Towers Loving Care

[Lurker]

I agree it shouldn't be in that state, but given that tlc is the only thing stopping it continuing to deteriorate and really just another name for maintenance I am hesitant to complain beyond asking for more like this.

As for rides being closed, yeah it's crap. I guess the rides would've been closed either way, at least the hex queue looks a bit better.

 

[ringo]

Any news on TLC’s redevelopment of the old CACF? Onto our third year of TLC with it.

 

[evilcod]

Any news on TLC’s redevelopment of the old CACF? Onto our third year of TLC with it.

That is not going to be under the TLC umbrella, it will be a new attraction. But no, no news.

 

[ringo]

That is not going to be under the TLC umbrella, it will be a new attraction. But no, no news.

Oh, they advertised it as being part of TLC

 

[pj]

Oh, they advertised it as being part of TLC

And that is what cheapens the TLC programme. I try to see the best in what Merlin do but I can’t imagine, with the IP running out that they would have done anything but TLC


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Benzin]

Please see the previous couple of pages of posts, TLC is NOT a marketing exercise.

Selective quoting, it's not for everyone...

I mean, it's not like this how thing came about when the park's PR levels were at it's lowest and they needed SOMETHING to make it look like the park wasn't falling apart at the seems... Give some money to do some painting/maintenance budgets for a change, promote it and do some interesting terminology to why Hex is being shut for a year...

Besides, like with most Merlin things, it's only being supported for 3 years... So I guess it's back to not having any budgets next season?

 

[Dave]

I think people are getting a little too obsessed with the branding here.

TLC was a pet project of someone in the resort who argued for some money to sort out areas that where really showing their age. Yes it is something that shouldn’t have been left to get in such a state but that ship sailed back in the late Tussauds era.

Towers social media is controlled by the marketing department by and large and their job is to market, this is not a family owned theme park and they don’t need to know how to interact with enthusiasts so slowly the TLC social media channels have become the outlet for things that the resort want to put out there but maybe not on the main twitter (in family owned parks it’s often the owners who do this). Hence why the historic restorations have been popping up on there.

There has however been some small examples of hijacking of the TLC brand to make excuse for ride closures. This is silly but it isn’t exactly the end of the world.

As I say plenty of times there is enough wrong with Merlin and Towers that we don’t need to start making things that are not bad appear to be so. Sure comment on the tlc and how good or bad you think the quality is, but the use of a logo on a hoarding or the incorporation of restoration into the TLC twitter page is hardly a huge deal.

 

[ChristmasPud]

I agree with that, but they themselves won't be taking that responsibility online. As far as most people are concerned, "TLC" is a Merlin/Towers initiative to refurbish the park.

Towers have never denied that Charlie and Hex were closed to "TLC", and many fans are expecting a huge refurbishment to Duel this year that simply doesn't exist.

If you scroll through the comments on the heritage stuff too, they quite deliberately havnt acknowledged that it wasn't really Alton Towers' own work or initiative to do the restorations at all. There will obviously be a reason they've done that, when they could have easily explained the real why/when/who about the restorations.

The page obviously is used by implication to give the impression that more stuff has been done to improve the park than actually has, regardless of the real efforts from individuals behind the scenes. The page still officially represents Alton Towers.

For example, this is the start of the article on Alton Towers' main website about the Hex closure.

We are extremely excited to confirm that following our TLC refurbishment project, Hex will reopen as part of our 2017 ride line up on 25th March. Hex first opened in the year 2000 and is a well-loved favourite amongst visitors of all ages, but after 16 years of operation it was time to sprinkle some extra sparkle throughout the attraction. Our mission with the refurbishment was to take the time to restore the attraction and update its technology to modern standards.

It's just a lie put out by the park under the 'TLC' banner, regardless of who behind the scenes at Alton Towers intended what. As a small minority of fans debating something in detail on a forum, we may know better, but the official word by Alton Towers still says differently and that's what most fans hear/believe. It gets reposted to many, many times more people than just those who follow the TLC pages.

So I think the (relatively small) criticism of 'TLC' feed is justified. I know it's not like they're going to put out the honest truth and admit to cost saving & low budget alterations, but they SURELY know the implications of what they're doing and how they say it, they're not naive!

 

[Dave]

I agree with that, but they themselves won't be taking that responsibility online. As far as most people are concerned, "TLC" is a Merlin/Towers initiative to refurbish the park.

Towers have never denied that Charlie and Hex were closed to "TLC", and many fans are expecting a huge refurbishment to Duel this year that simply doesn't exist.

If you scroll through the comments on the heritage stuff too, they quite deliberately havnt acknowledged that it wasn't really Alton Towers' own work or initiative to do the restorations at all. There will obviously be a reason for this, when they could have easily explained the real why/when/who reasons about the restorations.

The page obviously is used by implication to give the impression that more stuff has been done to improve the park than actually has, regardless of the real efforts from individuals behind the scenes. The page still officially represents Alton Towers.

For example, this is the start of the article on Alton Towers' main website about the Hex closure.



It's just a lie put out by the park under the 'TLC' banner, regardless of who behind the scenes at Alton Towers intended what. As a small minority of fans debating something in detail on a forum, we may know better, but the official word by Alton Towers still says differently and that's what most fans hear/believe. It gets reposted to many, many times more people than just those who follow the TLC pages.

So I think the (relatively small) criticism of 'TLC' feed is justified. I know it's not like they're going to put out the honest truth and admit to cost saving & low budget alterations, but they SURELY know the implications of what they're doing and how they say it, they're not naive!

Your not wrong but I think the conflict here is between people who only see the intention and those that only see the outcome.

The intention was to show some geeks a bit of behind the scenes. Folks with a marketing hat on have gone.... “ohh this gets an audience” then taken some actions to increase the marketing value of TLC (with the logos on closed rides).

Am I surprised? No, Merlin is a company managed by a Marketing Director, one who sold the world Nemesis. I suspect this marketing background is why Merlin has no substance but lots of flash.

 

[JB1985]

Your not wrong but I think the conflict here is between people who only see the intention and those that only see the outcome.

The intention was to show some geeks a bit of behind the scenes. Folks with a marketing hat on have gone.... “ohh this gets an audience” then taken some actions to increase the marketing value of TLC (with the logos on closed rides).

Am I surprised? No, Merlin is a company managed by a Marketing Director, one who sold the world Nemesis. I suspect this marketing background is why Merlin has no substance but lots of flash.

Well written- if only they were as good at actually operating a park as they are at marketing we would have a truly world class park on our hands

 

[Tim]

The problem here is that we are debating over what are two entirely different subjects. I love that there is a dedicated account to the maintenance and restoration projects happening around Alton Towers. Regardless of if it is:

• TLC supported projects (such as the restoration of Nemesis and Hex)
• Heritage work (which they legally have to do)
• General Maintenance

Lots of other parks make a big deal out of these things (looking at you Europa and your 10 minute long seasonal updates!) and I'm glad that someone at the park feels proud enough to publicly display what is going on. It's something I'd like to push in the place that I work, but that's a story for another time.

However the issue of falsely advertised TLC projects is a real one. For all of the good intentions behind TLC it was clear when the program first launched that marketing had only allowed it to cover up ride closures. Hex didn't need to be closed for the work to be carried out (Again using Europa as an example EuroSat closed at the end of 2017 but will reopen mid-2018 having been entirely re-built). Nemesis didn't have to take 3 years to be re-painted, in many ways it would have been easier to do it all at once, saving on re-erecting scaffolding and re-tooling each year. Then there is the matter of the numerous rides that closed under the assumption of TLC, even though people at the park clearly knew no work was planned.

I wish we could view these two subjects separately and appreciate TLC for the good it has done / the normally unseen work it has shown us, while keeping are gripes with Merlin in another topic. But unfortunately these are both aspects of the TLC program and we can't just praise everything associated with it.

For the record Nemesis looks fantastic! Far better even than how it was originally built.

 

[Dave]

The problem here is that we are debating over what are two entirely different subjects. I love that there is a dedicated account to the maintenance and restoration projects happening around Alton Towers. Regardless of if it is:

• TLC supported projects (such as the restoration of Nemesis and Hex)
• Heritage work (which they legally have to do)
• General Maintenance

Lots of other parks make a big deal out of these things (looking at you Europa and your 10 minute long seasonal updates!) and I'm glad that someone at the park feels proud enough to publicly display what is going on. It's something I'd like to push in the place that I work, but that's a story for another time.

However the issue of falsely advertised TLC projects is a real one. For all of the good intentions behind TLC it was clear when the program first launched that marketing had only allowed it to cover up ride closures. Hex didn't need to be closed for the work to be carried out (Again using Europa as an example EuroSat closed at the end of 2017 but will reopen mid-2018 having been entirely re-built). Nemesis didn't have to take 3 years to be re-painted, in many ways it would have been easier to do it all at once, saving on re-erecting scaffolding and re-tooling each year. Then there is the matter of the numerous rides that closed under the assumption of TLC, even though people at the park clearly knew no work was planned.

I wish we could view these two subjects separately and appreciate TLC for the good it has done / the normally unseen work it has shown us, while keeping are gripes with Merlin in another topic. But unfortunately these are both aspects of the TLC program and we can't just praise everything associated with it.

For the record Nemesis looks fantastic! Far better even than how it was originally built.

You would be correct if the ride closure excuse and TLC spawned together. Fact is Towers didn’t use TLC for Sub-terrible closure because it wasn’t an option. As said marketing have jumped on the tlc brand to sell the closure as something positive.

Irony is in general TLC was aimed at the most cynical group of folk who wouldn’t be sold on it....

 

[Matt.GC]

I think it's great to have a TLC picture feed as it gives us access to seeing the work that's being done on attractions that we can only access between the hours of 11:00 - 16:00 (but not on Wednesdays).

 

[ChristmasPud]

Irony is in general TLC was aimed at the most cynical group of folk who wouldn’t be sold on it...

I think most of the interest in this kind of thing is from the many young fans who closely follow closed season updates anyway, because they love the idea the park is changing in some way before the new season. Like when there used to be winter photos on Towers Almanac, old Towers Times, etc. I know I used to be very interested in seeing the park 'hibernating' too.

But with social media, I appreciate it's kinda gone into overdrive and now any passing fan's grainy photo of new tarmac through a fence gets widely shared. I'm sure everything gets a lot more editorialised/spun than it used to as well, by each reposter.

In that sense, having an 'official' feed for fans that's used to show genuine updates and doesn't over-indulge itself is much better. But then call it 'Alton Towers Closed Season', rather than a brand making out like there's a newly launched refurbishment programme. Same way "Secret Weapon" is now used as a brand.

Another thing I am grateful for is TLC tends not to do the usual 'out with the old, in with the new!' spin, which is great. 'Cause if I leant anything from visiting UK theme parks in the 2000s it's that new doesn't guarantee better, and "upgrades" is a VERY subjective word!

Things do need updating when they outlive themselves or get tired, but it always takes a lot of consideration (and the right budgets & foresight!). UK theme parks have unnecessarily cheapened or removed so much goodness in the last 30 years in the name of short-sighted 'progress', rather than real progress.

It should always be the results that speak for themselves rather than having to put positive spin on things, and I think TLC does a good job of this neutrality (sans Hex "updated technology" on the website) and delivers mostly very good results!

 

[Tim]

You would be correct if the ride closure excuse and TLC spawned together. Fact is Towers didn’t use TLC for Sub-terrible closure because it wasn’t an option. As said marketing have jumped on the tlc brand to sell the closure as something positive.

This is kind of my point. It is not because of TLC that any of these rides closed. However from the moment marketing realised they could use it to excuse ride closures it damaged our opinion of the program.

Let’s not forget that 2 years ago when TLC first surfaced and none of the actual work had begun everyone was cynical of TLC because the only thing associated with it were ride closures. The TLC program needed a chance to shine before it became a marketing tool. Thankfully it has now had chance to prove itself and it’s been responsible for some great work! But people are also rightfully worried that the project has lost the momentum it had. If this is the end of budgeted TLC projects then in the long term they haven’t had much to show for it (like I said besides Hex and Nemesis’s station are the only 2 that come to mind), When we look back on TLC will we see it as an enthusiastic member of staff keeping us up to date over winter or just another cover up for unexplained closures? I hope it’ll be the former, but responses here seem to suggest the latter.

 

[Britford]

It would help if they would refurbish something that doesn't close the next year!

 

[LJP]

A whole week with no updates. Seems a little lacklustre this year.

 

[Dave]

A whole week with no updates. Seems a little lacklustre this year.

Probably because 1) the budget will be lower this year and 2) the posts get sabotaged by folk angry at the cuts so there is probably less enthusiasm from the 1 or 2 guys who manage the accounts to put effort into it.

 

[GaryH]

According to Facebook, TLC just posted about the Duel revamp, so far new UV lights and they are working on a new sound track..... Kinda liked the old one tho!

 

[Matt N]

Turns out the Duel refurbishment wasn't cancelled after all:



Great news from Towers! Wonder whether the new soundtrack will be IMAScore?
EDIT: Dammit! Beaten to it!