It's all a tad routine

[Rick]

Some Sunday musings from the train...

I guess your ability to know what I am talking about first hand may be dependent on how long you have been visiting Alton Towers, but I would suggest that perhaps some of the apathy and frustration in the enthusiast community comes from the fact that BIG new attractions are all a little routine now, whereas with the construction of Nemesis & Oblivion and to a lesser extent, Air were something completely new and on a scale not really seen before in the country.

Walking into Forbidden Valley for the first time in 1994, or X Sector in 1998 was really a complete sense of unknown, things were kept under wraps and the park could genuinely withhold almost all information relating to the new attraction, if they wanted to.

Today, the picture is so different, The Smiler for instance, was just another big coaster to be put into Alton Towers. It's very difficult for anything to have the earth shattering impact of Nemesis or Oblivion in this day and age and I suspect that will never really happen again. Even dark rides tend to be rumbled beforehand.

One half of what I am discussing above, can of course be fixed by avoiding forums such as this as the new attraction is pieced together. However, the routine building of huge scale attractions is unfixable, I suspect.

I would suggest that the quality of the attractions is perhaps not massively different however the way in which guests discover them has changed massively. Imagine walking into Sub Terra on opening day, not knowing that it was a drop tower, or if you had worked out that bit - not knowing how far you were going to fall. That's what it was like back in the day - I very much miss that era and it does sadden me a little that those days are gone.

I don't think this 'problem' is unique to to Alton Towers specifically. Whatever Pleasure Beach is building in 2017 will be built in the shadow of the Big One. Whether you love or hate the layout or ride experience, it's very difficult to find a ride anywhere that has changed the skyline of an entire town.

The last time I was genuinely taken aback by a new attraction was in 2002. I remember visiting Thorpe Park pre-season and standing on the balcony of the catering outlet next to the Colossus turn around and as the ride was being tested by Intamin, it was very exciting to think that this was a new era for Thorpe Park and that everything was going to change. Later that day I saw the plans for Inferno and again that was exciting, but as the next set of coasters were announced and built, it all felt a little routine.

I do feel a little sorry for those who missed the genuinely innovative days of the early 1990s, where the industry that brought us here today was really grasped and taken forward by the Alton management.

I also think it perhaps changes your perspective of the park today and explains some of what I perceive as crazy negativity and nitpicking. That said, I know some of those who think the park is on its knees were there back in the day. I would also suggest that some of what we complain about today was in evidence back then, but we were too excited about the first new world beating rollercoasters being built to care.

Happy Sunday all.

 

[josht]

Standing looking at both nemesis and oblivion within the 90's was truly amazing constructions the whole park was special before the advance of the internet
Personally wouldn't moan about removing anything that was built after 2002

 

[Dar]

I think part of it is because we've come to expect a new ride every year because that's what the operators have built. Look at Phantasialand or Europa Park, PL installed Chiapas last year with nothing new this year and yet they still manage to pull in loads of visitors, even while they're building Taron. When Towers tried not building anything, the public was quite vocal in saying that there was no point coming if there was nothing new to ride.

 

[Leah]

I think part of it is because we've come to expect a new ride every year because that's what the operators have built. Look at Phantasialand or Europa Park, PL installed Chiapas last year with nothing new this year and yet they still manage to pull in loads of visitors, even while they're building Taron. When Towers tried not building anything, the public was quite vocal in saying that there was no point coming if there was nothing new to ride.

Could that be because of the people those parks are aimed at. I having visited any of these parks you said, but I'm guessing they are family parks (really have no idea) whilst Alton is aimed more at teenagers who will notice a lack of new rides more than children.

Something my friend said made me think slightly. She said that Alton towers charges lots for entry, so they should have enough for a new ride every year, if not 2. (I know that they don't, but the GPs view...)

 

[DiogoJ42]

They are "family" parks in the true sense, in that they have something for everyone. Unfortunately in the UK "family" means "kiddy".

 

[Leah]

To me, "kiddy" means something like legoland, where there are few/no thrill rides. "Family" means chessington, where there is a mix. "Adult" or "thrill" means thorpe or towers (covers family to), few kids rides (thorpe limited to angry birds and x)

 

[micksalt]

It's very difficult for anything to have the earth shattering impact of Nemesis or Oblivion in this day and age and I suspect that will never really happen again. Even dark rides tend to be rumbled beforehand.

They managed to keep Th13teen's secret until launch day didn't they?

 

[Rob]

They managed to keep Th13teen's secret until launch day didn't they?

Erm, I think it was officially kept a secret until opening morning yes, although they revealed it all on Central News in the morning before the park opened. I think we'd all worked out what Thirteen was going to do by then anyway.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Most of us had managed to work out the obvious long before it opened, although the exact sequence of the drop didn't come out until it was all "spoiled" on breakfast telly.

 

[Rick]

I think part of it is because we've come to expect a new ride every year because that's what the operators have built. Look at Phantasialand or Europa Park, PL installed Chiapas last year with nothing new this year and yet they still manage to pull in loads of visitors, even while they're building Taron. When Towers tried not building anything, the public was quite vocal in saying that there was no point coming if there was nothing new to ride.

That's something that they have done to themselves though, for sure. Six Flags had a real job on their hands over the last decade or so. Around 1999/2000 they were putting multiple coasters in per year. Obviously, that wasn't sustainable (look at the corporate history of Six Flags, or speak to any of the people who lost millions of dollars). Then, they had a period where they had to baseline the business, stop the bleeding, hit cashflow positive and eventually return to profit, but that inevitably meant that the expectations of customers in terms of cap-ex had to change.

They managed to keep Th13teen's secret until launch day didn't they?

Reasonably so outside of the enthusiast/nerd community, I think. That's true.

 

[micksalt]

Reasonably so outside of the enthusiast/nerd community, I think. That's true.

I thought so, I wasn't following the enthusiast forums around that time.

 

[Tom]

Thirteen was a considerable success. The crypt and tunnel required (requires) a little more theming an general theatre but overall, the concept, atmosphere and execution was superb. Basically it reignited my real interest in the park for the first time since Oblivion.

 

[Leah]

Most (non enthusiast, rare/first time visitors) people don't even know that it drops now. Was on it with my friend on Sunday, it was her second visit, her first being 2009. We went on 13 as our first ride and she had no idea what was going to happen. back at schoolkids and she said "i screamed when 13 dropped because I didn't know it would do that" and most of the people I was sat with didnt know either.