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Goodbye Blade…

Squiggs said:
It seems a little early to be writing off Alton Towers just yet, given it is currently the only 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 UK park's have had anything announced for next year yet, other than the stage in Thorpe Park.

And all the developments going in to all the UK 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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Ghostly Manor at Paultons
 
Kraken27 said:
What, so you mean a Wetherspoons at Towers? It would certainly appease a lot of the clientele. Problem is it would be death to all the Aramark outlets if Spoons employed their own pricing model.
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Can already see the press release.
“After 44 thrill-iant years Alton towers are retiring their beloved Pirate Ship, The Blade, However are excited to announce their new for 2025 attraction- Wetherspoons: the immersive experience.

Get fully immersed into the cheaper than chips prices for food and drinks. Get mesmerised with the crazy carpet and get lost in the labyrinth to the loo! Interact with the quirky locals, but don’t get too close, they might want a fight!

Divisional director Bianca Sammut says “We are excited to be welcoming well loved brand Wetherspoons to the resort, joining brands such as Bluey and David Walliams. Wetherspoons: the immersive experience will join our world-beating line up of rides, ensuring that 2025 is the best season ever!”

*please note this attraction will be open from 1pm for a max of 45mins
*Upcharge of £5pp applies, MAP discount not valid”
 
Theme park food and drink is the basic bread and butter profit in parks.
There is no way on this planet they would invite a budget retailer into the park...ever.
It would be throwing available profits down the drain.
 
Squiggs said:
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
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I think people are more understanding and forgiving when a ride is removed in place of a massive upgrade, of which both Hyperia was and Minecraft almost certainly will be.

Alton Towers are downgrading the customer experience each year. Commending them for the only announced new ride of 2025 is somewhat arbitrary when comparing the development patterns elsewhere, especially considering what that ride is versus what others have installed recently.
 
@Bowser spot on.
Like I say, I actually think the park has good plans and good intentions. Nemesis reborn, horizon, ocean. Hex reopening, sky ride work.

The place felt alive again.
Then something changed. I do not believe any of these cuts were planned, and shelving horizon can’t have been planned (if that’s what’s happened of course)

I can only pinpoint this to the three moments that have been key to Alton’s future
1) NI and minimum wage increase - would not have feature in long term plans but may have accelerated Blade’s demise
2) ongoing energy costs
3) Universal / the London affect

In fairness if I were running Merlin / Blackstone - I’d be making similar business decisions
 
Problem is it’s very easy to get stuck in a doom cycle:

Underperform financially - cut costs/investment - underperform even more - more cuts and so on and so forth.

If they want to improve their financial performance in a sustainable way then hacking away at the customer experience whilst increasing prices is a short term and simplistic approach which is almost certainly doomed to fail.
 
Hear me out, but maybe we will see a similar ride replace the blade for next season?

It's been a long time since Mr Monkey's Banana Ride has fitted in to Thorpe's target market, so maybe we could see a re-theme and have it shipped up north?

It could be called Mr Phalanx's Banana Bomb - it would fit in beautifully. Could even be sponsored by the video game Worms for added income.

Problem solved.
 
As much as I want to see the Blade replaced with something, I can't see the point of replacing it with yet another pirate ship when there's more interesting rides out there nowadays.

I also can't really understand why they couldn't have put Ripsaw mk2 in that pit if they knew Blade was on the way out, they wouldn't of had to worry about building a silly concrete platform then.
 
MaxPower said:
M
I also can't really understand why they couldn't have put Ripsaw mk2 in that pit if they knew Blade was on the way out, they wouldn't of had to worry about building a silly concrete platform then.
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Because it’ll add height and spectacle. It would have made more sense to simply add it to the previous ripsaw site, but as it’s now double sided, it’ll add much more to the ride in its future setup.

If it was in the blade pit, it wouldn’t have the same wow factor.
 
MaxPower said:
I would argue that the ride type works better in a pit as you're at rider level at some points when in operation, which is why Rameses Revenge was so unique.

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I understand what you are saying, however the new Ripsaw is double sided with riders facing both directions of the gondola so the platform is the perfect opportunity to have both sides have a view and be viewed by spectators.
 
Doesn't the old site for Ripsaw have ground issues being that it's close to the valley which means that likely there won't be any future attraction on that spot of land?
 
MaxPower said:
I would argue that the ride type works better in a pit as you're at rider level at some points when in operation, which is why Rameses Revenge was so unique.

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On the contrary, having the path underneath will mean the pedestrians will look up and see the gondola above and make direct eye contact with those on-ride…

It’s a way of interaction and connection with people that is unique to the art medium of theme parks. Towers are on to a winner if this runs at least a decent cycle.
 
I find it weird building that massive concrete pad across the pathway as there is now no main large access pathways from the galactica gate over to the skyride end of forbidden valley. Eg, vehicles and such like. I thought that was a main route.
 
rctneil said:
I find it weird building that massive concrete pad across the pathway as there is now no main large access pathways from the galactica gate over to the skyride end of forbidden valley. Eg, vehicles and such like. I thought that was a main route.
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There is, around the other side.
 
rctneil said:
I find it weird building that massive concrete pad across the pathway as there is now no main large access pathways from the galactica gate over to the skyride end of forbidden valley. Eg, vehicles and such like. I thought that was a main route.
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There is access for vehicles via the gate/road/path to the left of the Nemesis queue line entrance.
 
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