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2026: General Discussion

Last edited:
Alfredo said:
App has been updated to show bluey and we get a proper look at the queue line

From: https://x.com/RickCooper02/status/2032495805991448958?s=20
Looks like the station will have some kind of festoon lighting in the ceiling
Click to expand...

You can see in this video from last weekend the lights in the ceiling of the station:

From: https://youtu.be/ihGMnATP0hw?si=vN0cghinlx__xMuw&t=106
WickerWonder18 said:
Why has this changed? There is no way they are clearing the queue for the monorail in 30 mins on peak busy days...
Further costuming I assume
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Could be cost-cutting or maybe some form of crowd control to try to ease crowds at the start of the day? I don't know. But also from that video (4:20), he points out that MAP pass discount can only be used after 2pm at Pizza and Pasta. I think that is for the queues as on peak days there is always a queue from about 1pm right out the door. By only allowing MAPs after 2pm, they'll spread out the guests a bit I imagine. I'm sure if that is the reason and it doesn't work, they'll scrap the MAP restriction time!
 
Steve74 said:
You can see in this video from last weekend the lights in the ceiling of the station:

From: https://youtu.be/ihGMnATP0hw?si=vN0cghinlx__xMuw&t=106

Could be cost-cutting or maybe some form of crowd control to try to ease crowds at the start of the day? I don't know. But also from that video (4:20), he points out that MAP pass discount can only be used after 2pm at Pizza and Pasta. I think that is for the queues as on peak days there is always a queue from about 1pm right out the door. By only allowing MAPs after 2pm, they'll spread out the guests a bit I imagine. I'm sure if that is the reason and it doesn't work, they'll scrap the MAP restriction time!
Click to expand...

Might just be the work lights like how wicker has the themed lighting and then work lights that go on when staff are fixing something
 
Alfredo said:
App has been updated to show bluey and we get a proper look at the queue line

From: https://x.com/RickCooper02/status/2032495805991448958?s=20
Looks like the station will have some kind of festoon lighting in the ceiling
Click to expand...

It also shows just how short Get Set Go now is...

Screenshot_20260313-185614.png
 
A 9:30am monorail opening is a naked, brazen, appalling demonstration of yet more cost cutting at the expense of guest experience.

As if they hadn’t neutered the monorail’s capacity enough with the ludicrous loading procedure, cut in train numbers and slow moving trains. I can’t begin to imagine the queue that will build up for the monorail on busy days now.
 
They have delayed opening the gates before and nearly always change their mind when they see how dangerously packed the plaza gets on busy days.

But yeah another example cuts. Monorail will be intolerable,
 
Ah the good old opening day moans are here already. Reminds me why I wouldnt ever dream of visiting on opening day. I think most people who attend today know its not going to be a park on top form but its almost become a badge of honour to be there on this day now.

Given its going to be full of vloggers too I genuinely dont see the great appeal.
 
I see the traditional Opening Day pitchforks have been sharpened, the torches are lit and the we've immediately jumped to our favourite default conclusion: a boardroom conspiracy of malicious cost cutting.

I fear, however, that in the haste to declare Merlin a fundamentally evil entity intent on ruining your Saturday, we're all entirely missing the glaring operational reality staring us in the face.

They just don't have the staff.
PhalanaxOperativeA1127 said:
Yet more cost cutting and disappointment.

Still, at least we've got a newly repainted corkscrew to admire.
Click to expand...
How much money do you genuinely believe Alton Towers saves by delaying the opening of Galactica, Th13teen, and Spinball Whizzer by exactly one hour?

Let's do the maths. A ride host earns the National Living Wage (or the under 21 equivalent). If you shave one hour off the morning shift of, say, 50 ride operators and turnstile attendants across those specific attractions, you save the company roughly £500 to £600 in gross wages.

Do you honestly believe that a multi billion pound conglomerate is deliberately sabotaging its flagship park's opening weekend, generating horrific PR and actively losing out on an hour's worth of captive secondary spend just to save £600 on the payroll?

The "cost cutting" narrative completely ignores the operational calendar. For the next few weekends, until British Summer Time kicks in, the park is scheduled to remain open until 8:00 pm.

If this were a draconian corporate budget cut, they would simply close the park at 4:00 pm across the board. Keeping an entire theme park fully staffed, running and illuminated for an extra three or four hours in the evening costs exponentially more than shaving 60 minutes off the morning start time. The fact that they're running late closes proves that the budget is there.
Dave said:
They have delayed opening the gates before and nearly always change their mind when they see how dangerously packed the plaza gets on busy days.

But yeah another example cuts. Monorail will be intolerable,
Click to expand...
Exactly, Dave. They know it causes dangerous bottlenecks. They know it infuriates the guests. So why do it?

Because they do not have the staff.

It is mid March. The seasonal labour pool that Alton Towers relies upon to function simply isn't available yet. University students are in the middle of their semesters. A Level students are revising. Due to the Education and Skills Act, 16-18 year olds are legally required to be in full-time education or training; they can't work weekday setups and their availability on weekends this early in the year is notoriously flaky.

Now, stretch that already skeletal early season workforce across a massive 10.5 hour operating day (9:30 am to 8:00 pm). You can't legally ask a 17 year-old to work that entire shift. You need overlapping rotas, which means you need almost double the headcount.

Add in the geographical albatross around the park's neck and with car insurance for young drivers sitting at astronomical levels, why would a teenager drive 45 minutes from Stoke to get shouted at by enthusiasts because the Monorail is late, when they can earn the exact same minimum wage pulling pints in a Wetherspoons ten minutes from their house?
BarryZola said:
So that'll mean busier queues for the likes of Rita for the first hour or so because half of the people up there won't be in the Thirteen queue. Merlin clearly just want to use Towers as a cash cow and a way to get people to buy Merlin passes, but don't want to actually pay to run the place properly. Honestly, just shut your company down and call it a day.
Click to expand...
I admire your flair for the dramatic, Barry, but demanding the liquidation of the UK's largest theme park operator because they couldn't get enough staff to open Spinball Whizzer at 10:00 am on the 14th of March seems like a slight overreaction.

The staggered openings are not a corporate mandate to extract extra pennies from the budget. They're a panicked, gaffer tape solution by the local management team who looked at their morning roster, realised half the required hadn't been recruited yet, and had to triage which rides to open with the bodies they actually had on site to stretch them until 8:00 pm.

It's an absolute operational failure, yes, but it's a failure of recruitment, geography, and the collapse of the rural labour market, not a villainous plot to steal an hour's wages from a ride op.

Occam's razor applies. They aren't opening the rides because they literally do not have the people to push the buttons.
 
Bowser said:
Why would any non enthusiasts think this?

Have the park advertised a reduced entrance fee to reflect the lesser offering?
Click to expand...
Agree with you here. The price is the price so you expect the same service and availability now as opposed to three months time.

Appalling budget cuts, again. But this is nothing new and we ultimately know some of these decisions will be reversed. Yet again Merlin are seeing how low they can set the bar if acceptability
 
Bowser said:
Why would any non enthusiasts think this?

Have the park advertised a reduced entrance fee to reflect the lesser offering?
Click to expand...

Absolutely correct.

But also, check the t&c's, give us yer money, or what do you expect for eighty quid a year...

Good luck and happy new season for those who begin today.

Could I begin the chant for the stay at home viewers.

Ride times,
Ride times,
Ride times...
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
I see the traditional Opening Day pitchforks have been sharpened, the torches are lit and the we've immediately jumped to our favourite default conclusion: a boardroom conspiracy of malicious cost cutting.

I fear, however, that in the haste to declare Merlin a fundamentally evil entity intent on ruining your Saturday, we're all entirely missing the glaring operational reality staring us in the face.

They just don't have the staff.

How much money do you genuinely believe Alton Towers saves by delaying the opening of Galactica, Th13teen, and Spinball Whizzer by exactly one hour?

Let's do the maths. A ride host earns the National Living Wage (or the under 21 equivalent). If you shave one hour off the morning shift of, say, 50 ride operators and turnstile attendants across those specific attractions, you save the company roughly £500 to £600 in gross wages.

Do you honestly believe that a multi billion pound conglomerate is deliberately sabotaging its flagship park's opening weekend, generating horrific PR and actively losing out on an hour's worth of captive secondary spend just to save £600 on the payroll?

The "cost cutting" narrative completely ignores the operational calendar. For the next few weekends, until British Summer Time kicks in, the park is scheduled to remain open until 8:00 pm.

If this were a draconian corporate budget cut, they would simply close the park at 4:00 pm across the board. Keeping an entire theme park fully staffed, running and illuminated for an extra three or four hours in the evening costs exponentially more than shaving 60 minutes off the morning start time. The fact that they're running late closes proves that the budget is there.

Exactly, Dave. They know it causes dangerous bottlenecks. They know it infuriates the guests. So why do it?

Because they do not have the staff.

It is mid March. The seasonal labour pool that Alton Towers relies upon to function simply isn't available yet. University students are in the middle of their semesters. A Level students are revising. Due to the Education and Skills Act, 16-18 year olds are legally required to be in full-time education or training; they can't work weekday setups and their availability on weekends this early in the year is notoriously flaky.

Now, stretch that already skeletal early season workforce across a massive 10.5 hour operating day (9:30 am to 8:00 pm). You can't legally ask a 17 year-old to work that entire shift. You need overlapping rotas, which means you need almost double the headcount.

Add in the geographical albatross around the park's neck and with car insurance for young drivers sitting at astronomical levels, why would a teenager drive 45 minutes from Stoke to get shouted at by enthusiasts because the Monorail is late, when they can earn the exact same minimum wage pulling pints in a Wetherspoons ten minutes from their house?

I admire your flair for the dramatic, Barry, but demanding the liquidation of the UK's largest theme park operator because they couldn't get enough staff to open Spinball Whizzer at 10:00 am on the 14th of March seems like a slight overreaction.

The staggered openings are not a corporate mandate to extract extra pennies from the budget. They're a panicked, gaffer tape solution by the local management team who looked at their morning roster, realised half the required hadn't been recruited yet, and had to triage which rides to open with the bodies they actually had on site to stretch them until 8:00 pm.

It's an absolute operational failure, yes, but it's a failure of recruitment, geography, and the collapse of the rural labour market, not a villainous plot to steal an hour's wages from a ride op.

Occam's razor applies. They aren't opening the rides because they literally do not have the people to push the buttons.
Click to expand...

Extrapolate that £600 payroll saving across the season and you are talking somewhere in the region of £140k in savings.

Combine it with the cost saving of only running water rides between May and September and running the monorail for 30mins fewer per day and the savings mount up even more. I can absolutely believe this is due to a concerted effort to reduce costs and not just because of local labour availability.

It comes back to the same thing it has year after year, the operational budgets allocated by Merlin do not appear to be sufficient to run their parks.

Also worth noting that Towers are not currently advertising any ride related roles, suggesting they have everyone they need for the budget allocated.
 
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