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Towers Loving Care

And with the location amongst the trees, the algae will be back within a few months at this time of year sadly.
That's why jetwashing is best done just before opening...the superclean effect doesn't last long, done some of my punters stone flags twice since early autumn.
Don't suppose they will use antifungicide on the coasters, acid base wouldn't do the paint any good.
 
I remember the last time that Air was given a jet wash, it did look like the track had been completely re-painted. Good to see that it is being done, it's certainly long overdue.
 
D4n said:
Amazing that the bar is set so low now that praise is heaped upon the park for achieving this. It should be a bare minimum.
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Heaped? I wouldn't say heaped.

It's a discussion forum. The track has been jet-washed. It wasn't last winter. Therefore people are happy.

It is, in my view, precisely these sort of debates that have caused ATR to stop using the TLC account.

Probably better that us geeks get no insight into what happens in winter, really.

:)
 
AstroDan said:
It is, in my view, precisely these sort of debates that have caused ATR to stop using the TLC account.
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I guess you havnt seen all the YouTube videos and social media posts of young enthusiasts proclaiming how amazing the "huge, extensive" painting of some walls or changing of lights in Duel is. Or how talked-about the whole TLC thing was as if it was something special that other parks don't do.

We all appreciate these things getting done, but the online presence was setting a precedent that jet washing, painting and cleaning was something special to be noticed year on year, people using it as a symbol of how Merlin 'do care' for this kind of maintenance (which they don't). More like a sign of how some people at Alton Towers had to fight for budget for things that should be the minimum.

AstroDan said:
Probably better that us geeks get no insight into what happens in winter, really.
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Your line is sarcasm but, yeah actually it is better I think. For those who notice they will still be free to notice this stuff. What matters much more is that the guest experience is maintained, that rides don't turn green and left in a poor state.

It was much better in the days of turning up in the new season and not 'on the look out' for the TLC updates youve seen on social media, just going to have a good day and being surprised by improved areas etc because the guest experience is better.
 
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I remember the days of the early to mid 00s when we'd be going into the park taking photos for folks on forums and so on. Then we'd upload them into the winter galleries on TTF for all to see and discuss. Those were the days.

These days, because Merlin are held with such utter contempt (which I am not exactly against), people just start throwing out the M£rlin card whether Alton do - or don't - do any winter maintenance. Many people seem to struggle to separate Merlin from Alton and vice-versa.

Personally, I am happy to see images of work taking place in winter. It's good to know that stuff is happening. There's other things going on, too, but I won't mention them because, well. Because.

:)
 
AstroDan said:
I remember the days of the early to mid 00s when we'd be going into the park taking photos for folks on forums and so on. Then we'd upload them into the winter galleries on TTF for all to see and discuss. Those were the days.
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I enjoyed those but they were different, not promoted by the park or claimed to be part of a "TLC programme" with its own logo. There was a much smaller online enthusiast presence then and I don't remember there being claims of "refurbishment projects", everything was framed more like it was just annual winter maintenance. Might seem like a trivial difference but...
AstroDan said:
These days, because Merlin are held with such utter contempt (which I am not exactly against), people just start throwing out the M£rlin card whether Alton do - or don't - do any winter maintenance. Many people seem to struggle to separate Merlin from Alton and vice-versa.
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Well this does happen unfortunately, but I hope personally Ive made my view clear that I'm not conflating them or complaining for the sake of it. I am very happy these things are being done and have lots of respect for people fighting for the tiniest budgets to fix basic things, but that this should not be the expectation.

Ultimately it just satisfies Merlin's current attitude of giving their parks the absolute minimum, under the guise of encouraging them to "go above and beyond" (ie do stuff DIY with no money) – and get a bit of good enthusiast PR out of it at the same time.
 
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Fair enough. Either way, there's clearly no more updates coming for us.

And, for the record, I hate Merlin as much as the next person (as my history demonstrates!!!).

:)
 
Yes for some people including myself, excessive filming and taking photos takes away the experiential surprise of seeing something (theme park or city or concert, whatever) in the 'here and now', but this is indeed a discussion forum, and we live in a digital age where it's easier to obtain such stuff; if people want to figure out these things for their own reasons, let them. I've never been to a Disney or Universal park, so I don't watch any videos and avoid looking at all photos of the places; but I wouldn't discourage other people from doing so. Maybe they have a specific interest in the overhaul work or the background stuff rather than the creative or experiential side. It's important for different people for different reasons. I think AstroDan has a point.

This TLC project as a whole never really filled me with optimism, from a personal viewpoint. When I first heard of it, it sounded pretty cool, but as soon as I saw the 3 year tag line I knew it was just a ploy. There's the point about a lot of it being casual 'tlc' and marketed as otherwise which is true, and there's the point that these large projects were clearly given the go ahead as a one off to try and convince fans that they were doing things in their interests, during a time when they needed to keep as many people on board and visiting the park as possible (post Smiler crash). I agree that the work was undertaken by people were passionate and showcased some great talent, particularly on Nemesis, but as we all know, they were working on a low budget from Soviet style leadership up above.
 
Spotted by coasterprints.gb on Instagram. New parts, or just refurbished? Interesting to see nevertheless. :)

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