Thank you for taking the time to talk to us regarding the power cut that we experienced at the Resort last Thursday. We would firstly like to apologise for your disappointment and the fact that your day at the Park was not what you had expected or wanted. We know that many people travel to Alton Towers Resort from all over the country to celebrate special occasions, and we do everything we can to make sure that we provide the best possible experience for every one of them. We accept that this was not possible on Thursday and we are very sorry.
Unfortunately this was an external power loss and entirely outside of our control. More than that the length and severity of the power loss, affecting all parts of the Park and offices, meant communicating relevant messages to our guests was much more difficult than we had anticipated and this made the situation more extreme.
While we have three separate power supplies, allowing us to quickly switch between them, specifically to minimise disruption to our guests in such situations, on this occasion all three were affected at once – a very rare occurrence - indicating significant overall grid issues.
Limited supply was restored within 30 minutes – at around 11.30am - allowing us to run some of the most popular family attractions such as Old MacDonald’s Farmyard, Cloud Cuckoo Land, Ice Age: The 4D Experience, and Sharkbait Reef by SEALIFE; as well as Oblivion and Submission a little later. However, despite promises by the suppliers, sufficient power to safely run the rest of our major thrill rides was not restored until much later - 2.45pm. These rides require stringent safety procedures prior to running, and particularly should they be stopped suddenly for any reason, and so while we then opened rides as quickly as possible the Park was not fully operational until after 3pm.
We did however try to alert people to the situation as soon as it arose. Our Welcome Team at the main entrance was briefed to inform guests on arrival in the morning that we were experiencing power difficulties, but at this time we had no reason to believe that the issues wouldn’t be resolved very quickly. We also extended the ride close time to compensate for the loss of time and all rides were open until 5.30pm allowing people time to revisit those rides they’d missed in the morning.
As an acknowledgement of the inconvenience and disappointment caused, all tickets dated 11th April 2013 will now be accepted for a future visit (until 18th October 2013, excluding 6th July) and you can simply present these at the main turnstiles for complimentary admission later in the year.
Given our world first new rollercoaster The Smiler is not due to open until May, we very much hope that you were in any case planning another visit this year to try it out, and that you will therefore allow us another opportunity to provide you with a great Alton Towers day out – and an experience which is memorable for all the right reasons!
Yours sincerely,
Alton Towers Resort Management Team
