2021: General Discussion

[LazyDavid]

You see told you it works. Also I knew judging on the queues that Galactica was on 3 trains, frustrating that I went a day when it was only on 2 and ended up waiting 90 mins for it when you only waited 15/20!

Thanks for that, was a great plan! Yes we felt very jammy when we saw the queue was splitting before the stations, it did feel like we were moving quite quickly despite being back over the hill in the queue line!

 

[Ethan]

Does anyone know if they're allowing single riders on spinball now? Also is the smiler single rider queue reopen

 

[Danscott22]

If they're allowing single riders on Spinball I might actually get a ride on it later this month as the person I visit with doesn't like it!

 

[AT86]

Loading all rows is a trial on certain rides:



So that reads to me that rides with OTSR can fill all rows and mix groups within the rows. But rides with lap bars can fill all rows but not mix groups within the rows.

So single riders on Spinball would still not be possible for now.

 

[Islander]

Very interesting for AT to reply to a TowersStreet tweet to confirm that lol

 

[Matt N]

So does that mean they’ll go back to spacing rows out once the week is up? Or might they extend the guidance to more rides if the trial is successful?

What is it exactly that the park is “trialling”? Are they seeing whether this effects COVID transmission within the park? Or is it more based on feedback on how guests feel about the change?

 

[tayspru]

So does that mean they’ll go back to spacing rows out once the week is up?

I imagine they will monitor guest reaction. If they don’t get complaints about it it will likely stay, if it also reduces complaints about queue times it will defintiely stay

 

[Craig]

So does that mean they’ll go back to spacing rows out once the week is up?

It means they'll review how things have gone and either end or continue doing it. The difference it's made so far is substantial, and considering how other parks both in the UK and internationally have had no major impact from such a policy I see no reason for it not to stick around.

I've seen a few wannabe lawyers on Twitter already kicking off about it, again seeming to think the Coronavirus regulations have specific laws preventing them from doing this which is completely incorrect. If there is sufficient mitigation for the risks (masks, not facing each other, moving at speed for airflow) and the guidance has changed as a result, then there's no reason why this can't be implemented. To even suggest that a company as large as Merlin are willingly breaking the law and haven't gone over this with a fine tooth comb is frankly laughable.

 

[Matt N]

Very interesting for AT to reply to a TowersStreet tweet to confirm that lol

I’ve seen that Alton Towers have begun replying to quite a few of TS’ tweets on Twitter:



Nice to see the park having a little fun with its fans!

 

[AT86]

I think it just depends who is on the social media duty that day. Some people in the team are more interested in engaging with the fan account stuff than others.

As nice as it may be, there are a lot of customers on Twitter who are really struggling to get basic customer service answers out of Towers at the moment, complaints of unanswered phone calls, emails, DM’s etc are rife. So it is not the best look for already annoyed customers to see the ‘bants, bants, bants!’ with fan accounts when they need genuine customer service help.

 

[Matt.GC]

If we're trialing things, can they trial turning on the waterfalls, guns and all wave machines on the rapids for a week or so (like they trialed them for the 3 decades before they turned it all off) and if no one falls in the water, keep everything on?

Sent from my VOG-L29 using Tapatalk

 

[Skyscraper]

If we're trialing things, can they trial turning on the waterfalls, guns and all wave machines on the rapids for a week or so (like they trialed them for the 3 decades before they turned it all off) and if no one falls in the water, keep everything on?

Depends on whether they all need work doing first as they've been switched off for so long.

 

[AT86]

Didn’t think it was worthy of its own thread so thought I’d put this here.

Alton Towers have applied for planning permission to keep the stage on the Towers St lawns for 5 years. They want permission for it to be located on the lawns between March and November for summer season and then moved to Fountain Sq for Dec-Feb for winter.

It does seem to show at least a medium term commitment to keeping a greater amount of entertainment for the next few years. The documents also state that the Fountain Sq location is to cover ‘Christmas and Feb Half Term events’ - so perhaps Feb half term opening could be back on the cards.

http://publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk/portal/servlets/ApplicationSearchServlet?PKID=148866

 

[Danny]

Great news and long overdue.

 

[AstroDan]

Theyre definitely on a journey to opening more of the year. I think eventually the park will open at least partially from Feb half term through to the start of January, with perhaps a couple of weeks off in November.

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

 

[jon81uk]

As nice as it may be, there are a lot of customers on Twitter who are really struggling to get basic customer service answers out of Towers at the moment, complaints of unanswered phone calls, emails, DM’s etc are rife. So it is not the best look for already annoyed customers to see the ‘bants, bants, bants!’ with fan accounts when they need genuine customer service help.

Personally I don’t think social media is the best place for customer service anyway. They really should be providing better phone support but I don’t think stopping one person responding positively on Twitter would cause the phones to be answered quicker.

 

[Rob F]

Sorry Alton towers are looking for staff for that role, but no one wants to deal with the complaimts

 

[WickerwomanH]

To be honest I've had better experiences of customer service support both from towers and other companies through social media than on the phone

 

[imanautie]

To be honest I've had better experiences of customer service support both from towers and other companies through social media than on the phone

I'm pretty sure my most recent issue with merlin wouldn't have been resolved without the public nature of it.

 

[AT86]

What is happening with Alton Towers customer service at the moment? Is this part of the recruitment issue they are experiencing? Complaints on social media have been constant for weeks now with people not being able to get hold of anyone to help with basic questions. Here are just a few from today alone.











https://twitter.com/hgcolbert/status/1404414760561659904?s=21