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2023: General Discussion

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What I noticed on Tuesday is that there seems to be school trips the week before Easter. I visited the same time last year and there were fair few trips on park
 
Ethan said:
What I noticed on Tuesday is that there seems to be school trips the week before Easter. I visited the same time last year and there were fair few trips on park
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Indeed there were, loads of kids on park on Tuesday, without adult supervision. Was ok though, despite the woeful weather ride availability was decent so the queues didn't get too bad.
 
Risk assessments in closed parks often allow the little rugrats to run free within the park...
sadly.
Should be kept chained together in small groups.
 
jmc said:
The park is having terrible availability today, with a lot of water pumps drafted in to get water out of ride areas. Seems to have been affected badly by strong downpours.


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I regret booking to go. Might cancel it if Smiler isn't open by 1
Edit: Anyone currently on park have an idea as to when it might open?
 
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jmc said:
The park is having terrible availability today, with a lot of water pumps drafted in to get water out of ride areas. Seems to have been affected badly by strong downpours.


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Could get worse as thunder is forecast this afternoon!

Edit: you might be in luck as the forecast has changed.
 
Crazy to think the park is open til 6 today, yet when queues were 1-2 hours last Saturday the park was only open til 5. Alton towers, the place where logic never begins
 
rob666 said:
It is weekend, in the school holidays, when more visitors are no be expected.
So not crazy at all.
Of course, they should use a better crystal ball, or consult the all knowing font of all knowledge, Ethan.
Alton towers, where everyone is a critic.
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Or they could just open until at least 6 every Saturday like they should be doing. No excuses for last week the closing time was terrible
 
rob666 said:
This is the school holidays, last weekend wasn't...simple as that.
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You can't justify last weekends closing time by saying it isn't in the holidays. It's still a time when kids aren't at school and a lot aren't at work. It's still a peak time. The closing time should be the same
 
The last weekend in March, two weeks before Easter, is a very long way from peak time at Alton.
A very long way...
Justification given.
There is no justification in their operations recently, but that is another matter, it is still very early season...not peak at all, by a very long way.
 
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rob666 said:
The last weekend in March, two weeks before Easter, is a verty long way from peak time at Alton.
A very long way...
Justification given.
There is no justification in their operations recently, but that is another matter, it is still very early season...not peak at all, by a very long way.
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You're right it wasn't a peak time that explains the 70-90 min queues...
 
Ethan said:
You're right it wasn't a peak time that explains the 70-90 min queues...
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That was the aforementioned operations, not the numbers on the park.
You really do like digging in don't you?
Please explain why a wet weekend in March, away from Easter, is peak season.
Was the car park at capacity?
Were the public areas and pathways massively busy?
 
Poor operations? Am I right in thinking the only rides not on max ops last weekend was Thirteen and Galactica? That means Smiler, Oblivion, wicker and Rita were all on max capacity but still getting 60+ min waits. I'd say that's pretty busy. Certainly far busier than what we've seen today. Most people will pre book now at towers, so can't they just look at the numbers and then decide on opening times. They extended the hours yesterday, they should've done the same last Saturday
 
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Ethan said:
Poor operations? Am I right in thinking the only rides not on max ops last weekend was Thirteen and Galactica? That means Smiler, Oblivion, wicker and Rita were all on max capacity but still getting 60+ min waits. I'd say that's pretty busy. Certainly far busier than what we've seen today. Most people will pre book now at towers, so can't they just look at the numbers and then decide on opening times. They extended the hours yesterday, they should've done the same last Saturday
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It’s worth remembering that The Curse at Alton Manor, Spinball Whizzer and Congo River Rapids were also closed all day, as well as Battle Galleons, Skyride and of course Nemesis.

It might also be worth me noting that some rides like Oblivion were somewhat sporadic in their availability last Saturday.

Surely that had an effect?
 
Ethan said:
Poor operations? Am I right in thinking the only rides not on max ops last weekend was Thirteen and Galactica? That means Smiler, Oblivion, wicker and Rita were all on max capacity but still getting 60+ min waits. I'd say that's pretty busy. Certainly far busier than what we've seen today. Most people will pre book now at towers, so can't they just look at the numbers and then decide on opening times. They extended the hours yesterday, they should've done the same last Saturday
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It is worth noting that being on theoretical max capacity does not equal max ops.

Putting all the trains on the circuit is only a small part of improving operations, then you have general staffing levels, staff experience, batching, queue management, general guest co-operation along with a range of other factors that will affect actual operations. It would be remarkable if any rides were on "max ops" a week into the season, if such a thing is even measurable.
 
This is getting into queue time discussion more than general Towers discussion, however it's been pointed out in both Matt N's and Dan's trip reports last week that ride availability and the general park experience was absolutely abysmal last week.

In terms of opening hours, as @rob666 has pointed out, it's school holidays this weekend, so greater numbers hence the "longer" hours. We know Towers make decisions for opening hours based on a number of factors such as prebook levels, but there's also the weather forecast, staffing and ride availability to consider too. Last week, ride closures/capacity and weather would've made any extension completely pointless. The park was a shambles, people were drenched and many were likely just resigned to writing the day off heading off home. You're not gonna fix that mess or appease guests no matter how many hours you add onto opening.

I know people want extended hours as much as possible, I do too. But could we perhaps avoid going round in the same circles we go around every few months during every open season with this back and forth about them? I'm all for discussion, but when the same things are said time and time again, it gets a little tedious and it's not really all that constructive.
 
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