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And you thought queues in the park were insane?

N

Novas

TS Member
This was the queue for brekkie at 08:30 this morning in the ATH. Sorry for the low quality phone pic, but I was busy simultaneously laughing and crying, the mass of people went on well beyond this picture. I was half expecting to see a Fastrack line pop up. :/

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Anyone know if this is a regular problem? I watched it for a bit and it seemed like unorganised chaos. I didn't even try and find the back of the line, instead i went over to Flambos which was actually really quiet!

(I'd just like to state that I actually had a really good trip, and for once I've come away with a lot of positive things to say about the whole resort, but this was not one of them!)
 
Oh that's nothing. The one year I was there we were queueing all the way up the stairs back up to the reception area. :p

Very odd to see the queue like that. Usually the queue goes up the stairs on the left side (as it doesn't clog up the bottom floor area). It's not a regular thing from experience, it only happens when the hotel is busy. That is relatively tame compared to peak school holiday times though.

Main problem is that the majority of people will go to breakfast around 8:30am. That's the peak time. Going there around 7:30am to 8am or 9:30am - 10am I've found usually avoids queues like that during the busier times of the year. Or as you did just go over to the other hotel as it might be quieter.

Depending on the guests and their behaviour on resort they will end up using one hotel restaurant over the other. Like Scarefest 2010 I found Secret Garden was dead while Flambo's was like World War III!
 
That's simply unacceptable for the money you pay to stay there a night at this time of year.

Both hotels need more and bigger facilities.
 
Jeeeeesus!

I always eat at Flambos, so I don't know whether this is a regular thing. But that's shocking. No way would I wait for that.

But having said that...if Flambos was really quiet, and everyone decided to go to this one instead...maybe the hotel staff should have pointed them in the other direction, but it's not as though Flambos is hidden away. I wouldn't be surprised if the thought if going to Flambos didn't pop into anyone's head.
 
Not that often, the alternative is you do things like Port Aventura and force people to choose a breakfast slot when they check in.

Pro's and cons to both options really.

Queue usually moves pretty quick, it usually happens when loads arrive in the space of 5 minutes.
 
Ouch, I would hate to queue for breakfast...

That queue looks mental!
 
Dave said:
Not that often, the alternative is you do things like Port Aventura and force people to choose a breakfast slot when they check in.

Pro's and cons to both options really.

Queue usually moves pretty quick, it usually happens when loads arrive in the space of 5 minutes.
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Disney do the same at Paris, it worked out well for me and Chris when we went in Nov.
 
I may be wrong but I could have sworn that you had to book a breakfast slot a few years ago when staying in either Alton or Splash, and you had to pick which hotel to have breakfast in....
 
CoasterCrazyChris said:
That's simply unacceptable for the money you pay to stay there a night at this time of year.

Both hotels need more and bigger facilities.
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Another Merlin balls up..
 
GaryH said:
I may be wrong but I could have sworn that you had to book a breakfast slot a few years ago when staying in either Alton or Splash, and you had to pick which hotel to have breakfast in....
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I think I remember something like that too.

I also remember the days when you had to have breakfast in the restaurant of the hotel you were staying in! Although now you can go to either, which I think is flawed as things like this happen when you have one restaurant packed and the other dead.



Bob said:
Another Merlin balls up..
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Actually a balls up by Tussauds. .
 
are we not forgetting the great brittish pass time of Queuing. We made it into an art form :D
 
To be honest ATH got a breakfast queue once is hardly an issue, i have stayed there many times and it has never happened for me. Even with the timed slots on one morning when i was at Port Aventura a huge queue formed to get into breakfast. I love Merlin bashing as much as the next person but "breakfast queue forms every now and again" is pushing it a little bit.

Everyone go back to looking at the peeling theming on The Smiler :D
 
I do wonder why they werent using the conference centre for this - during busier school periods they turn the top floor of the conf centre into a temporary restaurant, it cant be difficult to do this in a morning too.

The other question is why cant 2 hotels cope with breakfast - thats poor planning.
 
Ben said:
I do wonder why they werent using the conference centre for this - during busier school periods they turn the top floor of the conf centre into a temporary restaurant, it cant be difficult to do this in a morning too.

The other question is why cant 2 hotels cope with breakfast - thats poor planning.
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They can Ben, they hardly ever get a queue, but if a hundred people decide to arrive at once even if you have 100 seats free a queue will form as it takes time to seat people.

You see it at most hotels at breakfast sometimes.
 
I agree with Dave, you cant have a go at the hotels over this , if you go and stay in any hotel in the area, for example the Holiday Inn Express, at peak time in the morning there will be a queue for breakfast.

Alton cant built restaurants that will seat EVERYONE for every room at the same time, the hotels are not always at capacity, but during peak time a queue has to be expected. It generally moves pretty quickly anyway.

I usually head down at 7:40 and there is never a queue, plenty of tables. Coming out half hour later and there is usually a queue up to the ship. Just common sense really but its not the fault of Alton.
 
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