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The Retrosquad: General Discussion

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I actually think it probably fits in the best of the lot on colour scheme alone (ignoring Flavios, of course). Still looks tacky as all hell tho :(
 
WillPS said:
I actually think it probably fits in the best of the lot on colour scheme alone (ignoring Flavios, of course). Still looks tacky as all hell tho :(
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Personally, that accolade would go to Funk N Fly, which doesn't actually look bad in Forbidden Valley. If only they turned the music off.
 
Funk'n'Fly's only problem (ignoring the fact it's a temporary ride which we all understand) is that it spends most of the time closed.
 
zeock said:
Personally, that accolade would go to Funk N Fly, which doesn't actually look bad in Forbidden Valley. If only they turned the music off.
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Fair enough. I guess I hold Forbidden Valley (minus Air anyway) in quite high regard in terms of theming, a big shimmering pinky/purple thing does not belong in my view.

But to each their own.

Roller Disco was comfortably worst though, FWIW.
 
The bar is a little tight on Funk’n’Fly, but it’s fun for the most part. I do actually find it more nauseating than Spinjam though, which is odd.
 
Was posted in the retro squad topic a few days ago. I know a lot of people don’t like them, and don’t get me wrong I completely understand why!
However, if they bother you that much, just don’t go on them
 
Danscott22 said:
Was posted in the retro squad topic a few days ago. I know a lot of people don’t like them, and don’t get me wrong I completely understand why!
However, if they bother you that much, just don’t go on them
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No no no.

This is a “theme park” therefore it should not be filled with fair ground rides.

If a park installs a themed ride that I then don’t like then “just don’t ride it” is absolutely a reasonable response. But the UK’s supposed number one theme park should not be installing this s**t.

As much as Chessington are installing flats from a poor manufacturer at least they are “themed” and permanent.
 
I get everyone’s negative response, but we full well know we’re not getting any permanent flat rides any time soon.
Keep complaining, it’s not going to get you anywhere. It is what it is for now

If it happens again, at the end of the day there’s nothing any of us can do. We can keep whinging on a forum, but it won’t change anything. Like I’ve said, I understand where everyone is coming from, but you don’t have to ride them. People who want to ride them can feel free to do so, even though I’m well aware it’s not what we all want.
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
Well it might? If Alton listen to the feedback from its customers they may choose to buy permanent ones next season?
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We’ve had them for 3 years, if they choose to install permanent ones it will be off their own back, probably not in response to feedback. I’m not gonna bother responding again before all the ganging up starts just for putting a different opinion out there.
 
Danscott22 said:
I get everyone’s negative response, but we full well know we’re not getting any permanent flat rides any time soon.
Keep complaining, it’s not going to get you anywhere. It is what it is for now

If it happens again, at the end of the day there’s nothing any of us can do. We can keep whinging on a forum, but it won’t change anything. Like I’ve said, I understand where everyone is coming from, but you don’t have to ride them. People who want to ride them can feel free to do so, even though I’m well aware it’s not what we all want.
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If we just sat back and accepted the additions at the resort, a discussion forum would be a very boring place.

We “complain” (although I’d say a large chunk of what’s said here is valid criticism with suggestions for improvements) because we’re enthusiasts. We care about the park we’ve visited for years and want to see it improve season on season.

You may not like the negative posts on the forum, but just because in your view we can “do nothing about it” doesn’t mean people shouldn’t write about it if they choose to.
 
Sitting back and accepting something, especially when it costs you to enter the park (which isn't cheap) is probably the worst thing you can do. Paying customers have a right to complain if it's justified.
This retro squad nonsense will be going on for years, Nemesis and project horizon will kill any chance of permanent flat rides.
 
I didn't mind the Retrosquad rides in 2021. It gave the park some much needed additional rides, I quite liked the marketing and branding, and they gave proof that guests did indeed enjoy riding flat rides.

The hope was that Alton Towers would be able to use this to give a business case to Merlin for permanent flat rides in the park. It is what the park has badly needed for a long time. Instead 3 years down the line and we are still getting fairground rides installed in to what is supposedly the UK's premier theme park. Imagine this happening at Europa-Park, or Parc Asterix, or PortAventura etc. It just wouldn't!

It has become easy now for Alton Towers/Merlin to just keep these rides instead of seek permanent flats. And now it seems lazy.
 
The annoyance is that everything is left so long that it ends up being a “must do” before any actual money is spent.

Look at Chesssington. It’s been left to rot for years, the management did what they could but the wider group didn’t put all that much money into it. Now things are really a state, it’s getting some money spent on it.

The same at Towers. I welcomed the Retrosquad as it would be a nice bit of variation for guests and a test case for wider investment in flats. A nice stop gap during a difficult time.

However, as others have pointed out it now seems to be their default way of providing flat rides for the foreseeable. That’ll likely continue until a large percentage of guests start to call them out on it. There’s very little ambition in that way of running the park, especially when comparing it to “the old days” and it’s sad to see.

Tl;dr - A huge chunk of decisions at Merlin seems to be reactive not proactive.
 
Ethan said:
Screenshot_20230314-112719_Instagram.jpg
Looks terrible can't lie. Wish they'd just get rid of these retro rides now
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The thing is that if the park bought one of these and had it painted either Smiler yellow and black or Oblivion orange and black and ran it as a permanent attraction (and without the silly music obviously) it would so easily fit it to the area. It’s so sad that Merlin seem oblivious to the issue or think that what they are doing with the Retrosquad rides will do.
 
The problem with merlin that they don't really care much about a lot of their parks older areas and they put all the money into the newer ones (World of David Walliams, Cbeebies Land), when that the case, this here is what happens to the older areas, they're morphed into something unrecognisable in a bad way while retaining the brand. It's just lazy planning, no budget, and lack of creativity to be Frank now.

The people at Chessington are doing s brilliant job with new rides and still theming them to the older areas, it's a shame that towers don't seem to take this into consideration, even for a temporary flat ride. As someone mentioned above, just painting it either yellow and black for the smiler, or orange and grey for oblivion would make all the difference.
 
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