Ride Closures/Removals in 2016

Got an idea of how the Alton Towers Resort may develop over the coming seasons? Discuss it here.
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Tom170499
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It has been reported by Towers Street on Facebook/Twitter that in 2016 Hex, Sub-Terra, Charlie, Driving School, The Flume and Ripsaw are to be closed for the entire season with The Flume and Ripsaw permanently closing. What are your thoughts on this and what do you think the future looks like for the resort?

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JonDoesTT
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I think this is ridiculous. Closing 6 fairly big attractions... It's not good.
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I'm not really fussed until I see an announcement from the park. It would be a massive shame for so many attractions to be down for a whole season and would rather dampen my enthusiasm to go to Alton any other time than Scarefest. Hex and Ripsaw are my favourite non coaster rides in the park, Sub Terra is a good laugh and I haven't even been on the Flume yet.

But like I said, official announcement before I start worrying at all.
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Max
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If true (I have my doubts) then this is shocking.

Unfortunately this will only send them further downhill, as it's inevitable that not only will there be no replacements for these rides, we will also likely see an entrance price increase. If the management seriously think this is the right decision, they've got a serious issue. The Blade doesn't fall under this list, so if #prayforblade actually worked, maybe us as a community coupled with the guaranteed GP complaints, could make them reconsider. I was already seriously thinking about whether or not to renew my merlin pass next year, and this hasn't given me any hope in the slightest.
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Stan.H
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And yet another bad move from Alton Towers, if they want better publicity, closing SIX attractions [-( is not going to do that. Considering some of these rides are fairlyy popular (Flume in the summer get massive lines). 2016 looks like yet another bad year... :cry:
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Liam.W
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Sawboss wrote:I'm not really fussed until I see an announcement from the park. It would be a massive shame for so many attractions to be down for a whole season and would rather dampen my enthusiasm to go to Alton any other time than Scarefest. Hex and Ripsaw are my favourite non coaster rides in the park, Sub Terra is a good laugh and I haven't even been on the Flume yet.

But like I said, official announcement before I start worrying at all.
I haven't been on the flume either :?
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SkuM001
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If the rumors are true...

Really the only surprise is Hex, the others are not really that much of a shock.

-Charlies agreement has run out, so no surprise there.
-Ripsaw is a future development location, and next door to the new Air developments, so no surprise there.
-The Flume is a future development location, so no surprise there.
-Driving School is the only major attraction left in Cloud Cuckoo Land with Charlie closed, so no surprise there if they want to close down the whole section (an area made a little pointless now with Cbeebies land being much more popular)
-Sub Terra has been closed for months anyway, and no one really seems to care that much, so no surprise there.

Really the only surprise is Hex, but maybe the entire Towers will be closed off next season, so you will have to walk around to Dark Forest.

Next season is most likely a write off already, so the park might be taking the opportunity of low visitation to get a lot of the work done preparing the resort for the future. Maybe some major work on Towers restoration is on the cards as well, with that area potentially closed off? And they get to save money to boot of course.

When you think of the locations, and reasons, none of the rides listed are that surprising.
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No! The Flume?!?! I LOVED going on that ride and singing my pirate song to make my friends laugh! NO!!!
Erm, change of plan, I prefer The Smiler. Rita's rubbish. Should have thought of that...

Scarefest 2016 hype is all gone... all because of Stan.H.
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Sawboss
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Towers are getting lots of questions on Facebook but no replies yet.

'No secrets please as we are entitled to know as customers.' heh there's that word again.
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Dom
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I'm sure that if this is true, Alton Towers will confirm it when they are ready. Until then this can only be seen as a rumour. As for the post(s) regarding The Flume and Ripsaw removal, they were in the long term development plan to be removed, so this surely can not come as a surprise to people, So it isn't really news. :)
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Aidan Lowe
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I for one am quite shocked at this rumor, if this is to be true like some said I'd probably make one or two trips during the year but ultimately put off going until Scarefest when a trip will seem worth the journey.

N:ST, Hex & Ripsaw are a nice break from riding coasters all day. I for one get bored of ATs coasters after a while (on the day) they aren't that special.
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I won't be renewing my pass if u remove them rides and don't replace them...
This comment on Facebook amused me about the situation. But being true, Alton Towers, this is not on. :no:
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On a side note, why do people get so damn sassy and patronising when they're posting messages on companies social media pages? It's like they think they're sending messages straight to the CEO's inbox. I'd get fired from running a company facebook page after about 2 days :P
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Kind of off topic but Alton Towers Resort's demise will continue into 2016 if they continue to rip their customers off with things like £6 to get out of the car park and try to squeeze as much money as they can from the guests with in your face selling and photos at every turn at £10 a go.

This never happened under Tussauds ownership :no: Tussauds never pressured guests into buying unlike the Merlin group whose only motivation is greed. Even the limited and not very well marked out smoking areas the park also needs to invest in more toilet facilities having one in each area.

Things need to change and Merlin need to take a leaf out of the Tussauds book, otherwise the park is likely to go the same way as Camelot and the American Adventure.

Meanwhile I doubt I will return if I head for a theme park the 2 most likely will be Gullivers or, Alton Towers main rival, Drayton Manor, where its free to park and where Alton Towers' future guests will head for. [-o<
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magiclean wrote:Kind of off topic but Alton Towers Resort's demise will continue into 2016 if they continue to rip their customers off with things like £6 to get out of the car park and try to squeeze as much money as they can from the guests with in your face selling and photos at every turn at £10 a go.

This never happened under Tussauds ownership :no: Tussauds never pressured guests into buying unlike the Merlin group whose only motivation is greed. Even the limited and not very well marked out smoking areas the park also needs to invest in more toilet facilities having one in each area.

Things need to change and Merlin need to take a leaf out of the Tussauds book, otherwise the park is likely to go the same way as Camelot and the American Adventure.

Meanwhile I doubt I will return if I head for a theme park the 2 most likely will be Gullivers or, Alton Towers main rival, Drayton Manor, where its free to park and where Alton Towers' future guests will head for. [-o<

What's the problem with them trying to sell stuff? They're a business after all! If you don't want it then don't buy it. Simple really.

The smoking areas need to be better marked out and better enforced I agree so that people who don't want to be poisoned don't have to be.
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JCP
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Nemesis Sub Terra has been closed most of the season, it always seemed likely it was never going to reopen. Both The Flume and Ripsaw are earmarked for removal and Im not quite sure why people are in such uproar about them not reopening. The Flumes site is a potential future project and both attractions sound and look in absolute despair.

The proposed attraction closure list is purely rumour and I doubt the resort themselves have made any concrete plans. They're currently going through a restructure in which 190 permanent and salaried staff are being made redundant from their core team. It's highly likely that key management positions will leave the resort and I doubt that anyone is in a position to discuss the park operations plan for 2016.

It's all just closed season rumours - chill guys!
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Aidan Lowe
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JCP wrote:Nemesis Sub Terra has been closed most of the season, it always seemed likely it was never going to reopen. Both The Flume and Ripsaw are earmarked for removal and I'm not quite sure why people are in such uproar about them not reopening.
For the simple fact the bridge between children's rides and rollercoasters is now almost non-existent with only Enterprise/Blade as a decent filler ride for the older guest and even that was shut for a while towards the end of the season and looks like its past it.

I always hop on N:ST / Ripsaw / Hex / Enterprise if one of the coasters is down within that area which lets face is can be quite often especially those ones in DF.

Earmarked for removal is one thing if it was happening now but it isn't. I've been on park when staff had been operating minimal they can on rides so I'm sure staffing won't be that much of an issue, could be wrong as I don't know what positions are going.

If things were this bad it makes me question why they decided to go ahead with the restaurant and refurb of Air now which judging by the response many people could live without..
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Dom
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Since Towers Street posted, Alton Towers have been bombarded with tweets with a lot of people trying to find out answers. They have been replying to all these tweets with the same 2 messages.
Hi, we have only just closed for the 2015 Theme Park season and are still planning for 2016,Thank for getting in touch.
Watch this space for announcements about fantastic new experiences and exciting new developments planned for the near future!
So i personally wouldn't bother in trying to get information on social networks as they will not tell you. To be honest, i don't think it will entirely happen. The only one that would make sense is The Flume, especially considering that Loggers Leap is also closed. But IF The Flume was closed to be removed during next season, wouldn't they also need to close Haunted Hollow to get machinery in to start removing it?
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Liam.W
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The first reply is what they replied to me lol :yes:
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After Many, many visits to alton towers. I had never rode on ripsaw, until October just gone. Glad I finally did when I did the chance, I really enjoyed it.

This is not good for towers unless they plan on adding some very solid attractions for 2016. Otherwise it will probably be a thorpe park visit for me.

Only thing that guranantee me back next year is scarfest
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