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2020: General Discussion

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Squiggs said:
I'm not sure it does really coast... I was under the impression that any speed it picks up is because of it's programming.
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I don’t really know; to me, it personally feels like a roller coaster, so I’d comfortably class it as a roller coaster.

As I said, however, some people won’t, and that’s fine by me! There’s no real set definition of what a roller coaster is.
 
Squiggs said:
I'm not sure it does really coast... I was under the impression that any speed it picks up is because of it's programming.
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I don’t believe there’s any alteration of the speed during the ride, save deceleration to a stop into the station. When it’s going downhill, however, it’ll naturally pick up speed, which could be argued is coasting.

[mention]John [/mention], what’s the Engineers view?


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The only powered coaster I've ever properly looked at is the one at Gold Reef City. it's not a Mack (or at least some of it isn't - it's a weird Frankenstein's monster of a coaster that I don't know the full details of) and unlike most powered coasters it has a couple of proper drops which very much feel like a conventional coaster. I don't think a typical powered coaster is sophisticated enough to know exactly where the train is at all times but the control system will be able to monitor the motor speed. It will therefore tend to speed up on downhill sections but be held back by the motors - different types of powered coaster may be more or less effective at doing so.

I vaguely remember hearing from a former staff member that RMT has a dial on the op panel to adjust the speed, that staff are instructed to leave it in a certain position and that said speed is less than it originally operated at. Some or all of that info I could have misremembered or entirely imagined.

I've always counted RMT as a coaster. Ghost Train and other dark rides with a gravity drop aren't coasters.
 
To me, Runaway Mine Train feels a lot faster and more wild than it actually is; getting off it, I can never believe that it only goes 3.8mph faster than Octonauts, because sections of that layout are really quite forceful for a family coaster! The helixes are really quite fast; the second one in particular has no business being on a family powered coaster, in my opinion!

Overall, I think Runaway Mine Train is just such a fun coaster, and one that I feel like I should make far more of an effort to ride when I’m at Alton Towers! I know it might sound strange, but it actually slots into the bottom end of my top 30; by far my favourite powered roller coaster!
 
I don't consider the Runaway Mine Train to be a coaster personally, but it's up to others if they agree or disagree. I don't see any need to debate it.

I've heard the same thing as John. There is a speed control (although it's possibly not on the main panel but one of auxiliary panels instead) which could be adjusted to make it go faster or slower through the circuit.
 
Stargazing Pods are now able to be booked from 1st August.

I guess this means hotel bookings are going quite well, otherwise they may not have decided to open more accommodation.
 
To me, that definitely implies that they’ve had a successful opening period. In the long term, that can only mean good things for their recovery from the crisis!
 
Had a great day today! Got a tonne done! Noted advertised queue times and how long we waited:
Thirteen - walk on as a first ride so cant comment
Galactica - Advertised 25, waited 30
River Rapids - Advertised 40, waited 35
Oblivion (first go) - Advertised 40, waited 20
Oblivion (second go) - Advertised 10, waited 10
Nemesis - Advertised 0, waited 10
The Smiler - Advertised 100, waited 45
Wicker Man (first go & second go) - Advertised 75, waited 55 & 45
Rita was about 2 hours late opening so didnt catch it first thing and then was too high all day to be bothered with.
Social distancing is a real let down however, staff are really trying with announcements but people dont seem to care! Also saw groups pull their mask down on Galactica, The Smiler and Wicker Man and pull them back up at the brake run. Just don't go!! I thought having a mask on was fine and didn't feel loose or unsecure.
Good day overall!
EDIT: Also, operations, particularly on Wicker Man, were outstanding today!! Notable mentions to the team on Oblivion and The Smiler too!
 
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Danscott22 said:
The Smiler - Advertised 100, waited 45
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I know the queues generally are a bit overestimated at the moment, but that's just funny how innacurate the advertised queue was. Less than half the advertised wait, 10-25 mins off maybe but that's ridiculous. This just makes me think more they shouldn't bother having queue times atm
 
Ethan said:
I know the queues generally are a bit overestimated at the moment, but that's just funny how innacurate the advertised queue was. Less than half the advertised wait, 10-25 mins off maybe but that's ridiculous. This just makes me think more they shouldn't bother having queue times atm
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Smiler's queue was in the extension all day except for when we chose to ride, wasn't anywhere near the entrance but advertised as 100 when we entered, I believe they changed it to 70 about 5 minutes after but it was still only 45.
 
John said:
I vaguely remember hearing from a former staff member that RMT has a dial on the op panel to adjust the speed, that staff are instructed to leave it in a certain position and that said speed is less than it originally operated at. Some or all of that info I could have misremembered or entirely imagined.
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There is a dial on the op panel, the operator has full control over what speed the train travels at. Although it is most definitely always set to full speed. I believe Tech Services have the ability to increase/decrease the top speed that the ride is capable of though, and it has indeed been lowered from what it originally was. Something to do with the force exerted on the track being too much as the train enters the tunnel.

All that said, I believe RMT is a roller coaster. It rolls and coasts, just with the addition of power to get it moving and increase it's speed.
 
Josh said:
There is a dial on the op panel, the operator has full control over what speed the train travels at. Although it is most definitely always set to full speed. I believe Tech Services have the ability to increase/decrease the top speed that the ride is capable of though, and it has indeed been lowered from what it originally was. Something to do with the force exerted on the track being too much as the train enters the tunnel.

All that said, I believe RMT is a roller coaster. It rolls and coasts, just with the addition of power to get it moving and increase it's speed.
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I have had a ride on RMT, many years ago now (say 15 years), where there was either something wrong with it or the op was messing about. Throughout one lap of the course the speed kept changing from a snail pace to its usual speed every few seconds. I’m pretty sure we did more than 2 laps as well.

Always stuck in my mind as it was an unusual experience and I rarely ride RMT.


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First day of the season for me today, it was busier than expected. Nobody checked my pre booking at the gate so just went in as normal on the season pass.

Social distancing obseved on the whole apart from a few people.

Queue times all over the place, most rides less than the advertsied time. Wickerman let the side down with an 60 minute queue being a 90 Minutes one.

Special mention to the Oblvion vcrew today. Both stations in use and it never got above a 20 minute queue all day as far as i could see.
 
I didn't see SD being observed much at all 2 weeks ago but then better than I've seen it at work.

Nobody seemed to understand the large gaps given in the Smiler queue due to it being a Cattle pen and you not being able to stand in a place where someone would be stood on the other side of the fence. Incredible how stupid people are that they can grasp the concept of 2mtrs in front and behind but not beside them.

I liked all the extended lines being open. The long walks meant you were technically queuing whilst still moving. Took 8 mins (I timed it) to stroll slowly from the entrance to the back of the queue on Nemesis. Still had idiots racing up behind me as if walking faster was going to get them on quicker. Was like being in DLP.

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Any other passholders having difficulty booking visits? I say this becasue a number of people of Alton Tower's Facebook page are saying they're having problems finding days to book that are free on the website. But those greeked out dates are available to non pass holders.

When i went on Saturday nobody asked to see my proof of pre booking and i just scanned my pass and went in
 
Mikw said:
Any other passholders having difficulty booking visits? I say this becasue a number of people of Alton Tower's Facebook page are saying they're having problems finding days to book that are free on the website. But those greeked out dates are available to non pass holders.

When i went on Saturday nobody asked to see my proof of pre booking and i just scanned my pass and went in
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It's going to happen because merlin are too cheap to actually setup accesso properly, they cod easily have it so it blocks passes if there isn't a valid pre-book, but they they don't.

What I think is happening (this applies across merlin) is they are reviewing the scan logs and seeing if the total passes scanned is less then, equal to or greater then reservations.


If its greater then that means passholders are getting in without prebooking so more stringent checks needed, if it's less then it means people are prebooking without going so perhaps a price increase or other incentive to actually go.
(My preferred option is the tayto park method,but again merlin and ticketing systems...)
 
Matt.GC said:
I didn't see SD being observed much at all 2 weeks ago but then better than I've seen it at work.

Nobody seemed to understand the large gaps given in the Smiler queue due to it being a Cattle pen and you not being able to stand in a place where someone would be stood on the other side of the fence. Incredible how stupid people are that they can grasp the concept of 2mtrs in front and behind but not beside them.

I liked all the extended lines being open. The long walks meant you were technically queuing whilst still moving. Took 8 mins (I timed it) to stroll slowly from the entrance to the back of the queue on Nemesis. Still had idiots racing up behind me as if walking faster was going to get them on quicker. Was like being in DLP.

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I personally think it's shocking that merlin have cattle pens open, such as Zufari at Chessington, smiler at towers and saw at Thorpe Park without any form of plexiglass screens between the rows of the cattlepen. I understand they've thought about where to put the markers on the floor so you are 2m from everyone in all directions, but seeing as most people don't stick to the markers this simply doesn't work.

If you are going to have cattle pens open you must either have plexiglass screens/boards between rows of the cattlepen (like at Disney and Efteling) or make masks mandatory in the queue line. Otherwise every other row of the cattlepen needs to be closed off, simple as that.
 
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