The Retrosquad: General Discussion

[Skyscraper]

Given their track record with the coasters this year (excuse the pun) I think the problem may well be the park's maintenance of them rather than the hired rides themselves. Don't recall any reliability issues in the early part of the season.

I would assume that any maintenance is carried out by the operator, who is the showman who owns the ride, as they know the inner workings better than Towers' technical team.

Plus remember that all four are operating for a lot longer than they would at a funfair. They'll be knackered by the end of the season!

 

[Danscott22]

They definitely have been a success, but they're probably not used to the amount of work they've been doing on Alton's long operating hours this season.

 

[djtruefitt]

I would assume that any maintenance is carried out by the operator, who is the showman who owns the ride, as they know the inner workings better than Towers' technical team.

Plus remember that all four are operating for a lot longer than they would at a funfair. They'll be knackered by the end of the season!

Yeah I’ve seen one of the rides operators doing maintenance when day when one of them were shut. Don’t believe towers are involved with them at all, other than providing one staff member to batch people on the ride.

 

[Skyscraper]

Yeah I’ve seen one of the rides operators doing maintenance when day when one of them were shut. Don’t believe towers are involved with them at all, other than providing one staff member to batch people on the ride.

Yeah the Towers host only lets people on and off the ride. The op (showman) leaves the booth to check the restraints.

 

[Thameslink Rail]

If we get permanent flats soon they would do far more to improve capacity because
1. They would be operated solely by AT staff so everyone would be able to check restraints reducing time between cycles
2. As had been mentioned previously, fun fair rides generally struggle with the demanding calendar of a theme park as we've seen with Mixtape's arms, hopefully we would not be seeing so many arms out of action on a permanent version.

 

[Danscott22]

It'd be decent if Towers could get a 3 ride deal, but who does decent enough flat rides to offer that? I know Zamperla do it or something similar but I'm not the best at knowing which flats are manufactured by who, so I'm not really sure about this.

 

[WillPS]

It'd be decent if Towers could get a 3 ride deal, but who does decent enough flat rides to offer that? I know Zamperla do it or something similar but I'm not the best at knowing which flats are manufactured by who, so I'm not really sure about this.

Huss, Mondial, Zierer... there's a list as long as your arm. Whether they have 3 (or any!) rides suitable for plots at Alton Towers, I don't know.

The question for me isn't who could broker a deal but could Merlin stomach a fairly chunky investment with limited ability to market it.

 

[JAperson]

Huss, Mondial, Zierer... there's a list as long as your arm. Whether they have 3 (or any!) rides suitable for plots at Alton Towers, I don't know.

The question for me isn't who could broker a deal but could Merlin stomach a fairly chunky investment with limited ability to market it.

They marketed submission fairly successfully. I think realistically if they get something that looks cool and give it a detailed theme it can be marketed by Alton Towers. Alton Towers have an amazing marketing team that can literally market anything. Look at the retro-squad itself. They literally advertised fairground rides in an amazing way and I give them props for that. I don't think just any theme park can do that but its the marketing power of the Alton Towers brand itself along with an incredibly skilled team there.

 

[Prof Burp]

Does anyone know if the retro squad rides will return next year? I hope Flavio’s Fandango in The World Of David Williams does not return. I would like to see a Breakdance open on this location. I think the Breakdance should retain the name Flavio’s Fandango and the ride sign. I would like the cue line moved slightly,so that the theatre can reopen.

 

[jon81uk]

Yep Ripsaw and Submission are good examples of when AT managed to market smaller investments well.

I still think another Supernova (Boneshaker/Energizer) back in Dark Forest themed as an evil tree (think whomping willow from Harry Potter) would be great, a fun family thrill ride that doesn’t invert.
Then a permanent version for Flávio would be fine, just need to re-route the queue so the theatre can be used again, or move the carousel back where it used to be!
Not sure what to replace Ripsaw with but should be easy to find something, a new floor less top scan would be fine, but not sure if it would get huge crowds again, Ripsaw wasn’t as popular as it used to be by the time it left.

 

[s_g_k]

Yep Ripsaw and Submission are good examples of when AT managed to market smaller investments well.

I still think another Supernova (Boneshaker/Energizer) back in Dark Forest themed as an evil tree (think whomping willow from Harry Potter) would be great, a fun family thrill ride that doesn’t invert.
Then a permanent version for Flávio would be fine, just need to re-route the queue so the theatre can be used again, or move the carousel back where it used to be!
Not sure what to replace Ripsaw with but should be easy to find something, a new floor less top scan would be fine, but not sure if it would get huge crowds again, Ripsaw wasn’t as popular as it used to be by the time it left.

I would love to see a Supernova return to the park, and I agree it would be the perfect ride for the Dark Forest if it was themed to be a possessed tree branch or something.

The only Retrosquad ride that would suit AT going forward is Mixtape. A permanent version in X Sector would work perfectly if it was themed correctly. The ride looks similar to the Marmaliser so I can’t imagine it being beyond the realms of possibility to give the ride a Marmaliser theme and call it “Marmaliser’s Revenge” or something.

As for Funk n Fly’s site, I’m still not sure what would work there moving forward. There’s already a (albeit knackered) family flat in FV. Could they get away with a medium sized drop tower on that site?

 

[Skyscraper]

With Smiler, Hex and CRR all being closed over Scarefest, just imagine what the queues would've been like if the temp flats weren't there. Another reason for Towers to replace them with permanent ones!

 

[Danscott22]

With Smiler, Hex and CRR all being closed over Scarefest, just imagine what the queues would've been like if the temp flats weren't there. Another reason for Towers to replace them with permanent ones!

Yeah it would've been even worse for sure, they've definitely done their job this year whether people like them or not - we know all 4 temp rides have hit at least 60 minute queues at some point during the season - some quite frequently! Admittedly, slow loading probably means there aren't tonnes of people in the queue - although Mixtape and Funk'n'Fly have both had full queues before so they've definitely worked!

 

[Skyscraper]

I've just had a thought actually; in the Retrosquad advert when the three rides were selected there were a few others as well. Could we maybe see three different Retrosquad rides next season?

 

[Danscott22]

I wouldn't be mad if they cycled through them, but phased one out at a time with a permanent addition. For example, if they wanted to introduce two new Retros temporarily and a new permanent addition I think it'd work, but I know this wont happen.

 

[s_g_k]

I’d be incredibly disappointed if they were replaced with nothing and we’re left with 3 dead spaces again to the extent I almost refuse to believe that Merlin would do such a thing at their flagship U.K. attraction.

 

[WillPS]

I’d be incredibly disappointed if they were replaced with nothing and we’re left with 3 dead spaces again to the extent I almost refuse to believe that Merlin would do such a thing at their flagship U.K. attraction.

Why not? The spaces were dead in the years before their arrival.

 

[s_g_k]

Why not? The spaces were dead in the years before their arrival.

Very true, but with the reliability issues we’ve seen in the latter half of this season I think they’ve more than proved their point that flats belong in those spaces.
Just because they were dead spaces beforehand doesn’t mean that reverting these spaces back to nothing is the best option from a guest experience perspective

 

[WillPS]

Very true, but with the reliability issues we’ve seen in the latter half of this season I think they’ve more than proved their point that flats belong in those spaces.
Just because they were dead spaces beforehand doesn’t mean that reverting these spaces back to nothing is the best option from a guest experience perspective

Of course, something is always better than nothing from a guest experience perspective.

So too would be removing the parking fee. Doesn't mean it's going to happen tho.

Cash is king.

 

[s_g_k]

Of course, something is always better than nothing from a guest experience perspective.

So to would be removing the parking fee. Doesn't mean it's going to happen tho.

Cash is king.

I agree, but there’s a fine line between cash is king and a long queue at the box office full of people demanding refunds, which is what we’ve seen over the past few weeks.
It’s an incredibly hard task juggling guest experience and profit margin - by prioritising 1, the other always suffers

Edit - my comment about the box office refund queue is going slightly off topic and isn’t necessarily related to the Retrosquad but more about reliability across the park