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2025: General Discussion

MrTowers said:
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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And Hex has gone again. Someone is having fun with the App at the moment.

Edit. Also the skyride has been removed so I guess they are just cleaning up what might actually open over the weekend.
 
MrTowers said:
And Hex has gone again. Someone is having fun with the App at the moment.

Edit. Also the skyride has been removed so I guess they are just cleaning up what might actually open over the weekend.
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Hmm... Why do they remove rides from the apps? Isn't it better to state "Closed All Day" or "Closed until April"?

Some people may think it's permanently closed if not on the app.
 
AT86 said:
Because the vast majority of folks will only use the app on the day of their visit to check queue times.

A list of closed rides doesn’t make for good optics.
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Completely agree. Hiding rides that they are not planning on opening will reduce the amount of rides on the closed list for that day. Alton has had a bad time with ride reliability and seeing extra rides say closed even though they never planned to open them will add to guest frustration.

The fact that Alton is the only park that hides ride times on the app until you get there shows a lot for how the management are thinking with trying to hide negatives from the the general public.
 
MrTowers said:
Completely agree. Hiding rides that they are not planning on opening will reduce the amount of rides on the closed list for that day. Alton has had a bad time with ride reliability and seeing extra rides say closed even though they never planned to open them will add to guest frustration.

The fact that Alton is the only park that hides ride times on the app until you get there shows a lot for how the management are thinking with trying to hide negatives from the the general public.
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I really don't think too many people outside of the enthusiast community are actively checking queue times on theme park apps whilst they are not at a theme park!
 
A few other European ones are the same eg Walibi. Not really sure what the logic behind hiding them is, it’s quite a useful tool for planning a visit albeit for a very niche audience.

That being said AT’s decision was clearly tactical in response to negative publicity.
 
Sorry I'm obviously not as well travelled as some of you guys. I was referring to the UK theme park market where Alton Towers is an outlier. The only logical reason that springs to mind is not overloading the server with too many "non-visitors" checking the queue times. Although as already pointed out it was probably more tactical from Alton Towers.
 
PortAventura also says hello for queue times outside of the park.
MrTowers said:
Sorry I'm obviously not as well travelled as some of you guys. I was referring to the UK theme park market where Alton Towers is an outlier. The only logical reason that springs to mind is not overloading the server with too many "non-visitors" checking the queue times. Although as already pointed out it was probably more tactical from Alton Towers.
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Drayton Manor Park and Zoo doesn't even list queue times on their app when you're actually in the park. Alton Towers is not an outlier within the UK, just within the Merlin group.
 
Let's face it, most of the traffic came from obessive nerds who had nothing better to do with their day than to obsessively check ridetimes and then immediately post that The Smiler had only a 10 minute queue on an off-peak day, whilst working about as far away in this country that you could get from Alton Towers...
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
PortAventura also says hello for queue times outside of the park.

Drayton Manor Park and Zoo doesn't even list queue times on their app when you're actually in the park. Alton Towers is not an outlier within the UK, just within the Merlin group.
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Paultons and Blackpool apps show queue times and I believe Drayton said they were hoping to have a proper app this year. They finally installed digital queue time boards last year too.

AT are the only park to deactivate the service.
 
It’s also a case of someone will randomly check the queues at lunchtime on a random day and post everywhere “omg smiler is at 40 mins on an off peak day, down with Merlin!”

When in reality it’s queue was 10 mins for most the day but it had just reopened after 30 mins of downtime and the queue promptly went back down to 10, 15 mins later.

It’s not a true reflection unless you’re actually there or checking it for the entire operational day.
 
Though it might cause some of us strife, I think it makes perfect sense for Alton to geolock access to queue times.

They don’t want people who aren’t there going on there and painting a false picture of queue times at the park based on one momentary snapshot. In this online era, an enthusiast who’s not there going on the app and moaning that “Smiler and Oblivion are both down” could blow up and really sour the park’s reputation, even if that’s just one moment in an otherwise good day for availability.
 
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I’m as guilty as anyone of having a nose at the queue times, I’m not there on opening weekend but it’s almost certain I’ll check the queue times a couple of times just to get a sense of what rides are down, what the queues are like. Completely and utterly pointless but we do it anyway!

I think it has some use in the days preceding a visit, when you can notice things such as X ride usually seems to open late so don’t go there first, X ride often gets the longest times, X ride goes down a lot so get on it whilst it’s open. Can help you get a bit more out of your visit.
 
Mick said:
I’m as guilty as anyone of having a nose at the queue times, I’m not there on opening weekend but it’s almost certain I’ll check the queue times a couple of times just to get a sense of what rides are down, what the queues are like. Completely and utterly pointless but we do it anyway!

I think it has some use in the days preceding a visit, when you can notice things such as X ride usually seems to open late so don’t go there first, X ride often gets the longest times, X ride goes down a lot so get on it whilst it’s open. Can help you get a bit more out of your visit.
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There are plenty of real life uses.

I checked Universal Osaka lots before I went and it was clear a fast track would be required. If I’d just turned up I wouldn’t have been able to get one on the day.

RAP users in particular now need to gauge queue times due to the difficulty in obtaining a slot.
 
MrTowers said:
Completely agree. Hiding rides that they are not planning on opening will reduce the amount of rides on the closed list for that day. Alton has had a bad time with ride reliability and seeing extra rides say closed even though they never planned to open them will add to guest frustration.

The fact that Alton is the only park that hides ride times on the app until you get there shows a lot for how the management are thinking with trying to hide negatives from the the general public.
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Hiding the queue times, I can see where they're coming from however it isn't particularly transparent for those planning trips there. I don't think it's right that someone turns up and finds the park overpacked.

Hiding the rides, this gives a bit of ambiguity in regards to temporary or permanent closure which I wouldn't agree entirely with. There is now a planned closures page but not everyone will look there.

Paultons will do it better by adding in the dates for closure and keeping it on the app.

Especially as the parks are capable of putting down "Closed All Day" on it instead which would be clear as daylight.

I can see why they do hide rides though but I think it can be open to misinterpretation which is why I don't advocate for it.

I wonder how many times the parks have got queries about a ride being closed and whether it's permanent because it's not on the app.
 
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