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2021: General Discussion

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I feel as though the pre-show would be served better by a cattle pen queue line in there, but still with the doors operational (a la Symbolica). There'd be less huddling together and everyone would know where to stand. You'd also keep your place in the queue (a minor point, I know).
 
Need to just splice in the old CATCF video about finding a coloured spot and staying spot on. That wouldn't ruin the immersion at all.
 
Just got back from a great couple of days at Towers. The park was very busy but operations were very good meaning that I managed 38 rides over the 2 days without any fast track.
I won’t go too into detail but I want to mention a couple of things:
• The park is looking very clean at the moment and good to see live entertainment on the stage being enjoyed.
• Ride availability was very good, I don’t think a single ride was closed for more than a couple of hours during the visit.
• Operations on most things were great, Nemesis, Wicker Man and The Smiler especially.
• The Retro Squad rides do look very out of place but they’re doing their job for this year, all 3 of them gaining queues.
• Great to see Smiler’s SRQ open again, meant that we managed to get 10 rides on it over the last couple of days, each one with absolutely no queue.
• A final mention to the Nemesis staff last night, where they had to close the ride due to a storm but they kept us all entertained and updated very well and evacuated the other train very quickly too.

Just a couple of negatives though:
• The refill stations all had huge queues throughout the day, they could do with installing some more of them throughout the park.
• The operations on Mixtape and Roller Disco are awful. It felt like it took around 10 minutes between cycles to load and unload both, meaning what was a wait of 2 cycles for Roller Disco ended up being a 22 minute wait and 3 cycles for Mixtape was a 38 minute wait.
• The car park exit at the end of the day needs improving, I got in the car at 5:50 yesterday and didn’t end up leaving the site until 7:15. They need more than one exit out of the main car park.
• Galactica’s queue time was well underestimated both times we went on it. Admittedly it was only running one station with two trains for both rides so may have been harder to predict, however I think they should have adjusted the queue time accordingly.

Overall though, we had a great time and look forward to returning soon, very impressed mainly with how Towers is looking and operating this year.
 
Galactica being on 2 stations shouldn’t mean the queue is underestimated, let’s say the queue is to the entrance, on 3 crafts and 2 stations it would be X minutes on 2 stations and 2 crafts it would be Y minutes and on 1 station and 2 crafts it would be Z minutes.
 
spinba11 said:
Galactica being on 2 stations shouldn’t mean the queue is underestimated, let’s say the queue is to the entrance, on 3 crafts and 2 stations it would be X minutes on 2 stations and 2 crafts it would be Y minutes and on 1 station and 2 crafts it would be Z minutes.
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Yes but they've probably estimated the queue based on 3 craft instead of 2 hence why it was understated
 
Currently in the park and been told thirteen won’t open today. No reason given but if they know it’s closed from the very start and for all day it either staffing or technical problems
 
GaryH said:
Currently in the park and been told thirteen won’t open today. No reason given but if they know it’s closed from the very start and for all day it either staffing or technical problems
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Could well be staffing issues due to isolation. If they don't have enough staff then they can't operate the ride. This is why the isolation rules changing in a month is important for the park because if staff don't need to isolate then things like this won't happen. Off course it isn't towers fault but to not be able to operate a major attraction because of staff shortages indicates real problems with recruitment
 
Ethan said:
Off course it isn't towers fault but to not be able to operate a major attraction because of staff shortages indicates real problems with recruitment
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I think that's a bit of a leap considering the current circumstances, given the volume of pings, it's not beyond comprehension that they have the staff on the payroll but not on the park.

.... Or Intamin.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if they have a major issue with operators rather than just general short staffing. A large ride will only usually have a handful of trained operators on a well staffed season, so if isolations come into effect then they can easily be stuck.

Staffing is an issue across ALL hospitality and tourist attractions this year so lets say a ride has 4 operators trained up for 2021 season.
Operator1 tests positive for covid, they have to isolate
The previous day they were sharing the cabin with Operator2, good chance they are told to isolate.
You now have 2 operators left, either they both work 10 days straight to provide breaks each other or trained managers step in to cover breaks.
Worst case is Operator1 was also sharing the cabin with Operator3 in the previous days then they are totally stuffed.

Obviously this is all hypothetical but very possible.
 
I feel pretty glad at the moment that I didn't bother renewing my Merlin Pass after it expired a couple of months back. They're still making it harder for pass-holders even though we've had 'freedom day' by forcing them to pre-book but having a limited availability. Add to this certain rides not being operated for whatever various reason. The pass just isn't enticing enough at these prices but with patchy park entry and ride availability. Just felt like sharing that with you haha.

By the way, have they opened the Towers ruins this year?
 
I can also imagine Towers being reluctant to pay proper OT rates. Combined with the nicer weather people won't want to sacrifice days off.
 
Does any company actually pay higher rates for overtime these days? It’s just your regular hourly rate paid for extra hours for most jobs isn’t it?
 
AT86 said:
Does any company actually pay higher rates for overtime these days? It’s just your regular hourly rate paid for extra hours for most jobs isn’t it?
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Where I am pay double time OT at the moment, usually 1.5 time.
 
BarryZola said:
I feel pretty glad at the moment that I didn't bother renewing my Merlin Pass after it expired a couple of months back. They're still making it harder for pass-holders even though we've had 'freedom day' by forcing them to pre-book but having a limited availability. Add to this certain rides not being operated for whatever various reason. The pass just isn't enticing enough at these prices but with patchy park entry and ride availability. Just felt like sharing that with you haha.

By the way, have they opened the Towers ruins this year?
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I have no proof of this but I think that’s deliberate, my guess is they are going to get rid of the MAP as it currently works and what ever they do in the future will be more expensive and limited to keep numbers low (as annual passes go it’s actually quite cheep).

I think someone in Merlin realised that annual passes are fine in small numbers when only the genuine regular attenders use it, but not so great when it’s advertised to the general population. Instead of having one big end date and thousands of people moaning collectively on social media they could be trying to ween as many people off the pass as possible before they take the plunge, but that’s just a guess.

Plus the lanyard wearing AP holders look silly roaming the parks with their passes dangling off their necks so there might be aesthetic considerations ;)
 
Dave said:
Possibly, it has to be said that whenever you see someone being rude to a member of staff there is a 70% chance said “Karen” will have an annual pass oscillating in front of their chest.

When the VIP passes existing they had a 95% Karen factor.
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I have seen an admin from one of the Facebook groups with a clipboard at Box Office reeling off issues they had with their day, it was a sad sight to see.
 
I can think of a few people who would do that, I’m with you Dave about shouting ‘get a life’. In all the years I was a VIP (6 years) I only went to complain 2 times, once was the host refusing me via the FT queue, the other was the host not letting me on Oblivion despite the fact that I was within 5m of the gate when she closed and it was obvious I was trying to get there before they closed it. The 2nd time was unrelated to being a VIP.
 
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