Existential Crisis? Towers and it's future

[Ethan]

But it would still ride the same if it was plonked on a car park with the exact same layout.

That's not true though because the structure adds a lot to the ride experience. The near misses are great

 

[Danscott22]

That's not true though because the structure adds a lot to the ride experience. The near misses are great

That's fine if you think that. I'd still think it rode the same theming or not.

 

[RIPCorky]

Interesting. The layout for Wicker Man is honestly pretty terrible, but the theming elevates it from 6th to 3rd in the park for me. The upkeep on Wicker Man has been adequate, and in my opinion Wicker Man is where Merlin turned a corner.

But still miles better than Thirteen.

 

[MaxPower]

That's not saying much though is it.

Even RMT has a better layout than Thirteen.

 

[Matt N]

I know it sounds small, but on the topic of the thread, I thought of another possible sign that Alton Towers could be turning a corner… the return of the baggage holds on Thirteen and The Smiler in 2022.

That shows that OPEX has clearly increased to some extent since the private buyout (as baggage holds require staff), and this is an active decision by the park to reverse the closure of these holds and improve the throughput on these rides.

 

[Ethan]

I think nearly every coaster on park has it's dead spots tbf (except Smiler which just has element after element). The only dead spot on Wicker man I'd say is that corner but it is pretty significant. The rest of the layout is fairly solid so that bit let's the ride down

 

[Zeock]

I know it sounds small, but on the topic of the thread, I thought of another possible sign that Alton Towers could be turning a corner… the return of the baggage holds on Thirteen and The Smiler in 2022.

That shows that OPEX has clearly increased to some extent since the private buyout (as baggage holds require staff), and this is an active decision by the park to reverse the closure of these holds and improve the throughput on these rides.

Nice point; I had not thought about that. It shows that Merlin is putting thought in to guest experience.

 

[RIPCorky]

I think nearly every coaster on park has it's dead spots tbf (except Smiler which just has element after element). The only dead spot on Wicker man I'd say is that corner but it is pretty significant. The rest of the layout is fairly solid so that bit let's the ride down

It has a massive dead spot, the second lift hill and the wait before it.

 

[Zeock]

Does Rita have any dead spots? Yes, the layout isn't perfect, but there aren't any dead spots, at least in my opinion.
Perhaps we should get back on topic though?

 

[Matt.GC]

I know it sounds small, but on the topic of the thread, I thought of another possible sign that Alton Towers could be turning a corner… the return of the baggage holds on Thirteen and The Smiler in 2022.

That shows that OPEX has clearly increased to some extent since the private buyout (as baggage holds require staff), and this is an active decision by the park to reverse the closure of these holds and improve the throughput on these rides.

It's an interesting observation Matt and bang on topic. It does show a massive difference between being owned privately and being a PLC.

Paying payroll expenses to man something like a baggage hold could be seen as operational expediture that limits a return on investment to shareholders in a PLC.

To a private company, more achieved capacity could be something to put in a graph to potential buyers when the investors decide to sell up in the future.

I know that supermarket comparisons have landed me under scrutiny in past posts, but the business models have very similar attributes and I've held shares personally in both industries (Merlin Entertainments PLC, Tesco Stores LTD, RS McColl LTD, Somerfield Stores LTD, Safeway UK PLC/WM Morrison supermarkets PLC and Sea World Parks and Entertainment Inc).

I remember when Somerfield were trying to sell a store that was barely breaking even a couple of decades ago. The company spent a fortune and pumped it full of free stock - including stuff like electrical goods - put the paint brush around and employed extra staff the year before to make it's trading position look far better than it actually was to flog it on. I worked for Safeway (was also a shareholder at the time) when Morrisons bought them out and they spent CAPEX on expensive refits and buying high margin goods that they flogged, sometimes literally off the back of an articulated trailer in the car park (I'm NOT joking, they actually did this), to the make the company look like it was in a far better situation than it was and to make the share price plummet (with cash gone) below the company's asset value (the amount, in assets such as stores, stock and distribution centres that the company owned) so that another entity would come over with wheelbarrows full of cash and make some of Safeway's Investors multi millionaires overnight. I bought into Merlin just after the Smiler crash when shares were cheap and sold up in 2019 when the parks had mostly recovered and they had spent money on the bargain basement season passes to boost Tower attendance to generate good news headlines. I bought into Sea World right after Black Fish and had similar results.

With Towers, it just smacks of a sell up job to me. That said, the future prosperity of the park probably relies on whomever is buying and what they want to do. But my prediction is with everything that's happening right now, this is a flog on job.

 

[MaxPower]

I do wonder how difficult it could be to sell on given the deal with Nick Leslau.

I suppose anything is possible with all the changes going on at the top at Merlin at the moment, but I'm doubtful purely given how many annual passes probably get sold on the back of AT being part of the group.

 

[AT86]

With Towers, it just smacks of a sell up job to me. That said, the future prosperity of the park probably relies on whomever is buying and what they want to do. But my prediction is with everything that's happening right now, this is a flog on job.

It doesn’t feel like Towers is being treated any differently than other Merlin parks in terms of the way it’s being run. Investment has increased at all their theme park attractions since they went private, they have been spending more on upkeep (compared to the previous few years) and new events have been rolled out across the parks.

I don’t think anything happening at the moment is evidence they want to sell Alton Towers. Infact in the case of Nemesis the opposite is true, it is a long term investment that wouldn’t be necessary if they wanted to sell the place, it could have been patched up for a fraction of the price to keep it going for a couple of years if a sale was on the cards.

 

[Matt.GC]

It doesn’t feel like Towers is being treated any differently than other Merlin parks in terms of the way it’s being run. Investment has increased at all their theme park attractions since they went private, they have been spending more on upkeep (compared to the previous few years) and new events have been rolled out across the parks.

I don’t think anything happening at the moment is evidence they want to sell Alton Towers. Infact in the case of Nemesis the opposite is true, it is a long term investment that wouldn’t be necessary if they wanted to sell the place, it could have been patched up for a fraction of the price to keep it going for a couple of years if a sale was on the cards.

Well yes I think they would. It's iconic and famous and was coming to the end of it's operational life. Businesses aren't really emotional entities, they don't lovingly restore things out of nostalgia, they protect valuable assets and brands.

With Nemesis I think they found themselves in the dilemma of having a popular attraction that's long been associated with the brand of the park and sitting within a custom built pit that was reaching the end of its life. Either way they needed to do something with it pretty urgently and this was the option that best balanced everything out.

Who knows? Maybe PLC Merlin would have ended up running it for a couple more years before building a purple fence around it and calling it a day which would have been the short term option. Maybe another business would have ripped it out and spent a fortune building a replacement which would have been the long term solution. It all depends on how long they intend to hold on to the park and at what point they see the exit door.

It may not be just an Alton sell up job. It could be the whole business or just RTP's. Either way, I don't think the new direction is a long term investment in any of the parks. The accommodation and food situation looks like short term profiteering to me in order to generate cash to fund short term headline grabbing KPI's that look attractive to potential buyers.

It's a bit like Homes Under the Hammer. You buy something derelict, spend a few grand putting a new kitchen and bathroom in whilst whacking a paint roller over the 1990's floral wall paper and laying cheap carpets, get planning permission for a conservatory you may not end up building, rent it out at an extortionately high rate to a few suckers and then flog it on for a tidy profit as a going concern. Who cares if the tenants get fed up with the rent they're paying, the reconditioned boiler packs in and and the new bathroom floods? You're sat on a yacht in Monaco.

 

[rob666]

Get with the times mate, you don't need planning for the conservatory, it is now good old permitted development!
Is a tricky situation with the lack of freehold...does make you think about investment stopping over time.

 

[George W]

It has a massive dead spot, the second lift hill and the wait before it.

Imagine the smiler without that though people couldn't do 13 inversions element after element without it being split up with that lift hill, obviously there's the first inversion too making it 14 but that's before the first lift hill.
I love the pacing of the smiler though.

 

[pluk]

when Morrisons bought them out and they spent CAPEX on expensive refits and buying high margin goods that they flogged, sometimes literally off the back of an articulated trailer in the car park (I'm NOT joking, they actually did this),

Oh God, managing and trying to be positive about this still gives me shivers.

I see your thinking with the consideration of selling on, but I don't think things point that way as a whole. If you look at something like baggage holds, if they were after profit and vevinue maximisation for selling they'd be monetising baggage storage in lockers, not spending money providing it for free.

If I look at what they are doing to the hotels side of the business I'd completely agree they could be heading towards sale, but surely they wouldn't split the resort like that?

Overall I think the themeparks inclusion in the group is a net short and long term benefit, and the owners are not cash poor, so I doubt they'd sell.

 

[Ethan]

Imagine the smiler without that though people couldn't do 13 inversions element after element without it being split up with that lift hill, obviously there's the first inversion too making it 14 but that's before the first lift hill.
I love the pacing of the smiler though.

I think you'd get a bit bored doing it all in one go. Colossus gets tedious towards the end because it just keeps doing the same thing. The pacing of the smiler is key to making it a good ride

 

[George W]

I think you'd get a bit bored doing it all in one go. Colossus gets tedious towards the end because it just keeps doing the same thing. The pacing of the smiler is key to making it a good ride

That's what I mean though I don't see the half way section and vertical lift hill on the smiler as a pacing issue as it helps recalibrate the equilibrium and stops the riders from getting too nauseous.

 

[RyanUK]

That's not saying much though is it.

Even RMT has a better layout than Thirteen.

Yeah, at least RMT runs pat the rapids in a tunnel where you can excitedly shout at your damp fellow riders.

It doesn’t feel like Towers is being treated any differently than other Merlin parks in terms of the way it’s being run. Investment has increased at all their theme park attractions since they went private, they have been spending more on upkeep (compared to the previous few years) and new events have been rolled out across the parks.

I don’t think anything happening at the moment is evidence they want to sell Alton Towers. Infact in the case of Nemesis the opposite is true, it is a long term investment that wouldn’t be necessary if they wanted to sell the place, it could have been patched up for a fraction of the price to keep it going for a couple of years if a sale was on the cards.

The park isn’t being treated any to the others. Look at Chessington, it’s about to open its first major coaster in 19 years! They’ve done some great things to that place over the years though.

It’s at times like these then we we feel there’s not much investment that we need to remember the heritage of the park. We know the rule about nothing being seen from the outside, but Wardley correctly reminded us all last summer that from certain sections inside the park, the rides mustn’t be seen due to the parks heritage. Careful planning and decisions need to be made when putting in a flat ride too.

If you stop outside on the road by Chained Oak Farm, directly opposite there is a gate into the park which is hardly ever used. If you peek through the bushes and trees during operating hours (whilst trying to avoid get run over by the drivers of that road) you can see Oblivion dropping its riders into the tunnel.

 

[Matt.GC]

I know it was all but confirmed a year ago, but it's looking almost certain that Enterprise is toast. Another small blow in the long list of gradual downgrades to the park. A third year of possibly hiding the gaping holes already left in the lineup beforehand with fun fair rides is, on the cards. After all these years, still no permanent plans in place for any of this.

Surely the like for like replacement of a coaster we've had for almost 30 years, the refurbishment of a dark ride we've had already for 31 years and the potential (because it's still not confirmed) re-opening in some form of another dark ride that they closed a few seasons ago cannot hide in anyone's mind that the resort is still gradually getting worse over time?

Let's say you haven't been to AT since 2019, what would you be experiencing in 2023? What would your potential impressions of how it's changed be? An extortionately priced and massively downgraded hotel experience. A longer than ever queue in a now purple station to board a poorly operated and further deteriated Monorail to yet another purple station, onto a completely purple entrance plaza, leading in to a primary coloured entrance street who's only "improvements" is a new guest services and yet more purple on the lamp posts and bins. Maybe an event is on and you'll see some entertainment and a stage on the lawns. A boarded off Enterprise site with a new tacky fun fair flat instead. A tiny new dark ride, a horror up charge dungeon, another fairground ride and some planters in Cloud Cuckoo Land. A Waltzer by Thirteen. A rapids that's shockingly still as pointless and unthemed as it was last time. A much improved Duel. Another Fun Fair flat opposite a now closed Nemesis. Eye wateringly high priced food that's worse than ever.

Would a 2023 short break at Alton Towers feel like the park was on the up to you?