Dan wrote:

Robert.W wrote:

5:30pm still isn't good enough. Towers, you should be open much later at this time of year. And when there is significant downtime, and nice weather... well, that's when you extend the opening times even further. Guess we can only dream of 7pm or 8pm closings.

If they had the budget to, I’m sure they would love to stay open that late.

But they don’t, so they can’t.

Yep, I know. It's a shame.

To be honest, this years been a low point for the resort... not exactly very good with it being an SW year.. I am pretty confident things will be better next year. Things literally can't get any worse than they have been this season, and I think that's what Towers will have shown Merlin this year. That there isn't anything left to cut anymore. With next years budget, maybe, just maybe we will get some decent opening times again. 

Seems ride close has been changed to 5.30pm for all of this week, until Saturday when the 6pm closes begin.

Leek Signs have posted another update of graphical work they’ve done for Alton Towers which includes a slider style sign for the Congo River Rapids, presumably which will indicate the maximum number of people being loaded to a boat on any given day.

This is just very weird. It definitely indicates the rapids will be on reduced capacity for the foreseeable future. 

Having the sign adjustable surely must be to allow them to make changes over a longer term without needing to replace the sign fully. They can't be making ride system adjustments that would need the value changed hourly / daily / or even weekly. Would be interesting to see what the smallest number they've had printed up for this is.

Yesterday there were boats going around the Rapids with between 2-8 people, so the ‘4’ policy definitely hasn’t stuck in stone so far. However, there was a member of staff at the front of the queue presumably checking ages - but, I can’t clarify that as we didn’t ride the rapids.

I wonder why they've done "People per boat", rather than "Maximum people per boat".

I could potentially see that causing some confusion

hursty wrote:

I wonder why they've done "People per boat", rather than "Maximum people per boat".

I could potentially see that causing some confusion

Seems the interchangeable panels say "maximum" before the respective number:



Source: TowersStreet Facebook

I'm not to keen on the plank vinyl. It doesn't look right.

Justin wrote:

I'm not to keen on the plank vinyl. It doesn't look right.

It definitely looks dodgy at the top of the word maximum

Yeah, it just doesn't work

lewis97 wrote:

Seems the interchangeable panels say "maximum" before the respective number:

Ah, I guess that's one way of doing it!
It seems an odd way of writing it, doesn't scan well; "People per boat maximum 7"

Still does the job though!

Maybe they also have some panels that say minimum?

I was thinking that too, they could have signs thats say 'Maximum, minimum, average' for any eventuality. 

As reported by TowersTimes Facebook; Alton Towers have unveiled their latest addition to the entertainment in CBeebies Land with Andy's Prehistoric Adventures!

The meet-and-greet features Andy's team aboard their Dino-Mobile, as they make their way from the top of CBeebies Land, down to the plaza in front of The Furchester Hotel.

The educational show sees the gang stop off for songs and photos on their adventure, as well as unveiling some special friends.

Always great to see how committed Alton Towers are to keeping CBeebies Land fresh and up to date with regular new additions and entertainment like this. If only they could see the benefits of keeping the rest of the park as fresh and up to date as this...

Now, talking about the new signage that keeps appearing around the resort... well, what can I say... I imagine Leek Signs are doing well for business at the moment! In seriousness though, I'm getting a little bit bored of flat vinyl signage now... they're not particularly creative or inspiring to look at. Okay, in some instances it works fine – the new signage around the entrance plaza for example. But it becomes a problem when the majority of rides are plastered with flat, boring vinyl signage. The sheer quantity is very excessive, and makes the park look and feel very cheap.

This Coca-Cola recycling machine has appeared on the plaza at Alton Towers. If you recycle a plastic bottle in the machine, you receive a 50% off voucher that can be used on an individual attraction entry ticket to any UK Merlin attraction.





Source: TowersStreet

I saw this on Facebook earlier. 

Seems like a joint PR stunt between Coca-Cola and Merlin. Interesting to see how long it lasts.

It's due to last until mid October. Does seem interesting. I've heard speculation that Coca-Cola might be bargaining on an increase in sales if people know they will be able to get half price admission to Merlin attractions by recycling their used bottles... 

Alton Towers seem to be testing new boats on the Congo River Rapids recently. They look to have their own gates and bars around the edges of the boat. TowersStreet have some images, but Twitter is being a pain, so you'll have to go find them yourselves if you want to see them

Here you go.



Credit TowersStreet Twitter