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Alton Towers Waterpark General Discussion

Ollie said:
Has anybody tried it out yet? :)
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I didn't try anything while I was there last week but I had a look around - It's a lot smaller than it used to be and there seems to be a lot less choice of food and drinks. I hate to be negative but I can't see why it was changed over as it looks very out of place with the tractors and green turf walls in a Caribbean lagoon.

Will try and upload some pics soon :)
 
siralgenon said:
Ollie said:
Has anybody tried it out yet? :)
Click to expand...

I didn't try anything while I was there last week but I had a look around - It's a lot smaller than it used to be and there seems to be a lot less choice of food and drinks. I hate to be negative but I can't see why it was changed over as it looks very out of place with the tractors and green turf walls in a Caribbean lagoon.

Will try and upload some pics soon :)
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Sounds awful :'( Quenchers was fit for purpose and didn't need changing!
 
Quencher's looked nice, and was fit for purpose... However, the food on offer was pants and there was a distinct lack of seating! Is there any extra seating, does anybody know?
 
I dont mind Merlin going for some sort of brand consistency across their parks, but this one is pretty rubbish in all honesty.

In a unique hotel, with a unique water park, a unique place to eat was lovely. And it really worked well, perhaps the sandwich shop could have been placed elsewhere on resort if they were so desperate to get it in, I just feel its been squashed in at the loss of a much better concept.
 
There are a few things I dislike about the waterpark at the moment and it's a shame because they're niggles that can easily be sorted out. First of all, I do wish the staff would actually follow the rules and get rid of towels and bags from off the benches around the pool as people treat the place like a beach. There just isn't enough seats to do that. We visited last week and informed one of the supervisors about this and he first of all didn't know what we were talking about, so we pointed out all of the empty seats with damp towels draped over and then at the signs around the pool and he said he get it sorted. The following week and nothing had changed.

My second point is regarding the water temperature now. It's far, far colder than it was at the start of the year and now Bubbly Wubbly and Volcano Springs are about as warm as the main pools used to be. Merlin cost cutting or have they done this by mistake, not realising that it's not actually that warm over here during the summer? :p

The final thing that could do with being fixed is the state of the pool/ It's generally still very good as they did a lot of work to it at the start of this year. However, there are numerous water effects that don't work properly, like the two jets outside on the large taps, so now they just pour water down the side of the theming and it's a shame because these effects were very good. Also, around the back of the outside area, part of the cover for the filter step... thing... has disappeared, leaving a big hole. Considering many people wrongly climb in and out of the pool over these steps, I think it might be wise to get this fixed before someone doesn't realise and trips or something.

Other than these points, I still love the place and I'm glad we got a pass for it! :)
 
BigAl said:
There are a few things I dislike about the waterpark at the moment and it's a shame because they're niggles that can easily be sorted out. First of all, I do wish the staff would actually follow the rules and get rid of towels and bags from off the benches around the pool as people treat the place like a beach. There just isn't enough seats to do that. We visited last week and informed one of the supervisors about this and he first of all didn't know what we were talking about, so we pointed out all of the empty seats with damp towels draped over and then at the signs around the pool and he said he get it sorted. The following week and nothing had changed.
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Weird. They were strictly enforcing this at the start of the year. It did cause a lot of staff/customer conflicts though. I remember seeing a woman shouting at one of the staff members for touching her belongings. It might just depend on what staff members are on duty though. They should ideally enforce it all the time.

I agree with the water effects. Not once over the past 3 years have I gone there and seen all effects working. They most probably get damaged quite quickly although it still is not good to see considering you're paying to use these features in the waterpark.
 
With regards to people leaving personal belongings on seats, I have been to many places before where staff do remove belongings to make way for others, and the rule is enforced well. Everywhere I have seen this there have been conflicts, and for some it seems that the rule severely detracts from the overall enjoyment of the day. I understand why people would be unhappy about it, but they could just leave their belongings elsewhere when in the pool, and let people who want to use loungers that would be otherwise unused, use them.

Anyway, I too agree about the water effects. The treehouse and wacky waterworks area I have never seen with all effects working, and I put this down to the sheer amount of them. I must say though, that if someone was to visit the waterpark for the first time, it may lower the chances of them returning if they see effects not working, or in a bad way: because, after all, AT are advertising the fact that there are so many interactive water features in the waterpark.
 
The way I see it is, if the staff are unwilling to keep to the rules of removing towels of benches because they don't want to cause friction then they need to remove the signs and stop pretending that they will do so. Otherwise, it needs sorting out.

As for the effects not working, I'm certain that something different is broken every week. One week it's a pipe not spraying water, the next it's a bucket over the lazy river not pouring any water out and it simply overflows over those floating along below. It's probably expensive to run such an attraction, but they make enough money from it to put it all back into the place and keep it a great place to be.

But then there's the matter of the water temperature. :/
 
Im glad youve mentioned that!

I remember the place used to be really hot and humid (in a nice way) that reenforced the theme, now its normally just luke warm to cold, ive got out on occasion before due to being abit chilly.
The warmest place used to be the bubbly wubbly pool, but even that isnt very warm and I dont go in because Ive got the kids with me - not that that rule seems to apply or be adhered to anyway. Last time I was there I didnt get in due to a toddler with a very 'full' swim nappy in there for a long long time.
 
I think what determines whether a visit to Cariba Creek is enjoyable or not is how busy it is. And given it's limited opening hours and accessiblity to all it seems to be packed almost all of the time.

Having to queue for 20 minutes to pick up a rubber ring and then a further 20 minutes for the Master Blaster is all but soul destroying. The lazy river is also dreadful, as its pretty much the only attraction you don't have to queue for its always rammed with few rings available. They also need to put in water jets around the course to get a proper flow going.

The entrance charge should be reduced from 4pm onwards from £15 to £10 because as it stands it's unacceptable to be charging such a high amount when the outdoor pools are closed and there are only a few hours of opening left.
 
Well when we came out of the watermark on Friday to complain about the points above, we were also joined by about 3 other people who were complaining about the locker fee and the state of the changing room floor and the food on the floor of the cafe.
 
The locker fee is just laughable tbh. Whoever thought up of that idea was thinking crazy. Just another money grabbing part of Alton Towers.

They look like a pain too for staff as they have to go around collecting the profits every so often, and I've seen lockers not working too due to there being too much money on the locker, it being jammed etc...
 
James said:
The locker fee is just laughable tbh. Whoever thought up of that idea was thinking crazy. Just another money grabbing part of Alton Towers.

They look like a pain too for staff as they have to go around collecting the profits every so often, and I've seen lockers not working too due to there being too much money on the locker, it being jammed etc...
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The lockers are being changed again at the end of the season. With special tokens for Waterpark Annual Pass holders. :)
 
siralgenon said:
James said:
The locker fee is just laughable tbh. Whoever thought up of that idea was thinking crazy. Just another money grabbing part of Alton Towers.

They look like a pain too for staff as they have to go around collecting the profits every so often, and I've seen lockers not working too due to there being too much money on the locker, it being jammed etc...
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The lockers are being changed again at the end of the season. With special tokens for Waterpark Annual Pass holders. :)
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All of the money wasted on lockers could just be spent elsewhere. In my opinion the waterpark is going downhill fast - it used to be a great place to visit and made the hotels special, but now it is overcrowded and often dirty not to mention expensive! I can't recommend it to friends anymore as they come back and tell of their disappointment.
 
-POSITIVE IMPROVEMENTS SEPTEMBER-

After visiting the Waterpark yesterday afternoon, I was very pleased to find out that the Park had been improved on once more.

-Lockers are now once again FREE! Although guests still have to place £2 into the locker - this is fully refunded after pressing the button at the end of use.

-A permanent queue line has been fitted at the Master Blaster's rubber tube collection point. Fish nets now hang from the ceiling to the floor creating two enclosed queue lines, one for singles and one for doubles.

-Children's games have been fixed to the walls of the upper Master Blaster queue to entertain children (and adults) while waiting for the usually 1hour+ queues for the slide. These seemed popular with guests of all ages.
 
Argh it's so good to see some more investment like this - it seems the resort is a bottomless pit of it! :) I just wish there was something Cariba could do in the way of expansion, to make the MB queues less ridiculous!

A new high-capacity slide or something?
 
Good news to see lockers are back to being free, they must have had alot of unhappy guests for them to change them back. The park do needs more slides and not just one or two, loads! They only have three (inside) currently dont they?)

But it is nice once again to see improvements going on around the resort.

Does anyone know if/when the waterpark will close in January for its annual repairs?
 
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