Would Alton Towers be different today if it were still owned by Tussauds?

[Matt N]

I’ve said this before, but I honestly reckon we would have had a pretty good outcome for the London parks if Tussauds had sold Chessington when they bought Thorpe.

I know that would have relinquished their monopoly, but Chessington would surely have been seen as a pretty lucrative buy at the time (it was still pretty successful and would have had a pretty high asset value in 1998). But to benefit Tussauds/Merlin, whoever bought Chessington would have been hamstrung by its comparatively tight planning restrictions compared to Thorpe (meaning that they would have been unable to appeal to all markets effectively, and that they would have been unable to invest as much as they’d like). Tussauds/Merlin, on the other hand, would have been laughing, because Thorpe’s convenient location and loose planning restrictions could have given them the scope to make an “Alton Towers of the South” of sorts, where the park would have appealed to thrillseekers and families alike, particularly if Tussauds hadn’t had to tiptoe around Chessington when developing Thorpe.

 

[QTXAdsy]

Actually, I'm starting to wonder if Tussauds buying Thorpe in 1998 was actually the moment that ruined the competitive nature in the UK theme park industry.

I know many Thorpe fans will say that without Tussauds they would never gotten the likes of Colossus, Nemesis Inferno and Stealth...then again we might never had seen Merlin come along and give us DBGT and see the park end up in a bad state. You can't but notice how things really changed for Tussauds following them buying Thorpe in while that park would thrive during the 2000's, both Towers and Chessie started to go on the decline and in some ways the buy out of Thrope might have been a moment that set the seeds for Tussauds' decline and eventually sell to Merlin. Suppose for this to happen you have to have someone other that Tussauds getting in front first to buy Thorpe, maybe Universal who as some of you will remembered tried to build a park but failed, maybe here they see the Thrope site as plan B and we have Thrope transformed into Universal Studios London. Hell, maybe even a IOA clone instead which ironically would fit with the island nature of the park giving how much of the lands are man-made islands!

Without Thorpe being bought then that investment we saw with Thorpe would have been seen in Towers and Chessie meaning that their golden age would last a little longer and who knows how things might have been different, maybe no Rita, Charlie, Duel or Spinball for Towers alone and who knows about Chessie...surprised no one has thought of this alternative history scenario.

Either way, it is clear under both Tussauds and Merlin ownership that whoever is running all three parks can't run them together, maybe they can manage running two but three has proved to be cumbersome for them as what we have all seen over these last few years. Either way, getting a few ideas for writing my alternative history timeline...

 

[Trooper Looper]

Actually, I'm starting to wonder if Tussauds buying Thorpe in 1998 was actually the moment that ruined the competitive nature in the UK theme park industry.

I know many Thorpe fans will say that without Tussauds they would never gotten the likes of Colossus, Nemesis Inferno and Stealth...then again we might never had seen Merlin come along and give us DBGT and see the park end up in a bad state. You can't but notice how things really changed for Tussauds following them buying Thorpe in while that park would thrive during the 2000's, both Towers and Chessie started to go on the decline and in some ways the buy out of Thrope might have been a moment that set the seeds for Tussauds' decline and eventually sell to Merlin. Suppose for this to happen you have to have someone other that Tussauds getting in front first to buy Thorpe, maybe Universal who as some of you will remembered tried to build a park but failed, maybe here they see the Thrope site as plan B and we have Thrope transformed into Universal Studios London. Hell, maybe even a IOA clone instead which ironically would fit with the island nature of the park giving how much of the lands are man-made islands!

Without Thorpe being bought then that investment we saw with Thorpe would have been seen in Towers and Chessie meaning that their golden age would last a little longer and who knows how things might have been different, maybe no Rita, Charlie, Duel or Spinball for Towers alone and who knows about Chessie...surprised no one has thought of this alternative history scenario.

Either way, it is clear under both Tussauds and Merlin ownership that whoever is running all three parks can't run them together, maybe they can manage running two but three has proved to be cumbersome for them as what we have all seen over these last few years. Either way, getting a few ideas for writing my alternative history timeline...

I believe Merlin should create 3 separately independent small companies with each one running one of their Parks, whilst still having a good chunk of the income from the Parks. You can tell since 2015 they've been struggling on creativity and Guests Satisfactory, outside of things like Wicker Man... oh, that's it...

MMM really isn't working for the Parks on every aspect. Like on rethemes, they're mostly only enjoyed by small children or a small minority. Each of the companies should have their own Creative Team and Leader. Many people here have already stated how much they aren't fans of TWODW and Alton Towers Dungeons. Intellectual Property is only successful in such a short span it isn't even worth it IMO. That's MMM personified, and to be honest, I'm only a bit excited for Chessingtons upcoming coaster, if only it wasn't Jumanji (IP) Themed.


For a Chessington Alternative History though. Allow me, it'll be on The 'Your Theme Parks Ideas and Concept' thread.

 

[QTXAdsy]

I believe Merlin should create 3 separately independent small companies with each one running one of their Parks, whilst still having a good chunk of the income from the Parks. You can tell since 2015 they've been struggling on creativity and Guests Satisfactory, outside of things like Wicker Man... oh, that's it...

MMM really isn't working for the Parks on every aspect. Like on rethemes, they're mostly only enjoyed by small children or a small minority. Each of the companies should have their own Creative Team and Leader. Many people here have already stated how much they aren't fans of TWODW and Alton Towers Dungeons. Intellectual Property is only successful in such a short span it isn't even worth it IMO. That's MMM personified, and to be honest, I'm only a bit excited for Chessingtons upcoming coaster, if only it wasn't Jumanji (IP) Themed.


For a Chessington Alternative History though. Allow me, it'll be on The 'Your Theme Parks Ideas and Concept' thread.

Sounds oddly how British Rail was reformed in the 1980's to have separate brands such as ScotRail, Network South East, Intercity etc which all had their own degree of control, which actually was doing well and would have gone swimmingly for BR by putting them in the black had they not screwed it up with privatization a few years later but I'm going off a tangent. Either way, I can see what you mean there by having the three parks having more control of their own affairs and making out their own plans on how each park should be done though the one downside is that all would be wanting a ton of money from the get go, something Merlin would not do however I could see them trying to experiment with the idea for the three parks in which if it is successful then Merlin would slowly give out more money. If this system was in place now then I have no idea that those at Towers would have been wanting to get the flat ride problem sorted ASAP and for Chessie, well...everything really.

But yeah, I'll like to see that and we should join forces to write out alternate theme park history!