Recent decisions made by a variety of theme parks in the UK seem to be on varying scales where some parks are relying on nostalgia to drive a successful future Vs parks scrapping their nostalgia in favour of new groundbreaking rides and experiences. So we ask, is nostalgia killing UK theme parks?
As we finally get confirmation of a Huss Top Spin coming to Alton Towers we once again have a top spin back in the UK. Alton Towers opened Ripsaw in 1997 and it closed in 2015, ten years on from its initial closing date there will be a new version of the ride set up and operating in the park in 2025.
Keep in mind that in the meantime Alton Towers has revamped its Haunted House ride to Curse at Alton Manor, ReOpened a standing but not operating Nemesis Sub Terra ride and has given Nemesis a paint job and some extra improvements to reopen once against as Nemesis Reborn in 2024. Nostalgia has been an important decision in resurrecting rides of Alton Towers’ past to plan for their future.
Relying on nostalgia is a park trying to reclaim its glory days by dialling into the general public’s nostalgic feelings towards their beloved park but at the same time, it doesn’t always attract a modern, short attention-seeking span audience who are constantly craving something new.
Whilst keeping nostalgia in many departments is very important to the foundation of your park there also needs to be a fine balance between maintaining the classics whilst introducing new and unique experiences and I feel as though Alton Towers have lost their way in this regard.
On the flip side of this example is Pleasure Beach Resort who seemingly have an opposite approach currently with an entire park steeped in nostalgia with some rides being over 100 years old.
Maintaining these rides must be a financial nightmare and a time-consuming hardship but history is something on which Pleasure Beach prides itself upon but whilst history is important the park took a brave decision to build ICON in 2018 getting rid of a classic ride space in the process.
With the famed Grand Prix ride that has been operating at the park since 1960 now demolished to make way for a new attraction, not to mention the fact that Steeplechase was set to become home to the world’s first S&S Axis before something changed and it headed to Saudi Arabia the park is making decisions to balance nostalgia with modern technology.
Whilst some historic attractions may close attractions need to build new and exciting things to keep people visiting otherwise the park will get stale and attendance will start to plummet.
Alton Towers is still Merlin’s most profitable park and whilst their recycling of old attractions doesn’t seem to be affecting attendance specifically (there are other factors affecting this) you still need to provide new and exciting attractions for people to enjoy instead of recycling old ones. It’s like taking an ex back and expecting a different outcome.
Remember the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different outcome.
Out of the two examples in this article (there are many more) one park is currently stuck in the Groundhog Day process of the past whilst another is stepping away from its reliance on nostalgia knowing it just hasn’t worked for them and are looking forward to a brighter and more exciting future with the arrival of a new flat ride in 2025 and a brand new roller coaster coming to the park in 2026/27.
The UK is a country heavily reliant on its nostalgia and history and whilst this needs to be celebrated it cannot be relied upon (in my opinion) to pave a future for any attraction to survive in its longevity in the future.
Universal and Disney are two of the world’s leading theme park operators and they have no issues with gutting out classics and replacing them with new forward-thinking and attendance-boosting creations. It’s just business. From Splash Mountain closing to make way for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure to Universal closing the Jaws ride and replacing it with Diagon Alley these are tough decisions but decisions that have catapulted the park forward in terms of attendance and earnings.
Business really is business and the quicker our parks learn to balance nostalgia and new additions in the UK, the better we’ll be for it.
