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2017: General Discussion

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That's why they're open until 16:00
 
(Not quite sure where to put this, so I'll put it here) I've got a server that's checking ridetimes.co.uk every 30 seconds and saving every time a ride changes status or queue time. So can see thought the day when rides got shut and how the queue built up (roughly). Is this anything anyone would be interested in having access to?
 
ihaveaspergers said:
(Not quite sure where to put this, so I'll put it here) I've got a server that's checking ridetimes.co.uk every 30 seconds and saving every time a ride changes status or queue time. So can see thought the day when rides got shut and how the queue built up (roughly). Is this anything anyone would be interested in having access to?
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Indeed, it would be interesting to see compiled stats over perhaps a month of reliability and queue times. Would presumably take a lot of data-sorting though, unless you have built some kind of formulaic Excel spreadsheet that will do all that work automatically? :)
 
Burbs said:
When EP is like this it is always open from 9am to 6pm at least.

Sorry, couldn't help a Europa comparison there.
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To be fair, if EP had the same number of guests on a quiet day that Towers does then it may be a very different situation over there. Thankfully they don't!

:)
 
ihaveaspergers said:
(Not quite sure where to put this, so I'll put it here) I've got a server that's checking ridetimes.co.uk every 30 seconds and saving every time a ride changes status or queue time. So can see thought the day when rides got shut and how the queue built up (roughly). Is this anything anyone would be interested in having access to?
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This would be very interesting. Similar to what queue-times.com does? It seems to not resolve at the moment?
 
ihaveaspergers said:
(Not quite sure where to put this, so I'll put it here) I've got a server that's checking ridetimes.co.uk every 30 seconds and saving every time a ride changes status or queue time. So can see thought the day when rides got shut and how the queue built up (roughly). Is this anything anyone would be interested in having access to?
Click to expand...
In theory yes, but RideTimes updates so infrequently as to be pretty much useless. I don't really pay much attention to it any more as the data is so inaccurate most of the time. At one point it was auto-updating everything to closed at 5pm regardless of when the park actually closed, though I think they fixed that before scarefest/fireworks
 
John said:
In theory yes, but RideTimes updates so infrequently as to be pretty much useless. I don't really pay much attention to it any more as the data is so inaccurate most of the time. At one point it was auto-updating everything to closed at 5pm regardless of when the park actually closed, though I think they fixed that before scarefest/fireworks
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They actually changed it recently, it used to provide the time the ride status was updated.
 
Has anyone looked at trip adviser? Not so good reviews for opening weekend looks like steph has been busy cut and pasting with the replies. Wonder if it will make Merlin and AT think about what people actually want? That isn't hotels and more kiddie rides !!

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matthewgcole said:
The fact that list of rides is a shadow of its former self is why the park shuts at 16:00.
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It'd be quite interesting actually to see this years rides list compared with say 2013 when every ride/attraction was actually available?
 
Excluding re-themes, 2 new rides have been added since The Smiler - both in Cbeebies land*. Six rides have closed - Ripsaw, Sub Terra, Flume, Submission, Toadstool and Charlie. This year is slightly better than 2015, with a net gain of 2 rides despite the loss of Toadstool (and Ice Age, which I'm not counting).

Of the closed rides, obviously the Flume is being replaced by SW8, the Charlie ride system may return in 2019, there's a possibility Toadstool could be refurbed and hopefully NST will return in some form eventually too (never thought I'd say that, but with how little else there is to do these days I'd take it). On the other hand it's quite likely that one or both of Enterprise and the Blade will reach the end of their lives within the next few years so it's quite hard to predict how many rides there will be at the end of the decade compared with 2013 .

*Cbeebies has also had a large number of shows and interactive attractions in addition to the rides, but I'm only talking about physical rides here.
 
Some of the closures have been down to the drop in the number of guests - the park have been very open about that. They think they can maintain their guest predictions with the loss of rides like Ice Age, Toadstool etc. I would suggest the number of guests who won't visit on the back of Ice Age being closed is so statistically insignificant it really does make sense - like it or not.

It's like downsizing your house when your kids move out, except that Alton will buy a bigger house once again when the kids return. It's financially very sensible.
 
Rick said:
Some of the closures have been down to the drop in the number of guests - the park have been very open about that. They think they can maintain their guest predictions with the loss of rides like Ice Age, Toadstool etc. I would suggest the number of guests who won't visit on the back of Ice Age being closed is so statistically insignificant it really does make sense - like it or not.

It's like downsizing your house when your kids move out, except that Alton will buy a bigger house once again when the kids return. It's financially very sensible.
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But the number of guests who have a poor or disappointing day when they find there aren't enough attractions for their 8 year old, or assume that as they watched the Ice Age show two years ago it will still be showing (or at least replaced). I've seen Facebook comments of people not realising Charlie and Ice Age are closed until they walked to that corner of the park.
Even if they reduced Ice Age to showing on the hour only (so 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm) and clearly showed that on the park map it would have been OK. Or brought back the Pirate show instead so the amount of entertainment overall isn't reduced.
 
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It's also how empty they make the areas when the coasters are down. When I went on Sunday I went to x sector knowing that the smiler was closed but they still said oblivion was open. So after enjoying Hex to walk over to Oblivion to find it had now closed as well left you thinking whay else is there to do apart from enterprise which is not exactly the most fun to watch. Which then gets you thinking of the coasters are having a bad day and you don't have a child there is little to fill your day.

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@jon81uk that's a fair comment... but I think what they have tried to do is cut where they can with minimal effect (note - not, 'no effect').

Support rides are expensive, so if you have to cut something and cutting coasters isn't feasible, then cutting ageing rides that are expensive to maintain, or rides with expensive IPs is your best option.
 
I'm dreading next season when the close Enterprise or The Blade or both for their "TLC"
Don't care if they do have a new coaster opening. Towers have just gone too long and too far with closing rides and not replacing them that there is no coming back. Its all down hill from here
 
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