After having more time to think about it, it still doesn't mix well with me. This isn't the Nemesis I knew and loved, this feels like someone has just done their own thing from the ground up and only kept the nemesis brand and layout the same to keep the enthusiats pleased. If this was being renamed with the new colour, I bet it would've gone down even worse.
Merlin just don't seem to respect their older attraction properly, if they really did respect nemesis, there would be very little change cosmetic wise, but rather like they see it as an opportunity for marketing andnthem to do their own thing. I understand that, but I'd prefer if they kept their creativity and new ideas on new attractions rather than forcing it on classic fan favourites.
I can't see this track colour ageing well and I bet it will look horrendous in 10 years time. I wouldn't be surprised ifbthey'll just repaint it back to its original colour when it looks all worn out.
The only SW from the 90s still in its original form is Oblivion, still the best Theme in the park IMO. Let's hope they don't touch that anytime soon.
The thing is, I’d argue that they had to change Nemesis to some extent to make the retrack marketable and worth their while. This investment is almost on par with building a brand new major coaster, and indeed, John Wardley suggested that it was done instead of a Nemesis replacement.
I’m fully aware that not every penny spent in a theme park will provide a return on investment. That’s the nature of the beast. However, this project is likely costing the best part of £10m, if not more. When spending that kind of money, I’m sure that most companies would want to see some sort of financial return, and simply replacing the track on its own would have made it hard to generate that kind of financial return. Whereas rebranding the ride to some degree and making marketable changes to it make it a more compelling proposition for returning guests, as well as guests who’ve never visited the park before, would make it more likely to generate a good financial return. It’s not very often that you see a park do a complete, big bang retrack of a ride and not make at least some changes to the theming and visuals as well. Universal did it with Hulk. Heide Park did it with Colossos. Even Disney and Europa Park, who are perhaps more nostalgic than most theme park owners, did it with the retracks of Disneyland’s Space Mountain and Eurosat respectively (heck, Europa even changed the name and basic theme of Eurosat). The projects were ultimately conceived out of a need to replace the entirety of the rides’ track, but the parks also took the opportunity to overhaul the rides’ themes too, and I think that the reason for that is likely to do with marketing and generating adequate financial return from the refurbishment.
Also, I’d argue that the demands of the average guest have changed in the last 30 years, and altering and enhancing the theme of Nemesis as part of this refurbishment helps the ride stay relevant for a modern audience. I don’t deny that the execution of the ride’s theme and story was clearly very successful in 1994, but would the methods used back then necessarily resonate with a 2024 audience? A lot has changed in 30 years. That’s likely why we saw The Curse at Alton Manor instead of a rehash of the 1992 Haunted House, in spite of most of the original HH scenery still being present within Duel; the demands of the market have changed, and the way things were done in 1992 wouldn’t necessarily resonate with a 2023 audience. John Wardley even admitted this in a recent radio interview. I get that Nemesis is slightly different, as the ride was never rebranded and the new iteration will reuse the Nemesis brand to some degree, but I think the same still applies; if you have the opportunity to make the ride as compelling for a modern audience as you possibly could, why wouldn’t you?
If you don’t like the changes they’re proposing or the idea of the ride changing, then fair enough. That’s your opinion, and I can’t argue with that. But Merlin are not simply changing Nemesis for the sake of it; there are plenty of valid reasons why they’re seemingly pursuing a different direction for the second iteration of the ride.
EDIT: Sorry, I never realised I was double posting…