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Ride Availability 2017

Rob

Rob

TS Team
Favourite Ride
Steel Vengeance
I feel the need for a thread relating to ride availability at Alton Towers this year which has been significantly worse than I can ever remember. As I type this post, ridetimes.co.uk is stating that the following rides are down:
  • Rita
  • Thirteen
  • Spinball
  • Hex
  • Go Jetters
The Smiler was closed for periods of time over the weekend and even Battle Galleons went down yesterday!

This has been a trend over the whole season, there do not seem to be many days where a major coaster does not go down for at least an hour. So why is this happening? Ride reliability at Towers has historically been very good, sure you get problematic periods but nothing like what we have seen this season. Is it cuts to staff in tech services? Are they purchasing cheaper and therefore less reliable replacement parts when things do go wrong? Or have safety systems on rides changed so that it now takes less for say a sensor error?

Whatever the reason it is a problem.

:)
 
Rob said:
Are they purchasing cheaper and therefore less reliable replacement parts when things do go wrong?
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I will be careful in my response here - but, it's definitely not this. There often isn't the scope to do that in the industry when operating rides such as Alton's. And if there was, Merlin's focus on safety since the Smiler incident would mean it would be counter productive, as a less reliable part could contribute to a further incident.

The focus on safety is perhaps also a contributory factor here. After a shut down or maintenance period, processes have changed to be more thorough, now there is further caution in the air.
 
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Rides also now close to retrieve lost property so people don't jump over fences.

:/

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 
I hope I'm Not tempting fate but on my 6 visits this year I''ve barely come across a closed ride...the odd late opening but that's about it

I''ve been looking at ride times and Twitter myself over the last couple of days and noticed the amount of closures and thinking I must have been lucky on Saturday as It looks like Its been terrible ever since
 
I imagine it's due to a mixture of increased safety checks/measures and cutbacks. Both most likely add time in the morning to get the rides up and running, and cause delays when rides breakdown. I imagine if multiple rides break down simultaneously, when you haven't got enough staff in tech services and these staff have to do far more checks, it can cause some real damage to the parks operations that day. With rides SBNO/removed/closed the past 2 seasons also, breakdowns will be even more obvious when there is less on offer.

Plus it's pure luck on what happens the days you visit.

spinba11 said:
part of the problem is the rides aren't built to run in the heat we have had over the last few days.
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Many hot countries around the world disagree with you.
 
On all my visits this season, both Oblivion and Smiler were at some point temporary down due to high gust of winds keep setting off the wind sensor.

Since when did the slightest bit of wind ever stop Oblivion in the past? :rolleyes:
 
RoyJess said:
On all my visits this season, both Oblivion and Smiler were at some point temporary down due to high gust of winds keep setting off the wind sensor.

Since when did the slightest bit of wind ever stop Oblivion in the past? :rolleyes:
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I thought this as well, however as they didn't have a wind sensor beforehand they had no reason to close it. Now that they do measure wind speed, if they were to not close it when the wind went above set levels and something unusual did happen they would be liable (even though it is extremely unlikely). I suppose you could agrue that a potential evac of guests from the top of the lift could be somewhat more dangerous in high winds.

:)
 
Robust operations today. Smiler down for 20 minutes in the afternoon.
 
I noticed on Sunday, Red/Amber/Green lights on a wind speed panel, as well as a card in the window of the ride op cabin on thriteen displaying how many trains were on the track, are these new?
 
chilli2 said:
I noticed on Sunday, Red/Amber/Green lights on a wind speed panel, as well as a card in the window of the ride op cabin on thriteen displaying how many trains were on the track, are these new?
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Both of these have been added to almost all major coasters in the park.
 
I think the reliability is probably similar to in the past, but procedures now make rides down for a lot longer.

I think when a ride actually goes down now they take a longer to reopen and check than they would have pre-Smiler crash.

I also believe there's a lot more paperwork involved and a lot more paperwork that needs filling in before techies or staff even touch the ride.

So a few years ago techies back have come, reset the ride and it's back open within 2 mins, now they have so much paper work and checks to do that the ride could be down for half hour or more, then you have managers, etc who will have to come and sign it all off.

Then I guess if another ride goes down at the same time, that will have to wait.

Plus like others have said we have the wind speed things added across the park, so rides like Smiler and Oblivion will close if it's windy, 2 years ago they wouldn't have.
 
Having done a couple of backstage ride tours recently. As mr DJ says there is a lot more paper work to be completed now for everything when a ride goes down, even for the minor thing where as before the ride could be reset by the ride op now they have to get tech services in to do it.
So longer down times.
More paper work.

They are only trying to keep us all safe and alive so I'm not gonna moan about a few rides not working.
 
Rick said:
Is Galactica dead again?
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It would appear so, it never opened today.

Not sure if it was due to the VR or the coaster itself but am starting to wonder if all the issues are VR related whether it will be quietly removed when SW8 opens.
 
Dont Panic!
They are on their way !
NRWCwwK.jpg
 
Galactica has lift issues. It's not the VR.

They need to get it sorted properly, though. The ride hasn't been this unreliable since the first few years of Air...
 
ClaraCat said:
It would appear so, it never opened today.

Not sure if it was due to the VR or the coaster itself but am starting to wonder if all the issues are VR related whether it will be quietly removed when SW8 opens.
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I asked if it would be on Tomorrow and the answer was no
 
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