Yeah. I retract my previous statement about it being quieter! Seems to have got much busier in the last hour. Fair play to the park for opening at 0930. If you planned it correctly you could have got 3 or maybe 4 rides done by 10ish.
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2022: General Discussion
- Thread starter Danny
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Schools peak week!
Every school is back to doing school trips, and the Towers is the most popular place for them.
This week will be hell in most parks, unless you have some form of queuejump pass.
Danscott22
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Smiler
Yeah because it seemed like they’d opened multiple rides in each main area - Roller Disco and Thirteen, Oblivion and Spinjam, Nemesis, The Blade and it looks like Funk’n’Fly was supposed to open but didn’t
petegeorge1
TS Member
"schools peak week"
Seems the worst timing for my trip on Friday
, hopefully the older kids be keeping away from Cbeebies and the David Walliams area.I can't imagine we'll get away with Battle Gallions though.
I'll report back on the Cbeebies Hotel and Breakfast!
Josh
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
"schools peak week"
Seems the worst timing for my trip on Friday
I can't imagine we'll get away with Battle Gallions though.
I'll report back on the Cbeebies Hotel and Breakfast!
In recent weeks the amount of School trips seems to reduce as the week goes on, so Friday will hopefully not be as busy as say today or tomorrow. I would also make the most of the bonus ERT on some of the rides from 09:30 if you're able to, there are a couple of CBeebies rides that open early by the looks of it.
School trips always seem to descend en masse around 10/11ish and tend to mostly clear off by 16:30, so try to make the most of the morning and evening to avoid the crowds.
Danscott22
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Smiler
Monday and Friday are actually the worst days for school trips usually - but they’re all gonna be bad now let’s face it, there’s only this week and next week left to do before 6 weeks holidays
yoursilentface
TS Member
We're going AT wednesday the 20th july
I'm hoping it'll be a kind of lull between school trips and the start of the holidays
I'm hoping it'll be a kind of lull between school trips and the start of the holidays
Oh I agree with opening rides early I just think that Smiler should be one of them so that it hasn't got a massive queue by 10
I personally think that opening some rides at 0930 and keeping Wickerman and The Smiler closed until 10am is a stroke of genius. Rather than everyone piling into these queuelines and waiting until 10am, they have the opportunity to get 2, 3 or maybe even 4 rides done between 0930 and 1000. Even if you end up spending 3 hours afterwards in the queue for The Smiler and Wickerman, that would still leave you with roughly 5 hours to do the less popular attractions based on a 6pm close, having already done a few rides between 0930-1000.
ERT on half the park is going to be great at increasing ride count.
ERT on half the park is going to be great at increasing ride count.
It sounds like genius until you see smiler on 2 hours and everything else no more than 10, indicating that everyone have opted to join the queue for smiler and not ride anything before it
It's not bias it's just common sense. The coasters that opened were on 0 until 10 and smiler opened on 2 hours. So that concludes everyone ignored the already open rides to wait for the smiler to open. Hence I think it would be better if they opened smiler early to reduce the pressure on it by 10
Danny
TS Contributor
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people do wait for Smiler to open, but I don’t think that’s the sole cause of Smiler’s long queue by any means.
If that were the case; why doesn’t Wicker Man have a huge queue as well? I’d argue that ride is equally popular first thing as Smiler.
I think another factor to consider is throughput. Throughput-wise, I’d peg Smiler as one of the lowest among the big 7. If it’s on 4 trains, it gets slightly more than Rita (about 750-800pph last time I timed, and that could well have increased with the baggage hold returning), but if it’s on 3, then it’s comfortably the lowest (I have it at around 600-700pph on 3, even with the baggage hold open). Other coasters on park consistently exceed 1,000pph; the likes of Nemesis and Galactica are always over 1,000pph by a fair bit, Thirteen mostly is, and even Wicker Man often gets a solid 1,050pph.
And another thing to add is FT/RAP, and how that impacts the main queue. With Smiler being a popular ride, I’d imagine that like Wicker Man, its FT/RAP demand is quite high. Unlike Wicker Man, however, the throughput is often much lower, so that will naturally eat into the main queue throughput more and make the main queue longer. I’d imagine Smiler’s main queue throughput could well be one of the lowest main queue throughputs on park when you combine the low-ish base capacity and the high FT/RAP demand.
I won’t deny that it is a popular ride, but I think other factors need to be considered when deducing the cause of its relatively long queue time rather than just automatically assuming that “everyone goes there first”.
If that were the case; why doesn’t Wicker Man have a huge queue as well? I’d argue that ride is equally popular first thing as Smiler.
I think another factor to consider is throughput. Throughput-wise, I’d peg Smiler as one of the lowest among the big 7. If it’s on 4 trains, it gets slightly more than Rita (about 750-800pph last time I timed, and that could well have increased with the baggage hold returning), but if it’s on 3, then it’s comfortably the lowest (I have it at around 600-700pph on 3, even with the baggage hold open). Other coasters on park consistently exceed 1,000pph; the likes of Nemesis and Galactica are always over 1,000pph by a fair bit, Thirteen mostly is, and even Wicker Man often gets a solid 1,050pph.
And another thing to add is FT/RAP, and how that impacts the main queue. With Smiler being a popular ride, I’d imagine that like Wicker Man, its FT/RAP demand is quite high. Unlike Wicker Man, however, the throughput is often much lower, so that will naturally eat into the main queue throughput more and make the main queue longer. I’d imagine Smiler’s main queue throughput could well be one of the lowest main queue throughputs on park when you combine the low-ish base capacity and the high FT/RAP demand.
I won’t deny that it is a popular ride, but I think other factors need to be considered when deducing the cause of its relatively long queue time rather than just automatically assuming that “everyone goes there first”.
Come on Ethan, not again.
The rides showing zero queues have considerable throughput, so even if they are showing zero queuetimes, there could have been several hundred people actually enjoying walk ons, and several hundred people walking the queueline with a zero queue at 10am.
Your post isn't common sense, and your conclusion is incorrect, how exactly do you know "everyone" ignored the open rides, are you actually on the park today to witness this???
Excalibur
TS Member
Looking on Alton Towers Jobs earlier and seems Mellors are recruiting for Ride Ops & Hosts.
Alton make it clear that the position is for Mellors and not direct to themselves which I find odd. I also find it odd that they haven’t just roped in other fair staff to help and assist.
Alton make it clear that the position is for Mellors and not direct to themselves which I find odd. I also find it odd that they haven’t just roped in other fair staff to help and assist.
jon81uk
TS Member
What other fair staff? I would assume they are busy running the other fairs.
If the Retrosquad rides are owned and operated by Mellors it makes sense it’s their own staff operating them so the job advert would need to make it very clear you are getting a job wit Mellors and not Alton Towers.
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