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Existential Crisis? Towers and it's future

I think we all agree that towers has suffered over the last decade or so and we mostly agree on the reasons. Smiler crash, covid. Merlins general poor management ect.

However to my mind this close season is huge. Possibly the biggest in the mordern era of AT. Last year we had the upgrade from duel to alton manor, despite that style of ride not really being my cup of tea, i can apreciate the area and the themeing. That part of the park has really come back to life ironically! But FV area with new nemesis will us a clear indication on the OP on this thread.

Ive been a passholder for years and have always been able to justify in my mind the cost cutting/ rides/areas not being up to scratch. But this year has being so poor and other threads cover that in great detail. I guess what im trying to get at is FV's makeover is make or break for my future attendance. Does anybody else feel the same? Am i being dramatic? 🤣
 
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alex94 said:
I think we all agree that towers has suffered over the last decade or so and we mostly agree on the reasons. Smiler crash, covid. Merlins general poor management ect.

However to my mind this close season is huge. Possibly the biggest in the mordern era of AT. Last year we had the upgrade from duel to alton manor, despite that style of ride not really being my cup of tea, i can apreciate the area and the themeing. That part of the park has really come back to life ironically! But FV area with new nemesis will us a clear indication on the OP on this thread.

Ive been a passholder for years and have always been able to justify in my mind the cost cutting/ rides/areas not being up to scratch. But this year has being so poor and other threads cover that in great detail. I guess what im trying to get at is FV's makeover is make or break for my future attendance. Does anybody else feel the same? Am i being dramatic? 🤣
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I get what you mean. I think how the park opens next season will give us some insight into how they will proceed. We'll be half a decade into the "New Merlin" era and the "give them a chance" arguments just won't wash anymore. In my opinion they're running thin already since some of what we've seen this past season were wholly new era decisions and nothing to do with Varney or the PLC.

It's interesting that you mention Forbidden Valley, because if it does turn out to be good then it may indicate each area being effectively 'signed off' as acceptable one by one. Although not perfect, I think Gloomy Wood now looks half decent, has a high quality attraction, shop and food outlet in it. We know there's extensive work going in to Forbidden Valley next year, even including a new shop. Although this new gloss black military theme is not to my taste, I think the quality of the area will actually be quite good.

Although I understand why they would want to reimagine each area of the park in this way, there's issues elsewhere that need urgent focus. Forbidden Valley can be awesome, but that's no good if the rest of the resort is a bin. I hope and understand that the embarrassing Walliams Cuckoo Dungeon World is probably a 2025 project, but the accommodation needs to continue to improve, park food needs to become edible, there's rot in places that can't be painted or vinyled over and the likes of Dark Forest and X Sector can't be left in grubby states with just 2 attractions apiece waiting for downtime to cause misery. We'll also need Hex and the Sky Ride.
 
Jb85 said:
Xsector, and in particular Oblivions station is due some attention imminently I have heard.
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I have wonder of they are going to do a retheme of Oblivion to be like it's Italian counterpart in Gardaland in which given how the latter's theme is just an updated version of UK Oblivion's theme, it would seem like a simple copy and paste job.

I have said this before but I do wonder if given how Gardaland Oblivion was done in 2015 is that there had been plans as part of Oblivion's 20th birthday in 2018 to give it that theme as well as perhaps all of X-Sector but due to budget cuts due to the Smiler accident that plan was dropped so maybe they are resurrecting that idea then?

Given how Forbidden Valley does seem to taking on X-Sector's dark military theme from next year, that it could lead for X-Sector to see a change sooner than we think and honestly if we were to have it be nothing more than a copy and paste job from Gardaland, I honestly won't mind as not only X-Sector is needing a change (it along with Dark Forest are the worst atm IMO though I won't add TWODW to it as I suspect it'll be part of Project Horizon one way or the other) as it would give us a more 'lighter' theme that we've all been wanting for years though it would still have that dark undertones there.
 
It’s interesting going back to read the first post in this thread and seeing that it feels like we’re still in a very similar position to when this discussion started. There are glimmers of positivity in many places, but so too are there many remaining issues to be fixed:

Hex and Skyride are effectively mothballed for the year.

Retro squad is leaving - will there be a replacement or just a reliance on reopening this year’s closed rides?

Some events have been excellent like Mardi Gras, others ridiculous like Festival of Thrills. Scarefest and Oktoberfest are a mix of enjoyable and stale.

Opening hours have if anything gone backwards.

Alton Manor has been a success, and there have even been more additions through the year.

Nemesis marketing has been pretty decent.

Food remains diabolically bad.


Quite honestly, I’m still not sure what to think. Yes, there are positive steps that we never saw under PLC Merlin, but there are some equally glaring issues which either remain unfixed or have gone backwards.

Verdict: the jury is very much still out; 2024 might provide us a better feel of direction or present another false dawn.
 
Relife said:
Top 3 priorities should be

- Ride availablity
- At least 3 new flat rides (a new one each season will be fine)
- General work on park and ride presentation

All this should come before or as well as fancy new coasters imo
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We need both. The sheer investment required to fix the mess they're in means that the park needs to substantially increase their revenue to fund such improvements. The investment to fix the issues maintains their current audience, but to attract both new and returning guests to spend and visit more they need long term investment like new coasters and rides.
 
This will be based at MMM North which provide services to the wider Merlin group and are based at Alton Towers.

Not to sound like a party pooper, it could be good news, or it could actually have no link with anything being installed at Towers itself. Difficult to know from the info.
 
Second party pooper here (sorry!). Another option is that just like Tech Services, it's more likely that they're replacing staff that they've lost in recent months due to the poor pay and benefits package offered.

Even if that weren't the case (I'm 99% sure it is mind), I agree with AT86 that it's unlikely it has much of a direct link to future projects. Magic Making is another area of the wider Merlin group that needs funding and efforts made to keep staff for the long term rather than to be a stepping stone to move on elsewhere when something considerably better comes along. They've lost a lot of really valuable staff on the creative side of things since they started messing with what was Studios many years ago. They need to be looking at the reasons why people are leaving in more detail and actually retain the talent they have.
 
It’s probably better for the park in the long term (or at least should be) to have theming capability on the doorstep. Not that you’d notice given the state of things as they still sadly outsource a lot.

It would be great to see their capabilities expand in terms of AV, mechanical effects, controls. As they seem to currently be a prop department. It would just be better elsewhere on property (behind magic HQ or Alton manor? Alongside KC) As that is currently very valuable in park real estate that is poorly used imo

In terms of tech services, the fact they’re advertising for electrical engineers that are basically control systems engineers. For what they’re offering and the risk they’re asking for a lot. What they’re after is basically unicorns, it’s either an electrician with a laptop, or under utilised controls engineer.
 
Pay peanuts get monkeys. It's a jokeseekers market out there right now. Companies are simply not going to get employees when they are essentially trying to exploit peoples skills and expertise. If this was not the case I feel they could have solved their availability issues a long time ago.

This is not isolated to Merlin, you see this up and down the country. It's disgusting really. As much as I love Towers. I'm glad skilled roles are not being filled. It's about time the general population woke up from having the mickey taken out of them.
 
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WANTED - Theming Production Coordinator at Alton Towers.

Previous experience must include:

- Sticking vinyl over broken things.
- Emailing Leek Signs (grammatical accuracy skills not required).
- Painting things purple.

Benefits include:

- Discounted food, and not the stuff served to guests.
- A 4pm finish time.
- Working with lots and lots of purple paint.
- Exclusive access to the new park bench.
 
Ash said:
It’s probably better for the park in the long term (or at least should be) to have theming capability on the doorstep. Not that you’d notice given the state of things as they still sadly outsource a lot.
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They already have the capability onsite, Merlin Magic Making (formerly Tussauds Studios) have been based at Alton Towers for a very long time. I think a lot of the stage props and stuff for Mardi Gras and similar entertainment stuff is made by them.
 
jon81uk said:
They already have the capability onsite, Merlin Magic Making (formerly Tussauds Studios) have been based at Alton Towers for a very long time. I think a lot of the stage props and stuff for Mardi Gras and similar entertainment stuff is made by them.
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Studios North, as the studios at Alton Towers used to be know (might still be now) has always been quite a substantial studio within the company. A fair bit of theming for Alton, Chessington, Thorpe and Legoland has all come from the Alton Towers studio over the years.

I'm sure they have that old mill like building too, the one opposite the abandoned Alton train station in Alton village.
 
jon81uk said:
They already have the capability onsite, Merlin Magic Making (formerly Tussauds Studios) have been based at Alton Towers for a very long time. I think a lot of the stage props and stuff for Mardi Gras and similar entertainment stuff is made by them.
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I know it’s why I said adding to their existing capabilities in my second paragraph and using the space.

DistortAMG said:
Studios North, as the studios at Alton Towers used to be know (might still be now) has always been quite a substantial studio within the company. A fair bit of theming for Alton, Chessington, Thorpe and Legoland has all come from the Alton Towers studio over the years.

I'm sure they have that old mill like building too, the one opposite the abandoned Alton train station in Alton village.
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Indeed they bought the old mill building not that long ago. Would make a great visitor centre one day if the train ever returned.

Had a quick scan on trip advisor and thought It gave a good overview of where the park is at. These are just the latest first 6 reviews…

- Queues : ride capacity/throughput/RAP
- Food : quality/service/choice
- Maintenance : Quality of environment/refurbishments

Decades of bad theme park management and underinvestment are coming home to roost, and the annual attraction won’t fix it.

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I was quite optimistic about the ‘new Merlin’ post delisting and post Mr Varney - however my optimism is starting to wane somewhat.

It feels like the positivity around investments and improvements seems to be slowly slipping away.

Today we have seen hours cut at Towers with 5pm closes in the summer holidays, along with the drastic cuts in water park hours (5pm closes this summer versus 10pm last year). Also, staggered openings came back this year, the first time since 2018.

This is on top of the ongoing availability issues not only at Alton Towers but across Merlin. Chessington have closed their log flume for the entire summer for example.

Looking ahead to 2025, there doesn’t seem to be anything of note planned for new investments in the UK at least? We know about project ocean, but no signs of any planning applications for 2025 additions in the other parks.

Chessington went without anything new for 2024, could 2025 be a repeat? Their water park plans seem to have died a death after being submitted over a year ago?

I fear the taps may well and truly have been turned off when it comes to investment from Merlin.

Obviously I very much hope I am wrong.
 
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