Tom
TS Member
Even I'm shocked by that. This thing is heading for the trash can. It is obvious they have decided to spend no more money on it. 'Enjoy' it while you can.
Even I'm shocked by that. This thing is heading for the trash can. It is obvious they have decided to spend no more money on it. 'Enjoy' it while you can.
You're right, it isn't. The decline of the monorail is indicative of the story of the place over many years. Where it once saw itself heading, where it used to be, what it became, and with the latest grot, rot and pending (presumed) closure being typical of where it's going.The sad truth is that a monorail, in the vein of the current Alton one anyway, is an expensive thing to build and run for a park of Alton Towers’ calibre.
They are expensive pieces of kit; as much as people can talk about it “only” costing £40m to build a replacement monorail or do a hefty refurbishment, that is a lot of money when you’re not Disney or Universal for something that will provide you with little to no return on investment. I know that not every penny spent in a theme park will provide a return on investment if you want to provide a good experience, but £40m for something that won’t provide a return on investment and isn’t even as marketable as, say, Nemesis Reborn is just not financially viable for Alton Towers. There are other gaps that the park could plug to a significantly greater extent with £40m that would provide significantly greater returns.
I know people rubbish things like buses and land trains in here, but if the monorail needs any kind of major work doing to it, I dare say it’s the only financially viable option if the park wants transportation to the entrance. They’ve put buses on at February Half Term in the past, so it can be done. I dare say the park maybe spent over its means a bit building the monorail in the first place (they couldn’t even afford a brand new one), so with that in mind, I do wonder if any kind of major refurbishment is unrealistic to expect from a park with Alton Towers’ financial situation.
It’s not what people want to hear, but I ultimately feel that it’s the truth. Building some new, extravagant monorail equivalent is simply not worthwhile or affordable for Alton Towers, from where I’m standing.
What they could do if they wanted even more money is upcharge for using the Galactica gate. You know a whole bunch of people would pay £10 extra for the privilege of being first in the nemesis queue based on how fast they leg it through the 9am turnstile openingNot much infrastructure work, in my humble opinion.
Why would the car parks need moving at all?
We already have the drop off point by the entrance.
Why would you have issues with express?
More disabled and express parking could be added, at the cost of a few signs and white lines, near to the galactica gate.
Add one minor entrance shed, and scanner.
Extra money for little effort, very Merlin.
The issue is on busy days where you will have cars arriving and the tram trying to use some of the same road way, so they would need to have dedicated roads set up for the tram before going ahead.Would something like Disneys Parking Lot Trams be a cheaper alternate? I understand the route wouldn't be as interesting but seeing as people have mentioned that coaches have been used in the past then it's a possibility?
What’s it called?The ideal replacement would be some kind of grade-seperated continuous loop of track, with frequent trains of multiple cars every minute or so, and stations where people board from a platform on one side and exit on the other, to maximise throughputs.
... If only such a system existed!