hi folks,
is it true the monorail theming has gone?
thanks,
gareth
monorail
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AstroDan
What theming? The trains are themed but the rest of it has never been themed.
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CoasterCrazyChris
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They might be referring to the old mural that was once on the wall of the car park station. It was added in the 90's and showed some of the rides of the time including The Haunted House. They painted over it a few years ago.
The Monorail itself was built in 1987 under John Broome's ownership and as such was never themed.
The Monorail itself was built in 1987 under John Broome's ownership and as such was never themed.
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Bote
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They could be referring to either
a) The mural as suggested above. There used to be a painting within one of the stations.
b) The monorail station audio which used to play with the resort overview film. That has left us this year and been replaced with an advert loop and an ITHOTMK remix.
The trains have all kept their individual themes, and are just as before. As for the station, aside from the old painting there never was any theming :P
a) The mural as suggested above. There used to be a painting within one of the stations.
b) The monorail station audio which used to play with the resort overview film. That has left us this year and been replaced with an advert loop and an ITHOTMK remix.
The trains have all kept their individual themes, and are just as before. As for the station, aside from the old painting there never was any theming :P
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The Psychoaster
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Yeah it's mrbrightside - and he is talking about the brilliant monorail theme which was removed as of this season. It was really great as well, don't know why they replaced it.gmonsta wrote: oh, on somebodys profile it has RIP monorail theming. not to worry. thanks
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mrbrightside
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What they said
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PeteB
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It was awful. Good riddance! Cheesy annoying generic crap created after M£rlin's takeover. It outstayed it's welcome and had been looking dated for quite a while.The Psychoaster wrote:Yeah it's mrbrightside - and he is talking about the brilliant monorail theme which was removed as of this season. It was really great as well, don't know why they replaced it.gmonsta wrote: oh, on somebodys profile it has RIP monorail theming. not to worry. thanks
They need to go back to the days of having a video that showcases the park and new additions for this year. The one with the 2 birds was my favourite.
It's all about building the excitement as people prepare to enter the park kind of like a pre show for the themepark, and cross promoting their other products (such as the hotels, golf, and shows (...what shows lol??)), but I guess creating a video like that is simply too much effort for lazy tight fisted M£rlin!
...oh yeah, and taking away that mural really killed the park's pre show too!
Last edited by PeteB on Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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The Psychoaster
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You really do live up to the title in your sigPeteB wrote:It was awful. Good riddance! Cheesy annoying generic crap created after M£rlin's takeover. It outstayed it's welcome and had been looking dated for quite a while.The Psychoaster wrote:Yeah it's mrbrightside - and he is talking about the brilliant monorail theme which was removed as of this season. It was really great as well, don't know why they replaced it.gmonsta wrote: oh, on somebodys profile it has RIP monorail theming. not to worry. thanks
They need to go back to the days of having a video that showcases the park and new additions for this year. The one with the 2 birds was my favourite.
It's all about building the excitement as people prepare to enter the park kind of like a pre show for the themepark, and cross promoting their other products (such as the hotels, golf, and shows (...what shows lol??)), but I guess creating a video like that is simply too much effort for lazy tight fisted M£rlin!
...oh yeah, and taking away that mural really killed the park's pre show too!
I disagree, the monorail music was really catchy, memorable and although it may not have correlated well with the more orchestral-orientated themes around the rest of the park - the car park monorail station feels separate from the main park anyway. Listening back to it on Youtube brings a wave of nostalgia, just as listening to the old Towers Street theme does.-
CoasterCrazyChris
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The walls of the Monorail ought to have a vinyl along them similar to the ones behind the counters in Towers Trading.PeteB wrote:
...oh yeah, and taking away that mural really killed the park's pre show too!
That would be good. I doubt they would film a new resort video given the state of the park these days.
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Rocket
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Can't they add something like what's in the wall in towers trading, or the giant map in guest services, that would look brilliant.
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siralgenon
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That's what has been done, there's now a park map on the wall of the Resort Hotels Monorail stationSamJ wrote: Can't they add something like what's in the wall in towers trading, or the giant map in guest services, that would look brilliant.
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DiogoJ42
I was never a fan of the old music either. It didn't offend me, but it did absolutely nothing for me. It was just there.
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ryanlovesaltontowers
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One thing that always nags me with the monorail stations, are those truly awful CRT Displays, majority of them are broke anyways and I'm sure Alton can afford a few flat screens, even if they only replaced the ones on the 'ramps', and maybe even turn the volume back up, it seems to be incredibly quit this season. (since they changed the audio to that amazing new soundtrack, that I absolutely love.). Also the outside of the station (and to an extent the entrance plaza itself) is starting to look a little worn, I've done a quick edit of how i imagined the station would look after a slight refurb.
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mrbrightside
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The theme music was brilliant IMO. Whilst I can see why others would see it as cheesy filler crap, I'm a very new person to Towers (my first visit being in 2010!) and thus the first piece of music I ever heard was the monorail music. Catchy and fun, it stuck in my head. And visits last year were set up by walking into the station and hearing the music...
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Bote
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I think the main idea behind the old track was that it should fit the rest of the park audio. It was created at a time where the park was trying to create a continual theme and tune between all their tracks. Essentially, every new track had to contain at least an exert from Towers Street. Cloud Cuckoo Land, Dark Forest, Splash Landings lobby, and the Monorail station all did this.
I think the old audio worked well with the Resort Overview video. It was a fun and lively track which was meant to be timed to the events of the film (Even if some of the mixing was very butchered :P ).
However, it seems this year to tie in with the new brand the park are pushing ITHOMK as audio, rather than Towers Street.
The old audio used to play from the video, this was how they kept the timings, so when the video left so did the audio. However, I wonder if the park have done the same with the new one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but both the audio and video have been copied straight from the Resort Box Office. So no doubt one came with the other.
This is what's a bit annoying. Yes, the old audio was essentially another track remixed, but at least it was unique in it's own rights. The new audio though is near enough a direct copy. Is this what the park are going to be doing now to no doubt keep costs low? Recycle one track across whole areas? They've already practically done it with Dark Forest and Cloud Cuckoo Land. What happened to making each attraction unique and different slightly? It's a great shame, as Towers have created some first rate audio over the years.
Also, I'd imagine one of the main reasons the old video left is that the park either couldn't be bothered, or wouldn't pay for a new one to be filmed, or the old one updated. I think one of the main giveaways it was outdated aside from the lack of showing new attractions was the little details, like Towers Street having a red towers, or Spinball being turquoise. It is a shame they wouldn't experiment with mixing some new clips in and taking out the old, as there is some fantastic footage in there and it's a shame to see it go to waste.
I think the old audio worked well with the Resort Overview video. It was a fun and lively track which was meant to be timed to the events of the film (Even if some of the mixing was very butchered :P ).
However, it seems this year to tie in with the new brand the park are pushing ITHOMK as audio, rather than Towers Street.
The old audio used to play from the video, this was how they kept the timings, so when the video left so did the audio. However, I wonder if the park have done the same with the new one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but both the audio and video have been copied straight from the Resort Box Office. So no doubt one came with the other.
This is what's a bit annoying. Yes, the old audio was essentially another track remixed, but at least it was unique in it's own rights. The new audio though is near enough a direct copy. Is this what the park are going to be doing now to no doubt keep costs low? Recycle one track across whole areas? They've already practically done it with Dark Forest and Cloud Cuckoo Land. What happened to making each attraction unique and different slightly? It's a great shame, as Towers have created some first rate audio over the years.
Also, I'd imagine one of the main reasons the old video left is that the park either couldn't be bothered, or wouldn't pay for a new one to be filmed, or the old one updated. I think one of the main giveaways it was outdated aside from the lack of showing new attractions was the little details, like Towers Street having a red towers, or Spinball being turquoise. It is a shame they wouldn't experiment with mixing some new clips in and taking out the old, as there is some fantastic footage in there and it's a shame to see it go to waste.
Last edited by Bote on Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Mattia
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When the Towers Street Suite was first decided upon, it was before the 2008 change of alton and it eventually came in 2007 during a weak branding move for the park which was adamant that ITHOTMK was in the past. They basically decided that they wanted one main theme which was hinted through different themes and variations. They also knew royalty's were a problem so that's why the brand tune was pushed to be popped in different areas of the park. TS, Farm (but this was a filler), Katanga, different outlets, Air, Rita and others were royalty free tracks. However, they never got a proper chance to really show off this idea and vision with all the changes from up above with Tussauds and Merlin.
Then 2008 came along. They re-tried what they did poorly in 2007 with much better visions, management and direction. This would be, that across the whole resort, there would be continuity where it was lacking, disjointed and also, there would be a new type of magic, a more modern one. The logos were updated as we know, the image was refreshed, along with other things such as entrances and all.
Like Disney and all these big boy companies, they all need to keep up with the times. Disney is becoming so much more modern and disney-channel esque. It's what the CEO wants across the entire disney board, that's why world of color changed so much film wise and music wise two weeks before opening, it was about bringing disney forward yet retaining continuity and the orchestra soundtrack was 'too old and needed to have the soundtrack versions of the songs added in to get it newer and more modern'.
Music is one of the key points of marketing and that's why an effort was put into the original 10 part Towers Street suite which some still do exist on resort today but sadly it was never properly executed. The monorail theme was originally to be the resort wide theme portraying a wacky place that bursts tropical sun, the idea of fun, adventure and to entice the everyday guest to explore the resort further after they left the park gates. That was the point of this mix, why it ended up in Old Mc's farm was just to fill the gap. However, the reason it played on towers street at the end of the day was to enable the guests to hear this music and explore what else this resort had to offer - but it failed and was scrapped.
Eventually the idea of this being the resort-wide theme was dropped. It remained in a mixed-down form on the monorail only, which served as the same purpose as when it originally played at the end of the day on Towers Street. After this, new resort themes and suites were created.
Towers Street theme was a bodge job to add the advert version of ITHOTMK in between the TS theme along with the addition of the darker TS theme and a new resort theme (that was short-lived) was born. But, Cuckooland and Forest really had a brand vision. They both feature ITHOTMK and it works perfectly. It subconsciously reminds us guests of the brand, where we are and will make guests think about alton in some form from the theme. This was what was decided for more prominant areas/staple rides - the brand would be reflected in the theme with the use of ITHOTMK.
They messed up with omitting the theme from the park's brand and they tried everything to turn around and remind themselves who they are. We definitely have a form of magic in each of the tracks of the suite...(bar breakbeat and trance :P) and it's this new modern magic. You don't need to constantly almost go backwards to the 90s and try and get the old magic, but look at new magic and new ways to express that. Thus, the new resort theme of 2012 was born as a sign of a new image, a new magic and a further interest to marry the entire resort together in one huge continuous brand. It really does ooze the new magic, the ITHOTMK theme is really crazy and modern - if they played the original version of the track I think I'd be well annoyed. The resort needs to refresh the track in any way possible, they did this in ride-solo adverts (Air, Sub-terra etc) but not actually properly on park.
So yeah, marketing looked at the resort image and realised they wanted continuity to be a strong focal point and so went back to different ideas and concepts. I am so sad the ex-resort theme/2008-2011 monorail theme has gone because I loved it. But the new magic needs to move on and keep shaping and moulding alton's identity through it's music.
Then 2008 came along. They re-tried what they did poorly in 2007 with much better visions, management and direction. This would be, that across the whole resort, there would be continuity where it was lacking, disjointed and also, there would be a new type of magic, a more modern one. The logos were updated as we know, the image was refreshed, along with other things such as entrances and all.
Like Disney and all these big boy companies, they all need to keep up with the times. Disney is becoming so much more modern and disney-channel esque. It's what the CEO wants across the entire disney board, that's why world of color changed so much film wise and music wise two weeks before opening, it was about bringing disney forward yet retaining continuity and the orchestra soundtrack was 'too old and needed to have the soundtrack versions of the songs added in to get it newer and more modern'.
Music is one of the key points of marketing and that's why an effort was put into the original 10 part Towers Street suite which some still do exist on resort today but sadly it was never properly executed. The monorail theme was originally to be the resort wide theme portraying a wacky place that bursts tropical sun, the idea of fun, adventure and to entice the everyday guest to explore the resort further after they left the park gates. That was the point of this mix, why it ended up in Old Mc's farm was just to fill the gap. However, the reason it played on towers street at the end of the day was to enable the guests to hear this music and explore what else this resort had to offer - but it failed and was scrapped.
Eventually the idea of this being the resort-wide theme was dropped. It remained in a mixed-down form on the monorail only, which served as the same purpose as when it originally played at the end of the day on Towers Street. After this, new resort themes and suites were created.
Towers Street theme was a bodge job to add the advert version of ITHOTMK in between the TS theme along with the addition of the darker TS theme and a new resort theme (that was short-lived) was born. But, Cuckooland and Forest really had a brand vision. They both feature ITHOTMK and it works perfectly. It subconsciously reminds us guests of the brand, where we are and will make guests think about alton in some form from the theme. This was what was decided for more prominant areas/staple rides - the brand would be reflected in the theme with the use of ITHOTMK.
They messed up with omitting the theme from the park's brand and they tried everything to turn around and remind themselves who they are. We definitely have a form of magic in each of the tracks of the suite...(bar breakbeat and trance :P) and it's this new modern magic. You don't need to constantly almost go backwards to the 90s and try and get the old magic, but look at new magic and new ways to express that. Thus, the new resort theme of 2012 was born as a sign of a new image, a new magic and a further interest to marry the entire resort together in one huge continuous brand. It really does ooze the new magic, the ITHOTMK theme is really crazy and modern - if they played the original version of the track I think I'd be well annoyed. The resort needs to refresh the track in any way possible, they did this in ride-solo adverts (Air, Sub-terra etc) but not actually properly on park.
So yeah, marketing looked at the resort image and realised they wanted continuity to be a strong focal point and so went back to different ideas and concepts. I am so sad the ex-resort theme/2008-2011 monorail theme has gone because I loved it. But the new magic needs to move on and keep shaping and moulding alton's identity through it's music.
Last edited by Mattia on Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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djtruefitt
I did used to enjoy the music in the monorail station and it went well with the videos, it was a nice fun and happy bit of music. But the problem was that the videos were really out of date, infact im sure they still had a bit of the thunder looper in the background of Nemesis clip. They really need to film it all again and have a new updated version.
However I do really like the new music they are playing, and its nice they are using a good version of ITHOTMK again and its being played on the monorail, skyride and box office. I would love them to get a new towers street song that uses this new ITHOTMK. They really need to turn up the volume in both stations, because its way way too quiet, infact its so quiet you cant hear it in some parts of the station, Its probs got something to do with half of the speakers missing, along with most of the TVs. I dont think anywhere else in the UK has them 90s giant TVs. They just need to get loads of new flatscreen TVs and then it will look so much nicer and newer.
However I do really like the new music they are playing, and its nice they are using a good version of ITHOTMK again and its being played on the monorail, skyride and box office. I would love them to get a new towers street song that uses this new ITHOTMK. They really need to turn up the volume in both stations, because its way way too quiet, infact its so quiet you cant hear it in some parts of the station, Its probs got something to do with half of the speakers missing, along with most of the TVs. I dont think anywhere else in the UK has them 90s giant TVs. They just need to get loads of new flatscreen TVs and then it will look so much nicer and newer.
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PeteB
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Actually I'm going to take back what I said... just a little bit though!
The music itself was indeed catchy and "feel good" but combining that with an awful montage of random clips and having it play constantly on BOTH the entry and exit to the park for 5 years is what the problem was. On its own I dont think the music is overly cheesy.
That music could quite easily fit in more appropriate settings, say a like hotel resort video particulary for Splash as it has a kind of summer/sunshine feel to it, or on their corporate ones. It would work brilliantly with voice over.
I could see it working as one track on a new towers street suite as well. Wish they'd bring back the Graham Smart one. To me it makes more sense and seems more cohesive to play classic tracks from rides and shows around the park as part of the towers street soundtrack, with ITHOTMK of course.
The music itself was indeed catchy and "feel good" but combining that with an awful montage of random clips and having it play constantly on BOTH the entry and exit to the park for 5 years is what the problem was. On its own I dont think the music is overly cheesy.
That music could quite easily fit in more appropriate settings, say a like hotel resort video particulary for Splash as it has a kind of summer/sunshine feel to it, or on their corporate ones. It would work brilliantly with voice over.
I could see it working as one track on a new towers street suite as well. Wish they'd bring back the Graham Smart one. To me it makes more sense and seems more cohesive to play classic tracks from rides and shows around the park as part of the towers street soundtrack, with ITHOTMK of course.