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2021: General Discussion

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s_g_k said:
I personally think that there are plenty of attractions to cater for the age group in between young child and the 1.4m threshold or for people who don’t like the big coasters:

Spinball, RMT, Marauders, Heave Ho, Battle Galleons, Roller Disco, CRR, Blade, Hex, Duel, Gansta Granny, Mixtape, the Twister in TWoDW and Enterprise.

14 rides in a day sounds like a good day out to me !(once TWoDW and the indoor attractions open of course!)
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Take out the coasters and thrilling rides like Mixtape and Enterprise and it’s slim pickings, then you have something like Battle Galleons which is effectively useless for 90% of the season. Don’t forget 3 of those are also temporary additions. A not insignificant amount of children and adults are just timid and don’t love being span around or turned upside down.
 
I can't tell you how delighted I am that the RAP/FT queue was 1 hour - as much as I pity the individuals in that queue line with legitimate disabilities and health problems.

The poor sods at Merlin have such a job on their hands over this, but they simply HAVE to act. It is effectively widespread queue jumping now.
 
AstroDan said:
I can't tell you how delighted I am that the RAP/FT queue was 1 hour - as much as I pity the individuals in that queue line with legitimate disabilities and health problems.

The poor sods at Merlin have such a job on their hands over this, but they simply HAVE to act. It is effectively widespread queue jumping now.
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Baffles me how it's got to this stage tbh. They've allowed it to spiral out of control and it's now it's got to the point where it's very difficult to reverse without upsetting people.

Only 10 years or so ago you would only ever see a handful of people at most ever accessing the rides via the exit.
 
The reason it has got to this stage is because Alton Towers (Merlin) were too naive to think it wouldn't be abused. The lack of clampdown on how many carers can ride with a disabled guest, the fear of the media (which has happened and does happen regularly), a sense amongst a section of those claiming RAP benefits that it's "free fastrack" - when actually that isn't the intention.

Serious changes are needed - and Merlin may have to pass through some fire to get there.
 
I've seen people getting it that don't actually need it in vlogs - as they'll get a time stamp on the RAP card and then wait in a normal queue for their next ride until the time written on the card has elapsed. To me that's proof they can stand in normal queues and shouldn't be entitled to it. My cousin is in a wheelchair and would not be able to stand in queues either physically or for the amount of length required - and is in genuine need of the RAP. We're quite happy to wait the time written on the cards between big rides - and do smaller rides that aren't timestamped such as Hex, Duel, Enterprise and The Blade. It's so unfair it's being abused.
 
AstroDan said:
The reason it has got to this stage is because Alton Towers (Merlin) were too naive to think it wouldn't be abused. The lack of clampdown on how many carers can ride with a disabled guest, the fear of the media (which has happened and does happen regularly), a sense amongst a section of those claiming RAP benefits that it's "free fastrack" - when actually that isn't the intention.

Serious changes are needed - and Merlin may have to pass through some fire to get there.
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Would be great if Towers put together an accessibility advisory panel, to help them solve issues like this and prevent them in the future.
(I'd be up for that myself, being a legitimate RAP user due to having learning difficulties)
 
Was on park today and I must say queues across the park were pretty ridiculous, largely because major attractions kept going down for extended periods of time. RAP/FastTrack queues were also extremely long which was interesting to see. As I've been three times in the last week, I didn't mind too much and I was quite happy to just do a bit of photography but there were definitely some disgruntled guests today.
 
TheAverageNerd said:
Was on park today and I must say queues across the park were pretty ridiculous, largely because major attractions kept going down for extended periods of time. RAP/FastTrack queues were also extremely long which was interesting to see. As I've been three times in the last week, I didn't mind too much and I was quite happy to just do a bit of photography but there were definitely some disgruntled guests today.
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Agreed, today was poor. Got a few walk-on rides on Nemesis (air gates are fixed!) and Oblivion, and it died off towards the end of the day, but on the whole pretty shocking.

Spent most of the day in drinking establishments. Quite impressed with the current set-up at Rollercoaster Restaurant - good cocktails, meals and cakes!
 
Ethan said:
Bloody hell if that's how long the RAP queue was I can't imagine how long the main queue was
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2.5hrs. The problem is once you are in it you cant really get out. I took a photo of a large portion of The Smiler queue which I wont post, but 80% of guests in the photo are sat on the floor it moved so slowly.

I am by no means social distancing police but the RAP/FT queue was next level shocking. I am talking people stuffed in akin to a concert; sincerely the first time I have seen so many people so close since before covid. I think what was happening is there were two separate queues running concurrently along the one path. It is completely unacceptable and they shouldn’t really be getting away with it.

I also spent 20 mins watching the host at the Wicker Man merge point and it was basically alternating between one group from RAP, one from FT, and one from main queueline.

That aside, it was nice to blitz Nemesis after missing out on opening day.
 
John said:
Something needs to be done.

The RAP/FT situation is destroying the guest experience for everyone else.
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The rap/ft situation is problematic for quite literally everyone. Notably smiler Saturday I noped out upon seeing the queue to the stairs (as in the external ones you walk down)
 
RAP is not fit for purpose, that’s abundantly clear. The sad part is , yes it makes queues for everyone longer , but the people that it affects the most is those genuine users who don’t even bother going to the parks any more because it’s not manageable to have an enjoyable day out any more
 
jmc said:
I am by no means social distancing police but the RAP/FT queue was next level shocking. I am talking people stuffed in akin to a concert; sincerely the first time I have seen so many people so close since before covid.
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Doesn't that go against the reason that many justify using the RAP in the first place, unable to queue for any length of time or have severe anxiety which prevents them from being in crowded confine spaces. It proves that a majority of RAP users could queue in the main queue, but choose to use RAP as a free FT :rolleyes:
 
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