2023: General Discussion

[rob666]

Alton was a big fat zero for me this year.
No access to the park, after all those years.
Very poor disabled access, so no Towers for me all season.

 

[BooMT]

Also haven't visited this year; poor accessibility is a trip killer for our family as is the declining RAP system, the unpredictable and often unacceptable availability has been too much of a risk to travel 5hrs for, 2 favourite AT rides (Hex & Nemmy) out of action... Usually it's a must visit but I was okay with skipping this season. Feel more positive for 2024, of course, the main selling point is Nemesis returning & I hope to see more evidence of the new management vision elevating AT Would love to make it to a meet too!

 

[Alsty]

For me it showed how much Nemesis props up the park. Without it the flaws just seemed to magnify

 

[Craig]

For me it showed how much Nemesis props up the park. Without it the flaws just seemed to magnify

I'd be tempted to argue the opposite in that the lack of Nemesis this year has actually been a bit of a scapegoat for the park amongst enthusiasts in particular. Sure it soaks up some of the queues, but would it really have that great of an effect when you take into consideration the mass late openings of rides across the park, generally poor ride availability and the likes of one station operation on Galactica?

Nemesis being closed for me has masked the magnitude of a situation we've seen get worse and worse in recent years. Considering the park had one less major coaster to look after, you'd expect better availability and on-time opening over the rest of the lineup rather than worse.

 

[Rob]

Has 2023 been the worst ever year for Alton Towers? Perhaps not quite, but it us up there. The cracks that have been developing due to 15-20 years of mismanagement/poor investment of varying degrees have fully opened up for all to see.

Not having the Skyride or Hex available for an entire season is so poor. Spinball, with a new PLC, was a downtime nightmare at the start of the season. Pretty much every other major coaster in the park has suffered more downtime than you would expect. I was saying to a few people over the weekend, when do you ever go on a theme park holiday abroad and have a day that is just a complete and utter misery? Other than the time I went to Walygator and they didn't bother to open, I am not sure it's ever happened.

Events such as Madri Gras, Oktoberfest and Fireworks have definitely been a highlight and I hope we see further growth of these in the coming years. Festival of Thrills needs a complete re-think mind, and Scarefest is getting tired (so much so I didn't bother with it this year).

Opening hours have not been great this year also. 6pm for Oktoberfest was a bitter disappointment. When the park is struggling to keep rides open, they should stay open a bit later to give people more chance to get rides in.

Alton Manor has clearly been another highlight of the year, but even that has had its fair share of downtime. Hopefully this is something that can be worked on over the closed season.

The new park management have said a lot of good things this year, and I do think that they understand the problems. As has already been alluded to, quick fixes to many of the major issues are just not possible, but I would have liked to see a bit more as the year went on. Opening hours are something they can look at pretty quickly and easily, but Oktoberfest showed that they were just not on it.

Lot's of work this closed season, 2024 has to be better.

 

[Skyscraper]

Also haven't visited this year; poor accessibility is a trip killer for our family as is the declining RAP system, the unpredictable and often unacceptable availability has been too much of a risk to travel 5hrs for, 2 favourite AT rides (Hex & Nemmy) out of action... Usually it's a must visit but I was okay with skipping this season. Feel more positive for 2024, of course, the main selling point is Nemesis returning & I hope to see more evidence of the new management vision elevating AT Would love to make it to a meet too!

That's completely understandable. If it hadn't been for TCAAM and Sub Terra opening I probably wouldn't have bothered to go. And finally getting on both Spinball and Rita also made the trip worth it, although I'm only an hour and a bit's drive from the park.

 

[richr87]

I'd be tempted to argue the opposite in that the lack of Nemesis this year has actually been a bit of a scapegoat for the park amongst enthusiasts in particular. Sure it soaks up some of the queues, but would it really have that great of an effect when you take into consideration the mass late openings of rides across the park, generally poor ride availability and the likes of one station operation on Galactica?

Nemesis being closed for me has masked the magnitude of a situation we've seen get worse and worse in recent years. Considering the park had one less major coaster to look after, you'd expect better availability and on-time opening over the rest of the lineup rather than worse.

Hopefully they won't use another get out of jail card next which is project horizon. Not investing much because they are spending in that area of the park so that they can leave other places in bad ways.

I no people don't like the retro squad but I think it's has got them out of a hole for a few years so we will see next season when there stood with no filler rides ( up to press). X sector and dark forest are particularly weak areas in that respect.

I think forbidden valley if they added another flat ride and sorted galatica could be the strongest area next year in the park so they are capable

 

[Tom]

Do they actually have reliability engineers that study downtime, conduct analysis, and put better preventative maintenance in place? The generic mechanical engineering jobs I see Merlin advertise come across as fire-fighting, fix-it-type roles only.

 

[Poisson]

Head of department would do such a thing I imagine. I do a similar thing at work when it comes to prolific breakdowns and spares keeping.

 

[Blackhole_Sun]

Do they actually have reliability engineers that study downtime, conduct analysis, and put better preventative maintenance in place? The generic mechanical engineering jobs I see Merlin advertise come across as fire-fighting, fix-it-type roles only.

Does seem very reactive. Good example is closing 13 when it rains. Although that seemed to be resolved this year so perhaps they are learning.

 

[Jb85]

I think the new management are spot on, know the issues and will fix them. BUT ultimately there is still a budget and this will take time, maybe 3 or 4 season.

 

[Ash]

Do they actually have reliability engineers that study downtime, conduct analysis, and put better preventative maintenance in place? The generic mechanical engineering jobs I see Merlin advertise come across as fire-fighting, fix-it-type roles only.

No

 

[GaryH]

I’ve only been twice this year which is unlike me, and to be honest I’ve not really had much desire to go more than that this year.

Yeah there have been some good improvements made as listed above, but I can’t help feel the park is currently popular because of its name rather than its offerings.

When you look at the hotels, with the high pricing, poor entertainment, god awful extortionate priced food, and lack of any incentive (eg. Removal of ERT) to stay that puts you off staying on site.

Then look at the park, with the monorail and its dodgy reliability and stinking dirty windows, rides not opening on time in the mornings, frequent breakdowns, huge RAP queues, and as with the hotels, god awful expensive food, no skyride to get around before closing time, it feels very average out for those paying full whack, extremely overpriced especially on reduced opening hours days.

Taking the resort as a whole into account, the waterpark has seen no investment, tree top quest remains closed, crazy golf is half renovated it’s not great.

Don’t get me wrong, there is stuff they have done which is good which have already been mentioned above, and I think as enthusiasts we sometimes put up with the bad and even kinda expect it which is a shame.

The general public however make their voices heard in places like Tripadvisor, where you only have to look at the reviews of the eateries on park to see what they think of them, or the number of reviews where people have only managed 2 rides all day.

To us, we probably think, oh well, Alton can be like that sometimes, and it’s been this way for some time - hit and miss. It shouldn’t be, it should be a consistent offering regardless when you go.

One thing I’ve not mentioned above are the gardens. There have been some photos floating around on Facebook of the state they are in at the moment.

It definitely feels like it’s grab all the money we can at the moment, which for a business after Covid losses is understandable, but we are starting to border out maybe cross into “im never going back there” for some people, and they need to bring the resort back up to standard for next year. Ditching Aramark would be a good first step.

 

[BarryZola]

Traffic is mad on the way into the run event this morning. Pretty much standstill at the moment where I am (Wootton Lane) and tried from the Alton village side first and that looked terrible too.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Traffic is mad on the way into the run event this morning. Pretty much standstill at the moment where I am (Wootton Lane) and tried from the Alton village side first and that looked terrible too.

Is it me or have car park operations this year actually been pretty awful, by way of comparison to other years, generally?

The queues to get into the park used to move pretty swiftly, but we've been idling and standing still quite a few times. Getting out has also been an absolute nightmare and have taken around 40 mins to leave the car park.

 

[BarryZola]

Wasn't like this last year. Although I may have arrived earlier as I was running. Only here to watch the niece and nephew this time.

 

[AT86]

Seems they have had to delay the race start time twice, first to 10.15 then to 10.30 but many are still saying they can’t get into the park for that time because they are stuck in traffic.

Something seems to have gone a bit wrong this morning regarding dealing with the volume of arrivals.

 

[Craig]

My guess would be a far greater number of spectators, many of whom are just turning up to do the rides so haven't arrived as early. That's then caused a knock on effect to runners who are arriving a little late.

Reading online, it appears there's only one lane into the resort open - and even on quiet days it quickly becomes a mess if that's the case.

 

[AT86]

My guess would be a far greater number of spectators, many of whom are just turning up to do the rides so haven't arrived as early. That's then caused a knock on effect to runners who are arriving a little late.

Reading online, it appears there's only one lane into the resort open - and even on quiet days it quickly becomes a mess if that's the case.

A quick look at the 10k route map looks like part of the running route is indeed the main road into the park. So I assume they have closed off one lane for that already for the race, leaving only one lane for entry and the other for exit.

New route required for next year I think that doesn’t use this road.

 

[Craig]

Yup, that'll be it. Got to remember the event is only in its third year, so it's still finding its feet and gaining exposure with potential runners. Away from those running, a lot of people have caught wind of the fact that it's essentially another opportunity to visit the park when a lot of places have now closed for the season so are now taking advantage. For those without MAPs, at a pretty decent discounted rate too.

Lots of adjustment needed for next year I think!