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2025: General Discussion

rctneil said:
I agree to disagree.
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In response to those guest comments, guest services should just say "so what?" They say that to guest issues currently that should have better responses so why not for this? If a guest enters a queue without reading rules, regulations or on the understanding that a ride may not open then it's their own fault.

Guests should take responsibility for their actions.
 
rctneil said:
In response to those guest comments, guest services should just say "so what?" They say that to guest issues currently that should have better responses so why not for this? If a guest enters a queue without reading rules, regulations or on the understanding that a ride may not open then it's their own fault.

Guests should take responsibility for their actions.
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I would say it isn't a totally black or white situation but I wouldn't encourage people to enter a queue when the ride is closed when they could be going on another ride.

At Thorpe Park, it would mean that everyone will be at Hyperia regardless of it being in operation or not. For Towers, this would likely be Smiler, Wickerman and Nemesis Reborn.

I know Thorpe Park and Chessington both do this but not so sure about Towers (or Legoland) as I've heard horror stories of the contrary for Towers, is that the parks will provide a one shot priority pass (Fast Track) for those in a queue for a ride that is broken down where the queue is evacuated.

I don't think it's the primary reason but it means that priority passes are not given out to anyone other than those in the queue at the time of breakdown and have remained in the queue until the queue is evacuated.

There's definitely practical reasons why parks don't allow entry into queues when a ride has ceased operation and it's so those guests can ride operational rides in the meantime mainly.
 
Haz said:
On Saturday Morning we got in the prequeue for Nemesis around 9:45 after looking around Toxicator for a bit. I think it only started testing at 10:22 one of the trains was making very interesting noises going around, Train 1 i'm pretty sure, we eventually got on the ride at 11:15 as we were queueing we noticed a lot of empty seats / rows on the trains, when we got off we even saw some trains with 4 rows not loaded! seemed to me like the person batching the rows was new and didn't have much training. The staff checking the restraints were even telling them to load the rows.
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Probably just new, hopefully it’ll improve. Batching the rapids all those years ago during the summer with a 2 hour queue used to be my favourite job. Every single seat was full no exceptions, better run for your life because the boat isn’t waiting 😂
 
rctneil said:
Now a quick question about Alton and also Merlin in general.

When a ride has not yet opened, and most commonly when a ride has had a breakdown and people ahve left to go elsewhere, why do they not allow people to enter the queue? They allow them to queue outside the queue but prevent them from entering (even if there are people in the queue who didn't leave (if it was a breakdown?)

I've never understood this. It creates uncessary crowds on pathways and guest flow areas when there is a dedicated area for holding guests (the queuelines themselves!!)

I understand that one reason may be that the ride may not open for a long (or even at all!), but surely all they ahve to do is let people know when they cross the threshold to enter the line that they are aware of that. It's not much different from when you enter a line normally, you are aware that the ride may go down or close at any point. So why stop people from entering it?


I agree there are some rides, places, times and scenarios where it makes sense to hold people outside a line. Emergencies, situations they don't wish to be published or photographed, when the queueline may be a dangerous place to be etc. I'm talking about the other 90% of times.
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I would argue it is to prevent people who haven't seen the closed sign and think the ride may be open from walking into and waiting for the ride, probably less effective now with the phone app, but if you saw the nemesis queue at the helicopter (about a 5-15 min wait) it could be tempting to go and wait in the queue without looking the sign, if you also just wanted to ride nemesis you may just walk up and not look at the sign, you can argue it is their fault for not checking but it is relatively a small sign compared to everything around it and there aren't any more signs around the queue.

it also would make evacuating the queue easier if the ride isn't going to re-open

most parks I have been to do something similar with closing off they queue it is quite common and not exclusive to merlin.

Benzin said:
Can't open the queue unless ride is in the hands of the rides team rather than engineering.
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good point, this will also be a big factor, engineering can't do anything guest related such as loading the ride with guests or running the ride with guests
 
If minimal rides are closed nobody would want to stand in the queue line for a closed ride, whether it’s the actual queue or queuing for the queue. The problem is when half the rides are down at the same time and the other half have queues of 90 minutes plus, people will think they may as well hang around outside a closed ride in the hope that it opens and they get on fairly promptly.

As with most things at Towers, sort the reliability and this issue goes away.
 
Mick said:
If minimal rides are closed nobody would want to stand in the queue line for a closed ride, whether it’s the actual queue or queuing for the queue. The problem is when half the rides are down at the same time and the other half have queues of 90 minutes plus, people will think they may as well hang around outside a closed ride in the hope that it opens and they get on fairly promptly.

As with most things at Towers, sort the reliability and this issue goes away.
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I think this is very valid. It also ties into the lack of supporting rides. How many times have Rita and Thirteen gone down at the same time leaving no rides operating in dark forest. Are guests meant to completely vacate that area of the park? They are going to hang around and chance it that they might get to walk on one of the rides when they reopen. If there was 2 supporting flat rides, at least guests could join the queues for those, whilst staying in the area in case the main rides reopen.

It's absolutely embarrassing how many times there is a section of Alton Towers where there are no rides operating for large chunks of the day. Obviously Dark Forest and X-Sector are the main ones for this, but its not uncommon in Forbidden Valley, Walliams World or Katanga Canyon.
 
I imagine there's a health and safety element here as well. If the ride is not open and isn't expected to be reopening any time soon, having that many people standing in a queue if you leave it open requires management, and staff on hand to manage a controlled evacuation at any point if required in an emergency situation, for example. If the ride isn't operating or is in the hands of tech services there's no other need for those staff to be there. Furthermore it's not really an ideal place to allow people to loiter for an indeterminate amount of time, with no shelter, seating or access to toilets.

I've sometimes chosen to wait out short periods of downtime - sitting on the Wicker Man queueline steps reading my eReader one June afternoon was actually rather pleasant - but I can totally understand why the park don't want people in queue lines for non-open rides.

I can also understand why offering everyone in an evacuated queue a complimentary fast track was dropped - it just creates bottlenecks elsewhere in the park or people saved them up for popular events like Fireworks. However if you do go to Guest Services or email them afterwards with a complaint they will almost certainly give you them.
 
I like joining a closed queue 😁 - IF you know why they have downtime (and so some inkling of when it might re-open). YMMV. I think the "queue for the queue" means that members of a party can leave/join easily (a bit like the Nemmy queue before it opens), whereas otherwise there would be lots of "queue-jumping".
 
NuttySquirrel said:
I can also understand why offering everyone in an evacuated queue a complimentary fast track was dropped - it just creates bottlenecks elsewhere in the park or people saved them up for popular events like Fireworks. However if you do go to Guest Services or email them afterwards with a complaint they will almost certainly give you them.
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The "saving them up for fireworks" would be stopped by just having expiry dates on the cards and enforcing them properly. The parks have no-one to blame but themselves. If you've waited more than 90 minutes to ride you should be able to get on something else same day without a long wait. Or maybe if the evac is after park close you get one to come back by the end of September, so it is clear on the pass it can't be saved up for scarefest/fireworks.

Someone posted a photo in the Chessington thread today showing a card which has clear boxes for the dates or times when the pass is valid to be entered, but they've been left blank. If the dates/times were completed they wouldn't even be asking about the validity.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
I can also understand why offering everyone in an evacuated queue a complimentary fast track was dropped - it just creates bottlenecks elsewhere in the park or people saved them up for popular events like Fireworks. However if you do go to Guest Services or email them afterwards with a complaint they will almost certainly give you them.
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From a guest experience standpoint, I'd say this is not a good move and isn't consistent with Thorpe Park or Chessington.

Theoretically, it should be used on the same visit and having the date of issue on the fast track will clamp down on misuse.

What the park needs is supporting rides such as in Dark Forest and X Sector which need about 2 flat rides each, The site of blade where it's empty and places that could be great to redevelop such as the Katanga Canyon/Munity Bay area by Sharkbait Reef.

If there's supporting rides, guests can head over to there for a bit whilst the technical difficulties are looked at and the ride hopefully reopens.
 
AT86 said:
Looks like Towers have been keeping Leek Signs busy over the winter.

Waterpark, Freestyle machines, fridges, RMT, Sealife, Cuckoo Cars - it’s vinyl, vinyl everywhere :)

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The work they’ve done looks good and I’m glad Alton are using a local company.
 
To be clear my post was not a criticism, just sharing some of the work that has gone on over the closed season.

I am a fan of the small details, and wrapping up and ‘theming’ a Coke fridge so it doesn’t look like the 50,000 others sat in random WH Smith’s that we all see every day will always get a thumbs up from me.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
Just noticed in the D-Tox drying machines reel there's a pile of replacement labels on someone's desk to cover up the 'Solider Ants' typo in Sharkbait Reef. I'm glad it's only taken Merlin a few years to get that sorted 🤣
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Talking of the ants, where are they?

I visited opening weekend and saw less than 10. Have the majority escaped? or died?
 
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