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2024: General Discussion

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coastinginlife said:
Thank you, I appreciate that. But I remember there used to be a page on the website with a list of days affected by bad weather only I can't find it now.
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I think they got rid of the rainy day guarantee after this:

Merlin Attractions Operations Ltd

www.asa.org.uk www.asa.org.uk

It seems it's now just being done on a day by day basis rather than trying to advertise a blanket guarantee.
 
DistortAMG said:
Sorry to sound pedantic as that was an interesting read, but Nemesis has had a lift hill VSD since 1994. Someone just saw it operating in tests recently and assumed it was new, but no, it was there since way back when. For anyone that does not know, in this context VSD = Variable speed drive. Aka a lift hill that that can go slowly or fast.

While on the subject, wrong topic I know, but Nemesis' lift hill motor seems wayyy smaller than it used to be, Could just be me, but I never remember it being that small.
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One thing I have noticed is the lift hill is faster, you can tell when the train connects to the chain and that takes over from the kicker wheels as the movement speeds up a little. It's now only just behind the launch speed of Icon ;)

Motor or gearbox - presumably that's the big blue thing that sticks out like a saw thumb against the black track at the bottom of the lift hill?
 
Ah come on, give then some rope here.

A lot of good work has been done to ride systems recently but undoubtedly that comes with down time whilst rides bed in. And new staff learning still.

You’ve then got the good old UK weather to contend with. Perfect storm.

I know it’s easy to say but why don’t people use their loaf a bit and go 4 or 5 weeks into the season when things inevitably bed in.

The counter argument I guess is the cost of the day means things should be perfect but that’s never practical.

It’s the same every year ……
 
Jb85 said:
Ah come on, give then some rope here.

A lot of good work has been done to ride systems recently but undoubtedly that comes with down time whilst rides bed in. And new staff learning still.

You’ve then got the good old UK weather to contend with. Perfect storm.

I know it’s easy to say but why don’t people use their loaf a bit and go 4 or 5 weeks into the season when things inevitably bed in.

The counter argument I guess is the cost of the day means things should be perfect but that’s never practical.

It’s the same every year ……
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I actually don't agree, if you are going to open for main season on a certain date you should pull all the stops out to make sure you are ready for that date. People coming to the park in March pay the same as those coming in May so why should they have a worse experience?

It's not just Alton Towers at fault here either, Parque Warner was nowhere near ready for it's opening weekend although ticket prices throughout March were slightly reduced as a consequence. Europa Park also opens this weekend with none of its new or refurbished attractions ready for season start.

If parks are going to do "soft openings" like this they should make it clear that's what you are getting and adjust prices accordingly. Otherwise just don't open.
 
Jb85 said:
The counter argument I guess is the cost of the day means things should be perfect but that’s never practical.
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That is an interesting statement. Does that transfer to all hospitality purchases - like going the the Savoy for dinner, or booking a luxury cruise?
I said that following the challenging opening day at Pleasure Beach, they should rename the opening weekend to a "Season Preview" with a lower cost and specifically state that there may be operational stoppages. The issue with Towers, is there poor start hasn't just been a day or a weekend.

Why is it never practical to have a perfect day when paying a premium price? It sure as heck should be. The other option is to price appropriately.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
I don't know why they don't just open the park 4-5 weeks later if they can't have things working on time.
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Because the thing that creates the faults is the ride operating with guests.

When we install scanners at work they work perfectly during testing yet we always expect the 1st two months to have high levels of downtime as once we get the thing running at full capacity it always falls over as faulty components get pressured.

ScottishChris said:
That is an interesting statement. Does that transfer to all hospitality purchases - like going the the Savoy for dinner, or booking a luxury cruise?
I said that following the challenging opening day at Pleasure Beach, they should rename the opening weekend to a "Season Preview" with a lower cost and specifically state that there may be operational stoppages. The issue with Towers, is there poor start hasn't just been a day or a weekend.

Why is it never practical to have a perfect day when paying a premium price? It sure as heck should be. The other option is to price appropriately.
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The Savoy isn’t a great comparison, it’s service driven not machinery driven.

Towers should be better than it has been this week but you are never going to avoid all early season downtime.
 
Sorry to ask a slightly random question, but does anyone know where Alton keeps their paper maps? I couldn’t find them anywhere near the entrance this morning.
 
Jb85 said:
Ah come on, give then some rope here.

A lot of good work has been done to ride systems recently but undoubtedly that comes with down time whilst rides bed in. And new staff learning still.

You’ve then got the good old UK weather to contend with. Perfect storm.

I know it’s easy to say but why don’t people use their loaf a bit and go 4 or 5 weeks into the season when things inevitably bed in.

The counter argument I guess is the cost of the day means things should be perfect but that’s never practical.

It’s the same every year ……
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To be fair they don’t help themselves by deliberately closing the rapids.
 
Tiger Rock is open, not sure about Rumba. It seems that Tidal Wave is open though and if they were deliberately closing water rides out of season then you'd think that would be the one they'd choose.
 
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