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2019: General Discussion

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Robert.W said:
I don’t think Galactica needs a staffed baggage hold. The system currently employed is efficient and secure and I wouldn’t see any reason to change it to be honest.
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If theft of bags from those cages on Air [as it was] & Nemesis is anything like it used to be a few years back, then they are anything but secure. Sure, there is CCTV but when you have anything up to 64 people [riders getting off & new riders getting on] converging around an open half of a baggage cage on Nemesis, you have practically zero chance of the CCTV catching the thief in the act in any detail.

The lockers to the left of the Oblivion entrance went for two reasons - (1) people nicked the keys as it was only 20p at the time to lock the lockers. (2) the lockers on the bottom levels got kicked-in & any contents stolen.
 
Poisson said:
I'd ban it tbh
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They wouldn't scrap fast track either, so much revenue lost.
It's amazing visiting a park that doesn't operate a fast track / fast pass type system, there's almost no queues (well not 2+ hour ones anyway), and really no need for any other quick access system either. It's a shame Merlin adopted this business mode, but from a business point of view, totally understandable.
 
Air (pre galactica) in my life experience was crawling up the lift more than it wasn’t which was a sign of very fast dispatching, in fact staf were having to wait for the crap in front to clear the lift before dispatching.
 
Kraken27 said:
If theft of bags from those cages on Air [as it was] & Nemesis is anything like it used to be a few years back, then they are anything but secure. Sure, there is CCTV but when you have anything up to 64 people [riders getting off & new riders getting on] converging around an open half of a baggage cage on Nemesis, you have practically zero chance of the CCTV catching the thief in the act in any detail.
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The only plus of the new cages is there is very obvious CCTV on both of them. Whether that deters anyone or not is another matter but at least it’s very visible with the screens.
 
I don't like all this talk of lockers. It's a slippery slope to having to hire them before every ride like at some USA parks.

You just know we'd get "no bags, phones" e.t.c policy in the queulines under health and safety rules - and much more expense to the park guest
 
TBH, part of me would be happy if they banned phones and bags from entering the park full stop.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
TBH, part of me would be happy if they banned phones and bags from entering the park full stop.
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Not me. Phones are useful for photos and ride app times. Not to mention (as someone with a medial condition) i had a phone call from my hospital offering me an appointment when i was on the Skyride this year). Then there's saving money by bringing your own food in. I'm worried that lockers could leave to the "pay extra for every ride" that already operates at some parks.
 
RoyJess said:
Just bring a friend along that don't like rides to be your portable bag drop ;)
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I'd probably have to pay for them to come.

Seriously though, i'd hate to see H and S used as an excuse to make people put their keys, wallets, phones, medications e.t.c in paid lockers each time they go on a ride.

You can bet that Merlin have it on the radar. Guarenteed money maker.
 
For me, The Smiler urgently needs this re-instating.

The throughput for this ride is woefully inadequate given its popularity and demand.

It is comfortably the second most popular ride, behind Wicker Man.

Likewise, the return of baggage holds on TH13TEEN would also be welcomed.

My biggest gripe is the complete lack of flexibility in operations. Why, for example, does The Smiler/13 not operate their baggage holds on busy days, but, say, on 5K< days, revert to the current system.

The park grinds to a halt with any guest volumes over 10k currently. The operations need to be stepped up to cope with demand.

:)
 
If increased guest numbers continue into 2019 then anything to speed throughput up has to be looked at with urgency.

Potentially stupid question (I couldn’t work it out at the weekend) but is The Smiler still running on a reduced capacity since the accident? Even if so, the queues were noticeably longer due to poor throughput. Smiler’s queue could only hold 90 minutes at opening hence the extension built for 2014 yet 90 mins barely filled the queue 2/3rds full at the weekend. Th13teen was similar in terms of queueline filling not relating to as many people as it would have a few years back.
 
Scott said:
If increased guest numbers continue into 2019 then anything to speed throughput up has to be looked at with urgency.

Potentially stupid question (I couldn’t work it out at the weekend) but is The Smiler still running on a reduced capacity since the accident? Even if so, the queues were noticeably longer due to poor throughput. Smiler’s queue could only hold 90 minutes at opening hence the extension built for 2014 yet 90 mins barely filled the queue 2/3rds full at the weekend. Th13teen was similar in terms of queueline filling not relating to as many people as it would have a few years back.
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The Smiler operates 4 trains. However, due to the baggage arrangements it is quite the case (or to the best of my knowledge) that 2 always stack, so it is almost futile running it on 4 trains.

:(
 
skyscraper said:
I think they should limit RAP to wheelchair users only. That would solve the problem of too many RAP users. (Bear in mind that I wouldn't get it if that happened)
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Or they should look at it in the a similar way to Disney, design the main queue to be wheelchair accessible so you don’t need special passes. Then for anyone who cannot queue for other reasons (autism etc) they have a pass to wait the length of the queue time elsewhere and come back in the fastrack queue. No need for a third separate queue on most rides if you design the others better.
 
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WickerManiac said:
The Smiler operates 4 trains. However, due to the baggage arrangements it is quite the case (or to the best of my knowledge) that 2 always stack, so it is almost futile running it on 4 trains.

:(
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Last scarefest (with bag drop) they were able to dispatch the trains fast enough that I witnessed one train come into the station without slowing down/stopping when using all 4 trains. They got nowhere near this scarefest but they were working as fast as they could.
 
Going by the Alton Towers Holiday website, Scarefest 2019 is looking to be on 5th - 6th, 12th - 13th and 19th October to the 1st November.

Also, a tweet from the park is telling us to keep our eyes peeled for 2019 news on their website. I’m really hoping this relates to new flats, reopenings and refurbishments, instead of just the dungeons!

EDIT: Also, looking at the 2019 season pass website page, it looks as if Galactica VR is to stay as an image of this is featured on this part of the site which would be an odd move (or lack of planning) if it was to go. As I’ve said before on other threads, the Cuckoo cars are also featured and clearly labelled on the website and pass itself, too.
 
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