Towers Loving Care

Charlie is sorted

I think the ride will be tweeked so it uses less staff

Regardless of whether people actually like Sub Terra or not it's a ride that exists at the park and it should be open!

Yes it was poorly thought out in terms of staffing (but then all Merlin rides and attractions seem to suffer that issue) but it's a decent filler ride and it's indoors which is currently a rarity at Towers. It'll frankly be an embarrassment if it never opens again.

Plus y'know I kinda have a soft spot for it <3


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It'd be no different to when Saw Alive ultimately failed, the park would move on pretty quickly. I don't think enough of the general public cared about Sub Terra for its removal to have that much of an impact to be honest. It should be open of course, rides built in 2012 should last longer than 5 seasons. But I can kinda see where the park would be coming from if it didn't return.

Shoulda stuck with Dynamo

As a filler attraction, it's fine. It's not a headliner, but it is an OK attraction protected from the elements in a country known for wet weather.

I think ABC will have to sort the design issues of such a new ride out and the solution to the cost of actors is simple. Removal would make next to no financial sense whatsoever.

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

It just highlights that the park needs more filler attractions to better compliment the headline attractions.

andeyhart said:

Shoulda stuck with Dynamo

Click to expand...

Nah, Lava Lump FTW

I am a big Terry fan, I would love it to return as it's such a unique ride with great potential. I'm not sure why people think the GP don't like it because the atmosphere inside is fantastic and It's one of the main reasons I adore the ride - other people's reactions.

matthewgcole said:

solution to the cost of actors is simple.

Click to expand...

I think the issue is staffing, not actors. There was only one or two scare actors in the exit maze. But the experience used two staff to batch outside, another one to load into the "lifts", two staff to get everyone onto the ride section and then to shout everyone back out into the exit lifts. Then two staff on the baggage hold. Plus there may have been control room staff as well. Then add scare actors on top of the six staff minimum needed.

Compare this to Hex which has a similar three part experience, One person on the entry control panel and batching is counted by turnstyle. Two staff to load the ride and one in the control room. Total of four staff.

Yes the staff on Sub-Terra with the military inspired uniform add to the theme and it was designed that way, but it is a heavily staff led experience, even without scare actors.

I imagine (although I haven't bothered with Thorpe Park since it opened) that I'm a Celebrity suffers similar issues as it doesn't use "actors" but sounds like it needs a lot of staff to get guests in and out of each part of the experience.

Disney of course also use a lot of staff to move guests through various shows and attractions, but Disney I assume have accounted for that with costings. Merlin and/or AT park operations need to think those sort of things through at the design stage as to whether it is worthwhile having an attraction that needs a lot of staff to provide the experience.

I would expect that Nemesis the rollercoaster could probably operate with fewer staff than Sub-Terra could? Just due to the nature of the batching style.

It's been a long time since I've been on NST so forgive my ignorance. Could the ride be modified to run on 4? So 1 on batching, 2 on restraints and lifts and 1 in control room?

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

jon81uk said:

I would expect that Nemesis the rollercoaster could probably operate with fewer staff than Sub-Terra could? Just due to the nature of the batching style.

Click to expand...

Nemesis requires a minimum of 4? One op on control pannel, two ride hosts in the station and a staff member on entrance. But usually runs with more. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will correct me if I'm wrong.

Is anyone going to share what the issues actually/allegedly are, or are the rest of us just going to have to keep guessing?

Dar said:

Is anyone going to share what the issues actually/allegedly are, or are the rest of us just going to have to keep guessing?

Click to expand...

Sounds like there are two issues,
A restraint issue allegedly occurred at London Dungeon (according to @Romeo), this means the drop on Sub-Terra also needs further repairs from the manufacturer.
The attraction was poorly thought-out and needs a large number of staff compared to the interest it gets from guests. Therefore AT don't want to operate it as it is expensive to use the large number of staff compared to something like Nemesis.

MattyH said:

Nemesis requires a minimum of 4? One op on control pannel, two ride hosts in the station and a staff member on entrance. But usually runs with more. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will correct me if I'm wrong.

Click to expand...

As far as I'm aware B&M enforce a minimum of 5 staff for the operation of their inverts. One on the main control panel, one on the dispatch position, and a further three ride hosts. Any additional staffing is up to the park. This is what I was told whilst working for HersheyPark though so may be wrong. B&M also do not enforce a front line position for their coasters unlike intamin however the Park may have a policy for this.

I have been on Inferno at Thorpe with only 3 staff before: an op and two hosts. I have also seen Nemesis on only a few staffing running one train.

On to sub Terra, from what I can gather there has been multiple issues with people getting out or trying to get out when the ride drops, or stops at the bottom. Which led to the changes in the restraints. I guess it's also linked to the dungeons as they had the restraints changed on their drop towers.

I thought that issue had been fixed, but I guess either towers or H&S weren't happy with Terra as it would have opened last year, as all the drop towers at the dungeons are still open as normal.

I guess it's also partly due to the fact the ride wasn't that popular, and cost a fortune to run with the staffing. So towers/Merlin have just decided to keep it closed to cut costs.

djtruefitt said:

from what I can gather there has been multiple issues with people getting out or trying to get out when the ride drops, or stops at the bottom.

Click to expand...

This.

Am I the only person who expects it to open next year with fences to keep guests from getting out.

Nemesis sub terra: your worst nightmare fully dedicated to fences.


Seriously though, it's a shame that it's people trying to get out that's causing it to close. It just proves towers H&S's point that we can't be trusted with our own safety, even when common sense is perfectly sufficient to prevent incidents

Spike said:

I am a big Terry fan, I would love it to return as it's such a unique ride with great potential. I'm not sure why people think the GP don't like it because the atmosphere inside is fantastic and It's one of the main reasons I adore the ride - other people's reactions.

Click to expand...

People who ride it do seem to like it a lot (well, not initially when it first opened, but after the finale section was added; definitely), and the reactions from others certainly enhances the experience. But in the end, its queues were fairly short to, at times, non existant. Even taking into account its high throughput, by early 2015 it didn't appear to be that popular.

Talking of B&M platform staff, I've seen Katun run with two (including operator), who were so efficient they added a second train without our group noticing...

Shame if Sub Terra goes, it was an experiment that didn't quite fully work... It's the sort of ride that would work very well on the continent (and with less shouty staff)...

djtruefitt said:

On to sub Terra, from what I can gather there has been multiple issues with people getting out or trying to get out when the ride drops, or stops at the bottom. Which led to the changes in the restraints. I guess it's also linked to the dungeons as they had the restraints changed on their drop towers.
.

Click to expand...

I'm glad someone said it first as I didn't want to be the one to speak up first on the issues lol

The restraint system is indeed the issue and was thought to be resolved until it re-opened and the 'back pusher' caused someone to get out of the ride again causing it to close yet again.

Like I said previously it needs an individual seating restraint system because if you get someone who is of large build and someone who is very small, they can get out of the ride. Hopefully ABC have managed to come up with a solution and it returns in the near future.

If it meant losing staff in the maze for it to operate then I'd be happy to lose that part, they could easily add more effects to make the ending chaotic.