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Towers Loving Care

GaryH said:
You for real? They give Corkscrew, the iconic ride which put Alton Towers on the map, which stands proudly in the entrance plaza a lick of paint, and you are complaining about it?!!! Shhheeesshhh, like I said in an earlier post, there is just no pleasing some people.
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I don't know what part of my original post was so hard to understand? No one is objecting to the corkscrews being repainted, but hands up who has mentioned before that they needed some urgent TLC.......?

We've already established that the TLC budget is so tight that the park can't operate past 4pm and can only afford to do the Nemesis track and station if it's spread across 4 seasons. So why spending a few grand on repainting something that could have waited till year 4, when the Oblivion and Smiler queue lines look like they do, is seen as a good use of limited funds is beyond me.
 
The trouble with maintaining queue lines is that keeping these in top condition is very short lived. Three days after the Smiler very first open, there were graffiti in the single rider queue line entrance as you enter the building. When I queued for the DBGT at Thorpe park, I lost count how many people I saw picking away at the themeing.
 
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Oh yes, it's important. I don't know the ins and outs of it, but I suspect it was probably a requirement to get a new ADIPS (safety) certificate. But yes, as delta79 says, I'm surprised they didn't try to make it blend in a bit.

Edit: Actually, I'm not that surprised.
 
matthewgcole said:
I don't know what part of my original post was so hard to understand? No one is objecting to the corkscrews being repainted, but hands up who has mentioned before that they needed some urgent TLC.......?

We've already established that the TLC budget is so tight that the park can't operate past 4pm and can only afford to do the Nemesis track and station if it's spread across 4 seasons. So why spending a few grand on repainting something that could have waited till year 4, when the Oblivion and Smiler queue lines look like they do, is seen as a good use of limited funds is beyond me.
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I get the sentiment but this isn't how organisations work. Budgets are very seperate so the park will have been given a capital budget, maintenance budget and operational budget. So you can have £300,000 for instance given to you for TLC but an operation budget that stops you opening beyond 4.30pm and you are not allowed to shift money between the two. Also for accounting reasons any money not spent at the end of March will be sent back to Merlin.

So they are likely now spending any remaining money on projects that can be completed in time.
 
delta79 said:
Could do with blending into its location
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They could do as
Dave said:
I get the sentiment but this isn't how organisations work. Budgets are very seperate so the park will have been given a capital budget, maintenance budget and operational budget. So you can have £300,000 for instance given to you for TLC but an operation budget that stops you opening beyond 4.30pm and you are not allowed to shift money between the two. Also for accounting reasons any money not spent at the end of March will be sent back to Merlin.

So they are likely now spending any remaining money on projects that can be completed in time.
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This thing of them having to spend all the money by the end of march makes sense. They wouldn't do anything to adventurous to spend the budget in case they couldn't complete the job before opening day.
 
No one would have believed, in the last years of the twentieth century, that theme park affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of Europe.

No one could have dreamed we were being scrutinized, as someone with a microscope
studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered
the possibility of European parks, and yet -
- across the gulf of the channel, minds immeasurably superior to ours, regarded our parks with envious eyes.

... And slowly... and surely... they drew their plans against us.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
No one would have believed, in the last years of the twentieth century, that theme park affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of Europe.

No one could have dreamed we were being scrutinized, as someone with a microscope
studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered
the possibility of European parks, and yet -
- across the gulf of the channel, minds immeasurably superior to ours, regarded our parks with envious eyes.

... And slowly... and surely... they drew their plans against us.
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Don't worry, the British Weather and cold virus will sort them out.

Congratulations by the way. In one well swoop you have come it with a fantastic theme for a new dark ride.

The Amazing World of HG Wells in the Charlie and the Cardboard Factory Building (I typically hate IP's, but would make an exception for this).

Drawing inspiration from the great man's numerous classic novels, the atmosphere and sense of wonder could be amazing.

There are allready rides around the world inspired by the equally great (but, unfortunately, French, Jules Verne), but in an age where good old old blighty has lost some of its greatness, we can still be proud of this man's work.

Of course as an added bonus, Merlin would have a relatively low bar to compete with as Hollywood, has been mangling HGW's work for years. Why use a novels name, if the associated movie has nothing to do with it?

Steven Spielberg WOTW's?.. I'd rather see HG Wells WOTW'''s (featuring Jeff Wayne's brilliant orchestral score, the only use of the licence in recent times EVER to do the original treatment justice).

Oh and getting back to TLC. Congratulations to the entire team. Nemesis is looking great as is Hex. I didn't think they had it in them, but seriously, well done.

Let's hope that SW8 can bring back the punters, and help justification to extend opening hours in 2018 and beyond. I think it can, but I'm not sure that Merlin will.
 
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C6tZrT6WgAAAeBy.jpg

Pirates have a nice new sign welcoming them into Mutiny Bay this season.. This refurbishment includes new posts, theming and flag.
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Jeez, it's not until they do a before and after shot that you realise just how grubby some parts are, it's like something from an abandoned park that has been shut for years!
 
RoyJess said:
The trouble with maintaining queue lines is that keeping these in top condition is very short lived. Three days after the Smiler very first open, there were graffiti in the single rider queue line entrance as you enter the building. When I queued for the DBGT at Thorpe park, I lost count how many people I saw picking away at the themeing.
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Interesting though an enormous part of scenic design (or used to be anyway) was designing something to be durable for its purpose. You can do amazing scenery from a safe distance with just soft materials, but anything within guest reach has to be built out of very strict materials, otherwise it WILL get vandalised. This even comes down to the colours you paint something, paint something too light or too white and it WILL get dirty very quickly.

It was ridiculous then that someone would be so naive as to put paper poster theming in a queueline wall. No doubt the excuse was that 'if it gets more ripped it will suit the theme' rather than consider how fake and ugly it looks. The Smiler had very cheap build too, a lot of its Designing something to be maintainable is a big part of the game when it comes to attraction design. But maintaining something as intended is another challenge altogether because that is the park's responsibility.
 
e4kenndr said:
C6tZrT6WgAAAeBy.jpg




Jeez, it's not until they do a before and after shot that you realise just how grubby some parts are, it's like something from an abandoned park that has been shut for years!
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I can't see any difference :) I have to admit that top photo is pretty embarrassing. People often compare Alton Towers to Disney, Universals, Europa Park, Phantasialand etc but in fairness to Towers these are the best in the world. Not that parks shouldn't aspire to be the best, but most parks don't achieve those kinds of standards. But that banner would be poor if it was in a second rate seaside amusement park. Not what you'd expect in a major theme park. But glad that it's finally been sorted out. I am really enjoying the TLC campaign. Long may it continue.
 
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The top picture is awful, but remember they do usually do a jet wash of a lot of signage etc. before the park re-opens. ATR gets a lot of abuse from the elements over winter.
 
@Funcone People compare towers to those parks because its the only major park in the UK with theming you remember and the balance of good rides. The TLC programme is quite extensive this year, which is great, but the buildings and sign changing, cleaning hex all them are not TLC, there just showing how much neglect the park has had in the past.. Anyways, it makes them 1 step closer to becoming a good park, I hope they dont finish the programme next year and just stop completely.
 
delta79 said:
To be honest. Its getting done, that all i really care about
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Thats how I like to see it, To be honest, there is no UK park that do a full maintenance program like towers has done this year, and towers still are getting quite a bit of stick for it. Only thing i do not agree with is them not fixing signage and cleaning the rides, thats when it goes to just neglect of the park
 
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