2020: General Discussion

[Rob]

I think that is down to opinion. I find it interesting discussing ride popularity and queues. Maybe you don't but no point slating the people who do

To be fair, I do not think Islander was slating anyone. Merely pointing out that disucssion about how long a queue is at any given time is not overly interesting to everyone, which I would tend to agree with. But that is just a personal opinion, if other's enjoy it then that's fine also!

 

[Danscott22]

If I can manage to get access to the forum tomorrow I’ll be sure to try and give updates on how busy it is/my opinion on the atmosphere etc. Really looking forward to it!

 

[MellowPasta]

Booked to go next Friday, that’s if Derbyshire & Staffordshire aren’t ‘locked down’ by then. Lord I hate that term.

Is the Welcome inn open in the day during Oktoberfest? When I visited the day before it started it was closed when I was in that area early afternoon.

 

[Josh]

Booked to go next Friday, that’s if Derbyshire & Staffordshire aren’t ‘locked down’ by then. Lord I hate that term.

Is the Welcome inn open in the day during Oktoberfest? When I visited the day before it started it was closed when I was in that area early afternoon.

The indoor part of The Welcom-Inn is closed all the time, but the new "Wunderbar" where Courtyard BBQ used to be tends to open at some point between 12 and 2, and closes at the same time as the rest of the Octoberfest stuff.

I was on park yesterday and the queues were massively overestimated, managed to get 13 rides done (14 including Skyride ) and still spent a good 3-4 hours on the lawns enjoying the atmosphere with a few beers longest I queued was 25 mins for Hex.

 

[Danscott22]

Final hour on park queues really haven’t been bad, can confirm Enterprise is dead and Thirteen has also been closed since about 2 with the entrance now blocked off.

 

[John]

Enterprise was open at some point today, so not completely dead

 

[Ethan]

Weird and convenient how th13teen always closes at 4 during later opening hour days. It's as if they use the temperature as an excuse to cut back

 

[Thameslink Rail]

Weird and convenient how th13teen always closes at 4 during later opening hour days. It's as if they use the temperature as an excuse to cut back

That's exactly what they've done in the last few seasons and it's really annoying.

 

[Mikw]

Really good day on park today.

Thought the worst when the walk from the car park to the gates took almost an hour, but this was down to well observed social distanicing really.

Once inside it didn't seem that busy, ride queues overestimated significantly, Oblivion being 60 minutes, but on in 20, Most other rides similar.

Oktoberfest was really lovely, many picnic tables, well spaced and a great atmosphere. Very chilled today. Good job all round.

 

[Danscott22]

Enterprise had its entrance completely gated off, the app said 45 minutes for about 2 hours but I can assure you it was closed. Will do Oktoberfest thoughts tomorrow but unpopular opinions time. The Smiler reigns supreme and is the best ride on park by a landslide now. Oblivion has snuck back into second, it needs more love. Thirteen and Galactica are both severely underrated. Rita actually isn’t as bad as everyone makes out, no headbanging today, just smooth and enjoyable actually. Front row Wicker Man is garbage and really does nothing for me. As for Nemesis, if it closed tomorrow I wouldn’t care. Showing it’s age, so, so rough today! Like really painful actually. We managed 17 attractions (re rides included) in total, great ops.

 

[John]

Enterprise was running at 10.30ish, though the app said it was closed at the time.

 

[Ethan]

As for Nemesis, if it closed tomorrow I wouldn’t care. Showing it’s age, so, so rough today! Like really painful actually

For its age it's a very smooth ride imo. No headbanging, jolts or particularly bad moments at all really. It's definitely smoother than the smiler but yet a fair bit older

 

[Alsty]

I had a smooth ride on Nemesis yesterday morning. Maybe one train is better than the other?

 

[Cheese]

On our ride on Nemesis yesterday there was a bit of shake through the wheelset, most noticeably dropping into the bottom of the pit for the loop. It happens occasionally and I could tell we'd get it as soon as we left the station. I suspect it's specific to individual cars, maybe even certain sides, depending on when wheels have been changed etc. rather than there being any pattern to it - we're back on park today and I think we'll be unlucky not to get a smooth ride.

 

[Danscott22]

I had 2 rides on Nemesis and both were horrible. There is headbanging, quite a lot of it actually. The Smiler’s jolty inversions weren’t even that bad yesterday and the rest of it was smooth. Also had 2 rides on it and it definitely isn’t rough.

 

[Swarm Chris]

Have Towers lost their divisional director? Some indication that Merlin might have sent the Resort Theme Parks General Manager back in the interim.

 

[Matt N]

Have Towers lost their divisional director? Some indication that Merlin might have sent the Resort Theme Parks General Manager back in the interim.

The last I heard was that Alton Towers had a lady called Emma Catterall as the Divisional Director, as she was the person who talked about the park’s new measures on BBC News. Very odd if she’s gone already, as I don’t think she’s been there long from what I can tell.

By comparison, her predecessor Ian Crabbe lasted for quite a few years, as far as I can tell. The job of Divisional Director at Alton Towers is seemingly quite stable, as I’ve only known of 2 in all the years I’ve been an enthusiast, whereas I can remember umpteen different divisional directors that Thorpe has had.

 

[Danscott22]

Also forgot to mention, we were on and off Thirteen and Rita by 10:02 yesterday as Thirteen actually opened at 9:45.

 

[Swarm Chris]

The last I heard was that Alton Towers had a lady called Emma Catterall as the Divisional Director, as she was the person who talked about the park’s new measures on BBC News. Very odd if she’s gone already, as I don’t think she’s been there long from what I can tell.

By comparison, her predecessor Ian Crabbe lasted for quite a few years, as far as I can tell. The job of Divisional Director at Alton Towers is seemingly quite stable, as I’ve only known of 2 in all the years I’ve been an enthusiast, whereas I can remember umpteen different divisional directors that Thorpe has had.

The reason I ask is that her LinkedIn profile suggests that position ended in August 2020. Meanwhile Ian Crabbe was doing some visitor meetings with an MP that would have probably normally been handled by the divisional director.

For sure, management changes at Towers are a rare thing, unlike the revolving door at Thorpe Park.

 

[AstroDan]

To confirm:

Emma is no longer DD.

Ian is head of RTP and also Alton Towers

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