Turning a corner or a False Dawn? Towers and it's future

[Bert2theSpark]

Considering they've just introduced the £19 tickets for under 15s for pretty much every attraction, I think it's definitely plausible that attendance is down across the board this year, and they don't have the projected numbers to justify the normal summer openings...

 

[Matt.GC]

Well I did wonder where all the new money for this great new era was supposed to come from? I remain as sceptical as I was 12 pages ago.

 

[dave___]

It's not just the RTPs that have been cut, the London midways are regularly closing early despite being in one of the world's biggest tourist hotspots.

I have never seen a major attraction shut at 3pm let alone on a weekend.

This one I just don’t understand at all, they could keep the place open until 9pm and still have a queue trailing halfway round the corner. Wonder if there’s some sort of planning restriction or something that makes them do this.

I always wonder why the things don’t open until 10am either.

 

[Matt N]

Well I did wonder where all the new money for this great new era was supposed to come from? I remain as sceptical as I was 12 pages ago.

The money would have come from a cash injection from Merlin’s new private owners, would it not? Scott O’Neil could have asked for more money from the owners to implement sweeping changes, or money could have been redirected from other parts of Merlin’s business to invest into the parks. When Legoland Belgium was cancelled not that long ago, Scott O’Neil said that it was cancelled in favour of investment into the company’s existing parks.

I’m still somewhat hopeful. Chessington’s waterpark plans are only stalled due to planning application troubles, and in terms of new rides for next year other than Project Ocean, there were rumours of Thorpe Park building a new flat ride, were there not? There’s been a trademark from Merlin for “Skybound”, anyhow, as well as recent clearance of the former Slammer site. Project Ocean is a positive sign, in my view.

Granted, they haven’t done everything right by any stretch of the imagination. I think the cuts to opening hours are disappointing. However, I don’t think everything bad happening is something that the new Merlin team can control. For example, I think some of the ride availability issues are a result of a number of chickens coming home to roost at once following years of evident under-investment in preventative maintenance. For example, the long-term closures of rides like Hex and the Skyride are not the fault of the new Merlin team. Admittedly, that doesn’t explain some of the other hiccups, and ride availability in general does seem to have drastically worsened in the last year or so, but I think a large component of the ride availability issues isn’t something that the new team can currently be blamed for.

I’m not saying that they’ve been infallible or that they haven’t made mistakes by any stretch, but I think that blaming the likes of Scott O’Neil and Bianca Samut for the current state of the parks is a bit like blaming Keir Starmer for the current state of the UK’s public services. Many of the things going wrong at the parks are a result of much longer term decisions that can’t be reversed very easily or quickly, and as far as I can tell, effort is being made to rectify these in some regards.

For instance, I think the impending reopening of Hex is a very positive sign at Alton Towers; that attraction clearly needed money spending on it, but they spent the money and are bringing it back to life. The same is soon to happen with the Skyride. I don’t think we’d have seen this sort of spend on refurbishments under the old Merlin management, and it does reflect a dedication to ongoing maintenance that the old management simply lacked.

I’m not saying that things are perfect at the parks right now by any means, but I think there are positive signs. Rectifying the issues was always going to be a marathon rather than a sprint, and many of those issues could not have been rectified within one year or so.

 

[Plastic Person]

I’m not saying that things are perfect at the parks right now by any means, but I think there are positive signs. Rectifying the issues was always going to be a marathon rather than a sprint, and many of those issues could not have been rectified within one year or so.

Sure, many of them can't be rectified immediately, but details like 5PM closures in summer and staggered openings are operational decisions, completely separate from modernising and diversifying the ride lineup. This is all bad news, and once again, completely unworkable for a park and resort of Alton's size and influence.

I have a short break scheduled in for my first trip in a while, specifically for Scarefest, as it's only then that the opening hours make it worth my while. Seeing the inevitable dilution of the product captured in this thread, and knowing I'm visiting with friends who have already accompanied me to Europa, Efteling and Phantasialand, I'm increasingly uncertain as to whether I'll make the booking.

 

[BarryZola]

The public's spend on leisure and non-grocery retail seems to be down this year in general so that probably doesn't help, along with rubbish weather anyway. Interest rate rises and cost of living are actually starting to bite. Not just a UK thing either.

 

[Dave]

Sure, many of them can't be rectified immediately, but details like 5PM closures in summer and staggered openings are operational decisions, completely separate from modernising and diversifying the ride lineup. This is all bad news, and once again, completely unworkable for a park and resort of Alton's size and influence.

I have a short break scheduled in for my first trip in a while, specifically for Scarefest, as it's only then that the opening hours make it worth my while. Seeing the inevitable dilution of the product captured in this thread, and knowing I'm visiting with friends who have already accompanied me to Europa, Efteling and Phantasialand, I'm increasingly uncertain as to whether I'll make the booking.

5pm closures are operational decisions but also budgetary.

My understanding is what usually happens with the big leisure companies is they give each attraction an operating budget and a forecast intake of income. If they don’t meet the forecast then they have to make up the difference by reducing the spend on their budget.

My gut feeling is Towers is not meeting its forecast income so is having to cut spend to match the deficit (this is purely speculation on my part). Weather and cost of living is mostly to blame.

 

[venny]

It’s a ridiculously short term strategy to expect immediate returns from investments in places like Towers. People who have visited in previous years and experienced the terrible ride availability, food, service, maintenance etc are not going to be rushing back. It takes a long time to repair a tarnished reputation and there’s no noticeable difference in the park this year, other than the continued closure of Hex, the Skyride and the disappearance of all the flat rides. Oh, and a reduction in the previously popular events. And opening hours. And food price increases.

Why would people return?

 

[Matt.GC]

The money would have come from a cash injection from Merlin’s new private owners, would it not? Scott O’Neil could have asked for more money from the owners to implement sweeping changes, or money could have been redirected from other parts of Merlin’s business to invest into the parks. When Legoland Belgium was cancelled not that long ago, Scott O’Neil said that it was cancelled in favour of investment into the company’s existing parks.

The parks were left in a perilous position, and would have required a significant amount of investment that just isn't there to turn the corner. I don't think there's really much of a business case for it anymore either.

After 5 years now, I think we're looking at a new normal of just stopping the rot as best they can, which alone will cost many millions. That itself is a change in how they choose to invest as before it would have just been about building the latest gimmick ridden attraction, or for the last part of PLC Merlin, virtually no investment at all. I think it's safe to say that any grand dreams of a return to the levels of investment in new stuff seen at Towers in 90's are likely to be dead now. False dawn.

It looks like they're trying to fight off decline to me rather than thrive and grow. It's a shame, but I can't see the Resort Theme Parks, Towers in particular, really turning a corner and getting the investment they need to thrive unless they're split off from Merlin altogether and bought by new investors.

 

[rob666]

I’m still somewhat hopeful.

If our best resident optimist is only somewhat hopeful, the park is doomed.

edit...
and with all the bad weather, perhaps it should be domed.

 

[Plastic Person]

5pm closures are operational decisions but also budgetary.

My understanding is what usually happens with the big leisure companies is they give each attraction an operating budget and a forecast intake of income. If they don’t meet the forecast then they have to make up the difference by reducing the spend on their budget.

My gut feeling is Towers is not meeting its forecast income so is having to cut spend to match the deficit (this is purely speculation on my part). Weather and cost of living is mostly to blame.

I understand all of this from a business perspective, and have the same gut feeling as you. Just chipping in as a perhaps representative casual visitor in that cost of living crisis myself.

The guest feedback for Alton Towers is visibly dire, and the word-of-mouth is unlikely to be much better. You don't need to be a nerd procrastinating on a forum to be aware of this, although in the age of theme park 'lifestyle', there are more guests lurking in places like this than ever, even if the hardcore don't particularly seem to be keen to vote with their feet. In terms of the future, I'd tend to side with the more cynical of the two Matts on this thread; For all the obvious enthusiasm and stellar PR that someone like Bianca brings to the business, I think there might be too much rot to stop without huge vision and financial resources. The profile and size of the park has not been reflected in how it is operated for nearly two decades now. As occasions like the launch of Nemesis Reborn prove, the passion is there to pull it out of the bag when needs be, but the whole place is just far too temperamental of an experience.

 

[Matt N]

On a slight tangent; when we talk about the “rot” at Alton Towers, when do people think this actually started setting in to lead to the predicament we have now?

I digress that I only first visited Alton in 2009, so my take could be wrong, but based on things I’ve heard, I’m going to express a slightly unpopular opinion and say that I don’t think the “rot” started when Merlin took over. Based on things I’ve heard, I think it started long before that. I think that this started with Tussauds, and I dare say that even the idyllic Pearson era Tussauds are far from infallible.

I admit that that’s probably a controversial take, and I apologise if it is, but hear me out for a second.

While Pearson Tussauds did invest an awful lot into new rides and other CAPEX, I gather that they still had a certain unwillingness to invest in improvements and proper long-term preventative maintenance that didn’t have a direct return on investment.

For example, John Wardley came on here and revealed that he and Keith Sparks had multiple new scares planned for the Haunted House, to be added year on year to keep it fresh… but Pearson Tussauds refused to grant the money for these, because the ride had already been built and been a success and further improvements wouldn’t provide an adequate return on investment.

On the topic of the Haunted House, Merlin were often lambasted for letting Duel get into a state… but I’ve had people tell me before that the Haunted House was poorly maintained and in a state since as early as 1998.

It’s also worth noting that numerous classic dark rides built by Tussauds and Wardley in the early 1990s were allowed to get into enough of a state that Tussauds felt the need to revitalise them by the early 2000s, despite them only being 10-15 years old or less.

I’m not saying that things were as bad back then as they are now, because they evidently weren’t. However, I think that Merlin are not necessarily the prime architects of the situation we’re in now, and that Tussauds share some of the blame. From what I’ve heard, I think Tussauds valued preventative maintenance no more than Merlin did, but it was simply less obvious because of the high amount of CAPEX and the bulk of the core infrastructure being newer. Merlin definitely didn’t change things for the better when they could have, sure, but I’m not sure they were necessarily the primary architects of the park’s current predicament, and I don’t think we’d be in an overly different situation if Tussauds had held onto the park.

 

[venny]

The rot started a few years after the Merlin takeover. There were some initial good signs (although also some bad, like David Kettle disappearing from the hotel entertainment), but around 2010 and afterwards was the start of the doom spiral.

 

[BarryZola]

The aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008. Since then companies tightened up on wages and general expenditure and found through that simple process they could improve profits more easily. Greed has spiralled since then. Companies could just about produce enough of a product to keep the money rolling in but rely on less staff and/or infrastructure to get the job done. Obviously businesses always needed to produce a profit, but nowadays it's on steroids and if people get trampled on the way for a few at the top to add a few more zero's to their bank balance that they'll never touch on their computer screens then so be it.

Or something...

 

[Tom]

Few milestones for me:

1. Loss of the 7pm closures in the summer - what's that, maybe 2011?
2. Smiler accident and the subsequent chasing-tail approach to rapid cost-saving changes.
3. Aramark and the off-the-scale food price hikes.
4. Scott O'Neil's arrival and the delaying of big capital investments.

There have been a few upticks of course, but they have not led to an overall transformation of the park's approach. I'm thinking things like the themed food, Alton After Dark, etc. Bringing back and re-theming of Nemesis, Sub-terra and Curse are also positives, but they have failed to move the park away from being an early-evening closing attraction, which is subject to knee-jerk hours cuts and other painful saving initiatives at the drop of a hat.

 

[rob666]

For me, the smiler accident.
I got a merlin pass the following year, very selfishly, knowing the queues would be shorter all year, and they were.
Then I noticed the marks of very heavy wear, needlessly long queues on the monorail, gutters dripping on the punters in the kiosk sales, late openings, slower ops generally, blivvy was never walk on during the week anymore...and very low quality food, pretty much for the first time...didn't mind paying over the odds if the food was reasonable, all of a sudden it was poor.
Express parking and a decent picnic became essentials.

 

[MaxPower]

In my opinion the rot started when Charterhouse bought Tussauds in '98 and then really started to go off a cliff when DIC took over in '05. They were short term investors with a view for a quick and easy profit which is why we ended up with stuff like Duel and Rita.

The original Tussauds in essence died in '98, but there was still enough people left in the business to make the change in ownership less noticeable. The Smiler accident just happened to expedite the rotting process and highlighted the issues further.

If the group wasn't getting the right investment under Nick Varney, someone with extensive experience within the industry, I don't see how we can be more optimistic with Scott O'Neil at the helm.

 

[AT86]

In my opinion the rot started when Charterhouse bought Tussauds in '98 and then really started to go off a cliff when DIC took over in '05. They were short term investors with a view for a quick and easy profit which is why we ended up with stuff like Duel and Rita.

The original Tussauds in essence died in '98, but there was still enough people left in the business to make the change in ownership less noticeable. The Smiler accident just happened to expedite the rotting process and highlighted the issues further.

If the group wasn't getting the right investment under Nick Varney, someone with extensive experience within the industry, I don't see how we can be more optimistic with Scott O'Neil at the helm.

Totally agree with this, as with everything it takes time for the impacts of ownership changes to come through - but once they were sold to private equity you can really see the deterioration in investment and experience.

The quality of new additions (especially in terms of design and theming) dropped from the likes of Nemesis/FV and Oblivion/X-Sector to Air, Rita and Spinball.

The 'last hoorah' so to speak of Tussauds theming level seemed to be Splash Landings and the waterpark.

I had hoped that with Merlin being delisted leaving only three shareholders - two of which are more long term investors who appreciate stability and sustained profits over short termism (Kirkbi and Canadian Pension Funds) that we were in with the best chance of things returning to 90s level long term thinking and investment levels. As I mentioned in my post earlier today though - my hopes are fading.

 

[Dave]

The parks were left in a perilous position, and would have required a significant amount of investment that just isn't there to turn the corner. I don't think there's really much of a business case for it anymore either.

After 5 years now, I think we're looking at a new normal of just stopping the rot as best they can, which alone will cost many millions. That itself is a change in how they choose to invest as before it would have just been about building the latest gimmick ridden attraction, or for the last part of PLC Merlin, virtually no investment at all. I think it's safe to say that any grand dreams of a return to the levels of investment in new stuff seen at Towers in 90's are likely to be dead now. False dawn.

It looks like they're trying to fight off decline to me rather than thrive and grow. It's a shame, but I can't see the Resort Theme Parks, Towers in particular, really turning a corner and getting the investment they need to thrive unless they're split off from Merlin altogether and bought by new investors.

New investors won’t change anything, the facts are still the same.

I’m not as gloomy about the future though, I have said pretty consistently that we won’t know what’s happening regarding the future of the park until at least 2025 as there was so much money needed spending just to stand still. This on top of one of the worst summers as far as weather is concerned and it’s hardly a shock.

Uptime on rides is a problem, but again you have so much neglect to fix.

Not saying it’s certain things will get better just that we can’t know yet.

 

[venny]

The aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008. Since then companies tightened up on wages and general expenditure and found through that simple process they could improve profits more easily. Greed has spiralled since then. Companies could just about produce enough of a product to keep the money rolling in but rely on less staff and/or infrastructure to get the job done. Obviously businesses always needed to produce a profit, but nowadays it's on steroids and if people get trampled on the way for a few at the top to add a few more zero's to their bank balance that they'll never touch on their computer screens then so be it.

Or something...

Whilst it’s a good theory to tie it with the Great Recession, the timings don’t tie up. We had the questionable DIC period of Rita and There’s Something in the Dung Heap, which was way before the crash of 2008. The crash in 2008 actually aligned with Mutiny Bay which was regarded as a really positive retheme.