February Half Term 2015

[Burbs]

When I say not a bad lineup, it's not exactly a good lineup, but better than a few on here seemed to be expecting.

And @AstroDan I agree about Oblivion. Open The Smiler too, why not? Will bring more people in surely!

 

[Rob]

No surprises with that line-up, as expected. A real pity that they won't open Oblivion like they used to before they had to close it in 2013 because of The Smiler. As Dan says though, it was inevitable that it would not be added again.

 

[AstroDan]

When I say not a bad lineup, it's not exactly a good lineup, but better than a few on here seemed to be expecting.

And @AstroDan I agree about Oblivion. Open The Smiler too, why not? Will bring more people in surely!

The (odd) thing is... I guess they don't want to bring many in. At least not thrillseekers...

 

[Burbs]

The (odd) thing is... I guess they don't want to bring many in. At least not thrillseekers...

I suppose.

And at least we still have Nemesis, aye?

 

[Ted]

Not a bad lineup to be fair. But it definitely isn't worth travelling up from London for me, I'll skip it.

 

[jon81uk]

I guess if they got all the maintenance done on Oblivion & Smiler then Air & Nemesis wouldn't get done as quick. I really wouldn't expect to have Forbidden Valley and X Sector both open for Half Term. When they used to offer the Winter Weekend openings for hotel guests I remember they would usually have X Sector open before Christmas and Forbidden Valley after Christmas (or vice versa) so that they could concentrate maintenance on one section at a time.

 

[Rob]

I guess if they got all the maintenance done on Oblivion & Smiler then Air & Nemesis wouldn't get done as quick. I really wouldn't expect to have Forbidden Valley and X Sector both open for Half Term. When they used to offer the Winter Weekend openings for hotel guests I remember they would usually have X Sector open before Christmas and Forbidden Valley after Christmas (or vice versa) so that they could concentrate maintenance on one section at a time.

Before The Smiler was built they had Nemesis, Air and Oblivion open at FHT. Obviously they couldn't do that in 2013 due to construction and this year a lot of work was being done on The Smiler so that could have been a reason. There is no 'excuse' this year though, it's just lazy cost cutting from my point of view.

 

[jon81uk]

Before The Smiler was built they had Nemesis, Air and Oblivion open at FHT. Obviously they couldn't do that in 2013 due to construction and this year a lot of work was being done on The Smiler so that could have been a reason. There is no 'excuse' this year though, it's just lazy cost cutting from my point of view.

I don't see it as cost cutting when a few years ago, while winter weekends were running you only got one side of the park (X Sector OR Valley) open. They only have a limited number of maintanance staff and time those staff can work and I don't think it is worthwhile doubling the size of the team just to get one more ride open for FHT.

Also with Submisson gone it doesn't seem worth trying to open X Sector, when Half Term is mainly aimed as a family event anyway. Better to make sure all the rides are maintained and ready for the full season.

 

[Rob]

The point is that they used to open Oblivion at Feb half term and now they don't. Winter weekends were way back (relatively speaking). If they could get it open before then they could get it open again if they wanted to, however they would have saved on some costs by not opening it for the last two years (staffing, operational etc) and probably don't want to re-introduce those costs.

 

[_nemesis_]

Before The Smiler was built they had Nemesis, Air and Oblivion open at FHT. Obviously they couldn't do that in 2013 due to construction and this year a lot of work was being done on The Smiler so that could have been a reason. There is no 'excuse' this year though, it's just lazy cost cutting from my point of view.

Is it though? With the event now being largely aimed at younger children, there really isn't the demand for more thill rides. They are opening all of CBeebies Land remember. If I recall correctly, not all of the farm would open. So they have still made an effort.

 

[Rob]

Some of us want to ride Oblivion in the cold February air!!

Cost may or may not be the main reason but I'm pretty certain it is a factor they will have considered. They've had a number of complaints in previous years about not all thrill rides being open (guest's own fault for not looking what was open on the website beforehand) but Oblivion being open would be a nice bonus, that we had before, for those that do like thrills.

 

[Benzin]

It's arguably more daft that Charlie doesn't open during Half Term than Oblivion anymore...

Having both of those open would improve the event for both ends of the visitor spectrum...

 

[_nemesis_]

^ Yes! No Charlie is a bit of a head scratcher.

 

[Rob]

Isn't Charie to do with there being a high chance of the water in the trough freezing over due to there being no heating in that part of the building? Sure I've heard that before somewhere.

 

[Burbs]

Isn't Charie to do with there being a high chance of the water in the trough freezing over due to there being no heating in that part of the building? Sure I've heard that before somewhere.

But it opened this year, didn't it? Why should it be any different next year?

 

[Rob]

Hmm it appears it did! In that case I have no idea, very strange. Just noticed that Sub-Terra is not in the line-up this year either despite it opening last year.

 

[_nemesis_]

If Sub-Terrra isn't popular enough to warrant an all day opening during the main season, it isn't really a surprise that it isn't economically viable to open for FHT, when there is about a quater of the normal attendance.

 

[Rob]

If Sub-Terrra isn't popular enough to warrant an all day opening during the main season, it isn't really a surprise that it isn't economically viable to open for FHT, when there is about a quater of the normal attendance.

You should get a job working as a Merlin accountant!

 

[Dave]

Doesn't really tempt me to bother coming but I know I am not their target for this event.

 

[Poisson]

I can sort of see why they haven't bothered with Oblivion, for if it was open, then the guests question over The Smiler then... you get the gist. Still, its a shame.......