What are the present problems with Alton Towers, in your opinion?

[Matt.GC]

Sorry @Matt.GC; I wasn’t intending to seem ignorant by posting this thread. I was genuinely intrigued to hear what people felt the main issues were.

In hindsight, I’ll admit they probably should have been more obvious before I started this thread, and I do kind of regret starting it now…

You don't need to apologise, as posted above I could easily have just scrolled past. I suppose I'm more interested in what you're looking for in this discussion? I can't figure that out? Because I kind of read it as "Alton Towers is awesome in almost every single way, tell me why I'm wrong" which seems a bit generalised where we could just open up to treading water. Perhaps stimulate debate a bit with some examples or make some challenges?

 

[Rick]

So here's the ride line-up if you don't like big rides or Cbeebies
Battle Galleons
Congo River Rapids
Cuckoo Cars Driving School (If under 1.4m)
Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back
Gangsta Granny: The Ride
Haunted Hollow (Doesn't really count)
Heave Ho!
Hex - The Legend of the Towers
Marauder's Mayhem
Monorail
Raj’s Bouncy Bottom Burp
Royal Carousel
Runaway Mine Train
Sharkbait Reef By SEALIFE
Skyride
The Blade (possibly)

That's a pretty slim itinerary

Is it ...? Aren't we losing a bit of perspective here about what it's like to be that age ?

Discounting anything in Cbeebies seems like a pretty bizarre call. Octonauts and whatever Squirrel Nutty is called at the very least have a pretty wide appeal.

Plus, during a lot of the season, there's been a ton of entertainment.

 

[Thameslink Rail]

Is it ...? Aren't we losing a bit of perspective here about what it's like to be that age ?

Discounting anything in Cbeebies seems like a pretty bizarre call. Octonauts and whatever Squirrel Nutty is called at the very least have a pretty wide appeal.

Plus, during a lot of the season, there's been a ton of entertainment.

From experience as soon as you hit 6 Cbeebies becomes uncool and if you mention it in the school playground you will be ridiculed.
I agree that those rides should have appeal to KS2 aged children but the fact they have Cbeebies branding on puts them off.

 

[Rick]

From experience as soon as you hit 6 Cbeebies becomes uncool and if you mention it in the school playground you will be ridiculed.

Do you have a story that you'd like to share with the group?

I agree that those rides should have appeal to KS2 aged children but the fact they have Cbeebies branding on puts them off.

I do think there is a bit of that, but I don't think you are giving parents enough credit to direct their six year old kids onto things they might enjoy.

 

[Matt N]

You don't need to apologise, as posted above I could easily have just scrolled past. I suppose I'm more interested in what you're looking for in this discussion? I can't figure that out? Because I kind of read it as "Alton Towers is awesome in almost every single way, tell me why I'm wrong" which seems a bit generalised where we could just open up to treading water. Perhaps stimulate debate a bit with some examples or make some challenges?

Ah, that makes sense; I get that the premise of the thread is quite open-ended, and in hindsight, I’ll admit I didn’t phrase my opening post brilliantly, as I wasn’t trying to imply that the park is perfect in every way by any means.

I guess what I was trying to say is; rightly or wrongly, I sometimes get the impression I’m one of the few on here who still actually enjoys visiting the park and has a fun time when I go. Admittedly, I could be misinterpreting some posts here, and I apologise if that’s the case, but I get the impression that visiting the park is genuinely a chore for some of you these days. I always seem to hear a lot of complaining about many elements of the resort experience and very little in the way of positivity (and that seems to go for the vast majority of UK parks), and I sometimes get the impression that many on here don’t actually enjoy visiting the park anymore. I was simply intrigued to know what in particular is stopping some members from enjoying their visits (or enjoying them as much as previously, at least).

But if you’d like some particular things to digest, I could certainly offer up a few thoughts of mine to stimulate debate:

• I’ve heard a lot said about Alton Towers’ standard of cosmetic maintenance, and how a couple of areas could perhaps do with sprucing up. Surely every theme park has these types of areas, and these will eventually get addressed during off-season maintenance? Surely even Europa Park has areas like this if I were to look hard? While I’ll admit some areas of Towers are perhaps a bit more tired-looking than others, I think the park does a fairly good job on the whole, and won’t these areas eventually get addressed over the off-season? They did a fair bit of TLC to certain areas this off-season, so surely some more areas will get tackled over the 2021/22 off-season?
• I’ve also heard people talk a lot about the park’s lack of in-between family rides. While I’ll admit that there perhaps isn’t too much on offer between CBeebies rides and 1.2m rides, I’d personally say that there’s a fair amount available that isn’t necessarily a hardcore thrill ride or a tiny CBeebies ride. I’d also point out that kids often hit 1.2m at a surprisingly young age (I hit it at around 7, maybe even 6.5 at a push, and I was never exactly a tall kid; my young cousin didn’t long turn 5, and is already over 1.2m!), so once they’re growing out of CBeebies, they’re quite often practically in the 1.2m zone anyway, which opens up the likes of Spinball, Thirteen, Wicker Man, and (for this season at least) the RetroSquad rides as things they can do. I wouldn’t personally argue that any of the 1.2m coasters, particularly Thirteen, are overtly intense; Spinball is admittedly perhaps more physically demanding, given the spinning and the fact that it’s quite rough, and Wicker Man is pretty thrilling, if not intense in the way that the 1.4m rides are, but I’d personally argue that Thirteen in particular isn’t too much of a step up from the likes of Runaway Mine Train in terms of thrill. Given the amount of rides that a typical guest goes on in a day, I’d say that the itinerary @Thameslink Rail posted seems quite adequate myself.
• The monorail is also bought up a lot, particularly with regard to its throughput and queue length at peak times. With regard to the throughput, surely there isn’t a huge amount Alton Towers could do about that, as I thought H&S limited the ride’s throughput?
• I’ve also heard a lot said about the lack of dark rides at the park. With Gangsta Granny opening this year, that brings the park’s tally to 3 (Hex, Duel and Gangsta Granny). Is that not a fairly good tally? Many other parks seem to have the same amount or less (parks with a huge amount of dark rides seem few and far between), and 3 seems to be enough to spread the crowds around; dark rides’ role in a park like Towers is often more supplementary, and in helping to spread the crowds around the park, and surely 3 is enough for plenty of guests to be able to go on a supplementary ride if they wish?

 

[pluk]

• I’ve heard a lot said about Alton Towers’ standard of cosmetic maintenance, and how a couple of areas could perhaps do with sprucing up. Surely every theme park has these types of areas, and these will eventually get addressed during off-season maintenance? Surely even Europa Park has areas like this if I were to look hard? While I’ll admit some areas of Towers are perhaps a bit more tired-looking than others, I think the park does a fairly good job on the whole, and won’t these areas eventually get addressed over the off-season? They did a fair bit of TLC to certain areas this off-season, so surely some more areas will get tackled over the 2021/22 off-season?

I don't mean to be too dismisive, but your view of the state of the park is baffling to me. Look at the whole of x sector. Most of dark forest. Most of FV. All of Duel. The monorail, which is probably just about the most disgraceful single thing in the park, and the first you see. The whole of Walliams outside of the new ride (admittedly I've not seen that one in person, but there's enough trusted comment on these pages). It's in an utter state.

Basically, if it's not brand new they don't care, or don't have a budget to show they care. As a visitor I don't care which it is.

And then you have operations, which with uncontrolled RAP, barely controlled Fastrack, and an inconsistency of ride availability which can't be down to luck.

And then you have a huge gap in the line up between toddler and thrill with hugely insufficient support rides.

And the hotels are terrible. And the shed village is worse. And they can't seem to plan when they might be open in advance. And the food is barely passable with terrible choices on park.

I love the thrill ride hardware. I've felt for years I enjoy the rides in spite of pretty much everything the park could possibly to to affect my day out, not because of it.

 

[MaxPower]

I sometimes get the impression I’m one of the few on here who still actually enjoys visiting the park and has a fun time when I go.

I would say that most of the people on here, including myself, still enjoy going to Alton Towers regardless of how bad the condition of the park is; it's still the best we currently have in the UK (In terms of thrill rides anyway).

The wider frustration I think stems from how standards accross the resort have slipped so far from where the park was at it's peak to where it is today. Particularly when it comes to catering, accomodation and overall presentation.

Themes such as the Dark Forest shouldn't be an excuse not to paint things or keep things landscaped. It's quite obvious to most people where the theme ends and the neglect begins, but until people start to vote with their feet and start leaving more negative reviews, there is no demand for Merlin to try and improve things.

It's still possible to enjoy something whilst acknowledging it's flaws and striving for better, but I fear that the bar has been set so low in recent years I doubt we'll ever see it raised to where it was previously.

 

[Benjsh]

The owners. Close thread.

But in all seriousness they don't care about anything but the bottom line. Guest experience is a very distant second place.

If they kept the park looking fresh, added new rides where they were needed and invested into improving customer experience then the bottom line would surely take care of itself.

However all they care about is squeezing people out of money. Still our best theme park in UK though overall despite all this. Says it all.

 

[Matt.GC]

I guess what I was trying to say is; rightly or wrongly, I sometimes get the impression I’m one of the few on here who still actually enjoys visiting the park and has a fun time when I go. Admittedly, I could be misinterpreting some posts here, and I apologise if that’s the case, but I get the impression that visiting the park is genuinely a chore for some of you these days. I always seem to hear a lot of complaining about many elements of the resort experience and very little in the way of positivity (and that seems to go for the vast majority of UK parks), and I sometimes get the impression that many on here don’t actually enjoy visiting the park anymore. I was simply intrigued to know what in particular is stopping some members from enjoying their visits (or enjoying them as much as previously, at least).

But if you’d like some particular things to digest, I could certainly offer up a few thoughts of mine to stimulate debate:

• I’ve heard a lot said about Alton Towers’ standard of cosmetic maintenance, and how a couple of areas could perhaps do with sprucing up. Surely every theme park has these types of areas, and these will eventually get addressed during off-season maintenance? Surely even Europa Park has areas like this if I were to look hard? While I’ll admit some areas of Towers are perhaps a bit more tired-looking than others, I think the park does a fairly good job on the whole, and won’t these areas eventually get addressed over the off-season? They did a fair bit of TLC to certain areas this off-season, so surely some more areas will get tackled over the 2021/22 off-season?
• I’ve also heard people talk a lot about the park’s lack of in-between family rides. While I’ll admit that there perhaps isn’t too much on offer between CBeebies rides and 1.2m rides, I’d personally say that there’s a fair amount available that isn’t necessarily a hardcore thrill ride or a tiny CBeebies ride. I’d also point out that kids often hit 1.2m at a surprisingly young age (I hit it at around 7, maybe even 6.5 at a push, and I was never exactly a tall kid; my young cousin didn’t long turn 5, and is already over 1.2m!), so once they’re growing out of CBeebies, they’re quite often practically in the 1.2m zone anyway, which opens up the likes of Spinball, Thirteen, Wicker Man, and (for this season at least) the RetroSquad rides as things they can do. I wouldn’t personally argue that any of the 1.2m coasters, particularly Thirteen, are overtly intense; Spinball is admittedly perhaps more physically demanding, given the spinning and the fact that it’s quite rough, and Wicker Man is pretty thrilling, if not intense in the way that the 1.4m rides are, but I’d personally argue that Thirteen in particular isn’t too much of a step up from the likes of Runaway Mine Train in terms of thrill. Given the amount of rides that a typical guest goes on in a day, I’d say that the itinerary @Thameslink Rail posted seems quite adequate myself.
• The monorail is also bought up a lot, particularly with regard to its throughput and queue length at peak times. With regard to the throughput, surely there isn’t a huge amount Alton Towers could do about that, as I thought H&S limited the ride’s throughput?
• I’ve also heard a lot said about the lack of dark rides at the park. With Gangsta Granny opening this year, that brings the park’s tally to 3 (Hex, Duel and Gangsta Granny). Is that not a fairly good tally? Many other parks seem to have the same amount or less (parks with a huge amount of dark rides seem few and far between), and 3 seems to be enough to spread the crowds around; dark rides’ role in a park like Towers is often more supplementary, and in helping to spread the crowds around the park, and surely 3 is enough for plenty of guests to be able to go on a supplementary ride if they wish?

I think you are misinterpreting many posts from others. I can't speak for everyone but I don't think there's many who don't still enjoy visiting. It's like watching a family member you love and care about quitting their job, piling on 5 stone and drinking heavier every night. You still love them and enjoy their company, but you find their gradual decline sad and regrettable.

As for your points, they've done very little to address cosmetic maintenance over the last 20 years so why would they do anything about it now? Some areas of the park have not been touched since they were built and quite obvious issues have been left untouched for years. Yeah, if you look hard around Europa or any park you will find issues. The problem is with AT, you don't have to look hard at all, it's in your face as soon as you walk into the monorail station. Any TLC done last off season was just a drop in the ocean, not even the bare minimum amount of work the park needs. The frustrating thing is, some things are such cheap and simple fixes/cleaning that you have to wonder what the blocker is to sorting them out. Lack of care? Not seeing things from a guests point of view? For example, I'll let you know if that hat that's been there for weeks on the roof of the vending machine shelter in the Galactica queue is still there on Thursday.

It doesn't matter when kids reach 1.2mtrs in height, there's very few attractions in the park the whole family can enjoy together. Instead of rectifying this, Merlin made the decision to turn one of these rides into an upcharge horror Dungeon and run the Rapids and Duel into the ground. Trust me, I've been taking a family of various ages and heights to Towers for years and there's no other park of it's size like it. It's a ball ache, loads of splitting up, waiting around and finding things to do in a specific area whilst some of your party does something they really wanted to do that the others can't. It's a very secular park when you're there with a family. It's not just the number of attractions between baby rides and thrill, it's the types of attractions they are and where they are located in the park.

There's loads they can do about the Monorail throughput problem (loads they can do about the dreadful, filthy state of it as well). They could install air gates, a cheaper manual alternative, or my personal favourite, supervise guests on the platform and let them wait there like at almost every other train station in the entire country.

When considering dark rides, 3 isn't particularly a lot for a park the size of Towers in a country where it rains alot. Last season this number was a measly 2. 1 of those is fine but small. 1 is really only suitable for older kids and adults. The other is like riding through a primary school art project.

 

[JAperson]

I think you are misinterpreting many posts from others. I can't speak for everyone but I don't think there's many who don't still enjoy visiting. It's like watching a family member you love and care about quitting their job, piling on 5 stone and drinking heavier every night. You still love them and enjoy their company, but you find their gradual decline sad and regrettable.

I agree with the sentiment. I love Alton Towers and truly care about the place. It's like your sibling or child you want the place to do well and know it can always do better so you push for it. The place is amazing and my post on here or on any thread which is negative is not because of a lack of love for the place but rather for a deep care for the place.

 

[OButler]

I think most of the frustrations is that Alton could be a genuinely world class theme park, and the things letting it down are so so simple and incredibly lazy.

The park is amazing and magical of course, but it’s so far off the standards it should be. It’s a shame because Wickerman showed that with the right effort Alton can create a genuine world class attraction.

The neglects of the hotels, up keeping of attractions, lack of dark rides, sparse lineup and plenty of other things mentioned. If us enthusiasts can point out the faults, then Alton are certainly aware of them, but are just not bothered to sort them out

 

[Matt N]

I think you are misinterpreting many posts from others. I can't speak for everyone but I don't think there's many who don't still enjoy visiting. It's like watching a family member you love and care about quitting their job, piling on 5 stone and drinking heavier every night. You still love them and enjoy their company, but you find their gradual decline sad and regrettable.

As for your points, they've done very little to address cosmetic maintenance over the last 20 years so why would they do anything about it now? Some areas of the park have not been touched since they were built and quite obvious issues have been left untouched for years. Yeah, if you look hard around Europa or any park you will find issues. The problem is with AT, you don't have to look hard at all, it's in your face as soon as you walk into the monorail station. Any TLC done last off season was just a drop in the ocean, not even the bare minimum amount of work the park needs. The frustrating thing is, some things are such cheap and simple fixes/cleaning that you have to wonder what the blocker is to sorting them out. Lack of care? Not seeing things from a guests point of view? For example, I'll let you know if that hat that's been there for weeks on the roof of the vending machine shelter in the Galactica queue is still there on Thursday.

It doesn't matter when kids reach 1.2mtrs in height, there's very few attractions in the park the whole family can enjoy together. Instead of rectifying this, Merlin made the decision to turn one of these rides into an upcharge horror Dungeon and run the Rapids and Duel into the ground. Trust me, I've been taking a family of various ages and heights to Towers for years and there's no other park of it's size like it. It's a ball ache, loads of splitting up, waiting around and finding things to do in a specific area whilst some of your party does something they really wanted to do that the others can't. It's a very secular park when you're there with a family. It's not just the number of attractions between baby rides and thrill, it's the types of attractions they are and where they are located in the park.

There's loads they can do about the Monorail throughput problem (loads they can do about the dreadful, filthy state of it as well). They could install air gates, a cheaper manual alternative, or my personal favourite, supervise guests on the platform and let them wait there like at almost every other train station in the entire country.

When considering dark rides, 3 isn't particularly a lot for a park the size of Towers in a country where it rains alot. Last season this number was a measly 2. 1 of those is fine but small. 1 is really only suitable for older kids and adults. The other is like riding through a primary school art project.

Ah, my apologies; that seems fair enough! I hope you forgive me; I do struggle a bit with this whole interpreting people correctly thing, especially over the internet…

In terms of TLC; I thought Towers Loving Care covered this sort of thing every closed season?

In terms of your comment about attractions the whole family can enjoy; I do get where you’re coming from, as there’s not loads of rides between 0.9m and 1.2m, and not tons of “middle-ground” stuff. I also guess I’m not the best person to comment on that as I’m always the youngest member of our party whenever we visit the park. And in terms of the segregation of rides across the park; that is something I’ll admit I’ve never been too keen on, as it means that the whole family can’t stay together.

In terms of the monorail; I get where you’re coming from, but weren’t airgates ruled as being too expensive when the idea was bought up last season (I’d personally be an advocate for airgates, as they solve the safety issue while keeping throughput high, but I was told they would be too expensive)? I’m unsure if the park would want people waiting on the platform without airgates in the post-Smiler safety climate, as I can only imagine the field day the tabloids would have if someone tried to jump the track and got injured… I also think that the monorail platform is arguably more dangerous than your average train platform, as the ride station is elevated, therefore meaning that anyone who tries to jump the track and fails faces a drop of ~20ft, which at very least would cause life-threatening injury.

In terms of dark rides; I guess you’re right, but I don’t think Towers has ever had loads of dark rides in the same way that somewhere like Disney, Efteling or Europa does. Even in the “peak” era of the 1990s, didn’t they only have 3 or 4? (So a pretty similar amount to now, although the 90s ones were admittedly larger scale)

I personally think water rides are a bigger gap than dark rides, although I think the British climate does kind of nullify the appeal of water rides for 80% of the year, whereas indoor rides are a very compelling proposition for the British climate, so I do see why dark rides are cited as being needed more often.

 

[JAperson]

In terms of your comment about attractions the whole family can enjoy; I do get where you’re coming from, as there’s not loads of rides between 0.9m and 1.2m, and not tons of “middle-ground” stuff. I also guess I’m not the best person to comment on that as I’m always the youngest member of our party whenever we visit the park. And in terms of the segregation of rides across the park; that is something I’ll admit I’ve never been too keen on, as it means that the whole family can’t stay together.

This is the main problem an obstacle to good attendance growth in my opinion. As I was getting at in my original post in this topic the park really just needs more to do for the families. It was okay when there was shows as these would be part of your day and take a chunk of it. Ice shows and the stage shows were perfect for this and a reintroduction could help considerably in my opinion. It wouldn't eliminate the problem but I believe it would go a good way towards it.

 

[GaryH]

My thoughts…

1. Theme park food - expensive and poor quality. There is only one decent restaurant in the entire park in my opinion and that’s Woodcutters. Needs more decent sit in restaurants offering decent quality food at sensible prices.

2. Monorail - remove the window films. While exterior of the trains look good the film is now so poor over the windows it’s impossible to look out as you come in to the park.

3. Hotels - too expensive, poor cleaning, too noisy, lack of service and poor entertainment offerings. Either reduce the prices to match the standards of the hotels or improve the standards to reflect the prices.

4. Tree Top Quest - lots of fun, perfect for the stargazing sheds and hotels - but closed.

5. Rapids - turn on in the waterfalls, nuff said!

As for the theme park, I still love it, I always have a fun day out when I go there, and I think despite the pandemic Alton have done a decent job of keeping things running.

 

[Matt.GC]

Ah, my apologies; that seems fair enough! I hope you forgive me; I do struggle a bit with this whole interpreting people correctly thing, especially over the internet…

In terms of TLC; I thought Towers Loving Care covered this sort of thing every closed season?

In terms of your comment about attractions the whole family can enjoy; I do get where you’re coming from, as there’s not loads of rides between 0.9m and 1.2m, and not tons of “middle-ground” stuff. I also guess I’m not the best person to comment on that as I’m always the youngest member of our party whenever we visit the park. And in terms of the segregation of rides across the park; that is something I’ll admit I’ve never been too keen on, as it means that the whole family can’t stay together.

In terms of the monorail; I get where you’re coming from, but weren’t airgates ruled as being too expensive when the idea was bought up last season (I’d personally be an advocate for airgates, as they solve the safety issue while keeping throughput high, but I was told they would be too expensive)? I’m unsure if the park would want people waiting on the platform without airgates in the post-Smiler safety climate, as I can only imagine the field day the tabloids would have if someone tried to jump the track and got injured… I also think that the monorail platform is arguably more dangerous than your average train platform, as the ride station is elevated, therefore meaning that anyone who tries to jump the track and fails faces a drop of ~20ft, which at very least would cause life-threatening injury.

In terms of dark rides; I guess you’re right, but I don’t think Towers has ever had loads of dark rides in the same way that somewhere like Disney, Efteling or Europa does. Even in the “peak” era of the 1990s, didn’t they only have 3 or 4? (So a pretty similar amount to now, although the 90s ones were admittedly larger scale)

I personally think water rides are a bigger gap than dark rides, although I think the British climate does kind of nullify the appeal of water rides for 80% of the year, whereas indoor rides are a very compelling proposition for the British climate, so I do see why dark rides are cited as being needed more often.

Talking of misinterpretations, what are you apologising and asking forgiveness for?

They do some form of maintenance and refurbishment every closed season, but not nearly enough and some of the quality is questionable, presumably due to a lack of resources and funds. Most things in need of fixing have been left untouched for years and history tells us this is likely to continue. Most of the park is simply hanging from a visual standpoint. We're not just talking about painting - signage, cleaning, lights, effects, replacing removed theming, landscaping and weed control - needed just about everywhere.

I thought the monorail track had floor beneath it inside the stations? I don't think it is more dangerous than a regular train station where there's less supervision (sometimes none), less crowd control and high speed trains thundering through as opposed to an electrically powered Monorail pulling into a station very slowly with the ability to stop on a dime. Europa has the same model of monorail, their stations are completely unsupervised with no air gates and smaller platforms. In fact, last time I was there a kid dropped his cuddly toy off the edge of the platform and I saw his dad lean over the platform edge and reach down under the rail to retrieve it!

In terms of the era you are referring to, it shouldn't be seen as a time when all was perfect and well. It was 20-30 years ago and the world has moved on. The reason that era is often lauded is because AT was a world class park back then and now no longer is.

I do agree with you slightly reference water rides actually. I know that seems to contradict my dark ride point but what we're left with is an extremely boring lazy river and perfectly fun splash battle that can only be used properly when it's really hot due to the interactions and how much of a soaking it can give. The Flume only ever really gave you a light spray if the showers at the end were turned off and was still popular in colder weather. A small themed flume with dark ride sections alongside a refurbishment and return of the waterfalls on the Rapids would do nicely.

A high quality dark ride free of TV screens in the Dungeon building themed to Walliams would also do nicely alongside a 4d cinema offering. I'd like to see something like an indoor coaster somewhere as well and Duel at the very least needs it's lighting sorted out so at the very least you can't see all the walls and mechanisms.

 

[Auribus]

They do some form of maintenance and refurbishment every closed season, but not nearly enough and some of the quality is questionable, presumably due to a lack of resources and funds. Most things in need of fixing have been left untouched for years and history tells us this is likely to continue. Most of the park is simply hanging from a visual standpoint. We're not just talking about painting - signage, cleaning, lights, effects, replacing removed theming, landscaping and weed control - needed just about everywhere.

I do wonder whether this is a uniquely British "disease" of mismanagement?

Two obvious solutions re funding from the top of my head.

One, US corporate Disney route of high ticket costs to fund day to day costs and future capex projects.

Two, like Europa Park run as a sustainable not-for-profit entity where profits are reinvested into the park and the staff employed by the park.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

With me been a 1 time a year visitor since my Merlin pass ran out in 2012 after been on Funk and Fly and Mix tape. The park really need to be looking at flat rides that can take 30+ guests min per cycle like they had with Ripsaw, Submission, Astro/Dino dancer and Energizer.

 

[Error]

Yes AT is a right dump in places which is embarrassing considering its one of the biggest parks in the UK with a ton of issues - my biggest is F&B offerings.
Although saying that, look where the park is situated, the surrounding area is beautiful. Driving past the iconic McDonalds, past JCB onwards to Alton is my highlight of my journey and sets me up for the day.
Coming from flat Norfolk to Staffordshire is like meeting a model with curves in the right areas.
Punching a bit with Scotland though.

 

[Rojo]

Most of the park (and all UK Parks) have been neutered by muddle-management and H&S fears since 2015. Rides like the mine train and rapids turned down and rides SBNO'd under a banner of TLC not to re-open.

There's been shoots of recovery, especially with the events and shows recently but the lack of desire or creativity to look after something that isn't the new shiny is obvious. When you bring in a couple of travelling flats and everyone praises you for it, you know you've been throwing it in for a few years.

Sure the crash and Covid have killed momentum but equally look at EP. Catastrophic fire, rebuild and they're still improve their offerings whilst AT is stagnating.

I'm sure there's people at the park who care but are being hamstrung by protocols and budget. AT was always at its best when it was pushing boundaries.

 

[Skyscraper]

Right now, the main issue is ride reliability. We know all rides do break down occasionally, but to have the biggest, most popular rides all constantly throwing hissy fits at the same time is pure bad luck and very worrying.