Ride Availability/Operations 2022-26

[Poisson]

Right I have a question on RAP. If RAP was 90 minutes (which has already been disputed), how are the people who require the pass being able to queue for so long despite not being able to queue in the main queue?

This is why they wanted to change RAP criterion but they bottled it. There's 2 options to make it work, crush the cap down even further on daily RAP allowance whilst the park is so under capacity or actually fix the system by changing the criterion.

 

[Ares]

No RAP was an "extended wait".

Whilst they prioritise Fastrack because "there's too many".

Can really tell the current ones in charge are from Thorpe.

My apologies. My brains marmalised today

Single rider only took 55 mins for me.

 

[Ares]

The Smiler main queue has basically stopped moving - trains are constantly going round but I’ve probably moved forward about 20m in half an hour!

I'm not surprised. Where the queues merge inside the flashing room, the guy in charge was just sending fast track only through for 5 minutes straight whilst I was in there, with the majority of people being sent through fast track or ambulent.

 

[Matt N]

@Matt N i know we have disagreed on this matter in the past but as we enter the second consecutive weekend of dismal queue lengths, i can only reiterate this is why for many AT has the reputation it does. If you can only visit on peak days, the expectation is for there to be very long waits and poor availability.

Will this be reflected at Thorpe from next week? We shall see. It hasn't been the case for Chessington and Legoland so far this year.

Multiple attractions in the red, multiple attractions down on top of the already advertised closures.

I’m not denying that this is a pretty dismal picture.

However, I would deny that this picture necessarily represents an average weekend or holiday day. Alton After Dark is on, which has become a special event in its own right and is likely to attract an extra influx of crowds, and we’re also only in the second weekend of the season, and early season has never been a bastion of perfect reliability, rightly or wrongly.

Granted, this year’s early season does seem particularly bad for getting things going late in the morning, even if the up-and-down effect from previous years seems to have improved, but I don’t think we can extrapolate the picture from a special event day on the second weekend in the season as the “average” weekend or holiday picture. I’d want a non-event weekend in at least April before we can do that. Alton After Dark has likely attracted an extra influx of crowds compared to a “typical” weekend or holiday day.

 

[coasterenthusiast]

Because the alternative is 2 hour + in the standby queue.

No sorry, what I meant was, on an off-peak day, where queues are roughly 20-30 minutes, why do they need RAP, if they can queue for 90 minutes in a RAP queue?

 

[Bowser]

No sorry, what I meant was, on an off-peak day, where queues are roughly 20-30 minutes, why do they need RAP, if they can queue for 90 minutes in a RAP queue?

Well if we're working on the premise that the RAP line is actually 90 minutes (which i very much doubt), how would anyone entering said line know how long they will be waiting?

If there is an extended wait, at what point do they leave? 10 minutes? 25 minutes? When the pain becomes unbearable or they lose bladder control? Are you policing the RAP line and witnessing not a single person leave in 90 minutes?

I'd imagine most genuine RAP users who have had to endure a prolonged and unexpected wait will have decided they are too far in to give up but will subsequently have to leave the park exhausted, overwhelmed and suffering.

If any of the physical RAP lines are longer than say 10 minutes then the new system is an utter failure.

 

[coasterenthusiast]

Well if we're working on the premise that the RAP line is actually 90 minutes (which i very much doubt), how would anyone entering said line know how long they will be waiting?

If there is an extended wait, at what point do they leave? 10 minutes? 25 minutes? When the pain becomes unbearable or they lose bladder control? Are you policing the RAP line and witnessing not a single person leave in 90 minutes?

I'd imagine most genuine RAP users who have had to endure a prolonged and unexpected wait will have decided they are too far in to give up but will subsequently have to leave the park exhausted, overwhelmed and suffering.

If any of the physical RAP lines are longer than say 10 minutes then the new system is an utter failure.

Yes you’re right, I’m not trying to put down those using RAP. I think I may come across that way reading back on my post but that wasn’t my intention and I apologise. I more meant that surely there is a better way of controlling the RAP queue, leading to a better experience for both RAP and general queue users. For example, a digital app, or reduced RAP availability. Also, the usage of RAP quoted by you I fully support as it is unavoidable and in your words a ‘genuine’ reason to have it. I more meant those who claim they need RAP but would queue that length as long as it’s shorter than the general queue. Again, no offence to anyone intended, I’m just curious to find out how the system could theoretically be improved as it clearly isn’t at the mo.

 

[dgp17]

…but will subsequently have to leave the park exhausted, overwhelmed and suffering.

Is this bit sarcasm or not? I can’t tell.

 

[Mick]

Wicker Man opened at 9:45 today and Spinball has been open since 10 too, which the app won’t have picked up.

Well, these were the early positives, there wasn’t many further positives through the rest of the day…

Alton After Dark must make them an absolute killing, the park was busy, there was fast track galore and the food outlets all had consistent queues. But operationally it’s putting even more pressure on the start of the season which is traditionally a tough time anyway.

Throughout the afternoon it was basically a choice of which coaster do you want to wait 80 minutes plus for, and I’m fortunate enough to go to AT often enough to not want to suffer such long waits for coasters I’ve ridden many times before.

Was still nice to get back on park and I didn’t mind not getting much done, but I’d be very disappointed if that were my one visit for the year, or if it’s similar on my return.

Wicker Man, Spinball Whizzer, Thirteen, Nemesis Reborn, Curse, Hex, Gangsta Granny, Marauders

(due to queue length or unavailability) Rita, Galactica, Oblivion, The Smiler, Runaway Mine Train, Congo River Rapids

(due to choice) Toxicator, Nemesis Sub-Terra, everything else

 

[Benzin]

No sorry, what I meant was, on an off-peak day, where queues are roughly 20-30 minutes, why do they need RAP, if they can queue for 90 minutes in a RAP queue?

But it wasn't an off-peak day in the slightest today?

Think RAP queue ended up being 30-45 minutes rather than the claimed 90. Which Mrs only ended up having to do because the wheelchair lift was broken, which further limits a number of RAP users.

Smiler certainly wasn't helped by being down for first 3/4 hours of the day.

 

[Bowser]

For example, a digital app, or reduced RAP availability

RAP is digital from this year. They evidently aren’t using the previous system from Chessington and Legoland which closed the queues when a threshold was reached, preventing people from joining an otherwise long physical queue. I’ve no idea why they aren’t using this.

Is this bit sarcasm or not? I can’t tell.

No. On one of our previous visits, despite a short RAP wait for Wickerman the ride broke as we were in the pre show. We decided to wait it out as my son would have been devastated and confused at getting to that point and not going on his favourite ride. However afterwards he was too overwhelmed by the wait in that environment and we had to go home.

There’s a dedicated RAP thread if anyone would like to discuss further:

Ride Access Pass and Disabled Access - 2026 Discussion

Looks like pre-booking is coming to RAP starting this season. Taken from the MAP Facebook group: Don’t know about other people but I see this as fantastic news.

towersstreet.com

 

[Ares]

Just got home. My apologies for misquoting the announcement earlier, it was just extended wait times as corrected by another user, NOT 90 minutes - however 45 minutes still seems quite lengthy.

I did not think the park was all that busy today, maybe ~50% capacity at a guess.

Oblivion being shut for the day which is a crowd eater, plus The Smiler not opening until later on didn't help at all as it caused heavy queues elsewhere.

I think a big miss too was the runaway mine train. Heavy demographic of families with 4-8 year old children today it seemed and I think they were struggling massively for ride availability.

I had a pretty good day all things considered.

First train of the day on Rita
First ride of the day on Hex
~30min Galactica SRQ
~50min Nemesis
~40min Toxicator SRQ (SRQ a waste of time)
~ Walk on Curse
~80min Wickerman
~55min Smiler SRQ
Waited for Thirteen to re-open and got on the first train through the SRQ as they just let us and fast track on together right away before the main queue reached the station.

Decided to leave at 5pm than face 1hr+ queues on all the main rides.

First year having a MAP this year, albeit Essential for £79 as a December bargain IMO.

Definitely overheard a lot of grumbling GP about ride closures they weren't aware of, doubt many look before coming, as well as the issues around prioritising fast trackers so heavily and the overall ride availability.

I think having a MAP now I don't feel the need to squeeze value out of my day because I can spread that across multiple visits including quieter days when I can pack more in.

Good day overall but I doubt many got on as many as myself today.

 

[coasterenthusiast]

But it wasn't an off-peak day in the slightest today?

Think RAP queue ended up being 30-45 minutes rather than the claimed 90. Which Mrs only ended up having to do because the wheelchair lift was broken, which further limits a number of RAP users.

Smiler certainly wasn't helped by being down for first 3/4 hours of the day.

No sorry. I meant on an average off peak day, the regular queue would be 30 mins. If they couldn’t queue that on a regular day, how could they queue for 45 mins in a RAP queue on a peak day. I’m not trying to provoke anything disputes, I was merely wondering.

 

[Dan19F1]

Smiler has closed again (after I queued for 2 1/2 hours with frequent stoppages!) looks as though a train got stuck at the bottom of the 2nd lift hill so another was held at the top of the first lift hill!

 

[Ares]

Just seen a clip of a smiler car stuck on the lift hill. Another tweet saying X-Sector was closed from around 5pm due to that stating evac took 2 hours. Not sure if anyone can confirm how long it took or if the smiler ends up re-opening tonight. Still showing closed on queue-times so assumedly not.