Friday 27th. A meh start but picked up later.
My first post. I'm normally just a lurker on most parts of the internet. Unfortunately, negativity does spur more action. I enjoyed last season, but this wasn't a great start to this one. Might be a bit long for this thread, but it mostly stays on topic, and I cut all the bits about food out.
TL;DR: Nemesis Reborn, Sub-Terra, Hex and Rita all caused me problems. And Wicker Man had a close call.
Not all the parks fault, but still had a negative effect.
--- Arrival
Got parked in Car park G as one near the closest tree island to the park. The queue took about 15 minutes to get into the park via the platinum pass entrance and was beyond the crossing. They had a marshal managing people there, but it's still unnerving to drive through such a busy narrow crossing.
--- Nemesis Reborn
Nemesis started running as I got into the park at (I think) 9:52, and the queue was about 15 minutes with the extended line behind the container already open. Logged my first ride at 10:10. Lapped Nemesis again for another 15 minute queue. However the train stopped on the lifthill. I didn't hear anyone getting told off and the ride ops didn't go up and confiscate anything. They just jogged the lift from a control box. It was only a 10 minute delay. Afterwards I did Toxicator again advertised at 15 minutes, which was probably accurate, and had risen to 40 minutes by the time I got off.
--- Sub-Terra
Galactica was advertised at an hour so I decided to head to Sub-Terra at 20 minutes. It probably only took me about 15 minutes to get into the batching area and hand over my bag, having an alright day so far. While the batcher was giving her speech about the strobes and the restrictive lap bar, a voice comes over the PA.
"*name* please can you clear the batching area, we've just gone down."
We're all funnelled into the accessibility ramp while the guests in the pre-show/lifts are brought back out into the batching area.
After a few attempts to suggest other indoor attractions (it was raining), one of the staff suggest Hex. Another guest chimes in with: "Hex is also unavailable."
I decide to wait a few minutes before another voice over the PA. "Attention all those in the Nemesis Sub-Terra queue, at this time Sub-Terra has encounter a problem and has ceased operation. We are waiting for technical services to attend to restart the ride. At this time we are unaware of how long this may be."
I watch other guests cut their losses, and after considering that Sub-Terra probably wasn't a priority for a busy technical services team, decide to join them.
--- Spinball
Had a perfectly normal ride on Curse, and then walked thought a sad, deserted Katanga Canyon.
Walked towards Spinball and a few of kids ducked under the rail to squeeze in in front of me. Not to worry, it was still drizzling. They were batching mostly twos, with one rider from the single rider queue 60% of the time. I rode twice within about 12 minutes, then decided that two rides was enough for how my head was feeling.
--- Hex
Heading towards the Dark Forrest, I decide to pop into Hex as I can't be bothered with a long queue. With virtually no queue despite being reported as 15 minutes on the app, I'm in the next batch. We listen to the speech about the Earl and head into the cinema room. About 20 seconds into the film, the projector cuts out, emergency lights come on and doors at both ends swing (much quicker) open. The fire alarm light is flashing but no audible alarm is heard. Presumably to stop people in the Mad House panicking. I would have gone out the fire exit but I because I couldn't hear the alarm, there was no apparent danger and the staff quickly beckoned us out the exit in the Earl portrait room.
--- Rita
I'm near Rita, all the rides are similar queues and I don't want food, so I give it a shot. It's advertised 50 minutes. After about 10 minutes in the queue, a pack of tissues fall from the ride into the guests in front of me (Brushed their torsos and legs). Despite just being tissues, it sounded more hefty. Ten minutes later, not really paying attention, I tune into a lack of trains dispatching. There may have been an announcement over the PA (I wasn't paying attention), or perhaps the guests next to me noticed an interaction with the ride ops and another guest. Overhearing them, they imply that someone has lost something. A further 10-15 minutes, we observe technical staff inspecting the launch. Hope they're not looking for those tissues.
I don't know exactly how long the ride was down for. I would guess about 40 minutes, which matches queue-times.com data.
Ultimately, I logged Rita at 15:23, after Spinball at 13:02.
--- Wicker Man
40 minutes later, using single rider, I log Th13teen. This was probably parity with the main queue.
Followed by a mostly uneventful queue and ride on Wicker Man. I spotted a phone that had landed on one of the concrete foundations, which a staff member, came to observe a few minutes later. I did observe a kid pulling out some of the wicker though...
While on the lift hill, I noticed the chain of Congo River Rapids was in pieces in the basin.
--- Smiler - More Rita
A normal queue and ride on Smiler. Single rider looked just as long.
Rita was advertised at 15 minutes, and it was twilight. Despite walking going to the loo then walking there. Ten minutes later the queue was still at 15 minutes and was probably correct.
--- Wicker Man 2
I head to Wicker Man and use my platinum fastpass. I've never bought one and felt a bit guilty, but it did mean I got out of the ride with 15 minutes to park closure. Ops wise, some people clearly (ab)using the right to skip the pre-show to min-max harder and the exit door didn't shut while we watched the pre-show. I didn't mind as I preferred the efficiency during those precious night hours.
Weighing up my options, I decide to skip rushing Nemesis night ride and enjoy a leisurely queue for one final ride on Wicker Man. Shout out to the lady in the queue shop who sold me a Cappuccino at 20:02. Unlucky to the guy behind me who was also tired but they closed after me. Negative points to the enthusiasts who were reluctant to enter the batching area, making the staff ask them three times, because (presumably) they were competing for the back row of the last train.
--- The End
All the staff were great. I have no complaints about how the rides were run when they were running. I hope that when I go back, midweek spring term-time, the park will be how it was last season. I did overhear at least one group discussing if they should ask for a refund. They also mentioned the rainy day, so I can't infer sentiment there.
My first post. I'm normally just a lurker on most parts of the internet. Unfortunately, negativity does spur more action. I enjoyed last season, but this wasn't a great start to this one. Might be a bit long for this thread, but it mostly stays on topic, and I cut all the bits about food out.
TL;DR: Nemesis Reborn, Sub-Terra, Hex and Rita all caused me problems. And Wicker Man had a close call.
Not all the parks fault, but still had a negative effect.
--- Arrival
Got parked in Car park G as one near the closest tree island to the park. The queue took about 15 minutes to get into the park via the platinum pass entrance and was beyond the crossing. They had a marshal managing people there, but it's still unnerving to drive through such a busy narrow crossing.
--- Nemesis Reborn
Nemesis started running as I got into the park at (I think) 9:52, and the queue was about 15 minutes with the extended line behind the container already open. Logged my first ride at 10:10. Lapped Nemesis again for another 15 minute queue. However the train stopped on the lifthill. I didn't hear anyone getting told off and the ride ops didn't go up and confiscate anything. They just jogged the lift from a control box. It was only a 10 minute delay. Afterwards I did Toxicator again advertised at 15 minutes, which was probably accurate, and had risen to 40 minutes by the time I got off.
--- Sub-Terra
Galactica was advertised at an hour so I decided to head to Sub-Terra at 20 minutes. It probably only took me about 15 minutes to get into the batching area and hand over my bag, having an alright day so far. While the batcher was giving her speech about the strobes and the restrictive lap bar, a voice comes over the PA.
"*name* please can you clear the batching area, we've just gone down."
We're all funnelled into the accessibility ramp while the guests in the pre-show/lifts are brought back out into the batching area.
After a few attempts to suggest other indoor attractions (it was raining), one of the staff suggest Hex. Another guest chimes in with: "Hex is also unavailable."
I decide to wait a few minutes before another voice over the PA. "Attention all those in the Nemesis Sub-Terra queue, at this time Sub-Terra has encounter a problem and has ceased operation. We are waiting for technical services to attend to restart the ride. At this time we are unaware of how long this may be."
I watch other guests cut their losses, and after considering that Sub-Terra probably wasn't a priority for a busy technical services team, decide to join them.
--- Spinball
Had a perfectly normal ride on Curse, and then walked thought a sad, deserted Katanga Canyon.
Walked towards Spinball and a few of kids ducked under the rail to squeeze in in front of me. Not to worry, it was still drizzling. They were batching mostly twos, with one rider from the single rider queue 60% of the time. I rode twice within about 12 minutes, then decided that two rides was enough for how my head was feeling.
--- Hex
Heading towards the Dark Forrest, I decide to pop into Hex as I can't be bothered with a long queue. With virtually no queue despite being reported as 15 minutes on the app, I'm in the next batch. We listen to the speech about the Earl and head into the cinema room. About 20 seconds into the film, the projector cuts out, emergency lights come on and doors at both ends swing (much quicker) open. The fire alarm light is flashing but no audible alarm is heard. Presumably to stop people in the Mad House panicking. I would have gone out the fire exit but I because I couldn't hear the alarm, there was no apparent danger and the staff quickly beckoned us out the exit in the Earl portrait room.
--- Rita
I'm near Rita, all the rides are similar queues and I don't want food, so I give it a shot. It's advertised 50 minutes. After about 10 minutes in the queue, a pack of tissues fall from the ride into the guests in front of me (Brushed their torsos and legs). Despite just being tissues, it sounded more hefty. Ten minutes later, not really paying attention, I tune into a lack of trains dispatching. There may have been an announcement over the PA (I wasn't paying attention), or perhaps the guests next to me noticed an interaction with the ride ops and another guest. Overhearing them, they imply that someone has lost something. A further 10-15 minutes, we observe technical staff inspecting the launch. Hope they're not looking for those tissues.
I don't know exactly how long the ride was down for. I would guess about 40 minutes, which matches queue-times.com data.
Ultimately, I logged Rita at 15:23, after Spinball at 13:02.
--- Wicker Man
40 minutes later, using single rider, I log Th13teen. This was probably parity with the main queue.
Followed by a mostly uneventful queue and ride on Wicker Man. I spotted a phone that had landed on one of the concrete foundations, which a staff member, came to observe a few minutes later. I did observe a kid pulling out some of the wicker though...
While on the lift hill, I noticed the chain of Congo River Rapids was in pieces in the basin.
--- Smiler - More Rita
A normal queue and ride on Smiler. Single rider looked just as long.
Rita was advertised at 15 minutes, and it was twilight. Despite walking going to the loo then walking there. Ten minutes later the queue was still at 15 minutes and was probably correct.
--- Wicker Man 2
I head to Wicker Man and use my platinum fastpass. I've never bought one and felt a bit guilty, but it did mean I got out of the ride with 15 minutes to park closure. Ops wise, some people clearly (ab)using the right to skip the pre-show to min-max harder and the exit door didn't shut while we watched the pre-show. I didn't mind as I preferred the efficiency during those precious night hours.
Weighing up my options, I decide to skip rushing Nemesis night ride and enjoy a leisurely queue for one final ride on Wicker Man. Shout out to the lady in the queue shop who sold me a Cappuccino at 20:02. Unlucky to the guy behind me who was also tired but they closed after me. Negative points to the enthusiasts who were reluctant to enter the batching area, making the staff ask them three times, because (presumably) they were competing for the back row of the last train.
--- The End
All the staff were great. I have no complaints about how the rides were run when they were running. I hope that when I go back, midweek spring term-time, the park will be how it was last season. I did overhear at least one group discussing if they should ask for a refund. They also mentioned the rainy day, so I can't infer sentiment there.