’d argue if Dungeons is finally on the way out, make it free until August? Adds some much needed capacity.

I wonder if we will see the meadows finally semi hard standing finally…
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I mean the current 'special effects' in Hex includes a projector, some flashing lights and a fan so I'd be more than happy for them to add some more and enhance the experience. I find the whole pre-shows before the ride extremely boring.

They did a brilliant job with Alton Manor so I have high hopes for this.
 
Point still stands. There's a reason shops put prices at .99 instead of rounding up. A straight tenner just hurts more mentally than going to 8 or 9 quid first. But yeah, whatever. Everyone is used to getting ripped off everywhere else now, so Towers may aswell just join in ay...
 
AT86 said:
Updates have been happening in X-Sector by the looks of it.

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Link
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Bit late to talk about this but wow! The grey look is looking to be going and moving X-Sector back into a more sleaker look though it does seem too much alike Forbidden Valley's new look unless there is a bit more colour like both Oblivion and Smiler in black yet have their secondary colours of orange and yellow respectively.

Given how Smiler's station building was recently cleaned up, wonder if it was getting prepared for that it might be getting the black paint treatment? Yes I know we joke about Merlin and the colour black but all honesty, if the Smiler building was painted in all black with some yellow accents on it then that alone would make a hell of a difference to X-Sector making it look smarter than just an ugly concrete block.
 
QTXAdsy said:
Given how Smiler's station building was recently cleaned up, wonder if it was getting prepared for that it might be getting the black paint treatment? Yes I know we joke about Merlin and the colour black but all honesty, if the Smiler building was painted in all black with some yellow accents on it then that alone would make a hell of a difference to X-Sector making it look smarter than just an ugly concrete block.
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I’d love to see some sleek, modern cladding on Smiler’s station, could have some fun with changing colours, textures, could look really special if they want it to.
 
Parking page says £10 standard, £20 express, but it's still a £12 charge for gold+ pass holders to get express. The maths don't math, last year it was £7 and £19, to give (19-7=)£12. This year standard has gone up £3 and express up £1, so the uncharge logically should be a tenner. Maybe they haven't finished updating the page, will see when it lets me book.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
There is and everyone mostly gets it wrong. Prices started being set at .99 because, aside from being slightly psychologically pleasing, in almost all occasions it forces the sales person to open the till.
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Have a look on Amazon. They don't have a till on there. The till thing isn't relevant any more, it's all about the psychological effect these days.
 
Every single thing seems to be pointing in the right direction for the park, when we all lost hope it’s drastically all starting to change in the right direction. I for one am very excited for Alton Towers future now, just this season alone it appears so much has been done behind the scenes and I can’t wait to see all of these exciting updates! It’s just a very exciting year for the park and around the UK Themepark industry it feels….well excusing Blackpool I’m sorry!


Love the new management direction
 
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