(NB: This was an April Fools’ Day joke from TowersTimes)   

Recently TowersTimes has been hearing more and more rumours about a drastic change to the future of Alton Towers as a brand and name, with speculation that the Resort could see a rebrand suddenly happen this year.

Emails have now been leaked to us showing that the Resort has indeed drawn up plans to change the brand and name of the park apparently in a move to modernise and bring the resort in line with the Merlin portfolio.

The leaked emails suggest that Merlin intend to rebrand the park to “The Merlin Entertainments Alton Towers Resort“, a move that signals Merlins ownership and strength in the Resorts new name.

The leaked documents also suggest that all signage, advertising, leaflets and promotional items will be replaced as part of the change, with the cost expecting to reach potentially into the millions, a bill expected to be footed by the Resort itself and could indeed be sourced from future project budgets such as SW7.

We contacted the Resort and Merlin for details on the documents that were leaked, and received a statement from the Merlin Marketing Director for Theme Parks and Other Such Things, Alvin Alaff:

“We took the difficult decision to rebrand Alton Towers Resort after receiving overwhelming feedback that guests who visit the attraction were not aware that Alton Towers was part of the world renown Merlin Entertainments group.

The new name for the Resort, The Merlin Entertainments Alton Towers Resort now reflects this much more simply and clearly to our guests, and helps to reinforce and strengthen the Alton Towers brand with the might of the Merlin brand. We know our guests will love it and make it much more simpler for them to remember!

We also decided to take some guest feedback on board about our ride names, and will be making some small changes in response to those guests also”

The ride name changes expected to be made are in response to guests confusion when referring to the rides and much to enthusiasts delight, we have been provided with examples of a few of the new ride names:

  • Nemesis will now be known as “The Nemesis”
  • Oblivion will now be known as “The Oblivion”
  • Rita will now be known as “The Rita”
  • Sonic Spinball will now be known as “The Pinball Wizzard”

The full details of the ride name changes and also the new design for the resort logo and brand will of course be released here first when more details emerge from the Resort!