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The Retrosquad: General Discussion

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I think the whole thing about Merlin, they have Merlin magic making come in and create the rides and areas, but afterwards the upkeep is down to park management. MMM don’t have the time to be the onsite touch up team
 
Has anyone at Towers tried forming a business case to prove the need for permanent flats?

At this point it’s best for the Retro Squad to go completely. The park is in desperate need of flat rides, and the constant hiring of travelling rides is not the answer. It was ok post-covid however it’s cheapening the brand and not a great image for the UKs largest theme park.
 
James said:
Has anyone at Towers tried forming a business case to prove the need for permanent flats?

At this point it’s best for the Retro Squad to go completely. The park is in desperate need of flat rides, and the constant hiring of travelling rides is not the answer. It was ok post-covid however it’s cheapening the brand and not a great image for the UKs largest theme park.
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I suspect they have but then other priorities take hold. There is so much aging ride infrastructure at Towers that the biggest question is where do you begin?

They clearly decided Nemesis and HH where higher in the priority than flat rides.
 
Anyone have any idea what the height restriction is likely to be? I can't find anything about the height restriction it travels around with. I'm guessing 1.2m, but I'm not really sure how intense it's supposed to be.
 
James said:
Has anyone at Towers tried forming a business case to prove the need for permanent flats?

At this point it’s best for the Retro Squad to go completely. The park is in desperate need of flat rides, and the constant hiring of travelling rides is not the answer. It was ok post-covid however it’s cheapening the brand and not a great image for the UKs largest theme park.
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Here's your business case:

Nobody cares about flat rides before they go to a park, no matter how much you spend on marketing them, you don't get word of mouth promotion off the back of them once people have been to the park and they only go on them if/when a queue for one of the actual draws that made them want to go to the park in the first place gets too long. Chessington are currently building an area with two of them and nobody is interested in going to this new area for either one of them.

There is nothing remotely exciting about flat rides from a business point of view.
 
Dobba said:
Here's your business case:

Nobody cares about flat rides before they go to a park, no matter how much you spend on marketing them, you don't get word of mouth promotion off the back of them once people have been to the park and they only go on them if/when a queue for one of the actual draws that made them want to go to the park in the first place gets too long. Chessington are currently building an area with two of them and nobody is interested in going to this new area for either one of them.

There is nothing remotely exciting about flat rides from a business point of view.
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Do feel free to share your data on this. Seems like there must be a wealth of concrete figures behind this assertion?
 
Squiggs said:
Do feel free to share your data on this. Seems like there must be a wealth of concrete figures behind this assertion?
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I look forward to X-Sector being dead all season now Enterprise has been replaced by a ride that doesn't fit into the theme. Walk-on Smiler all season long.
 
Dobba said:
Here's your business case:

Nobody cares about flat rides before they go to a park, no matter how much you spend on marketing them, you don't get word of mouth promotion off the back of them once people have been to the park and they only go on them if/when a queue for one of the actual draws that made them want to go to the park in the first place gets too long. Chessington are currently building an area with two of them and nobody is interested in going to this new area for either one of them.

There is nothing remotely exciting about flat rides from a business point of view.
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You say that but Croc Drop is a prime example of a flat ride that brought business to a park because it was approached creatively like an E-Ticket attraction. However, something like that could only work with less strict planning rules, and let's face it Alton Towers is surrounded by tougher planning rules than Chessington is.
 
Nosferatu said:
You say that but Croc Drop is a prime example of a flat ride that brought business to a park because it was approached creatively like an E-Ticket attraction. However, something like that could only work with less strict planning rules, and let's face it Alton Towers is surrounded by tougher planning rules than Chessington is.
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Chessington's attendance figures the season Croc Drop opened were almost identical to the average of the decade prior to COVID. As you say that is when building a type of flat ride AT would only get planning permission for if they dug down considerably, adding a financial reason to why it doesn't make sense from a business perspective.

The park knows they need flat rides, hence the Retrosquad. From a business perspective they do exactly the same thing themed permanent ones do.
 
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Dobba said:
The park knows they need flat rides, hence the Retrosquad. From a business perspective they do exactly the same thing themed permanent ones do.
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Except for the fact they can't draw too much attention to them because they're a load of tut? That's a pretty significant handicap.
 
They’re themed as vintage invaders/visitors delayed in transit from 1980? They don’t fit with the theme of their respective areas, granted.


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