• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

2014: General Discussion

*Bans Scott* ;)

I'm in two minds. It's good to see all the technical stuff and the theming in the drop area but it adds more to the ride for the public when the shutter is down. I'd rather it perform how it's meant to really though.

Another thing I forgot to add is that there was a really random hot point in Duel. Can't remember this being here on my visit last year so if someone could enlighten me to this then that would be great :)
 
You mean towards the end? There have been heaters in there hidden above the vehicles on the back of a catwalk in the Furnace scene since the ride became Duel I think. It's only recently that they started being used again, and they seem to be very hit and miss as to wether they're on or not. It's quite a nice touch though when they do work :)
 
Yeah there's heat cannons which have been there since that last scene has been in there.

They're hit and miss but they do seem to work quite often (may be a case that you've not noticed it blow on you before)
 
On most of my visits the shutter has stayed up, but last week it did go down on my ride. However I did it yesterday and it didn't work, so certainly has some problems.

Not much else to say about yesterday really (you can probably tell by the lack of TS FB updates yesterday :p), park was fairly busy, but not as busy as I thought it would be, and certainly got quiet by 6pm, However Towers Street was really packed at 6pm.

The only other change that seems to have happened very recently, is annual passes no longer scan at the turnstyles and you have to get a staff member to scan them with the new hand scanners they have. So you have to queue at the disabled gates now. Apparently they have had a lot of annual pass misuse recently.
 
That's annoying. I just can't wait to join the long queue of AP holders at the disabled entrance, when we should be queueing with the people we're with, just because some sods have misused them.
 
I've always thought with Th13teen's shutter sensor, since they always have problems with it closing because of where the sensor is positioned (sun shining on it), why didn't they place the sensor further into the building and had the shutter set on a small timer (to allow the whole train to enter the building). I'm not actually sure if that's technically possible, but it would seem to have been a better option.
 
In other news the woodland walk is closed until further notice:
10622770_738465156223931_4114766782435967613_n.jpg


The little wooden hut you walked under has been removed, and is currently where the chess pieces are.
 
Yesterday the ticket machines broke outside the park, meaning that nobody apart from annual passholders could get in for an hour and a half!

As well as this, The Smiler did NOT open for ERT, and in fact didn't open until about 10:40am. It then closed once to take a train off, and again to change trains, both whilst I was in the SRQ meaning that it took an hour! Duel also broke down.

In light of this, they did extend to 7pm leading to me getting an insane ridecount of 22 on Nemesis!
laugh.png
 
Good to see the park extending hours on a not overly busy day because of circumstances that would have adversely effected guest experience :)
 
AN HOUR AND A HALF?! I dread to think how packed the plaza would have been! Do we know what the exact problem was? Was it the turnstiles or the ticket booths?
 
AN HOUR AND A HALF?! I dread to think how packed the plaza would have been! Do we know what the exact problem was? Was it the turnstiles or the ticket booths?
There was an issue with ticket purchasing. I think it may have been the credit/debit card processing system but I'm not sure.
 
News on ERT. :)

Taken from Alton Towers' Twitter-
*The current line up will continue until Wednesday with a new line up being announced in the new few days*

Team Edit: Just be careful when you screenshot a personal Twitter account as members may not wish for this to appear on the forum, regardless of any attempt to censor their names. Check with them before you post. Thank you :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
So we've been praising Towers for extending ride close of late. However yesterday they did not and it remained at 6pm, a decision that seems baffling. I left at 1pm and there were still people queueing to get into the park. All main car parks including J and K were full, they'd made up some parking spaces in the main car park, they'd parked cars in the minibus car park and there were a lot of cars parked in the fields, in the hundreds I would say. I obviously don't know what the queues were like at the end of the day but seems mad that they did not extend.

:)
 
Sorry whats this all about ?
Merlin have asked towers to be extra vigilant with MAP's being misused ie. individuals using others passes. Apparently 30% of MAP admission have been by a 3rd parties pass. This has resulted in passes being manually checked by members of staff (at the disabled entrance's) taking much more time compared to being able to scan them at the turnstiles previously.

With Scarefest approaching, this would result in big ques to get in, although there are plans in place for a solution - having some of the turnstiles annual-pass only. The whole left (looking towards the towers) third of the plaza IIRC.
 
Top