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The magic has disappeared!

I don't personally visit the towers, and it doesn't affect me whatsoever if they're not open on my visit (to be honest, the history side of towers doesn't really interest me that much. Understand why people do take interest in it, but doesn't appeal to me personally). Despite this, I would much rather them be open, firstly, for the people who do enjoy exploring the towers, and secondly, because it is an important part of towers and I don't believe they're closed for tlc.

And @delta79, that is a great idea. Shame that there is no chance of it happening. Would actually make a small profit too, compared to the park being closed, and might make national heritage a little happier with them. Wouldn't rule it out in the future though if these mid week closes get more common, or even on certain closed season days, I guess there's just not enough requests for it. If merlin could see it making money for them, it would probably happen :)
 
Biggest issue with the ruins was probably the loss of the black hole tent. That used to be a huge storage space for the park, they can't build anything new to house stuff and the ruins are a good option.

It's a real annoyance of mine though as they should be open to the public!

Yeah! Also the Ice Tent was an enormous dumping ground for all the AV kit Ents have. I did hear it was eventually all organised into a nice neat pile at one point shortly before the tent was pulled down lol.
 
Storage? Well, Sub Terra is not being used. CaTCF is not being used. Hex isnt being used. Sure they could use space in there for the time being and open up parts of the towers given everything else is ruddy closed!
 
nFhRXSL.jpg

Had a little wander around the Towers.
Don't know if I should have been there or not, but pfft. What they gonna do , kick me out ! :D
 
That room is usually tat free anyway. It's the ones you can't get into anymore that have been stuffed full of tat. Not sure if the one from your first photo is usually open though........ ;)
 
This thread depresses me.

After everything that the park are at least trying to do with making sure it's presentable, and looking good - this topic actually exists?

Fair enough, a few years back when the park was wholesale looking a state - but right now? Really? Did you actually open your eyes on opening weekend and see what has taken place across the park to make it look better? Have you heard the new music everywhere? The new speakers which seem to appear almost weekly? The paintjobs?

If you think the park has no magic in 2016, then frankly it never will for you. Just throw your towel in and go to Drayton Manor.
 
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If you think the park has no magic in 2016, then frankly it never will for you. Just throw your towel in and go to Drayton Manor.

OK I see the point Dan's making here, I've not been this year yet (THAT depresses me lol, so stop moaning Astro ;) ) - and for that reason I have admittedly not read through this thread.

However, I must also add, speakers and paint jobs maketh not magic.

Tons of new benches, maketh only BENCH the ride on a grand scale.

Ride closures on a grand scale, maketh not magic.

Food establishments with diminishing offerings and less, well, FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS :D, entertainments cut, opening hours cut, I think you see where this is going...

There are people in the park trying hard, there are people in the company undermining those efforts.

I prefer to be straight about it - praise the good work and the good people, but they alone wont bring the magic back.

Magic... is atmosphere. It is people getting great service enjoying themselves, getting lost in their day, completely immersed in their surroundings.

The more things that prevent this happening, the less "magic" there is.

It is a tangible feeling, it's not an abstract concept as is so often hinted at.

The park cannot build magic with paint and speakers. PEOPLE create the magic getting lost in their day.

Each time that is undermined, it chips away at it, until you end up with a better painted theme park, that still gives visitors plenty of reasons to forget they're in one.
 
The issues with the park at the moment is the fact that some food outlets, Hex, Driving School and Sub-Terra are closed, and there's a lack of street entertainment. All of these (perhaps not NST) are likely to be reversed once the park picks up following the gargantuan drop in guests in 2015.

Music creates immersion and atmosphere.
Good guest service creates immersion and atmosphere.
Well looked after areas creates immersion and atmosphere.

Everything else at the park is demonstrably better than it was in 2015 even if there is still a long way to go.
 
But it wasn't the guests fault Dan what happened, but the guests are "picking up the tab" from a wider company that could have easily absorbed a bad year. If it gave a damn about it's guests.

And you forgot Flume, Ripsaw, and Wobble World to add to NST, Hex, Driving School plus the present faff with air.

No street entertainment.

Tons of complaints about the food places being closed.

I am not knocking the people who've pushed the positive changes through, or indeed the changes they've made, but you're not going to get "magic" when guests are experiencing those practical things during the day, no matter how brilliant your music is.

How immersive are well painted buildings and music, if people walking through it are naffed off because the service is rubbish and a ton of attractions are closed?

They needed Merlin to back them, so the reports coming from Towers were ALL positive (as much as possible) to rebuild the brand reputation, as quickly as possible.

They haven't. It is completely self evident.
 
It isn't just a case of Merlin being able to throw £millions at a park which has seen guest attendance fall by a rumoured half. Business simply doesn't work in that way, even though I am sure we wish it did.

The attractions being closed is entirely regrettable, but it is a symptom of what has happened. The service I am unsure what you mean - are you saying that the customer service at the park is poor?

Flume is being replaced with a major ride in 2018 - it has been put out of its misery slightly earlier than it may have been, but that is the case. Hex and DS will re-open in due course.

Ripsaw is a bad decision, and so is NST - although from what I understand guest feedback on NST was so poor that it probably isn't impacting anyone's day at all.

You should visit the park before claiming to have a view on the current state of play, really. Take a clipboard and make notes on improvements you find. You will be infinitely surprised.

:)
 
You consistently disagree, so I am politely going to disagree with you.

I am actually, if you read through my post, crediting people who've done some great work, but been undermined by other areas which have hamstrung that progress.

Ultimately we both want the same thing, which is to see the park do well, but happy to agree to disagree, although I did say in my first post, I did see the point you were making, my TL;DR point is really this:

Yes good work's been done, but there's many practical experiences people will have through the day that will undo how nice a building looks/music etc - and that's a shame.
 
Visit the place. Rather than standing on a soapbox with fleshed out posts about how there's no magic this year.
 
Visit the place. Rather than standing on a soapbox with fleshed out posts about how there's no magic this year.

I don't think that my posts are deserving of quite such hostile responses.

And it is not by personal choice that I am not visiting, or I would have by now.

I was trying to just enjoy a polite discussion, it's hardly like all my posts towards Towers are negative, but this stuff I'm sorry Dan, it's just bloody obvious.
 
See magic for me is so different from person to person I for one feel the magic everytime I go.
I get completely lost in the place and forget my stressful life and the rubbish that I have to deal with on a regular basis( work, relationships, family) etc etc.
At towers I feel like I can escape from all that drama and my biggest worry is how I'm gonna feel dropping into oblivion.
Obviously this is my opinion and others will be different but this is why the "magic" is so varied


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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I don't think that my posts are deserving of quite such hostile responses.

And it is not by personal choice that I am not visiting, or I would have by now.

I was trying to just enjoy a polite discussion, it's hardly like all my posts towards Towers are negative, but this stuff I'm sorry Dan, it's just bloody obvious.

Of course its bad that there are rides closed. That is not in question.

But perhaps if you took a moment to wade into the park and look closely at what is being offered right now, and how the park feels in terms of atmosphere, you might be able to balance out your argument more.

If you think there's no magic now. Did you visit in 2006? Bad times. Just remember people, remember those days.

:)
 
Regardless of why they've closed rides (I get it, they had a bad year), it doesn't exactly create a "magic" atmosphere. Same goes for cutting shows an street entertainers. I won't criticise the work done this year, certainly a huge improvement and maybe as far as magic.. only the cuts undermine its affect. Maybe when hex, NST, etc, reopen with obvious improvements I'll feel different about it. we'll see, but right now it's hard to credit the park as a whole.
 
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