Existential Crisis? Towers and it's future

[Islander]

The issue is Alton Towers os still successful but Merlin as an entity isn't.

Have a source for this, or actual figures to back this up?

 

[Funcone]

I don't think this is necessarily a sign that Alton Towers is in an existential crisis, but here's a personal observation I wanted to share.

When I was relatively new to being an enthusiast, Alton Towers was generally being quoted as getting 2.7 million visitors a year. Chester Zoo (the UK's most visited zoo) was generally being quoted as getting 1.3 million visitors a year.

According to Chester Zoo, they got 2.1 million visitors last year, their highest attendance ever:

Chester Zoo sets new all-time visitor record in 2025 | Chester Zoo

www.chesterzoo.org

How many visitors did Alton Towers get last year? The TEA thinks they got 2.5 million visitors in 2024.

I don't think that's proof of an existential crisis, but it has reached a point where the UK's biggest zoo plausibly could overtake the UK's biggest theme park, based on attendance - until Universal (hopefully) opens.

I appreciate that there isn't some great rivalry between zoos and theme parks, but when I saw the press release from Chester Zoo I did think, 'Blimey, they're catching up with Alton Towers'.

 

[Plastic Person]

For what it's worth, Chester Zoo's events, accommodation, presentation and food/drink have each improved dramatically, year on year, for the past decade. As a result, and despite economic challenges and even shifting public attitudes toward their core product that required reassurance, attendance has increased.

It's a mystery...

 

[Dave]

Plus Merlin don’t give their numbers to TEA and when they have released attendance figures (in planning docs) it’s generally shown the TEA under estimate attendance.

 

[Quantum]

Have a source for this, or actual figures to back this up?

Given thier restructuring and the fact they have have losses of £492 million in 2024 it's quite clear they have over extended themselves as a company.

The have a mountain of debt and some recent Legoland additions have not performed as well as hoped.

Towers for all its faults still pulls in the punters, that is despite Merlins recent poor management of the park

 

[Mick]

Chester zoo is a fantastic day out.
Ironically I recall watching a TPW/Sanbrooke Adventures from early last year where they visited and weren’t impressed, said it looked old and tired and it’d be a while before they returned! But they did go just before the huge new area opened up.

When I think about my favourite ‘tourist attractions’ in the UK, the Harry Potter studio tour and Chester zoo both stand out above AT (or any UK theme park for that matter - dicsclaimer never been to Paultons!) for care, presentation, and continuous improvement.

 

[Bert2theSpark]

Cheater Zoo is brilliant, over half the zoo is pretty much brand new within the past ten years and they have even more plans to overhaul/expand further. There is one really dated corner of the zoo that gives the same vibe as Drayton’s but it’s obvious that it’s a future expansion spot and is not consistent with the rest of the park.

They also have one the best themed areas in the UK and it doesn’t get talked about enough. The Islands is a super well themed area that’s quite comprehensive with mixing animals with theming and F&B and even an Intamin to boot.

I miss the monorail at the zoo, but the loss of it doesn’t feel like a cutback because they’ve invested so much. They have a comprehensive vision and brand that can match the scale of Alton Towers with much better infrastructure around the park. Include the lack of queues to see the tentpole exhibits and you can see why people are increasingly visiting the attraction.

 

[Matt N]

Chester Zoo was excellent when I went over 10 years ago, so if it’s improved since, I can only imagine it’s a superb attraction now!

 

[Ares]

My two cents on Towers is that it has two key problems IMO.

The first is its location, and lack of solid public transport options to the park. Furthering this, recently announced government policies which will come to fruition plus an expansion of pay per mile road tax to all vehicles will not help. This is where Universal and Thorpe will thrive due to proximity to London and Birmingham and rail and public transport connections.

Secondly, it has what I would call a Blackpool Problem, a fair few rides all aging and needing replacing or a decision made in a fairly close time period.

Those rides and areas are;

- The world of David Walliams and a need for a re-theme + investment
- Rita and its aging ride model, parts availability and reliability
- Galactica with its poor operational reliability
- Spinball Whizzer which is soon approaching or within an end of life period for the ride
- Oblivion must surely need some retracking at some point in the near future or a decision made on the ride. But i hope it can last another 10 years yet.
- Congo River Rapids, as we will see with Thorpe Park this season it seems Merlin want shut of this ride type. I expect it to close soon - but then it would be an expensive area to redevelop unless its SBNO and the park needs a water ride in summer - so i expect they may keep it going until replacements are done elsewhere.

Then you have the existing shortfall of flat rides, to which X-Sector needs one - but I don't think we will get it.

For me it would absolutely not shock me to see Merlin sell towers within 5 years and put all its thrill ride investment into Thorpe Park so that people can visit Universal and Thorpe in the same trip.

Otherwise its going to require an enormous amount of capital to sort all of the above within a 5-10 year period at most.

If the investment was there, focus on rides first and get park attendance up before focusing on the non-revenue generating projects.

The David Walliams area is the priority now IMO and they should IP theme it, get the kids in with more known entities and get Project Horizon built nearby.

- I think if Stealth does get retrofitted with a new launch system, Rita may get the same treatment depending on cost.
- Personally I would remove both Rita and Galactica for the sake of Horizon plus a new launch coaster.
- I'd remove Spinball and extend the Cbeebies land area further with another IP junior ride / area because I think Bluey will do exceptionally well there.

My ideal timeline, and realistic expectations, would be as follows;

2027 - Rethemed David Walliams Area (New IP - Light retheme) ~£1m

2028 - Spinball Whizzer Closes end of season (Removed over winter)
2028 - Project Horizon Opens (work needs to start this year) ~£20m

2029 - New Cbeebies Ride replaces Spinball Whizzer ~£1m
2029 - Galactica Closes (Removed)

2030 - A long overdue new family flat ride in Forbidden Valley (Probably another pirate ship on the blade plot) ~£2m
2030 - Congo River Rapids closes (SBNO)

2030 or 2031 - Rita closes end of season (Removed not replaced - depends if they want cover if the new ride doesnt go to plan)

2031 - New launch coaster opens to replace Galactica ~£35m

~2032-2035 Period - Redevelop the Katanga Canyon area replacing the rapids with a new water ride and flat ride ~£15m

Even those relatively modest, new coasters aside, additions still total ~£74m+ and thats not including ride removal costs or any of the non-ride tasks at hand. I struggle to see them spending this on Towers alone in the next 10 years.

I think F&B needs sorting ASAP it's shocking. As for the entrance and towers street I think just do what is reasonable to spruce those areas up.

 

[rob666]

The park has managed to run very successfully without decent public transport for the best part of half a century.

The rides get replaced on a routine basis, with a big new ride only coming every decade or so now.

There is no existential crisis.

 

[Quantum]

I don't think Congo river rapids is going anywhere soon. Spin ball has just has a load of money spent on the operating system so ditto with that. The park has far far bigger things to focus on

 

[Ash]

The park has managed to run very successfully without decent public transport for the best part of half a century.

The rides get replaced on a routine basis, with a big new ride only coming every decade or so now.

There is no existential crisis.

Define very successfully.

I do find it fascinating that public transport has gone backwards from the 19th century.

 

[rob666]

Popular with millions for decades.
A very long way away from "existential crisis"?

And public transport has gone backwards because people prefer private transport, in cars, so public transport is difficult to run without losses.

Off topic I know, but talk of Chester Zoo...
It may have had a large number of improvements, but.
They still keep wild animals in assorted small spaces, much much smaller habitats than nature provided.
For the entertainment of a superior species.

Conservation can be done in the wild.
Education about animals can come on screens.
All zoos should be slowly phased out as they are cruel to other species.

 

[Sauron97]

And public transport has gone backwards because people prefer private transport, in cars, so public transport is difficult to run without losses.

People prefer private cars? Surely you mean big corporations and car lobbies do. And , if you look at things on a larger scale; all of our economic indicators have worsened in clear correlation with the decline of our railways. Villages and piers which used to be industrial towns or busy seaside towns which used to have railway stations and rail networks , have been in decline for decades. There is a good argument that this is because there are no longer easy ways to get there, minus using the car.

The railway to Towers was closed because of the 1960s Beeching cuts . Which, by the way, was absolutely riddled with corruption, and was not a decision made because of widespread demand for roads over ailways. The losses to Railways in the decade before the cuts and during the cuts were arguably deliberately inflicted. One of the main proponants of the cuts, Ernest Marple, had ties to the road industry (founded a road company, and sold it to his wife when he became minister), and a clear conflict of interest. These cuts reduced the supply of rail travel, and I would argue that is why the costs for travellers went up. Throw in the awful franchising / privatisation system, and the problem with asset stripping railways, and raising prices only gets worse in to the present day. I don't think it is quite as clear cut, or driven by personal preference, as you make it out.

Cars are a high friction, high energy usage of transport. Trains are low friction. Much more efficient. And if invested in and ran properly, are more cost effective, per capita, as a form of transport. Given the choice, and if we had a proper chain of railway networks, it makes sense that large numbers of people (as they did in the distant past) would love a cheaper option to travel by train to places like Alton Village, with a rejuvinated Churnet Valley line. Would also mean less cars clogging up the roads around JCB, Denstone, Farley, and Alton village. And for the people who would travel to Alton Towers by car regardless of rail options, it would mean more parking spaces. I'm not sure where your argument that people prefer cars to public transport comes from. We don't have a choice.

 

[rob666]

We don't have a choice now, because people in the sixties, seventies and eighties decided that they wanted a family car, second only to owning their own home.
It was an aspirational purchase, which hit the public transport system hard.
They voted with their car keys, and have queued on clogged highways ever since...by choice for many city commuters, in the decades before the millennium.
Then public transport got worse.

Those are the facts.
Part of my studies, at a level and degree.
Friction, energy, and efficiency do not matter to the paying customer.
They want privacy and door to door.
Above all else.
They chose to do so in their millions, and it is well documented and recorded.

And all off topic.

 

[Poisson]

Merlin opted to try and expand the Legoland brand. It failed so they're looking to sensible prune bits of the business that are not profitable, starting with Lego but they also stretched it to SeaLife, an attraction with huge standing costs per person. Merlin wished to try and expand their reach, as any successful business might consider and that has come back to cost them. It would be disappointing to them, but not massively surprising if they have a decent strategy group.

I don't think how Merlin is doing reflects on how Towers is doing. Towers is a mature product that I believe makes profit (I haven't looked at numbers) and is a successful brand in its own right.

 

[Ares]

The park has managed to run very successfully without decent public transport for the best part of half a century.

The rides get replaced on a routine basis, with a big new ride only coming every decade or so now.

There is no existential crisis.

Until you add in 15-minute cities, reduction in private vehicle ownership due to the expense with pay per mile road tax inevitably expanded beyond EV's and carbon allowances. Believe me, its coming, and it will have a big impact on Alton Towers due to its location.

32% of Gen Z dont own a car and considering Gen Z is 14-29 year olds currently, you're only excluding 3 years of that range from being able to drive, which will only dwindle as entry level jobs disappear entirely as unemployment rises. Who's going to be doing all the driving and visiting with their families then in another 5-10 years - especially when they cant even afford to have a home which therefore means no kids for the most part. Gen Z will be 24-39 in 2036, 5 years after the Universal expected opening date, will Towers still be around if visitor numbers drop over the coming years due to lack of public transport options or reasonable private hire vehicle options, a lack of investment plus Universal opening and people preferring an annual theme park visit there instead?

These are wider issues beyond the scope of a fun forum and out of our control, so why speculate, but I think the parks are in survival mode as much as people want to think Universal will spur them on to spend - it is simply the wrong economic moment for it. Universal and maybe Thorpe aside, we wont see any huge investment for quite some time, and I only forsee some big closures or sell offs in the next 5-10 years unless they can get the investment and make it pay off which i pray they do.

That said, I really hope im wrong. I love the place and just want to see the magic return and some new experiences.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Until you add in 15-minute cities, reduction in private vehicle ownership and carbon allowances. Believe me, its coming.

Would you like to borrow my hat?

 

[rob666]

... in 2036, 5 years after the Universal expected opening date, will Towers still be around if visitor numbers drop over the coming years due to lack of public transport options or reasonable private hire vehicle options, a lack of investment plus Universal opening and people preferring an annual theme park visit there instead?...

Yes, the Towers will still be there, because it will continue to get thousands of visitors by car every day, still.
Lots of Gen X's don't drive, they are just happy passengers in other peoples cars.
I know several.