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2026: General Discussion

QTXAdsy said:
Question regarding the electrical supply for the Monorail, assuming it's still using the same system when first built which undoubtedly consumes more electricity than anything else today, could replacing the electrical supply with a new system help with not only extending the ride's life but also cut down on the park's leccy bill? The latter being perhaps more important arguably.
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What “new system” are you suggesting the “electrical supply” is replaced with? Magic? Or maybe Hopes and Dreams…
 
Having two major transit systems to invest in and run is just a massive headache and comes at huge expense no doubt. Most UK theme parks have neither of these concerns in their parks and are still struggling to survive.

Moving the entrace gate to FV makes so much financial and practical sense however the enthusiasts and romantics will hate the idea of losing the Towers Street entrance Im sure. Personally it wouldnt bother me at all.
 
Benjsh said:
Having two major transit systems to invest in and run is just a massive headache and comes at huge expense no doubt. Most UK theme parks have neither of these concerns in their parks and are still struggling to survive.

Moving the entrace gate to FV makes so much financial and practical sense however the enthusiasts and romantics will hate the idea of losing the Towers Street entrance Im sure. Personally it wouldnt bother me at all.
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I personally can't bear the thought of not walking past the Corkscrew and down Towers Street, Alton Towers just would not be Alton Towers without them! Plus, the existing Galactica gate would require huge investment to become the main entrance, as it is currently way to small for a higher volume of guest traffic.
 
I think the only way that the Forbidden Valley gate could become the main gate is if you ripped out Galactica and extended a plaza with all the required infrastructure (gift shop, guest services, turnstiles etc) in its place.

It’d make practical sense in terms of the movement from car park to theme park, and I don’t think that the park should be scared of radical change, but I don’t see that this works for any other reason than saving people a walk (which I appreciate is vital for some and helpful for all). You’re almost forcing everybody through the Valley, the narrow paths of Gloomy Wood and Katanga Canyon before the park spreads out, it’d require significant work
 
Skyscraper said:
I personally can't bear the thought of not walking past the Corkscrew and down Towers Street, Alton Towers just would not be Alton Towers without them! Plus, the existing Galactica gate would require huge investment to become the main entrance, as it is currently way to small for a higher volume of guest traffic.
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A huge investment to build an open plaza? Id wager any such investment would be significantly cheaper long term than running and maintaining a monorail thats for sure.

Also why not move the corkscrew along with it to FV? Maybe even have the actual ticket gates underneath the corkscrew elements and use it as an entrance focal point? It could look great.

Pathways can always be made bigger too.

Towerstreet has had its day in my opinion. Its dated and the buildings are mostly empty and abandoned. There's not much magic there anymore.
 
I hate to be the one to even suggest it but what if the cheaper or easier solution was to move the carpark.

Rapids has had its day and mine train seems to be struggling... bulldoze Katanga and put a 2-3 story car park on that location.
Walliams & Horizon redone to become the new family area.
Air carpark becomes a small undercover entertainment & dining location to bridge the gap between the hotels and park.
Main carpark would be free, the area closer to the park could be a future new area (linking to Gloomy Wood and Valley) and the other end another accommodation if needed in the future.
 
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rob666 said:
No, Merlin struggle with recruitment and retention because the work is seasonal, low paid, and mainly outdoors.
Nothing to do with wanting new freshness and optimism, everything to do with the economic bottom line.

Recruitment and retention also matters a great deal for behind the scenes mechanics, no question.
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Most of those conditions have always applied though and they never struggled with recruitment.

Along with the low pay which obviously is an issue it’s the lack of staff transport that’s a huge issue, there used to be staff busses decked out with Towers livery going all around Stoke picking up staff, that doesn’t happen really anymore.

Working there used to be a right of passage for college students from Stoke, I don’t think it has the same pull factor that it used to have.

I don’t know what the social side of working there is like for current Towers staff, but when I worked there that was a huge selling point, we were always going out, clubbing, pubs whatever else. That made up for a load of cons with the job, but teams were smaller then so you actually did know everyone on your team.

Whole park Staff parties at Liquid up Hanley where there’d be a free bar for 10 minutes about 3/4 times during the night, is that still a thing?

I wonder if food in the staff HQ is still cost price?

It’s not somewhere you can work if you want a career, they often have staff culls as they have just lately, I know a couple of people who have worked in the hotels for years and they were made redundant.

If I was looking for a job now as a uni student around the Stoke area I’d be looking at places like BET365 which pays far better and has far better perks.
 
Forbidden Valley and the surrounding areas would need huge investments in infrastructure to accept the huge incoming and outgoing of guests each day if it were to become a main entrance.

Towers Street works so well because wide, large paths lead off from the entrance in all directions to safely and effectively disperse crowds. You cannot do the same at FV without major changes to that area, Gloomy Wood and Katanga Canyon. You could just not safely do it without major and drastic changes.
 
Benjsh said:
Moving the entrace gate to FV makes so much financial and practical sense however the enthusiasts and romantics will hate the idea of losing the Towers Street entrance Im sure. Personally it wouldnt bother me at all.
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Actually it makes zero practical sense.

Because of the gardens Towers is effective a U shaped themepark and at the moment everyone enters the park at the bottom of that U, this means guests will distribute themselves down both arms of the U.

If you move the entrance (it was going to go were the monorail maintenance area is now). You cram all your guests into one arm of the U at opening and closing which becomes a massive crowd choke point. It would make the paths down there horrendous and you couldn’t do much to widen them as that side of the park is mostly protected woodland.
 
Whilst it is true that recruitment has never been super easy for the parks, during my time working at Merlin, it became more and more of a struggle every year. I left a few years ago, and it sounds like things have got even worse since then. I think there are a number of reasons. But the main reason why it’s got so much worse is, in my opinion, what people have already said about the ‘prestige’ or novelty of working at a theme park no longer existing, or at least not to the extent that it used to.

Back in the 00s, saying that you worked at a theme park was seen as a really cool job, really fun, and something that people were more happy to do for minimum wage because it was a fun job.

As the years have gone on, cuts have happened on a mass scale, guests have got way more demanding, complaints have increased due to the quality of the product and service being inferior to what it once was, and increased H&S protocols have meant that the fun has been sucked out of the job.

It’s no longer seen as a place that people think would be fun to work at. But the pay, the working conditions, the perks etc, haven’t improved. They’re sort of still relying on there being enough people who want to work there for the fun, and the reality is that in this economic climate, it’s no longer a sensible option for most people.
 
GaryH said:
I hear Merlin are currently looking at adapting old railway hand carts to fit the monorail track and guests (50 to a cart) can push and pull the levers up and down to get to the entrance from the car parks. It will be advertised as a fun, exciting, healthy, eco friendly way of getting to the theme park. Its going to be renamed to the "Ed Miliband express" and will of course be an upcharge attraction.
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Please don't show the self-pedalling Japanese Sky Cycle rollercoaster to Merlin, in case they get any ideas (see first link below)

Also - speaking of poorly-maintained attractions: not only was "Galactica" briefly renamed to "Galactic" when the 'A' fell off the end off the sign, but now the nearby Rollercoaster Restaurant is - fittingly - called the Rollercoaster Rant (see second link below).

I assume that this is just a maintenance issue, but it seems strange that two adjacent attractions have conveniently both had spelling errors which led to both misspelt words still being present in the English dictionary!

Sky Cycle:

Rollercoaster Rant:
ibb.co

Screenshot 20260316 140325 You Tube hosted at ImgBB

Image Screenshot 20260316 140325 You Tube hosted on ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
 
Dave said:
Actually it makes zero practical sense.

Because of the gardens Towers is effective a U shaped themepark and at the moment everyone enters the park at the bottom of that U, this means guests will distribute themselves down both arms of the U.

If you move the entrance (it was going to go were the monorail maintenance area is now). You cram all your guests into one arm of the U at opening and closing which becomes a massive crowd choke point. It would make the paths down there horrendous and you couldn’t do much to widen them as that side of the park is mostly protected woodland.
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I take your point on board but I dont think it would be as bad as you're making it out to be. Plus lots of people would quickly fill up the queues on Nemmy, Galactic, Toxicator and a few on Sub Terra anyway so the pathways wouldn't be grid locked.

The alternative is spending millions of pounds on a dated transist system that doesn't actually add anything to the park itself and is probably a huge drain on electricity bill.

I think it would be possible if they wanted to do it.
 
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