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Goodbye Blade…

Stuie said:
Genuine question...

Did any of you ride Blade this season?

It didn't seem very well.

That said, it's one of the simplest rides to replace and should have been.
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I rode it when I visited this season. My son is neurodiverse and chooses not to ride the other attractions in Forbidden Valley, he liked Blade as he felt comfortable riding it and it was a bit of a reward for him for traipsing all the way down to FV and waiting for us whilst myself and my daughter got a ride in on Galactica and Nemzy. Sometimes we'd get a ride on Blade as we entered the area and then another one on the way out. Such a pity it is going without being replaced with some other family friendly ride.

Edit - Thinking about it, as well as these family rides like Enterprise, Blade, and Flavio's leaving the park there's also the situation with Duel. Since it was rethemed to Curse it's arguably had it's target age range slightly raised as it's a little bit scarier than it was when you were blasting cheesy targets. My kids both don't want to go on Curse as they are a bit scared of it's theme now as it seems more frightening to them than when it was Duel. For a family friendly park there really is a worrying trend of removing the family friendly or junior thrill attractions.
 
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Leigh said:
Me, @Poisson and @Jonathan rode it quite a few times over fireworks weekend - honestly it was running absolutely fine the whole time.

You have to bear in mind it (was) basically Trigger’s Pirate Ship; I don’t think there was an original part left on it. Which is why the decision to remove it is all the more perplexing.
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It was running better at Fireworks than most of the season. The fibreglass in the gondola also had serious issues.
 
Really weird. I don't normally do swinging ship rides, but when I visited Towers in October, I actually went on Blade for the first time ever. Had no idea it was closing. Something must've been telling me to give it a go.
 
Rode it for the last time at the Run Alton event on the Sunday. Looked and rode ok considering it’s age you wouldn’t really know.

The station/operators cabin is the same from Thunder Looper isn’t it? That looked tired.
 
Skyscraper said:
That is correct, it was originally Thunder Looper's op cabin.
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That has been the Alton Towers mantra for years - don't spend money on anything new when you can recycle old knackered stuff. If you saw the number of behind the scenes portakabin type buildings that date back from the early 1980's, you would hear Mickey Mouse laugh (as Merlin are second only to Disney).
 
I went on Blade during April and it was more fun with each side raising their hands up and crying 'whayy!' when you went up one way and the other. Always do love these little interactions with other riders that add to the charm of things which now you won't get that anymore.
 
Dave said:
I guarantee this has nothing to do with its age and everything to do with staffing costs.

If Skyride opens next year and Hex stays open then the staffing numbers for new ride, hex and Skyride will be around the same as those used for Flávio’s, blade and dungeons.
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Flavios was one Tower’s staff member: the host. The operators were Mellors staff which were not paid for by Merlin/Towers.

Dungeons staffing came from two different departments: The Operator (1) from the rides department and every other staff member there was entertainments.

Blade was one op operation 99% of the time. Occasionally there would be 1 op 1 host but that was rare.

So with those three rides there was on average 10 staff (towers staff).

Hex and skyride alone is 15 staff. I imagine Ripaw 2.0 will be 1 op, 1 host with it being able to be ran with just 1 op during off peak. So that brings us to 16/17 staff for those rides compared to the 10 for flavios, blade and flavios.

So no, it has zero to do with staffing costs.
 
I’ve been thinking and going back to my business studies a level case study

Equity based firms tend to move in, maximise short term profit and asset strip / cost cut when things start declining before eventually cutting ties. Either by selling or liquidating this business.

They won’t do the latter, but what if Blackstone (not Merlin) see more potential return investing in London based parks and not Alton and plan to cut loose?

Thinking longer term with Universal. I would suggest it’s likely that a lot of visitors to that park from abroad will come to London. Build your London based products up and you’ve got a perfect opportunity to capitalise on additional visitors.

Alton feels like the sacrificial lamb. And heartbreakingly everything feels pre meditated.

Link this to a management change at Merlin, Bianca disappearing.

It’s a stab in the dark but I really think Blackstone want AT gone.

It was clear there were plans for the park may be started by the departing merlin management. Nemesis, PH. Ocean being built was likely to far down the line to cancel but yeh. It seems to me Universal has completely changed the future of Alton before it’s even been approved.

Merlin (Blackstone) are clearly future planning right now and making strategic decisions to focus on London.
 
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QTXAdsy said:
I went on Blade during April and it was more fun with each side raising their hands up and crying 'whayy!' when you went up one way and the other. Always do love these little interactions with other riders that add to the charm of things which now you won't get that anymore.
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The only suitable replacement for this would be a massive pub where someone drops a glass every 5 minutes.
 
AT86 said:
It feels like there are some Olympic worthy leaps being made in this thread.
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Couldn’t disagree more.

I’m happy to be proven wrong but everything that seems to be happening is methodical and planned. This feels different
 
Jb85 said:
I’ve been thinking and going back to my business studies a level case study

Equity based firms tend to move in, maximise short term profit and asset strip / cost cut when things start declining before eventually cutting ties. Either by selling or liquidating this business.

They won’t do the latter, but what if Blackstone (not Merlin) see more potential return investing in London based parks and not Alton and plan to cut loose?

Thinking longer term with Universal. I would suggest it’s likely that a lot of visitors to that park from abroad will come to London. Build your London based products up and you’ve got a perfect opportunity to capitalise on additional visitors.

Alton feels like the sacrificial lamb. And heartbreakingly everything feels pre meditated.

Link this to a management change at Merlin, Bianca disappearing.

It’s a stab in the dark but I really think Blackstone want AT gone.

It was clear there were plans for the park may be started by the departing merlin management. Nemesis, PH. Ocean being built was likely to far down the line to cancel but yeh. It seems to me Universal has completely changed the future of Alton before it’s even been approved.

Merlin (Blackstone) are clearly future planning right now and making strategic decisions to focus on London.
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I have suspected this too. Given how the park seems to be doing more firefighting these days such as refurbing the likes of Nemesis, Hex and Skyride while getting rid of older hardware like Blade rather than any major investments post Nemesis Reborn, I get the feeling that they are trying to make the park look presentable for any potential buyer should they be wanting to go down this path to sell it off to the highest bidder, profit of it and Merlin clear their debts and can focus on their London Parks.

I have said this already but I feel that these two other flat rides yet to be installed and maybe Project Horizon if that is still going ahead will be the last investments Merlin will do before then they move on as with their lack of forward planning, there is nothing to suggest what installations might be next.
 
QTXAdsy said:
I have suspected this too. Given how the park seems to be doing more firefighting these days such as refurbing the likes of Nemesis, Hex and Skyride while getting rid of older hardware like Blade rather than any major investments post Nemesis Reborn, I get the feeling that they are trying to make the park look presentable for any potential buyer should they be wanting to go down this path to sell it off to the highest bidder, profit of it and Merlin clear their debts and can focus on their London Parks.

I have said this already but I feel that these two other flat rides yet to be installed and maybe Project Horizon if that is still going ahead will be the last investments Merlin will do before then they move on as with their lack of forward planning, there is nothing to suggest what installations might be next.
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Glad you think the same.
I get cuts - but previously they’ve been across the whole portfolio. This is very Alton specific currently, hence my feeling things have changed.
 
Jb85 said:
Glad you think the same.
I get cuts - but previously they’ve been across the whole portfolio. This is very Alton specific currently, hence my feeling things have changed.
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It seems a little early to be writing off Alton Towers just yet, given it is currently the only Merlin UK park that we know has actual new ride investment going in for 2025. Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think any of the other Merlin UK park's have had anything announced for next year yet, other than the stage in Thorpe Park.

And all the developments going into all the Merlin parks seem to involve cuts to ride numbers. Remember Hyperia replaced four rides (with one relocated) and the new plans for Chessington also currently involve four attractions being replaced by two (not an exact science I know, given some of them might crop up elsewhere, replacing other attractions).

I think it's just the time of year when there's a lot of chopping and changing going on - admittedly more so than normal and it feels slightly more brutal at Alton given we've recently had announcements regarding future additions at Thorpe and Chessington, whereas all Alton future plans are old news at this point given that we've known about Project Horizon and Ocean for ages at this point.
 
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