This is just more of the “we’ve kicked you in the teeth but now we’ll polish your shoes” type practice they do with staggered openings- do somthing of massive detriment to the guest experience, then make one moderate improvment and everybody forgives them. They’re taking you for a ride!
I believe though it's part of the disconnect between Merlin and Alton Towers.
Merlin certainly couldn't give a flying fish when it comes to it (all they'd have to do is grant the money, but they have people & policies in place to ensure that never happens), but are more than happy to get improvements from Towers while spending relatively no money at all.
Various people at Alton Towers genuinly care and want things to be good and professional, they're also the ones who get the stick when guests complain about the horrible circumstances and the poor state of rides, or when they don't have enough budget to run things the way they should be.
The park manages to pull through projects like the Nemesis monster repaint by using the track work as an excuse, to plead budget to do the rest (then splitting that budget over 3 years, to get quality results with the money they had).
It shouldn't have to be this way, but under Merlin it's the only way to get things done at a park level.
It's Merlin who are taking their own parks for a ride really, as well as guests. The TLC banner should never have been used to excuse Charlie and other rides for being closed though. And I worry Merlin will start to use "TLC" type brands to propaganda their own poor reinvestment in existing parks in the future.
Also, at least it's better than the usual trick of : ride needs work, but work will only be paid for if Merlin are able to give it an IP rebrand /sponsorship and pretend its new. They pull this trick every time, to the parks' detriment.
