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2025: General Discussion

Really odd for 2 rides that have had a full refurbished and one that closed on 14th October for “extended winter maintenance”

Confirmed to open after Alton dark has concluded. Oblivion and Galactica also have single rider queues this season as well
 
Resort update from Bianca;


With the launch of our brand-new ride, Toxicator, the 2025 season is set to be truly fantabulous!

We’re also pleased to share that the investment in Skyride is progressing well, through its final stages. With our team of hardworking specialists working tirelessly, we are happy to confirm its return to operation in April 2025.

As Alton After Dark wraps up and we transition into daily operations, Congo River Rapids and Hex – The Legend of the Towers will begin welcoming guests again too. Our Ride Availability webpage will be updated later this morning to reflect this, but we wanted you to be the first to know.

In addition, we are pleased to confirm that we will be introducing even more Single Rider Queue Lines for the start of the season across the Resort, with Toxicator, Oblivion and Galactica being added.
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So, Oblivion and Galactica will be receiving SRQs this year! Remains to be seen what that means for the ambulant RAP entrances though.
 
Obviously I’m making a pretty big assumption here, but this seems more likely to be a staffing issue than ongoing maintenance for these attractions. Each of them requires quite a large number of staff to operate, and Alton after Dark will already be quite taxing staff wise. I might be way off the mark, but that was my initial thought.
 
GothMonsieur said:
Obviously I’m making a pretty big assumption here, but this seems more likely to be a staffing issue than ongoing maintenance for these attractions. Each of them requires quite a large number of staff to operate, and Alton after Dark will already be quite taxing staff wise. I might be way off the mark, but that was my initial thought.
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That coupled with the fact that (Hex aside) these rides probably require more training with regards evacs? If they can't get enough staff in time [for opening], they can't do the training in time either.
 
If you look on their careers website, they’re still hiring for Ride Hosts in the opening week of the park. CRR and Skyride are both in the same ‘area’ in terms of staffing and both happen to be the most staff-intensive rides in the park.

A fair amount of experienced Rides staff saw what was coming at the end of last season and have jumped ship to Drayton Manor or elsewhere. There also seems to be a push against part-time staff this year during recruiting to keep costs down, presumably to prevent another hiring freeze this season.
 
Towers needs to restore customer confidence this year, and ensuring the reliability and high capacity of the coasters is probably the single biggest thing they can do - to that end the single rider queues, as well as all the rides being on good form (as seemed to be the case this weekend just gone) can be seen as the park already starting 2025 from a better place than they started 2024. Some might disagree with that given the removal of Blade, Flavio’s and entertainment staff, but I guess we’ll see.
 
Bert2theSpark said:
If you look on their careers website, they’re still hiring for Ride Hosts in the opening week of the park. CRR and Skyride are both in the same ‘area’ in terms of staffing and both happen to be the most staff-intensive rides in the park.

A fair amount of experienced Rides staff saw what was coming at the end of last season and have jumped ship to Drayton Manor or elsewhere. There also seems to be a push against part-time staff this year during recruiting to keep costs down, presumably to prevent another hiring freeze this season.
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Also with supermarkets paying higher, whats the incentive to take a minimum wage job with a significant travel time to get to it.
 
jon81uk said:
Also with supermarkets paying higher, whats the incentive to take a minimum wage job with a significant travel time to get to it.
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This has always been a constant when employing staff, and it can also be argued that it is mitigated by other staff who are compelled to work there because they want to work within the industry (e.g., as a stepping stone to working for Disney).
 
Bert2theSpark said:
This has always been a constant when employing staff, and it can also be argued that it is mitigated by other staff who are compelled to work there because they want to work within the industry (e.g., as a stepping stone to working for Disney).
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Although I think one thing that has changed in the last few years is that many supermarkets and similar have started paying more than the minimum wage, even just an extra 50p an hour will likely make a big difference together with the cost of commuting all the way to AT. I agree the main people attracted will be those who want to work in that industry, but anyone looking to move on significantly will want to go in to higher levels and will just do June to Sept while not in university.
 
GothMonsieur said:
Obviously I’m making a pretty big assumption here, but this seems more likely to be a staffing issue than ongoing maintenance for these attractions. Each of them requires quite a large number of staff to operate, and Alton after Dark will already be quite taxing staff wise. I might be way off the mark, but that was my initial thought.
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Hex only requires 5 staff to run, making it one of the smallest teams for a significant attraction. Given the fact that it only opened for a month last year it would be a bizarre choice to pick this of all the rides to keep closed if they don't have enough staff.
 
Josh said:
Hex only requires 5 staff to run, making it one of the smallest teams for a significant attraction. Given the fact that it only opened for a month last year it would be a bizarre choice to pick this of all the rides to keep closed if they don't have enough staff.
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Bizarre e̶x̶p̶e̶r̶i̶m̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ maybe. But if Hex is closed due to staffing issues, it sort of makes sense in the context of Alton after dark. You would want the coasters and outdoor attractions prioritised for night rights, not to mention, night rides are a key USP of the event itself. I would be pretty poor if you turned up and some of the coasters and rides that are amazing to ride in the dark, were closed to staff indoor dark rides.

It's not great either way, stuck between a rock and a hard place, but it absolutely makes sense to keep the rides that ride great at night open first, for the after dark event, if staff is the issue.
 
It would make more sense if they charged sufficient for entry, be that individual or pass, so that they could open all the rides all the time, from day one.
That makes sense to me.
Anything else is not really suitable.
The race to the bottom continues.

Off topic I know, but Blackpool has opened with less than half a park as well.
 
Hex is not closed due to staffing, as Josh says it’s a small team and as we are still in March indoor attractions would be a priority due to weather.

I still think they did more work on it over closed season and that’s slipped the opening back, as they can commit to an opening date I would guess they have it back from vekoma but staff training was delayed.
 
Hex has now been added to the app just leaving CRR as the only ride not showing. With the announcement from Bianca though I doubt this means it will open this weekend, but at least guests won't be confused by it's absence and instead will see closed instead.
 
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