My friend went to Thorpe in the holidays. He said it was fairly quiet and queue 15 minutes for TWDTR and he said it was 'sick', which shows that some of the target market GP like it.

Its a shame because a lot of people theses days go to places through packages.

Disneyland Paris have done it with 'Disney Illuminations: Presented by Pandora'. Which I think is a good example about what you said about finding relevant brands to sponsor things with. 

They will never catch up with Disney. Disney care about their guests. Disney give enough money to their parks so they can operate them with no closures. Guests don't feel like a number on a spreadsheet. If Merlin cared more about their guests, made sure that all their rides were open and provided a ...

We were loaded on to Oblivion, staff restraint-checked and were all clear for dispatch however we couldn’t move forward. 15 minutes later we were told to get off and wait at the exit while they tested before then being told to board the ride again. It probably didn’t help that the temperature was 30...

Hopefully we don't get trims.........

So, they are a family business, however provide multimilion pound quality, themed rides? Merlin take a look at this place....

It is likely Merlin saving money or poor quality of effects. Where abouts did you join the queue at the times you rode?

They say that the more the train vibrates, the more energy is produced. Interesting. If Towers want to save money to get their SRQs and baggage holds back they should put this on The Smiler and Rita!

It appears that in The Smiler's station, one of the gates that open before the ride dispatches has been moved forwards, does anyone know why?

That looks very interesting! I am all for the change! 

This is very promising that they are now taking action to keep things are good as possible. I particularly like the new entrance ideas.

I really like their advert! I think it fits in with the other SW advers (like The Smiler), quite well! The fact it is youths and families riding it shows the target market to the GP well. Well done Towers in my opinion!

Does anyone know how The Smiler has been running?

I thought the name didn’t make sense but I guess it could be linked to the darker side of Amity maybe?

Same here TheBeornen, I think Towers Street has everything you want.

What things could be done to improve it?

At the moment, weather isn't looking very good for opening weekend  https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2657407

Thorpe and Towers do have very different atmospheres in my opinion, but it is clear Thorpe has a bigger operations budget with 10pm closures etc. Alton Towers in my opinion is more of a package, with the monorail, entrance, Towers Street, and all the different areas you need to venture to, whereas T...

I think Merlin want to play it safe with all their money.