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2018: Park Operations & Ride Availability

Galactica pretty poor today, was right up into the extended queue line (the blue arch bit). They were also not using the the stations properly - where the train leaves from one and returns to the other. All trains were leaving a coming back to the same station!

That means they must have been running 2 trains, they were clearly staffed to run both stations so there's probably a problem with the 3rd train. Presumably VR was removed to maximise the throughput - that's a long queue on just 2 trains even when they're running flat out!
 
This morning Smiler had a batcher holding back people before the stairs in the projection room. Could this mean the old system, with the SRQ is coming back for Scarefest and fireworks?
Think the disabled people have been vocal again and didn’t like the long queues they were in having to join with all the fastracks. Hence the staff merge point. o_O
 
Think the disabled people have been vocal again and didn’t like the long queues they were in having to join with all the fastracks. Hence the staff merge point. o_O
It's hardly just rap users complaining about the merge situation as you will be aware off!

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I'm back from a week at Blackpool, I was on the pleasure beach over 2 days and even just one day there really opened my eyes up on how bad things have got are at Alton. Most of the rides were open at BPPB at the start of the day, and the rest were all opened within 30 mins of guest being let in. I think I got on more rides in just one day at BPPB compared to the whole of this season at Alton.

I reckon you should just retire from Alton Towers like. I appreciate your passion for it but it doesn't seem to serve you well as it seems most of your posts are rants against it. This isn't an objective opinion, more of a subjective one. It does no good posting 80-90% flaming posts on a forum where enthusiasts live.

I can kind of understand your feelings with regards past but if you don't like it, don't go.

However I'm glad you had a good time at Blackpool as I also like that place but no matter what, Towers still holds a special place in my heart for the park it is and what it strives to 'be'.
 
I reckon you should just retire from Alton Towers like. I appreciate your passion for it but it doesn't seem to serve you well as it seems most of your posts are rants against it. This isn't an objective opinion, more of a subjective one. It does no good posting 80-90% flaming posts on a forum where enthusiasts live.

I can kind of understand your feelings with regards past but if you don't like it, don't go.

However I'm glad you had a good time at Blackpool as I also like that place but no matter what, Towers still holds a special place in my heart for the park it is and what it strives to 'be'.

:confused:

This is not the other forum ;)

I think the clue is in the title of this thread "2018 Park operations and Ride availability" and this thread exists for a reason, that's because this season has been s*!*t !!! ;)
 
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:confused:

This is not the other forum ;)

I think the clue is in the title of this thread "2018 Park operations and Ride availability" and this thread exists for a reason, that's because this season has been s*!*t !!! ;)

I know but howay, at least inject 'some' positivity into the place at some point. if I was to read your posts and your posts only, it wouldn't read well on a reflection of Towers (based upon the majority).

Although I agree, it's a ride and park operational thread and it's open to a whole lot of opinions. I'm not lambasting you just it seems to stick out to total negativity.
 
To be honest, I think the reason Alton get so much “hate” (if you want to call it that) on the forum is because so many of us here genuinely care so much for the place that it’s utterly heartbreaking for us to watch what is happening to it. I know that I personally couldn’t just mindlessly praise everything Alton Towers do... that’s just not how it works. That’s not really caring for the park in my opinion.
 
Try reading all of my post and you will find that I have said many positive things over the years and also some this season. I do give credit where it's due.

EDIT: Most of my post on here are tongue in cheek and not to be taken seriously :p
 
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If you removed all the negativity from this topic on this forum, there wouldn't be much left.
We have all seen the park operated to a higher standard than it is currently...recently things have improved a little, but, as Merlin say, a million apologies are not really sufficient.
 
To be honest, I didn't think that my original post on here that sparked this row was that negative towards Alton. I was only stating the facts.

As a regular visitor to the park for over 30 years, I expect to get on a least one of each ride and some possible re-rides per visit. This season, I struggle to get on at least one of each ride off peak. I usually visit over the summer months, but I've not visited much this year (partly due to my health concerns, but since given the all clear, I still avoided the place due to the horrendous queues). The average guest who don't know the place, have been lucky to get in around 3 to 5 rides per visit, this is not acceptable.

To put this into perspective, I visited BPPB this week over two days. On the second day, I purchased a digital photo. The same 6 hours on park as Alton, I downloaded 18 on ride photos, plus there are plenty more rides that don't have on ride photos which I manage to have several go's on each. I calculated that I was doing around 36 rides per day at BPPB compared to around 9 rides a day at Alton. Don't forget that I have Jess in a wheelchair in toe too.

So 72 rides at BPPB for two days is fantastic, I be lucky if I get half of that many rides done at Alton this season :)
 
That's poor @MakoMania :( i was there on Friday, did manage to get 2 ERT rides on WickerMan but didn't bother for the rest of the day due to the scourge of AT this year ... queues! This year has been dire at Alton IMO (long term MAP holder)... if I'd not have had my BPB pass this would have been a sorry year
 
I know but howay, at least inject 'some' positivity into the place at some point. if I was to read your posts and your posts only, it wouldn't read well on a reflection of Towers (based upon the majority).

Although I agree, it's a ride and park operational thread and it's open to a whole lot of opinions. I'm not lambasting you just it seems to stick out to total negativity.

To be fair we have @Matt N who is the Yang to our Yin. If you want some positivity, he's your man :)

I like to think the forum has been largely balanced over the last few years with lots of praise for TLC and Wickerman on the whole. However budget cuts have been noticeably detrimental to guest experiences, more so in operations this year, even Matt would struggle to say something positive :p

I've seen more positives about Thorpe than AT on this forum this year, surely that's one of the seven seals of the apocalypse :eek:
 
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