2022: General Discussion

[Benjsh]

No major new additions for the season and they still can't get their main attractions ready for the new season.

Wicker Man on one train, the best dark ride at the park not open at all.

Even brought in temporary rides again (which I totally disagree with) and even one of them wasn't ready.

Merlin are a complete and utter joke. They just know they can't get away with it because the competition in the UK is so weak. Makes my blood boil how they treat their customers.

 

[NuttySquirrel]

No major new additions for the season and they still can't get their main attractions ready for the new season.

Wicker Man on one train, the best dark ride at the park not open at all.

Even brought in temporary rides again (which I totally disagree with) and even one of them wasn't ready.

Merlin are a complete and utter joke. They just know they can't get away with it because the competition in the UK is so weak. Makes my blood boil how they treat their customers.

Honestly I really didn't think it was that bad yesterday. Yes it was busy and it was a pity about Wicker Man being on one train but you do expect some teething problems and I really think they were doing their best. Smiler was back, CRR was back, not sure what was going on with Galactica but all other coasters open and running well from what I could see. Some F&B staff clearly in training as well but all smiles and doing their best I thought. Food at Woodcutters was good as well.

 

[Dave]

No major new additions for the season and they still can't get their main attractions ready for the new season.

Wicker Man on one train, the best dark ride at the park not open at all.

Even brought in temporary rides again (which I totally disagree with) and even one of them wasn't ready.

Merlin are a complete and utter joke. They just know they can't get away with it because the competition in the UK is so weak. Makes my blood boil how they treat their customers.

Hex is the only major ride down.

It is a bit strange how Wickerman and Thirteen haven’t had all their trains ready for the start of the season. Maybe the issue of getting parts shipped has caused problems again (nearly all ride parts come from the EU and although the media is mostly avoiding talking about it there are real issues with cross border shipping at the moment).

On the flip side they do seem to have done a lot of maintenance this closed season for park infrastructure/ decor.

The temporary rides are frustrating, Merlin seem to be avoiding any real funding for Towers at the moment.

 

[Danscott22]

I think we’ve had much MUCH worse opening weekends than this one. Yeah capacity on rides wasn’t great, but we weren’t even expecting 2 of the rides to even be open due to downtime last season that we weren’t sure had been resolved. Yeah permanent flats would be better - but the Retro Squad go down well with the public (my cousin who is a little older than me really likes them). No one was expecting Spinjam open, and Enterprise is no major loss. Hex is due back open today. The parks looks fresh, some nice little touch ups. All in all, probably one of the better March opening weekends.

I’m not defending - just trying to put a positive spin on what in theory could have been a lot worse

 

[Ethan]

Think I'll give Wicker man a miss tommorow. Wanted to give it a go for my first trip so unless it's on 2 trains I don't think I'll bother spending unnecessary excessive time in the queue

 

[Benjsh]

Think I'll give Wicker man a miss tommorow. Wanted to give it a go for my first trip so unless it's on 2 trains I don't think I'll bother spending unnecessary excessive time in the queue

The park will be dead tomorrow. Everyone will be at school and work. You'll probably wait no longer than 20-30 mins for anything and maybe not even that.

 

[Ethan]

The park will be dead tomorrow. Everyone will be at school and work. You'll probably wait no longer than 20-30 mins for anything and maybe not even that.

Do you think it'll be quieter than today then?

 

[Benjsh]

Do you think it'll be quieter than today then?

Probably. I imagine there's still a few there today still who have been for opening weekend and stopped over.

It will be quieter from tomorrow onwards I imagine.

 

[George W]

Do you think it'll be quieter than today then?

I find Tuesdays are typically the most quiet day of the week Tuesday to Thursday off peak are usually where it's at for walk ons and short queues, wickerman I'd imagine on 1 train will still have a fair queue but if that bothers you leave it until last or if you're some of the first people in the park pre queue for it.

I'll be going next Monday, it was gonna be Tuesday but we saved £70 each on premier inn rooms going a day earlier, also gonna visit drayton on the day before so will be cool checking drayton on opening weekend.

 

[adamw]

Lots of updates and changes at Extraordinary Golf which is celebrating its 15 year anniversary this year!

There doesn’t seem to be a dedicated golf thread so I’ll pop it here.

Lots of working being done at the moment too. Replacement bridges and fencing and brand new effects added.



A new launch button with lighting has been added to the Rita hole and it seems like something else is being added to the Driving School car wash at the moment.

The Duel smoke machine seems to have been replaced also.

Loads going on!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Thameslink Rail]

A few general thoughts from today so far:
Ok it's a quiet day crowds wise however the park is struggling with the number of rides down and Wicker Man on one train.
I don't believe Enterprise, Spinjam, Battle Galleons and Hex have opened all day. It definitely feels like the park are not ready and they could do with putting a timed ticket system on Wicker Man temporarily.

 

[Craig]

The only resolution to Wicker Man’s problems is to get the trains back up and running. A timed ticketing system just likely ends up making the situation worse. If the ride goes down they’re just causing further complaints, the same if someone is late due to other rides going down.

They would however be best to advise people that the ride is liable to close early somewhere due to the high queues at the end of the day. That may at least vaguely spread the end of day queue out a little.

 

[Skyscraper]

Was just looking on the Rainy Day Return page of Towers' website to see if the 2022 dates have been released because I have a qualifying visit from last year, and noticed that the way it works has changed. Whereas before they released both the dates that qualify for it and the dates that you can redeem it on, now you get an email within 10 working days with instructions on how to redeem it if you bought a qualifying ticket type. Those who have a qualifying visit from the previous season like myself have to email guest services (meh).

https://www.altontowers.com/tickets-passes/extras/rainy-day-guarantee/

 

[Benjsh]

It's not like they have had 4 and half months to prepare for the opening is it?

 

[DavidRock]

Just checking some vlogs from opening day and seen that there is some new merch.

Gone onto the alton towers website to order and get greeted with....... these are only sold in park shop as exclusive to themepark.

Quick pop over to thorpe Park website and all of their new merch for 2022 is readily available to order through th online shop.

Just a shame as when sometimes you can't make park because of work or little one commitments its a hell of a lot easier to order online. Heck even Pleasurebeach can ship all their new merch out.

Come on Alton Towers open up the full merch range online and don't force us to attend even though sometimes we can't.

(Mods sorry couldn't find merch topic so I'd thought I'd drop it in 2022 discussion. Please feel free to move).

 

[jon81uk]

Why shouldn’t some merchandise be exclusive to in-park shopping only? Most of the time it is a souvenir of a day out.

 

[venny]

Lots of updates and changes at Extraordinary Golf which is celebrating its 15 year anniversary this year!

There doesn’t seem to be a dedicated golf thread so I’ll pop it here.

Lots of working being done at the moment too. Replacement bridges and fencing and brand new effects added.



A new launch button with lighting has been added to the Rita hole and it seems like something else is being added to the Driving School car wash at the moment.

The Duel smoke machine seems to have been replaced also.

Loads going on!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good to see some attention is being paid to this attraction after what’s been a protracted period of neglect. I see they’re continuing to offer only offer 9 holes this week, which suggests they’re working on the other half. It was embarrassing just how derelict the golf was last season:

 

[DavidRock]

Why shouldn’t some merchandise be exclusive to in-park shopping only? Most of the time it is a souvenir of a day out.

I agree with what your saying. I get that some times like a special pin badge ( which I also collect) is good to have as park specific.

What grumbles me is the new clothing range. We finally have embroidered hoodies which are far better quality and what the park has been needing for years and yet you can't get them online?

I can order the thorpe stuff straight away. Just seems that its one marketing rule for one park and another rule for another.

If Merlin kept it all the same then I wouldn't be so hacked off.

Its a bit hard to get to park when either I or my partner work 15 hour NHS shifts also with a 9 month old. So our down days are rest days after you've done 4 in a row all you wanna do is sleep.

Sorry for this post being a bit ranty is all. Just that the new merch is of way better quality after years of the bad transfer style clothing.

 

[NuttySquirrel]

I agree with what your saying. I get that some times like a special pin badge ( which I also collect) is good to have as park specific.

What grumbles me is the new clothing range. We finally have embroidered hoodies which are far better quality and what the park has been needing for years and yet you can't get them online?

I can order the thorpe stuff straight away. Just seems that its one marketing rule for one park and another rule for another.

If Merlin kept it all the same then I wouldn't be so hacked off.

Its a bit hard to get to park when either I or my partner work 15 hour NHS shifts also with a 9 month old. So our down days are rest days after you've done 4 in a row all you wanna do is sleep.

Sorry for this post being a bit ranty is all. Just that the new merch is of way better quality after years of the bad transfer style clothing.

I kind of agree, if you're having a day at the park with your family/friends do you really want to spend a large portion of your day shopping? No, you might have a quick look around, see some stuff you like and then do a more in-depth look online. The AT online shop is a bit of an embarrassment really.

 

[Craig]

I think we need to be realistic with the online shop, as us enthusiasts are a bit of an exception to the rule. For the vast majority of guests at the park, theme park merchandise is an impulse purchase at the end of a day at the park. For that reason it's in the resort's interest to have a physical store that's fully stocked.

There's too many issues at present to really push the online shop. Stock is very difficult to get hold of as it is at the moment, covid is causing massive issues in China and other countries where the merchandise is produced, then shipping the stuff over to the UK is also an absolute nightmare too. For new items especially, it's difficult to gauge their popularity straight away and with lead times as they are, it's impossible replenish stock fast.

Elsewhere, the resort are struggling to fill customer facing rolls on park and in the hotels. Creating more demand for the online shop only increases the manpower needed to deal with running it, something they probably can't afford to do when said staff can be deployed elsewhere.

It's worth noting that the online shop does state that "at this time" the new additions are available exclusively at the resort. There's a long way to go until November, so once the resort have a better idea of how things are selling, and are comfortable that the shelves won't be empty in Towers Trading, then things will start to crop up online.