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Towers Loving Care

Are John Lewis still having their day there? I'd be surprised if that continues for long with the cuts they are making..
 
I would say they probably get a good deal seeing as they have done it for a number of years now
 
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Is that new theming I spot? Alton Towers improve theming, wait Merlin allowed this? I myself thought Hex was already excellently themed anyway. #25thMarchHypeTrain
 
Because believe it or not, Merlin don't hate their own theme parks, despite that being an almost universal opinion amongst the enthusiast community.
 
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matthewgcole said:
Let's face it, that opinion isn't without foundation is it? Bearing in mind that today the CEO of Merlin all but admitted that the subject matter of this very thread was based on a complete lie!
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I know. But sometimes the "Merlin are scum of the Earth" narrative gets a bit tedious.

And we all knew TLC was a smokescreen from the start. There was always going to be downsizing after the Smiler crash.

Merlin are profit motivated certainly. But I don't buy the notion that that is the only thing they care about.
 
RoyJess said:
Looks like it's had a good clean and also take a closer look at the queue line floor, it's no longer stone slabs,
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The queue room (Armoury) was always a Lino floor. The cinema room is stone slabs but I don't recall where the lino stopped, it might be the turnstile counter.
 
andeyhart said:
Because believe it or not, Merlin don't hate their own theme parks, despite that being an almost universal opinion amongst the enthusiast community.
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Try working for them and trying to make a positive change that isn't profit focuessed, and see how far you get. You might start to realise why people have concerns about Merlin. Yes, some people online like to moan without really knowing what they're moaning about, but not everyone is jumping on a bandwagon.

A powerful multinational company like Merlin does not need fans to jump to its defence and doesn't need to exist in a bubble without criticism. It needs to wake up to the fact it seriously under-funds its parks' resources, encourages a culture of selfish attitudes and micro management, and has policies effectively barring professional-standard, positive maintenance like we are seeing with Hex and Nemesis.

Well done to the team at Alton Towers who have pulled this through.
 
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electricBill said:
Try working for them and trying to make a positive change that isn't profit focuessed, and see how far you get. You might start to realise why people have concerns about Merlin. Yes, some people online like to moan without really knowing what they're moaning about, but not everyone is jumping on a bandwagon.

A powerful multinational company like Merlin does not need fans to jump to its defence and doesn't need to exist in a bubble without criticism. It needs to wake up to the fact it seriously under-funds its parks' resources, encourages a culture of selfish attitudes and micro management, and has policies effectively barring professional-standard, positive maintenance like we are seeing with Hex and Nemesis.

Well done to the team at Alton Towers who have pulled this through.
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I never said people are wrong to have concerns about Merlin - far from it. And I never said everyone, or anyone for that matter, was jumping on a bandwagon. I implied that the popular theory amongst enthusiasts is that Merlin seem to hate their own parks - I made no comment on why people feel that way, and I wouldn't judge anyone if they did. I just stated, in my personal opinion, that I don't share that notion.

I already have pretty sizeable concerns about Merlin, so I wouldn't need to work for them to understand peoples' grievances and I'm certainly not blindly jumping to their defence. But I think some of the criticism is over the top, hence why I made my post (which was obviously a bit sarcastic).
 
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andeyhart said:
I never said people are wrong to have concerns about Merlin - far from it. And I never said everyone, or anyone for that matter, was jumping on a bandwagon. I implied that the popular theory amongst enthusiasts is that Merlin seem to hate their own parks - I made no comment on why people feel that way, and I wouldn't judge anyone if they did. I just stated, in my personal opinion, I don't share that notion.

I already have pretty sizeable concerns about Merlin, so I wouldn't need to work for them to understand peoples' grievances and I'm certainly not blindly jumping to their defence. But I think some of the criticism is over the top, hence why I made my post (which was obviously a bit sarcastic).
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I gave you the benefit of the doubt then that you meant what you appeared to be saying and weren't just being rhetorical /partly sarcastic. Anyway the points I brought up in my post I mean wholeheartedly and are not aimed just at you so don't worry. :)

I believe people are jumping on a bandwagon, but most are also quite substantiated to be criticising Merlin in this way. And you can never truly understand the extent to this without working for them directly, sitting on a fan forum will only give people a very shallow (although often passionate) idea of how things really are. So people maybe should think more for themselves and consider there are many more reasons behind the criticism of this company.

It's not just negativity, it's not "Merlin hating" as I've also seen it been called before, it's a change of attitude that needs to happen throughout the UK industry hopefully sooner than later. Stuff like this with Hex and Nemesis is therefore very good to see and wouldn't have been easy to push through the system.
 
The refurbishments to Nemesis and Hex are (absurdly, but factually) unprecedented in recent years at Alton Towers in terms of rides.

The Skyride gondola replacement is the only other thing that comes close.

Remember: TLC is nothing to do with "Merlin". The parks spend their budgets as they see fit. Thankfully, ATR have realised that improving the existing offering is actually important and I commend the decision.

Dark Forest is not a good area - but it was so much better in 2016 than 2015!
 
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