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Towers Loving Care

I don't see why they needed all the actors in the first place. A video for pre show is just as powerful if done well and is a damn sight cheaper long term. There's plenty of examples of this all over the world. That's just poor planning by the design team.

The end bit was silly as well. Having a mini maze after the ride made no sense to me. The climax of the ride should have been a final sudden drop or a leg tickler getting you.
 
Benjsh said:
I don't see why they needed all the actors in the first place. A video for pre show is just as powerful if done well and is a damn sight cheaper long term. There's plenty of examples of this all over the world. That's just poor planning by the design team.

The end bit was silly as well. Having a mini maze after the ride made no sense to me. The climax of the ride should have been a final sudden drop or a leg tickler getting you.
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The climax of the ride was originally the exit lift scene but the ride was panned in guest feedback so they added the scare maze which boosted the scores.
 
.... and when it was done right, it was very good. Part of the fun of the ride was seeing the genuine fear in some people during the drop sequence, then the lift, and particularly the lift doors opening and the guy shining the torch through them as they open.

It would make an excellent addition to Scarefest as another scare attraction, even if they just open it for the 3 weeks the event is on.
 
GaryH said:
I don't think the ride has been removed inside. It was closed due to the restraints and the risk someone could get underneath the lap bar. Adjustments were made but riders found it too uncomfortable so they had to close it again and come up with a new restraint.

I believe they did this and the ride can open but for whatever reason it is starting closed. My guess would be that it needs a lot of staff to operate.

Shame as it was quite enjoyable.
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It closed the final time not because of comfort, but because the new restraints didn't work, we were lucky enough to be there the day it re-opened and got in as the third group, from the time that we sat down to going through the exit it was 40 minutes and there was only five of us left, everybody else had been asked to leave their seats and been given a fast track as a result because the computer didn't register the restraint as closed, much like the problem Wickerman has been having, it seemed that if everybody in the row wasn't of a similar build, the lap bar wouldn't go down straight and the computer said "No!"

As we left I head an engineer say if the problem continues they'll close it again, sure enough the next day it was shut and after a few goes at getting it going, they gave up and mothballed it permanently.
 
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Dave said:
The climax of the ride was originally the exit lift scene but the ride was panned in guest feedback so they added the scare maze which boosted the scores.
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Before the ride closed, it was still registering the lowest guest-satisfaction results of any major ride at the resort. Which, coupled with the restraint issues described, and the ludicrously high-staffing costs not budgeted into the initial plans for the ride, ensured it was very much doomed. And I expect it remains so. I definitely had a personal soft-spot for the ride, although largely as it so faithfully replicated the also-deceased Alien Encounter at Magic Kingdom, but given the literal earth they moved to build it, the ride was an altogether short-sighted investment from Merlin. Who would have thought!
 
Dave said:
The climax of the ride was originally the exit lift scene but the ride was panned in guest feedback so they added the scare maze which boosted the scores.
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Makes no difference. Neither worked. The ride system should have been the last thing. One final climatic drop or shake in the dark.
I did it with both endings and neither worked for me. Felt wierd both ways.

They could have quite easily made an outstanding attraction out of this and made a total mess of it. Such a shame.
 
Sounds like @IanSR was on the cycle I was on at the end. Very very broken it was. I'd say expand the building and completely rework the ride. Leave the Towers in place but add dungeons restraints but do it all in a different order to make it better
 
Benjsh said:
The end bit was silly as well. Having a mini maze after the ride made no sense to me. The climax of the ride should have been a final sudden drop or a leg tickler getting you.
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Climax doesn't have to be the ending to the attraction. Just walking out after a short drop is over would be really lame. The drop malarky was a lot of fun, with all the sound and people doing down at different times, but then it needed a surprise to finish off with.

The trick elevator was a good idea, but not good enough on its own to be the ending. The lift doors just opening out to daylight is super naff. The last minute shipping container was a cheap solution, did the job, but still not exactly the most interesting of endings was it!

Never thought the preshow was any good either. It seemed to just be fan service with the Nemesis "story" and boring faux-sciencey videos, in an empty room.

Sub Terra was basically a catastrophe all round. In a different location, with more space, imagination and budget to play with, it could have been a solid attraction. But it wasn't, simply because Merlin didn't design and manage it properly.
 
Courtesy of TPG, great to see progress coming along on Twirling Toadstool's TLC after 2 years!

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It'll probably reopen some day once the park has more money and it's had a refurbishment, but my hope of that waned a little after seeing those photos.
 
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