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2018: Park Operations & Ride Availability

GaryH said:
This is interesting. So for the first time in 25 or so years of visiting the park I sent a complaint into AT about the sub standard accommodation and the staggered ride openings. With regards the ride opening times, they said:

"In regards to the staggered ride opening times, as our park is expanding, we are having to stagger opening times due to the amount of power used if we were to open the rides all at once
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Are they on max power use billing?

often causes an electricity black out in the surrounding area.
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Really. I knew some infrastructure was poor. Like roads, but western power not have the feeder lines in place for a large site like AT when they have massive feed lines just down the road at JCB.

Therefore we try to prioritise rides in close by areas together for our early ride time so that it is the most efficient way for our guests to enjoy the park. "
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Usual marketing spin then.



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SuperMuscleMan said:
All these excuses make me happy i dont give merlin a penny. Ive had friends along here on the south coast mention going to towers and when i say about the staggered opening they go.. "Lets save up and pop over to disney for a day or 2".
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It can often be cheaper to go to Disney than Towers if you're close enough to Eurotunnel. I got a deal a few months back direct with Disney for around £220 each including 3 days park entry, 2 nights at a partner hotel, and Eurotunnel fare.

These excuses from AT are actually hilarious. I wonder if they ever have a glance at Europa Park on TripAdvisor? Everything running at maximum capacity with long opening hours, no fast track to slow down the queues = happy guests. And happy guests will be back again to spend more money.
 
With regards to the power usage affecting staggered opening times...

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GaryH said:
This is interesting. So for the first time in 25 or so years of visiting the park I sent a complaint into AT about the sub standard accommodation and the staggered ride openings. With regards the ride opening times, they said:

"In regards to the staggered ride opening times, as our park is expanding, we are having to stagger opening times due to the amount of power used if we were to open the rides all at once - it often causes an electricity black out in the surrounding area. Therefore we try to prioritise rides in close by areas together for our early ride time so that it is the most efficient way for our guests to enjoy the park. "

So, they cant open them at once due to the power consumption and risk of a black out? I know the park suffered these on and off in the past - do we think this may be true????
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WTF?????? :confused:

They clearly either haven't heard of anti surge protectors, or Merlin are so tight fist'd, that they won't spend a single penny on one.

Forget about the BS, I know someone that used to work at Pleasure Woods Hills, the area that contained the rattle snake roller coaster (when it was there) and the bumper cars, never used to open until lunch time, this would save Pleasure Wood Hills themepark around £4,000 in staff cost per season. Bear in mind that pleasure wood hills don't have as many ride host per rides as Alton dose, they are open less days through out the season than Alton dose, and we are only talking about a couple of rides here, so I let you do the sums, think how much Alton are saving per season with their staggered opening times?
 
GaryH said:
This is interesting. So for the first time in 25 or so years of visiting the park I sent a complaint into AT about the sub standard accommodation and the staggered ride openings. With regards the ride opening times, they said:

"In regards to the staggered ride opening times, as our park is expanding, we are having to stagger opening times due to the amount of power used if we were to open the rides all at once - it often causes an electricity black out in the surrounding area. Therefore we try to prioritise rides in close by areas together for our early ride time so that it is the most efficient way for our guests to enjoy the park. "

So, they cant open them at once due to the power consumption and risk of a black out? I know the park suffered these on and off in the past - do we think this may be true????
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I’d be interested to see the response you got about the poor accommodation and food - see if it’s the same copy and paste drivel that I received
 
RicketyCricket said:
It can often be cheaper to go to Disney than Towers if you're close enough to Eurotunnel. I got a deal a few months back direct with Disney for around £220 each including 3 days park entry, 2 nights at a partner hotel, and Eurotunnel fare.

These excuses from AT are actually hilarious. I wonder if they ever have a glance at Europa Park on TripAdvisor? Everything running at maximum capacity with long opening hours, no fast track to slow down the queues = happy guests. And happy guests will be back again to spend more money.
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Ill lookout for those deals! Im 20 mins from ashford so its very easy to get to the park!
 
Just had another thought on this

"....as our park is expanding, we are having to stagger opening times due to the amount of power used if we were to open the rides all at once - it often causes an electricity black out in the surrounding area.........."
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I hope that does not get into the hands of people against alton towers expanding or Staffordshire moorland planning department.
As they have admitted they don't have the infrastructure to run the site in normal operations. And this would stop or hold up planning applications. Or the next application would have power systems upgrade clause attached by planning dept.

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delta79 said:
Just had another thought on this



I hope that does not get into the hands of people against alton towers expanding or Staffordshire moorland planning department.
As they have admitted they don't have the infrastructure to run the site in normal operations. And this would stop or hold up planning applications. Or the next application would have power systems upgrade clause attached by planning dept.

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Very good point - going on public record admitting your infrastructure is not up to normal operations without risking impacting the surrounding area / local residents power supplies is very risky. I am sure Western Power Distribution would have somethig to say about Alton Towers claims too as it suggests their distribution network is not up to the job.

Sure, Towers power requirements have of crouse gone up over the years as more rides & accommodation (including a waterpark) have been added. Add to this the increased use of air-conditioning (where fitted) over the years. That said, some of the newer rides (Rita comes to mind) use hydraulic technology to ensure that a ride launch does not cause a power-drain (much in a similar way to Hulk at IoA in Florida - albeit not a hydraulic launch - that charges the launch capacitors in advance of them being needed).
 
I think the power statement is false, but I don't think it would be particularly damaging with regards to developmeng going forward.

Not least because an infrastructure assessment with prescribed actions and recommendations would be the arbiter of whether any development could go ahead, not a letter from call centre copied and pasted onto a fan/hater forum.
 
Poopoohead said:
I’d be interested to see the response you got about the poor accommodation and food - see if it’s the same copy and paste drivel that I received
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Usual cut and paste stuff about passing on my comments to the housekeeping manager / Flambos manager to make improvements. I don't see anything happening with Flambos, but I hope they can sort out the housekeeping. One of my friends stayed in the lodges the other day and found excessive dust, and left over items belonging to the last occupants in the room. Surely just running a long brush underneath the bed and collecting the dust isnt too difficult!
 
The Flambos change for 2018 is really disappointing. Both in the crap new breakfast offering and the change from fresh international cuisine to pizza/pasta in the evening.

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I often used to go Flambos before heading home but have no intention of doing it anymore. Unfortunately the alternatives are also very limited :(
 
Rick said:
Sorry to hear your experience sucked, we really enjoyed it a few weeks ago.
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The thing is, when there's already a Pizza/Pasta offer on park and Flambos was already Pizza/Pasta at lunch it's hugely disappointing. Not to mention SGR are often closed at lunch now. As is CS.

The sad truth about Flambos is theyve only changed it because they can no longer attract good chefs if the hotel closes and opens flexibly.

With Flambos originally, there was a range of both healthy and more indulgent products. The shift to Pizza/Pasta removes this and reduces the overall selection offering in the resort.

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