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Towers Loving Care

Yes, the TLC program has been great.

To speculate a little, I can imagine a situation where, towards the end of last year, there was pressure, as part of the cost cutting program, to reduce maintenance budget, and to focus spending more closely on things that would make a quick impact on bringing visitors back in to the park in the short term. However, there was probably a bit of spare cash in the marketing budget, as, no doubt, a lot of planned marketing activity would have been pulled in the wake of the Smiler incident. However, realistically, there was probably very little room to squeeze maintenance as the park was already in desperate need of refurbishment.

By creating a brand and a Twitter feed for the maintenance activities, I imagine they would have been able to utilise marketing budget for maintenance activities. They will be able to track engagement and positive sentiment on Twitter, elsewhere on social, and fan sites like this one, and attribute the costs more directly to activities that will bring people back to the park. It's a really smart move.
 
I agree with that somewhat. While it's not going to have a massive impact in terms of marketing, what is for certain is that the TLC updates provide plenty of material for the numerous fan sites, pages, and theme park groups to share - some of which have huge audiences.

In that sense, its quite a clever tactic and is essentially free advertising for the park.
 
JB1985 said:
All good all good. And this is year one of three!!!
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Thing is though, this shouldn't just be year one of three, this should happen every year and be a continual program of refreshing, cleaning and general up keep. :(

The park should never have got in to this shape. We are all (including myself) applauding what they have done, but it should have been done regardless. Other parks have also done a huge amount of closed season work and are not shouting it from the rooftops. Alton are because they know how bad the park was after years of decline and cost cutting measure.

Even though I applaud these enhancements, it is still going to be sad to see so many rides, food outlets and shows all closed due to simple cost cutting measures.
 
I' hoping that this is the turning point for the park and may they keep the Alton TLC going during every closed season and that these rides closures are only temporary with some light at the end of the tunnel.

The closure of ripsaw and flume in now forgiveable, now that we now know that there is SW8 in the pipeline, however I wish they would also update us with the reason for the rest of the ride/food outlet closures.

For some strange reason, I think this season is going to be a good one.
 
RoyJess said:
The closure of ripsaw and flume in now forgiveable, now that we now know that there is SW8 in the pipeline, however I wish they would also update us with the reason for the rest of the ride/food outlet closures.
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Wait, hold on, no it isn't. We always knew that SW8 was in the pipeline. The only difference was that they hadn't made it official by putting a sign up yet.

With these closures, Alton demonstrated that they lack any sort of long term plan for the park outside of what the next headline ride is. I wouldn't mind that Ripsaw and The Flume closed had the park phased in suitable replacements in recent years for what were clearly aging rides. Instead, they just ran the rides until they were practically inoperable, presumably because it was cheaper than replacing them. It obviously backfired in quite a bad way.

Apparently no one had any plans for what to do with Charlie once the rights to the IP ran out either. Add this to the rides that are closed purely for budgetary reasons and you have a ride line up that's been totally decimated through a set of converging circumstances that could all have been prevented with good planning.

And we're supposed to forgive this because they put up a sign?

It's presenting the park as a shell of itself when the public image they need to be projecting right now should be strong and full of confidence. As a consumer, I'm unimpressed and while I'm not saying that I won't be going to the park this year (because you never know), I certainly won't be going out of my way to visit.

Hopefully, they will learn from this whole debacle.
 
delta79 said:
You say on here about no tweeting and it happens, it like they read the board.
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It really is! When I said about today possibly being the final day of updates and hope they end with a bit of a bang and low and behold...

Frog Hopper building refurbishment nearly complete #TowersLovingCare

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In the Night Garden Magical Boat Ride has had a station and queue line repaint #TowersLovingCare

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New digital screens throughout the Monorail stations, we are ready to welcome you all tomorrow! #TowersLovingCare
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and one from later last night...

Freshly painted stars on the floor as you enter CBeebies Land #TowersLovingCare
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I honestly didn't believe they'd have enough updates when they said they'd be daily, but they've managed it, let's just hope the other years are as enjoyable to follow!
 
Monorail station looks so much better. Bravo Towers! So happy to see screens back in the station too.

I'm hoping they've painted the Towers Street station too (can't say I'll be too bothered if that's unchanged though).
 
I guess they spent so much money into TLC, they couldn't even afford to buy a decent camera... or lightbulbs in the Monorail station.

Jokes aside, I've loved the TLC updates and I'm looking forward to seeing them in person on my next visit.
 
PeteA said:
Thing is though, this shouldn't just be year one of three, this should happen every year and be a continual program of refreshing, cleaning and general up keep. :(

The park should never have got in to this shape. We are all (including myself) applauding what they have done, but it should have been done regardless. Other parks have also done a huge amount of closed season work and are not shouting it from the rooftops. Alton are because they know how bad the park was after years of decline and cost cutting measure.

Even though I applaud these enhancements, it is still going to be sad to see so many rides, food outlets and shows all closed due to simple cost cutting measures.
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Spot on post
 
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