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2026: General Discussion

I used to live in Hampshire, fairly close to Paultons and they always had a reputation for paying quite well. When I say ‘quite well’ I mean like £1 or so per hour above minimum wage, but certainly better than what many hourly paid jobs locally were paying, and better than the other theme parks paying minimum wage. This was back in 2006-2010, so things may have changed now. But I do strongly believe that if you want to keep good staff, you’ve got to pay them well. Paying minimum wage is a false economy. You’ll end up spending more time and money on recruitment and training in the long run.
 
Available on:
  • Bluey
  • Octonauts
  • Go Jetters
  • Night Garden
  • Get set go
After more than a decade of no fastrack and queues that already stretch the tolerance of their target audience, I can see some tempers fraying come Summer. Hopefully this bites them, the more openly you’re grabbing people’s money, the more they’re going to notice what you’re not doing with it.
 
AT86 said:
Given the low capacity of many CBeebies attractions, this move is a choice.



www.altontowers.com

Fastrack Pass - Reduced Waiting Time | Alton Towers Resort

Alton Towers Fastrack is your priority pass to beat the queues. Reduce waiting time on our roller coasters with a fast track. Book your Fastrack online now!
www.altontowers.com www.altontowers.com
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I wonder if the reason for Bluey not accepting Fastrack on the 28th is to stop loads of Platinum pass holders using their one-shots on it 🤔😂
 
Thameslink Rail said:
I wonder what BBC Studios will think about this move, even if it's not their park they've got an image to maintain.
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There will have been an amendment to the licensing contract, as I believe previously it was not introduced at the BBC’s request. The commercial arm of the BBC is under a lot of pressure at the moment to increase revenue and reduce the organisation’s overall reliance on the license fee.

The government is looking likely to retain the license fee when the charter is up for renewal in a couple of years, as it’s the only politically acceptable option for them. But the BBC is also unlikely to get any cash injection so the burden is slowly moving towards their commercial operation (BBC Studios) to make up the difference.
 
imanautie said:
It is also fairly limited, 12 per slot currently
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So basically 3 or 4 family groups an hour? I still think it’s priced way too low for what should be essentially a premium offering. The attractions listed are pretty much the e-tickets of the area, and will be a bit of a bottleneck to deal with for the hosts (which will probably lead to a higher loss of throughput than just 12pph).

Still it’s also concerning considering ratios can be changed in the future, and what’s being offered currently is probably only a trial run. Bluey won’t have fastrack for the opening weekend, so at least regular guest won’t have to compete with both vloggers and fastrackers.
 
imanautie said:
It is also fairly limited, 12 per slot currently
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It's a 30 minute time slot as well apparently (edit- Time slots are 30 minutes apart, but you have two hours to complete your chosen attractions).

Note that on rides without a minimum height restriction, a child under 90cm does not require a Fastrack ticket when accompanied with an adult who holds one.

Screenshot_20260320-133248.png
 
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Bert2theSpark said:
There will have been an amendment to the licensing contract, as I believe previously it was not introduced at the BBC’s request. The commercial arm of the BBC is under a lot of pressure at the moment to increase revenue and reduce the organisation’s overall reliance on the license fee.

The government is looking likely to retain the license fee when the charter is up for renewal in a couple of years, as it’s the only politically acceptable option for them. But the BBC is also unlikely to get any cash injection so the burden is slowly moving towards their commercial operation (BBC Studios) to make up the difference.
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I very much doubt that this would’ve been pushed from the BBC side (though I’m sure they’ll have been consulted). Given Legoland have this year ditched Reserve and Ride (qbot/lo-q), and brought in fastrack, does feel like a group decision to push it further.
 
Skyscraper said:
I wonder if the reason for Bluey not accepting Fastrack on the 28th is to stop loads of Platinum pass holders using their one-shots on it 🤔😂
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Do they still have a "can't come in here without kids" rule in Cbeebies? Wonder how many platinum thoosies will be trying to "borrow" a family to get in there and get the cred.

Fasttrack for this area is bad though. Small children are impatient enough as it is and I can only imagine some of the tantrums from them not understanding why the staff are letting people go in front of them
 
So the park’s answer to improving queue times on rides that have been running on reduced capacity for years, notably Get Set Go and In The Night Garden is to start charging for fastrack? Ridiculous.

On another note, I’ve been thinking just how poor things are at the moment for the 0.9-1.2m demographic. You arrive on park nice and early and are greeted with a closed monorail. Never mind, you can take the 15 minute walk to the entrance plaza to get into the park early and have some breakfast before rides open. Except you can’t because the gates don’t open until 0930. When you’re finally in, you’re greeted with a closed Skyride, so you go to Dark Forest, not forgetting walking past a closed Battle Galleons, only to find that the 1.2m coaster there doesn’t open until 11am. Never mind, let’s walk over to Hex. Oh, that’s also closed. Word of David Walliams? Also closed. So you then walk over to the other side of the park, walking past a closed Spinball Whizzer. By this point, Wickerman has built up a hideous queue so you venture into Kantaga, only to find both attractions closed. You’re getting angry now so you rush to Curse, but that’s closed too! No point going to the Valley because unless you’re 1.4m tall, you can forget it.

You’d think the above was an exaggeration, but it’s literally what’s happening in the morning on park at the moment.

It’s almost as if Management don’t realise that people come to theme parks to experience rides. Open up the purse and make Tech Services a more attractive place to work and it’ll benefit everyone in the long run.
 
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s_g_k said:
So the park’s answer to improving queue times on rides that have been running on reduced capacity for years, notably Get Set Go and In The Night Garden is to start charging for fastrack? Ridiculous.

On another note, I’ve been thinking just how poor things are at the moment for the 0.9-1.2m demographic. You arrive on park nice and early and are greeted with a closed monorail. Never mind, you can take the 15 minute walk to the entrance plaza to get into the park early and have some breakfast before rides open. Except you can’t because the gates don’t open until 0930. When you’re finally in, you’re greeted with a closed Skyride, so you go to Dark Forest, not forgetting walking past a closed Battle Galleons, only to find that the 1.2m coaster there doesn’t open until 11am. Never mind, let’s walk over to Hex. Oh, that’s also closed. Word of David Walliams? Also closed. So you then walk over to the other side of the park, walking past a closed Spinball Whizzer. By this point, Wickerman has built up a hideous clue so you venture into Kantaga, only to find both attractions closed. You’re getting angry now so you rush to Curse, but that’s closed too! No point going to the Valley because unless you’re 1.4m tall, you can forget it.

You’d think the above was an exaggeration, but it’s literally what’s happening in the morning on park at the moment.

It’s almost as if Management don’t realise that people come to theme parks to experience rides. Open up the purse and make Tech Services a more attractive place to work and it’ll benefit everyone in the long run.
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Sound hideous to be honest, the morning are just for extreme thrillseekers.

They don't pay enough for tech services but on the other hand are their enough electrical engineers in the UK to be able to do the sort of work required
 
Hid said:
Sound hideous to be honest, the morning are just for extreme thrillseekers.

They don't pay enough for tech services but on the other hand are their enough electrical engineers in the UK to be able to do the sort of work required
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There’s hundreds of them just down the road at JCB HQ, it’s just that JCB pay more and offer much stronger company benefits.
 
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