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Towers Loving Care

Paultons aren't trying to be as good as Alton Towers, however they are doing a very good job of being "the best they can possibly be", which Alton are not.

At a time when the Merlin parks are under performing, it's nice to see Paultons putting care and effort into the park; this definitely deserves praise and recognition.
 
Jamie said:
Paultons aren't trying to be as good as Alton Towers, however they are doing a very good job of being "the best they can possibly be", which Alton are not.

At a time when the Merlin parks are under performing, it's nice to see Paultons putting care and effort into the park; this definitely deserves praise and recognition.
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I know that. I was just referring to the posts that were actually stating that Paultons had surpassed Towers.
 
It's more likely in the next few years the rides that look crap now will be revisited and drastically improved than Towers doing the same thing (unless you count scrapping and building something new on top as the same)...
 
The Nemesis track and station repaint was certainly a good thing to witness, as it has resulted in a much needed refresh of a grotty park area.

Unfortunately though, it was still part of a large smoke screen of cuts. That lead to attractions,food outlets, shops and jobs (including entertainment) being drastically cut. Yes the park isn't doing as well as it could, be it's owned by a massive company who were starting to hack away at the magic years before the accident.

Once Paultons rip out their compact flume, go karts and others in exchange for a Woodie, dark ride snd manor water ride, the park will be complete and definitely up there as one of the best.
 
Matt Creek said:
The Nemesis track and station repaint was certainly a good thing to witness, as it has resulted in a much needed refresh of a grotty park area.

Unfortunately though, it was still part of a large smoke screen of cuts. That lead to attractions,food outlets, shops and jobs (including entertainment) being drastically cut. Yes the park isn't doing as well as it could, be it's owned by a massive company who were starting to hack away at the magic years before the accident.

Once Paultons rip out their compact flume, go karts and others in exchange for a Woodie, dark ride snd manor water ride, the park will be complete and definitely up there as one of the best.
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Cuts are never good, but I fail to agree on your Paultons point. I'm sorry, I just can't see them ever getting onto the level of Towers. Nemesis, Oblivion, Smiler.... Paultons will never be able to compete with that. Plus their crowning joy Peppa Pig is, at best, on the same level as CBeebies, and not a patch on Thomas Land. I'm aware they're a family park, and therefore thrill seekers won't be their main target, but for a lot of people, thrill rides are one of the most important aspects of a theme park. Paulton's current line up of thrill offerings is tacky in the extreme. Alton Towers has much better thrill rides than Paultons, and I can't see Paultons ever having the vision or budget to compete in that area.

The most important thing about a theme park (for me) is the rides themselves - I can forgive an area being grotty if the ride itself is amazing. Nemesis being repainted was great as I said, but the ride was always outstanding even before its repaint. Towers will always be a magical place for me because of how amazing it's line up of big rides are.
 
andeyhart said:
You say that, but no one thought Towers would ever repaint the Nemesis track/station, and they did.
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And no one ever expected them to make an absolute mess of it, but they sure did, and only half finished. Nemesis on the whole looks worse now than it did before they started messing with it. Only the station/monster looks good.

andeyhart said:
Cuts are never good, but I fail to agree on your Paultons point. I'm sorry, I just can't see them ever getting onto the level of Towers. Nemesis, Oblivion, Smiler.... Paultons will never be able to compete with that. Plus their crowning joy Peppa Pig is, at best, on the same level as CBeebies, and not a patch on Thomas Land. I'm aware they're a family park, and therefore thrill seekers won't be their main target, but for a lot of people, thrill rides are one of the most important aspects of a theme park. Paulton's current line up of thrill offerings is tacky in the extreme. Alton Towers has much better thrill rides than Paultons, and I can't see Paultons ever having the vision or budget to compete in that area.

The most important thing about a theme park (for me) is the rides themselves - I can forgive an area being grotty if the ride itself is amazing. Nemesis being repainted was great as I said, but the ride was always outstanding even before its repaint. Towers will always be a magical place for me because of how amazing it's line up of big rides are.
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I think Nemesis, Oblivion, and The Smiler are good rides yes, but theming sucks. Nemesis had decent theming but almost all of it now is obstructed by growth or has slowly been removed over the years.

Smiler and Oblivion have virtually zero theming, just a cohesive colour scheme throughout the ride.

As for ride quality, I think Oblivion doesn't have much longevity now. I mean its a one trick pony, it was always a novelty ride, and while it was fairly significant in its time I really do not think the general public are that bothered about it now. It's ageing fast, the novelty has long worn off and I rarely see a decent queue for it. From what I hear it's not even considered a "must do" ride these days.

If Paultons built a couple of decent size coasters, they could very easily outperform towers.
 
I don't think we should be under any illusions, in terms of hardware and infrastructure, Paultons is nowhere near Towers. It is outclassed in almost every way, the 2 are in a different league. However some points to note about Paultons-

- It has probably the best family coaster in the UK with Flight of the pterosaur, far better than anything at Towers or anything Towers is ever likely to do in the near future.
- It's a better park than Chessington, something you wouldn't dream of claiming even only a few years ago.
- Towers is riding on past glories, Paultons is busy making future ones.
- It has the best new themed area seen in this country for decades with Lost Kingdom. Towers haven't built a decent themed area since the 90's and that won't change anytime soon.
- Despite TLC, Paultons is far better kept and maintained in every single way. Even their old stuff is clean and well preserved.
- Whilst Paultons is a national Theme park in the making, Towers with its TLC program is in a state of managed decline.
- Paultons is probably in a similar place now to where Towers was when Katanga opened and just look where Towers ended up just 6 years later! The only differences I can see is it doesn't have a Thrill coaster (but could easily throw up something on a similar scale to Corkscrew or The Beast by the end of the summer for quite cheap if it wanted to) and doesn't have a monorail (which wouldn't be needed here anyway).

Both parks are completely uncomparible in their current forms of course, but if both continue on their current trajectory, it's not completely inconceivable to say they could well be comparable in a relatively short space of time.
 
andeyhart said:
Peppa Pig is, at best, on the same level as CBeebies.
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Yes, BUT Cbeebies opened 3 years after Peppa Pig yet Towers didn't make and improvements on the 'Land' concept.
Towers are going backwards, Paultons park and others are moving forwards. you can see it in the theming, Paultons trying to move away from the cheap and tacky vinyl theming while it seems Towers can't get enough of this 'new' discovery.
It's much easier for little parks to impress and they should and are taking advantage of it whereas it's much easier for Towers to give a bad impression, something they are seemingly very good at at the moment and the very thing that will drive customers to the smaller parks who are making their (little) big impressions.

Paultons will probably never take over Towers market as they don't aim for the wide demographic but they have identified their key market and made sure they have catered for it while Alton have just shoved two fingers up at their main source of income (families) thisd past season.

It's nice to see TLC is back. What rides will be closed under it this coming season? :p
 
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I won't reiterate my previous posts. Merlin do positive things amongst negative. But sadly the bad things are outweighing the good right now.
 
At the least Hex will reopen.

At the most Hex and Driving School will reopen.

I'm sure they will balance that out by closing some other rides though.
 
Early predictions-

Hex - Reopening (slightly spruced up).
Blade - remains open till the end of the summer holidays and is closed.
Driving School- still closed for "TLC".
Charlie, NST closed all season with nothing happening to them whatsoever.

I can't see anything else closing other than Blade at the end of season, but sadly I can't see anything reopening either. Maybe we'll get Driving school back at a push in 2018.
 
If the closure of Blade was linked to development in Forbidden Valley that is no longer on the cards, perhaps its demise is no longer imminent.

Very much hoping for the return of Hex & ST. I make no secret of my indifference of Sub Terra but they could really do with a couple of indoor attractions.

Charlie retheme in 2019, perhaps.
 
PeteB said:
And no one ever expected them to make an absolute mess of it, but they sure did, and only half finished. Nemesis on the whole looks worse now than it did before they started messing with it. Only the station/monster looks good.



I think Nemesis, Oblivion, and The Smiler are good rides yes, but theming sucks. Nemesis had decent theming but almost all of it now is obstructed by growth or has slowly been removed over the years.

Smiler and Oblivion have virtually zero theming, just a cohesive colour scheme throughout the ride.

As for ride quality, I think Oblivion doesn't have much longevity now. I mean its a one trick pony, it was always a novelty ride, and while it was fairly significant in its time I really do not think the general public are that bothered about it now. It's ageing fast, the novelty has long worn off and I rarely see a decent queue for it. From what I hear it's not even considered a "must do" ride these days.

If Paultons built a couple of decent size coasters, they could very easily outperform towers.
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Nemesis is a World class ride, not just a good ride. And you're being waaaaaaay too harsh on Oblivion, as both a ride and its theming. To say it doesn't generate interest amongst guests anymore is just factually wrong. I get you hate Towers, but there's no need to attack the classics.

Regardless of growth/decline, the fact still remains - there is no way on this Universe there will ever be a ride of Nemesis or Oblivion's level at Paultons in a billion years.
 
That's a bit of a stake to make, there's absolutely no reason that ANY park in the world could suddenly come out of nowhere as a local/regional park and create a world class ride that really puts them on the map... It's been done before and it is still happening today (Kolmarden and Wildfire being the most recent example)...

Absolutely nothing to stop Paultons in the future from building a ridiculous coaster that creates a real buzz in the coaster community and general public... Especially if they continue their current good stead, as they will know that they will have to diversify in the future to keep those visiting now interested in the park as they grow older...
 
Benzin said:
That's a bit of a stake to make, there's absolutely no reason that ANY park in the world could suddenly come out of nowhere as a local/regional park and create a world class ride that really puts them on the map... It's been done before and it is still happening today (Kolmarden and Wildfire being the most recent example)...

Absolutely nothing to stop Paultons in the future from building a ridiculous coaster that creates a real buzz in the coaster community and general public... Especially if they continue their current good stead, as they will know that they will have to diversify in the future to keep those visiting now interested in the park as they grow older...
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All works in theory. But in all seriousness, I can't say with a straight face that Paultons Park could possible recreate something on the magnitude of Nemesis. They could have a Kolmarden or a Wildfire style ride - a.k.a, a ride that puts them on the theme park map with enthusiasts and the general public. But that is not in the same league as creating a Nemesis. Nemesis transformed the UK's entire theme park industry forever - that is a far bigger deal than "a buzz amongst the theme park community and the general public".
 
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