One thing that is noticeable is the complete silence from Alton Towers on TripAdvisor in reply to the [numerous] less than complimentary reviews about last weekends' shambles. Will be interesting to see what "boiler-plate" type response they come up with when they do reply!
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Opening Weekend: The Inquest Begins
- Thread starter AstroDan
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They were answering earlier in the week with standard copy paste 'we are sorry you didn't enjoy your visit but do come back soon' but I guess those replies will be buried deep within the three digit numbered pages now and they either just gave up or broke their mouse right clicking too many times.
Katy
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Batman Gotham City Escape
"We are so sorry, please pay again to return and spend more money in the hope that we're not as rubbish then".
I don't know, I mean I know there's things like awful weather where there's nothing they can do but other times you just don't get what you pay for with no obvious reason or thing to blame.
I don't know, I mean I know there's things like awful weather where there's nothing they can do but other times you just don't get what you pay for with no obvious reason or thing to blame.
jon81uk
TS Member
I think whoever was manning the Twitter account on the weekend was getting a bit fed up. Hows this for a response to someone who bought Platinum fastrack!!
Although the tone comes off a little wrong the message is correct. The team manning Twitter are not able to do ANYTHING about the situation, they can’t refund or help any further. This is also why social media response is probably now the most stressful job in customer service, you can often only advise you can’t act as you can’t see the ticket or bring up a guests receipt to refund etc.
The advice of make the most of what’s left of the day and resolve it later is not bad advice. The problem was breakdowns and staggered openings making it difficult to enjoy the day in the first place. But getting a refund for your platinum fast track would be better resolved by email/phone in the evening or later in the day at the park.
jon81uk
TS Member
Even better, copy Disney even further and bring back Henry Hound with a welcome show at 9:55 just as the park opens. Open the turnstiles at 9am, ERT guests get to go round the rope from 930, everyone else sees the welcome show and then enters at 10am. The hour or so of having Towers st open should make its money back in coffee sales.
RandomCamden
TS Member
I'd normally agree 100% with this, but at the weekend, the queue for Guest Services was an hour or so and that's an hour out of your day when you could be standing in a queue for a ride. Also, Twitter does seem to be the way to get some companies to take notice these days as it's so public. The days of a face-to-face helpful customer service experience are becoming history....
jon81uk
TS Member
But that was exactly the problem but if the response on Twitter. Don’t queue at the box office now, enjoy the attractions and then go back for complain for a refund at 5pm.
Croftybaby
TS Member
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- Nemesis
Thing is if you complain early there is (or the perception is) that you have more chance of getting something in terms of compensation. At the end of the day a Fastpass won't be much good. The only compensation would be a return visit/refund and I have no idea of the chances of getting that are.
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A fast track wouldn't be much good on the day that I went at the beginning of this season either. Most of the rides were down in the morning and they were all walks-ons in the afternoon. I barely manage to get on each ride as it is, so an unlimited fast track would cetainaly be a waste of money now-a-days.
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Considering that they now do the season pass for the whole year for the price of entry, I should imagine very highly likely that you will be given a return visit season pass, I'm sure that they must of foreseen plenty of complaints this year as they made the cuts, so they took preempt action by offering the season pass for the price of entry.
I wonder how many Alton Towers Season pass holders turn up during the Scarefest/fireworks expecting entry holding up entry to the others guests
Matt N
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- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Um... I actually thought that the park coped pretty well last weekend considering how many people there were. An unpopular opinion, I know, but let me justify it. The main car park looked nearly full when we pulled in on Saturday evening. However, my sister and I managed to get on Oblivion within 5 minutes on Saturday evening, which symbolises pretty good operations. Admittedly, Smiler's queue was 70 minutes long, but it didn't seem to be moving too slowly. Also, the baggage holds' removals on Smiler and Thirteen didn't seem to be impacting dispatches too much, which is good.
On to the subject of Wicker Man, while it was disappointing that the ride didn't open until 11:30am on the Sunday, I understand why it didn't, and we did get on it, which I'm glad about.
Furthermore, with regards to ride availability, while things did break down, it isn't the park's fault that rides broke down. While I was unable to get on Rita due to it being down when we were in Dark Forest, there were staff stood around it who looked as though they were trying to solve the problem. Not that I'm sad that I was unable to get on Rita, though.
So, in conclusion, that's why I think the park dealt pretty well with the crowds on the weekend.
On to the subject of Wicker Man, while it was disappointing that the ride didn't open until 11:30am on the Sunday, I understand why it didn't, and we did get on it, which I'm glad about.
Furthermore, with regards to ride availability, while things did break down, it isn't the park's fault that rides broke down. While I was unable to get on Rita due to it being down when we were in Dark Forest, there were staff stood around it who looked as though they were trying to solve the problem. Not that I'm sad that I was unable to get on Rita, though.
So, in conclusion, that's why I think the park dealt pretty well with the crowds on the weekend.
It is the parks fault if, when a ride breaks down, they do not have sufficient technical staff to get it back running quickly.
Likewise nemesis on one...absolutely no justifiable reason after four months of closure...simply poor planning.
Due to severe cuts we are now seeing Thorpe levels of operation.
Add in the loss of single rider queues and it stops me visiting more than twice a year.
Merlin has had my thirty quid admission money for this year.
Likewise nemesis on one...absolutely no justifiable reason after four months of closure...simply poor planning.
Due to severe cuts we are now seeing Thorpe levels of operation.
Add in the loss of single rider queues and it stops me visiting more than twice a year.
Merlin has had my thirty quid admission money for this year.
John
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Last Saturday was not busy, busy is when main and Air car parks are both full with J in use/full.
Smiler stacks on 3 trains now, it was designed to run 5. Thirteen seems less badly affected, but is also impacted by RAP guests having to share the ride exit, which results in them boarding long after everyone else.
The park last weekend felt much busier than it actually was, purely due to bad operations across the board (with the possible exception of Oblivion).
AstroDan
TS Team
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- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
It's quite disgusting that ATR make business decisions which ACTIVELY make queues worse.
They should properly add baggage systems and do EVERYTHING in their power to keep queues as short as possible.
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They should properly add baggage systems and do EVERYTHING in their power to keep queues as short as possible.
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I'm sure they like to keep the fast track sales happy
Instead of having manned baggage system on each ride, they should have a manned baggage hold as you enter and leave each ride area. That way, you don't need to keep leaving and collecting bags on re-rides or if you are riding more than one ride in that area. That would use less staff and waste less time messing around in the queue lines. There are plenty of disused F&B outlets that could be utilised into bagging holds
Croftybaby
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- Nemesis
I wouldn't like to queue for 70 minutes without my bag. Especially if I was a single rider.
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