Danscott22
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2025: General Discussion
GothMonsieur
TS Member
Had a generally good day on park yesterday, despite the crowds and poor weather in the evening. Operations were definitely a bit questionable, especially with the likes of Wicker Man only running two trains and Oblivion having a prolonged period of downtime due to an alleged āUnknown Messageā system error which sent the ride team into a bit of a panic. Thankfully this issue was resolved and the ride was open to welcome people for night rides. Most of the rides that we got on were riding quite well (except for The Smiler, but what else is new), and Toxicator was definitely a bit of a highlight at night. It looks the part, is nice and intense while also being re-rideable, and the ops team on there were brilliant.
However, we had a number of poor experiences with staff yesterday, which Iām quite sad to report. Now I know that a lot of the entertainment team have been redistributed around the park, with many of them being trained up to work on rides, but there just seemed to be lots of staff yesterday who really didnāt want to be there and at times were incredibly rude to myself and my party. This isnāt something Iāve experienced previously at the park, and to be honest given the current state of affairs at Merlin behind the scenes I canāt hold it against the staff personally, but Iād describe the general customer service around the park as severely lacking in professionalism.
However, we had a number of poor experiences with staff yesterday, which Iām quite sad to report. Now I know that a lot of the entertainment team have been redistributed around the park, with many of them being trained up to work on rides, but there just seemed to be lots of staff yesterday who really didnāt want to be there and at times were incredibly rude to myself and my party. This isnāt something Iāve experienced previously at the park, and to be honest given the current state of affairs at Merlin behind the scenes I canāt hold it against the staff personally, but Iād describe the general customer service around the park as severely lacking in professionalism.
Maybe itās stale and dusty
tech
TS Member
...and no good in the rain.
Benzin
TS Member
Decent day today. Though the batcher on Wickerman was doing an extremely poor job by not actually batching the main queue. Meaning the baggage room area was an absolute disaster.
Very long queues on some things even at 5:30. Definitely needs more filler at the park, although the little one seemed entertained enough watching Toxicator.
Very long queues on some things even at 5:30. Definitely needs more filler at the park, although the little one seemed entertained enough watching Toxicator.
Bowser
TS Member
Dave
TS Founding Member
Can we all just remember the staff are mostly new, every year (even when the park was run well) the opening few weeks were ropey at best.
The difference is in the old days Towers actually used to put people off coming on the opening weekend (tv adverts started on the Saturday of opening day not before). Now they have an event which just seems a bit silly to me but there we go.
God knows there are real issues with the park but downtime and ropey operations in the 1st two weeks have always been a thing.
The difference is in the old days Towers actually used to put people off coming on the opening weekend (tv adverts started on the Saturday of opening day not before). Now they have an event which just seems a bit silly to me but there we go.
God knows there are real issues with the park but downtime and ropey operations in the 1st two weeks have always been a thing.
Bowser
TS Member
To play devils advocate, Chessington just had their opening weekend and presumably many staff will be new there too? Spoke to a couple of people who went and there were no reports of poor operations or bad availability.
Weāll see how Thorpe fares next week, theyāve had several weeks of soft openings so youād hope they are ready but this weekend sounded very poor for availability.
Excusing the opening few weeks as typical when the parks are charging full price for entry and in ATās case actively encouraging it to be as busy as possible due to a rare After Dark offering doesnāt add up. We learned our lesson the hard way last year but everyone shouldnāt be resigned to suffer that fate. The parks have a duty to provide what they are selling.
Weāll see how Thorpe fares next week, theyāve had several weeks of soft openings so youād hope they are ready but this weekend sounded very poor for availability.
Excusing the opening few weeks as typical when the parks are charging full price for entry and in ATās case actively encouraging it to be as busy as possible due to a rare After Dark offering doesnāt add up. We learned our lesson the hard way last year but everyone shouldnāt be resigned to suffer that fate. The parks have a duty to provide what they are selling.
Dave
TS Founding Member
1) Speaking to a couple of people doesnāt define how an opening weekend went. Some people did Towers opening weekend And had a good time, as they lucked out with never being hit by ride downtime. You would also need to compare how busy each park was to establish the impact that has on guest experience.
2) No one is excusing it, I clearly stated that they are silly to be doing an āeventā on the 1st weekend of the season. Historically they never pushed attendance on opening weekend to keep the crowds low so those who did come didnāt have a bad experience.
Bowser
TS Member
Sorry to be clear, this was people who would be collating opinions as opposed to two individuals experiences. Happy to be corrected if there are widespread reports to the contrary.
siralgenon
TS Member
I do find it mad that they're calling this 'Alton After Dark' an event. For nearly any of the other major parks in Europe, 8pm is a normal close at a weekend / any day. So it seems a bit far fetched Towers are making a big deal out of having the park open for an extra 3 hours.
Dave
TS Founding Member
Chessington donāt have many rides to operate this year but regardless they kept their opening weekend low-key which I think is a better strategy than running an event that has long opening hours when your rides have been closed for the winter and your team are inexperienced.
Benzin
TS Member
I think part of this is the lack of overall retention over more recent years. If there's not many returners or they're not particularly efficient or decent then the next batch of employees aren't trained as well and so on.
Dave
TS Founding Member
You can train people for hours but you never really get into the swing of a job until you actually do it for a bit. Theme parks are odd as you have so many new people starting at the same time.
If they just went back to keeping the 1st few weeks low pressure with guest numbers then it would be fine.
If they just went back to keeping the 1st few weeks low pressure with guest numbers then it would be fine.
SuperMuscleMan
TS Member
So yesterday was my first time back in 5 years... I go to DLP more often as it's easier/cheaper for me. But today I had some thoughts.... Loved the lighting improvements since my last evening trips.
The good:
Wow the amount of detail in FV is epic the presentation linked to lighting and other effects makes this area of the park shine. I'm was very impressed with the care of nemesis and toxicator areas. Although the cheap tarmac paving did stand out near toxicator. I thought the lighting and themeing that went on with these areas was very, very impressive.
The toilets I visited seemed to have improved dramatically and were spotless. Wickerman looked great and so was the sea-life and Alton Manor.
The staff were friendly and very professional although found a few poor ones on galactica who didn't know what single rider was even though she was in charge of it!
The ok:
I think alton manor was good but it lacked any energy and sometimes it was easy to miss things. I was most excited to see what they had done but I thought alot of it was lacking. The outside was looking good. Lighting throughout the park was patchy... If they could stop using a few of those generators especially between munity bay and Katanga I think it would really work. Also the cheap bayonet led white lights around wickerman and the number of flame effect bulbs that were out really lowered the tone. I really thought goat/bob looked poor in terms of lighting. Those pixel screens should have had a transparent/opaque mesh put over to hide the pixels.
The bad:
That monorail is an embarrassment! Like alot of the park it needs a clean! Presentation... I have built a projection mapping attraction here in the south and omg the state of the projectors in the smiler room! The dust was so thick on the air inlets I would expect a fire to break out at any point! I hate to think what other projector's conditions are. I was surprised how easily accessible infrastructure was... The Lan cables could be easily hidden or removed by the public from the lockers. The power supply could be stolen or removed from the battery banks. It should have at least been hidden. I rebooted and it did a software update as it was showing the screen of death. That's when I noticed the alcohol cupboard open and unattended in room off of galactica exit! I stuck my head in while I was waiting for my mates. And it was empty. We then went into the rollercoaster restaurant... What a disaster! The table app is rubbish and clunky! We didn't have our drinks delivered, and the food for another person was delivered to our table we said this isn't ours then they gave it to someone else. (After trying to get some service) Now legally if that happens your not allowed serve it and it had been sitting still for 5+ minutes. Not good and the food was poor and overpriced.
Overview:
I didn't get to go on wickerman or smiler. I'm 6ft 3 and a rugby player and gym guy so my quads and chest were just way to big. 53" and 32" with a 39" waist. So its a bummer and I can see a distinct lack of dark rides now as I'm an awkward size. It's my life choice so that's not a go at Alton but the tightness of wickerman was a surprise. I'm muscular but not fat, so I'd have thought that ride would be the least of my problems. With over the shoulder restraints I get pushed down, then my chest gets in the way.
My rating for Alton is C+...
It's improving since I last visited and the toilets and basics seem to be generally better. The right hand side of the park needs love and that monorail and tower's street needs urgent attention. Dated and dirty...
Rides: C+
Staff: B
Immersion: B
Toilets: A-
Food: F
Presentation General: D
Presentation post 2018 rides: A
I read these forums often and Alton used to be a yearly visit (it's easier for me and cheaper to visit DLP) but I'm pleased to say it has improved since my last visit and if they continue in the direction of adding rides yearly and making park wide improvements they will be onto a winner!
The good:
Wow the amount of detail in FV is epic the presentation linked to lighting and other effects makes this area of the park shine. I'm was very impressed with the care of nemesis and toxicator areas. Although the cheap tarmac paving did stand out near toxicator. I thought the lighting and themeing that went on with these areas was very, very impressive.
The toilets I visited seemed to have improved dramatically and were spotless. Wickerman looked great and so was the sea-life and Alton Manor.
The staff were friendly and very professional although found a few poor ones on galactica who didn't know what single rider was even though she was in charge of it!
The ok:
I think alton manor was good but it lacked any energy and sometimes it was easy to miss things. I was most excited to see what they had done but I thought alot of it was lacking. The outside was looking good. Lighting throughout the park was patchy... If they could stop using a few of those generators especially between munity bay and Katanga I think it would really work. Also the cheap bayonet led white lights around wickerman and the number of flame effect bulbs that were out really lowered the tone. I really thought goat/bob looked poor in terms of lighting. Those pixel screens should have had a transparent/opaque mesh put over to hide the pixels.
The bad:
That monorail is an embarrassment! Like alot of the park it needs a clean! Presentation... I have built a projection mapping attraction here in the south and omg the state of the projectors in the smiler room! The dust was so thick on the air inlets I would expect a fire to break out at any point! I hate to think what other projector's conditions are. I was surprised how easily accessible infrastructure was... The Lan cables could be easily hidden or removed by the public from the lockers. The power supply could be stolen or removed from the battery banks. It should have at least been hidden. I rebooted and it did a software update as it was showing the screen of death. That's when I noticed the alcohol cupboard open and unattended in room off of galactica exit! I stuck my head in while I was waiting for my mates. And it was empty. We then went into the rollercoaster restaurant... What a disaster! The table app is rubbish and clunky! We didn't have our drinks delivered, and the food for another person was delivered to our table we said this isn't ours then they gave it to someone else. (After trying to get some service) Now legally if that happens your not allowed serve it and it had been sitting still for 5+ minutes. Not good and the food was poor and overpriced.
Overview:
I didn't get to go on wickerman or smiler. I'm 6ft 3 and a rugby player and gym guy so my quads and chest were just way to big. 53" and 32" with a 39" waist. So its a bummer and I can see a distinct lack of dark rides now as I'm an awkward size. It's my life choice so that's not a go at Alton but the tightness of wickerman was a surprise. I'm muscular but not fat, so I'd have thought that ride would be the least of my problems. With over the shoulder restraints I get pushed down, then my chest gets in the way.
My rating for Alton is C+...
It's improving since I last visited and the toilets and basics seem to be generally better. The right hand side of the park needs love and that monorail and tower's street needs urgent attention. Dated and dirty...
Rides: C+
Staff: B
Immersion: B
Toilets: A-
Food: F
Presentation General: D
Presentation post 2018 rides: A
I read these forums often and Alton used to be a yearly visit (it's easier for me and cheaper to visit DLP) but I'm pleased to say it has improved since my last visit and if they continue in the direction of adding rides yearly and making park wide improvements they will be onto a winner!
Attachments
Bowser
TS Member
Per ThemeParkWorldwide:
Alton Towers have confirmed that Hex - The Legend of the Towers will reopen on Tuesday April 1st. Congo River Rapids will then reopen on Monday 7th April.
The park has shared no further updates on when the Skyride will be available, however the ride continues to test on a regular basis!
From: https://www.instagram.com/p/DHnx8yVNNvA/?hl=en
Alton Towers have confirmed that Hex - The Legend of the Towers will reopen on Tuesday April 1st. Congo River Rapids will then reopen on Monday 7th April.
The park has shared no further updates on when the Skyride will be available, however the ride continues to test on a regular basis!
From: https://www.instagram.com/p/DHnx8yVNNvA/?hl=en
Bert2theSpark
TS Member
Iām guessing that they might be aiming for soft-opening with Skyride after bringing it back into service for the first time since 2022.
The staff will all be getting into the groove of it and adjusting to any updates to the ride might mean it could be temperamental for a little while.
I also have been informed what was thought as new gondolas are just new air vents retrofitted onto the existing rolling stock to help deal with overheating in the summer months. So we could potentially see more rolling stock have the changes implemented if this trial is successful!
The staff will all be getting into the groove of it and adjusting to any updates to the ride might mean it could be temperamental for a little while.
I also have been informed what was thought as new gondolas are just new air vents retrofitted onto the existing rolling stock to help deal with overheating in the summer months. So we could potentially see more rolling stock have the changes implemented if this trial is successful!