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2021: General Discussion

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Having been Sunday and seen the ents staff floating about, it was nice to see that they're about midweek too. Less of them as you'd expect but the traffic patrol and beefeaters were about. How long this will last I don't know but it adds a bit of atmosphere.
 
Poisson said:
Having been Sunday and seen the ents staff floating about, it was nice to see that they're about midweek too. Less of them as you'd expect but the traffic patrol and beefeaters were about. How long this will last I don't know but it adds a bit of atmosphere.
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The beefeaters will be out and about at least until TWoDW opens, as they're advertising it. I'd expect them to remain after it opens as well.
 
Yeah weren't the Dungeon characters roaming for most of 2019? I'd say maybe the beefeaters will stick about for most of the season!
 
Skyscraper said:
The beefeaters will be out and about at least until TWoDW opens, as they're advertising it. I'd expect them to remain after it opens as well.
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"We're from London don't you know!" When we interacted with them, one of them was obsessed with that fact and telling us. So much so that almost every reply he made had "London" in it! Was very funny. And fair play to them, as much as we goaded them about the certain group of people that were around on Sunday and joking about protecting the crown jewels (both the Queen's and their own!) they didn't bite!

By the way has anyone seen - in person or in vlogs - the roaming entertainment Thorpe have got this year? Looks like Safari rangers who should be at Chessington and Android/Alien people that look like cheap knock-offs of the Galactica crew that were at Scarefest the other year!
 
Steve74 said:
By the way has anyone seen - in person or in vlogs - the roaming entertainment Thorpe have got this year? Looks like Safari rangers who should be at Chessington and Android/Alien people that look like cheap knock-offs of the Galactica crew that were at Scarefest the other year!
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Yes, I saw them last week. Both were comical and added some atmosphere to the day. The Alien people would stop and dance randomly and say strange things. The Safari rangers had 2 puppets and were interacting with the kids.

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rob666 said:
Sundays have always been my favourite days at the Towers.
Get in early, and you can get most of the big coasters in during the first few hours.
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Plus the roads are quieter if you have a long way to travel! Coming from Gloucester, I have to contend with the M5/M6 interchange, Stafford and Uttoxeter centres too and always get to them at peak time. So on a Sunday it's great with no rush hour or school run traffic!
 
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Steve74 said:
Plus the roads are quieter if you have a long way to travel! Coming from Gloucester, I have to contend with the M5/M6 interchange, Stafford and Uttoxeter centres too and always get to them at peak time. So on a Sunday it's great with no rush our or school run traffic!
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Coming from Somerset, I also have M5 around Bristol to contend with as well. On a week day I find I need to leave at 6am to get onto the M6 before 8.

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What’s the general consensus on if the 4pm midweek dates in late May and June/July are likely to get pushed to 5pm or later given the debut of Mardi Gras and the generally better attitude towards opening times this season?

I’m back in the UK from university in Florida in early May and after I do quarantine I’m thinking about getting a discovery pass for midweek park access.
 
MakoMania said:
What’s the general consensus on if the 4pm midweek dates in late May and June/July are likely to get pushed to 5pm or later given the debut of Mardi Gras and the generally better attitude towards opening times this season?

I’m back in the UK from university in Florida in early May and after I do quarantine I’m thinking about getting a discovery pass for midweek park access.
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I suspect those dates should be 7/8pm closures on the basis of the opening week. Particularly during the events, given they're being advertised on the basis of sunset rides etc.
 
rob666 said:
Sundays have always been my favourite days at the Towers.
Get in early, and you can get most of the big coasters in during the first few hours.
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That's really handy as I'm going on a Sunday in May (first weekend of Mardi Gras). Thanks Rob :)
 
Sunday is also my favourite day of the week to visit Alton, especially if the hours are longer than off peak. Sunday is usually a good 20% quieter than the Saturday prior, with the same hours.

That said, even on a Saturday - if you arrive at 9.15am you'll easily get three large coasters done by 11am and you can mop the rest up later in the day.
 
I think the park needs to come up with some way of spreading the crowds around the park at the start of the day better as currently everyone goes to Wicker Man and Smiler first leaving the back of the park pretty empty for the first hour. Whilst this can be beneficial to people in the know who can plan their day around that, it doesn't make a very good first impression to other guests when Smiler and Wicker Man hit 60 mins almost immediately.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
I think the park needs to come up with some way of spreading the crowds around the park better as currently everyone goes to Wicker Man and Smiler first leaving the back of the park pretty empty for the first hour. Whilst this can be beneficial to people in the know who can plan their day around that, it doesn't make a very good first impression to other guests when Smiler and Wicker Man hit 60 mins almost immediately.
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People can choose whatever ride they want to get on first. They know full well that they choose either of those 2 and they'll be waiting longer than the other coasters
 
Thameslink Rail said:
I think the park needs to come up with some way of spreading the crowds around the park at the start of the day better as currently everyone goes to Wicker Man and Smiler first leaving the back of the park pretty empty for the first hour. Whilst this can be beneficial to people in the know who can plan their day around that, it doesn't make a very good first impression to other guests when Smiler and Wicker Man hit 60 mins almost immediately.
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Eh?
What do you suggest...each group assigned clockwise/anticlockwise route, tall people go straight to Dark Forest perhaps.
Surnames A to M to Forbidden Valley, N to Z must go directly to Oblivion.
 
rob666 said:
Eh?
What do you suggest...each group assigned clockwise/anticlockwise route, tall people go straight to Dark Forest perhaps.
Surnames A to M to Forbidden Valley, N to Z must go directly to Oblivion.
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I agree. It's makes no sense to suggest that the park should prevent people from going to the best 2 rides first to split crowds. Off course people will start off with them
 
Ok, I'm in a low mood currently so I'm going to struggle to defend my post but here goes:
By 'spreading the crowds round the park', I was thinking more of an advertising campaign. Chessington once did a 'top 10 tips for enjoying your day' video, which included "don't go to Vampire and Dragon's Fury at the start of the day, everyone does that, instead go to Tomb Blaster or Dragon's Falls". Whilst Alton Towers can't force people to go a certain way, I think they could advertise on social media "Wicker Man and The Smiler are likely to be very busy at the start of the day, you may get on more rides if you go to Forbidden Valley or Dark Forest first".
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Ok, I'm in a low mood currently so I'm going to struggle to defend my post but here goes:
By 'spreading the crowds round the park', I was thinking more of an advertising campaign. Chessington once did a 'top 10 tips for enjoying your day' video, which included "don't go to Vampire and Dragon's Fury at the start of the day, everyone does that, instead go to Tomb Blaster or Dragon's Falls". Whilst Alton Towers can't force people to go a certain way, I think they could advertise on social media "Wicker Man and The Smiler are likely to be very busy at the start of the day, you may get on more rides if you go to Forbidden Valley or Dark Forest first".
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Its a good point mass crowds at certain rides isn't the best in a situation like currently. It'll always be like that though as Wicker man is the newest ride and the smiler is the definition of a GP pleaser
 
It is a thing at all parks that the biggest rides get the longest queues immediately, or rides nearer the entrance.

A solution would be for ATR to open rides like WM/Smiler from the very moment anybody enters the park at 9.15am. But with late closes. tech services would probably struggle.

An issue with the park is that a queue is allowed to build up before the ride(s) even open.
 
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