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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Aidan Lowe
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Thought I'd share this; My goddaughter just heard the possible news, she loves to pretend drive my car and loved Driving School. :D #roadrage

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tallicay2k
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I can't believe hex, that is a fantastic ride that I always go on when I go.
Not surprised about the others tho.
Good job I still have the music.

If this is true, then I don't know what Merlin were thinking.

Surely drugs were involved...
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TheBeast
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Partly i see it as necessary, true the rides are getting a bit dated and they could do with replacements. I get that. However, 6 in one season is a bit excessive, surely? Throughput in the park will be pretty bad, maybe they are expecting another bad season? Who knows
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Adam.W
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TheBeast wrote:Partly i see it as necessary, true the rides are getting a bit dated and they could do with replacements. I get that. However, 6 in one season is a bit excessive, surely? Throughput in the park will be pretty bad, maybe they are expecting another bad season? Who knows
Maybe, but that gives them a chance to spring back on a high with a few new rides and SW8. They wouldn't just write it off as a bad season, but they'd almost prepare for it, keep numbers high for now and higher next season.
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Jammydodger
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If they're gonna cut, they should just move to Fri/Sat/Sun openings for these rides imo. The flume is understandable as its presumably something out of Merlin's control as with all their Mack flumes. However on a busy weekend, all these rides still get fairly big queues.

It may not turn out to be all 6, however I'm certain we'll see some rides cut next season for sure. Along with a wealth of other cuts, from opening hours to staggered openings.

2016 is going to be a dreary year for the Towers....
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ROYJESS
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Jammydodger wrote:If they're gonna cut, they should just move to Fri/Sat/Sun openings for these rides imo.
If these ride closure rumors are true, then closing these rides without replacing them with something as decent is a terrible idea whether they close them full time or part time.

Surely this don't justify a £50 entry fee and £150+ for a MAP

I was dreading what cuts will be made next year before I heard about these possible ride closures.

Not great news for the park and it's regular guest. :(
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stealthsmiler
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I agree that this will be a massive shame and will put guests off however if the smiler reopens. It could easily be another dead season where the lack of these rides won't affect the queues too much. This to me definitely seems like a good opportunity for doing the rides up. Retheming or replacing any and then having a fresh start in 2017 when people will have gotten over the smiler incident. Merlin need to look to the future of their park as opposed to the present. This is probably the best way to get guests back as they can get the bad publicity out of the way as opposed to spreading it out. Into 2017 by closing the rides then.


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Stan.H
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Ok, so if Alton Towers do go ahead with all 6 ride cuts, stagger opening hours, and increase prices, I might not get a MAP next year, and I might just go 3 times (Air V.2, Scarefest and Fireworks). I don't want to encourage AT to rip you off, A - To Get in, B - Reduce Rides/attractions, C - Stagger opening hours and D - Possibly increase price. That is not the way to get more people coming back to the park.
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nemyjoe
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i think this may be partly correct and partly wrong because if they are closing the 6 attractions to get back the money they lost when the smiler incident happened then why are they spending money on giving air improvements (possibly a re theme) and making the roller-coaster restaurant. i think they are closing to many and think they should only close rides such as Charlie, sub-terra and just open the flume in the middle of the summer. :(
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Zach
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-Can I just remind people that Merlin Annual Passes don't just cover Alton Towers. They are great value at the price they are at, For entry to all the attractions you get and discount you make your money back easily! One person not buying an annual isn't going to make a difference to Merlin you aren't going to hold the company ransom.
- I think the closures will be well thought out, no one within the Towers group will want to close rides, however it will be forced upon then due to the budget they recieve from higher up.
-With that in mind, I believe they will try to close/remove rides that even without the budget cuts wouldn't have been able to either A) Operate this season or B) Very few guests go on. Be thankful they aren't removing a coaster from Operation!
-The budget and money for Air V2 will have already been signed off, spent and accounted for way before any of this was thought of, as was Scarefest so we can't bring future investments into it as they will have already been decided and signed off.
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Aidan Lowe
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TheSmilerMan wrote:-Can I just remind people that Merlin Annual Passes don't just cover Alton Towers. They are great value at the price they are at, For entry to all the attractions you get and discount you make your money back easily.
Understand what your saying Zach but a lot of people buy them purely for the theme park admissions which is no surprise.

There is no denying its great value for money no matter what MAP you choose. However when you consider travel/food/goodies expenses it does kind of bring up "why bother" if this is true and a good lineup of varied rides are closed in addition to on-the-day breakdown delays with the possibility of shorter opening hours, staggered ride openings & no ERT for further savings. (time will tell if this is the case)

On a personal note I can't go into Legoland Discovery Centre without a child, dungeons are really only doable once imo unless your with friends/family who haven't been before so its new for them and Sea Life & Madame Tussauds, well its all the same really.
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Muppet738
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I can see a new screamfest theme an abandoned theme park left for ruin and closed down rides, all that haunts there are tormented annual pass holders searching for something to go on and the screams can be herd of "what that ones shut as well"
TH14TEEN

I don't think half these closures will happen, and the ones that do will be due to technical problems, future developments of age.
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Themeparksandy1981
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What has Merlin got against Alton Towers. Since 2007 they removed a lot of rides and not replaced them.

It looks like there closing most them rides cause they take a lot of staff to run them.
Unless the sun have the free ticket offer next year I won't be going next season.
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stealthsmiler
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It's a shame because I understand what you mean. Alton Towers theme park is beginning to feel less like a theme park with the lack of investment in rides other the coasters. It is beginning to feel like it's just their coasters. I'd happily sacrifice the next coaster to improve the supporting rides. Given that the Smiler has been out of action this year, it almost feels like the reopening of it is a new ride.


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Themeparksandy1981
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Let's have a look at the rides added and removed since they took over.

2008
Battle Galleons
Heave Ho 2nd hand ride
Nothing removed

2009
Sharkbait reef
Rethemed Cred st to CCL
Removed Corkscrew

2010
Thirteen
Rethemed Ug Land to Dark forest
Sonic Spinball retheme

2011
Nothing

2012
4D cinema
Nemesis Sub terra

2013
The Smiler

2014
Postman Pat's Parcel Post
3 rethemed rides In The Night Garden Magical Boat Ride,Get Set Go Tree Top Adventure and The Numtums Number-Go-Round
With lots of other C beebies meet and greets added.
Submission removed

2015
Octonauts roller coaster adventure
Sub Terra closed most the season

2016
Rethemed Air
Rollercoaster restaurant

Rumoured closing
Hex
Charlie
Driving School
Flume
Ripsaw
Sub terra

So in that period we had 8 new rides,4 area theme changes,6 ride rethemes and
1 ride removed with rumoured another 6 to neither be SNBO or closed for good.

Like if your a thrill seeker only next year you only got Nemesis.Air,Rita,Maybe 13,Oblivion and the Smiler. With the enterprise and the blade as the only flat rides available.
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Sawboss
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Not massively confident about next season, it already felt a little sparse when you actually sit back and look at the ride list. Still hoping to go in the summer and scarefest though, and hope the park bounces back the year after.
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UnleashedLlama
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I don't like how much this reminds me of the "end days" of The American Adventure: falling visitor numbers, closing rides etc. I realise there are some scale differences, but the phrase "the bigger they are, the harder they fall" keeps coming to mind.
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Dom
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I'm fairly confident that next year will be good. Even if they do decide to close those rides (Which in my personal opinion is won't happen) the chances are they will reopen them given the fact that the one ride that everyone wants opened is going to be open. It will bring back people, admittingly not in a big way to begin with, but it will bring it back the customers and therefore cause them to reopen the rides. Thats the way i see it
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MakoMania
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I can see selected rides being closed at the start of the season with a May reopening.
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