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2015: General Discussion

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It's a real shame the likes of merlin are trying to squeeze every little profit out of everything. The Blade was on of the only thrilling Family ride left, and vital for the overall success of Farbiddon Valley, now that it probably gone that entire area will be a family free zone, splitting up groups and meaning kids probably won't experience the excitement of watching the other rides in the area, one of my first memories of Alton isn't actually riding anything, but watching with amasment Oblivion, Nemesis and Ripsaw.

I think merlin have tested the waters with a number of things, whether because of a problem or planned, I think the delay of the Smiler has meant they will no longer try and rush construction and aim to open rides at the start of the season. But I also think the closure of submission resulted in less negative feedback than expected and probelly meant we have this situation with the Bade.
 
The cut to Attractions and Maintenance budgets across all the Merlin parks is definitely showing. I see that all the South parks struggled/failed to have all rides ready for last weeks preview weekend (in whatever form they took), and at the current rate I can see a park failing to make opening day in the next few years.

The sad thing is the hardworking staff trying to make do with what they have will probably get the blame when this does inevitably happen.
 
b04d4586c87e155a45798976d2666784.jpg


Looks like it's definitely going!
 
I'd prefer it if they moved it to somewhere else in the park like they did with it when it was moved from Fantasy World in 1996 due to the construction of Oblivion.
 
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Although The Blade wasn't a popular attraction it gave the younger ones something to ride after waiting for their parents to ride the bigger rides. Kids get restless as it is without having to be dragged around a queue of something they can't ride so atleast they can do something they want to go on afterwards. Also with the blade there one parent can take the kids on something that doesn't get much of a queue that they can run around to again to kill time while the other rides Nemesis etc. Not looking forward to bored kids having to stand around queueing for the rides in FV, playing up and being a general nuisance for over 60 mins on a busy day.
 
They should have advertised that new lawn where submission was as a new attraction last year.

"NEW for 2014!! Grass".

Maybe they will do it with Blade. ;)
 
Flat rides (other than child-friendly ones) have no place in the Merlin philosophy. You can kiss goodbye to Ripsaw and Enterprise very soon as well.
 
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Ripsaw, another ride that wont be missed, Loved it when it was new, but now...
yeah lets go on!
spin - spin - creek - spin
The End!
is that it?! pffft!
 
bluesonichd said:
Ripsaw, another ride that wont be missed, Loved it when it was new, but now...
yeah lets go on!
spin - spin - creek - spin
The End!
is that it?! pffft!
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:eek: Ripsaw is amazing! @John will agree.

It's sad we'll see Blade SBNO. Kids loved it, despite how much I dislike it. I've been on it 3 times I believe, and every time the children riding were begging the ride op to let them stay on when there was no queue.

Shame, real shame.
 
Ripsaw is visually great (when they use the water of course) although the amount it creaks does somewhat detract from the experience. Makes you wanna stop the ride and get up there with 20 cans of WD-40.
 
Ripsaw needs burning!
There were time we came off there not knowing what week it was it, but now the ride ops daren't push it incase it falls to bits, its a shameo_O
 
Ripsaw varies, sometimes it's great other times mediocre (still far better than Rameses though, that's just dire).

Blade on the other hand is always rubbish.
 
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Alton towers are openly talking about the closure of Blade, although not stating it already closed, and saying the only ride closed tomorrow will be Octunauts, and are also suggesting it will close in the near future. Also they have confirmed it will be leaving and not relocated.

They have also stated that they have an exiting project in the pipeline for next year. All paraphrased from there twitter
 
Tom said:
Flat rides (other than child-friendly ones) have no place in the Merlin philosophy. You can kiss goodbye to Ripsaw and Enterprise very soon as well.
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Which is fine, IF we start getting some international quality dark rides in the scale of Disney, Eurpoa, Universal etc I think a theme park should be all about the theming and dark rides are the best way to do that. Leave the flats to fairs and amusement parks like Blackpool.
 
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I enjoy flat rides, and would love to see more at Towers (specifically thrill flats), as that's a department in which there has been a decreasing number for a while now. Sadly, Merlin don't seem to want to invest in new flat rides at Towers, which is a great shame.
 
They don't want to invest any new flats at any of their parks, let alone Towers.
 
It is not a Merlin or a Towers thing. It is a general trend across all theme parks worldwide, especially ones using the strict definition of theme park.

:)
 
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