Rick
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Crux
All that says is that the business models aren't the same and the motives behind the selection of their opening hours are different. You can't oversimplify this stuff.
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2018: Park Operations & Ride Availability
- Thread starter AstroDan
- Start date
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
Th13teen
The situation at Th13teen this season is chronic. There is a clear staff shortage and I would go so far as to say it is borderline unsafe operating it with the staff that it currently has, as one of the platform hosts simply has too many tasks to deal with.
Today, there were 4 staff: A batching host dealing with fastrack and main queue, two hosts on the platform and the operator.
Due to the new baggage cages, Th13teen is already down around 20% on its throughput. However, the staffing cuts have made this even worse.
The disabled queue now has a chain across it and is not directly into the station. This is because they have shut off half of the old exit due to the baggage racks. It was too narrow. As a result, the far side platform host now has to complete the following tasks:
- Restraint checks
- Checking the exit gate is secure
- Dispatch
- Exiting the station, checking disabled guests, removing chain and letting them in once guests have exited.
Such is the delay caused by all of this, that dispatching on the ride is now even slower! Th13teen is a nightmare this season - I reckon it's getting only about 60% of its theoretical capacity and it's a complete and utter misery.
I feel for the staff. I would be demanding from area and senior managers that more staff are allocated to the ride to help share the workload and boost capacity. Ideally, baggage would be re-instated (like Smiler also needs) but as a minimum, they need an Exit host to manage the disabled queue and exit gate.
2010
Th13teen opens and achieves a one-time only 1,440 per hour on opening weekend, but settles at around 1,200/hour
2011
Changes are made to the lap bar minimum close position. Capacity drops to around 1,000-1,100 per hour
2018
2018: Cuts to staff and baggage changes mean the ride now typically achieves below 900 per hour
As an aside, I was also shocked to see platform hosts on Galactica having to shout instructions to the queue as there was not a batching host on both stations!
The situation at Th13teen this season is chronic. There is a clear staff shortage and I would go so far as to say it is borderline unsafe operating it with the staff that it currently has, as one of the platform hosts simply has too many tasks to deal with.
Today, there were 4 staff: A batching host dealing with fastrack and main queue, two hosts on the platform and the operator.
Due to the new baggage cages, Th13teen is already down around 20% on its throughput. However, the staffing cuts have made this even worse.
The disabled queue now has a chain across it and is not directly into the station. This is because they have shut off half of the old exit due to the baggage racks. It was too narrow. As a result, the far side platform host now has to complete the following tasks:
- Restraint checks
- Checking the exit gate is secure
- Dispatch
- Exiting the station, checking disabled guests, removing chain and letting them in once guests have exited.
Such is the delay caused by all of this, that dispatching on the ride is now even slower! Th13teen is a nightmare this season - I reckon it's getting only about 60% of its theoretical capacity and it's a complete and utter misery.
I feel for the staff. I would be demanding from area and senior managers that more staff are allocated to the ride to help share the workload and boost capacity. Ideally, baggage would be re-instated (like Smiler also needs) but as a minimum, they need an Exit host to manage the disabled queue and exit gate.
2010
Th13teen opens and achieves a one-time only 1,440 per hour on opening weekend, but settles at around 1,200/hour
2011
Changes are made to the lap bar minimum close position. Capacity drops to around 1,000-1,100 per hour
2018
2018: Cuts to staff and baggage changes mean the ride now typically achieves below 900 per hour
As an aside, I was also shocked to see platform hosts on Galactica having to shout instructions to the queue as there was not a batching host on both stations!
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AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
No, I have edited the post to make it clearer. Smiler, sadly, remains without a baggage hold.
speedy
TS Member
Are there bins to place bags instead? I'm debating whether to take a bag, since it would be nice to have my reusable cup, suncream etc but not if there's nowhere to put it.
This situation is ridiculous. What's their excuse... is Alton Towers a living wage employer?
Robert.W
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
It makes me worry for Wicker Man, all these staff and operational cuts. Wicker Man has, rather surprisingly, a baggage hold and if that was to be removed, that'd create all sorts of problems. Then there is the shop in the queue. As much as I am glad they didn't just dump some vending machines there, I also don't entirely trust them to keep the thing open in the long term. Then there is the actual fire effects. Not much to say about those, since they already aren't working, whatever the reason is. 
bluesonichd
TS Member
Personally have seen none of this on Park today and been on all coasters.
Bit of faff with galactic station 1 with vr q. No vr q and disabled q
Had quite an enjoyable day all in all.
And no. I didn’t use my fastrack on any ride once.
speedy
TS Member
Honestly I think a shop would make more money, just because they can sell more expensive hot food. Also many people don't carry coins.
@bluesonichd does the VR queue take significantly longer than the standard queue?
@bluesonichd does the VR queue take significantly longer than the standard queue?
MakoMania
TS Member
Get rid of VR on Galactica and you would then have enough staff to reopen baggage on Th13teen & The Smiler.
Out of interest, has there ever been a year under Merlin where operational budget has increased from the prior year? 2010 maybe?
A budget increase in 2019 is desperately needed.
Out of interest, has there ever been a year under Merlin where operational budget has increased from the prior year? 2010 maybe?
A budget increase in 2019 is desperately needed.
bluesonichd
TS Member
Only longer as everyone today seamed to want to ride VR so the q was out the station to the steps with no one queuing inside for the none be line , friend took the initiative and pushed past everyone
Edit. Will say in station 1 with vr on the back 3 rows and disabled taking up the first 2. The none vr line moves slow.
John
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Thirteen's throughput has been hit far worse than I was anticipating for the reasons Dan has already covered. I expected it to cope fairly well with only a slight hit to dispatch times caused by the bag cages, but now it seems that it barely gets what it was getting last year when it was on 2 trains for ages.
I haven't visited the park on a properly busy day yet, but my concerns I had at the start of the season about the park's inability to cope has not eased with what I've seen so far.
I haven't visited the park on a properly busy day yet, but my concerns I had at the start of the season about the park's inability to cope has not eased with what I've seen so far.
Rick
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Crux
From a staffing perspective, it's increased year on year to meet the increased costs faced by the minimum wage - at least until Smiler, I don't know the number of staff prior to then vs now. Here's a graph plotting the UK minimum wage since Merlin's acquisition of Tussauds.
If you imagine the sheer number of staff employed across all departments, it's not a trivial amount. Even with less staff than the previous year, your wage bill can increase when you have a vast number of hourly hires.
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Rick
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Crux
Indeed, plus I think Alton pay £6.50 minimum.
delta79
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis, Air
Dave
TS Founding Member
From a staffing perspective, it's increased year on year to meet the increased costs faced by the minimum wage - at least until Smiler, I don't know the number of staff prior to then vs now. Here's a graph plotting the UK minimum wage since Merlin's acquisition of Tussauds.
If you imagine the sheer number of staff employed across all departments, it's not a trivial amount. Even with less staff than the previous year, your wage bill can increase when you have a vast number of hourly hires.
I would hazard a guess the entrance price increase and price inflation in the shops and food outlets has increased at a greater percentage than wages.
Minimum wage is not the problem, it’s shareholder dividends.