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General Queue Times Discussion 2023

Blaming Wicker Man closure on high winds now as well - to the point where Roller Disco, Spinjam and Nemesis are the only ones open
 
I suspect they run Smiler just to avoid having to put the dummies back in for a cold start which means the ride can reopen immediately if the wind speed drops.

I think Merlin's policy on ride closures may be more strict than the ride manufacturer's, otherwise they surely wouldn't run Smiler at all..?
 
I've moved a number of posts over from the 2022 General Discussion topic.

As a reminder, please keep queue times discussion and day to day ride availability (such as downtime due to weather) over to this topic. We created that option following feedback to avoid this one being bogged down by running commentaries, which many do not find all that interesting.

The General topic should be reserved for wider discussion around the 2022 season. Only discussion about substantial downtime should be in the main 2022 general topic. Thanks :)
 
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John said:
I suspect they run Smiler just to avoid having to put the dummies back in for a cold start which means the ride can reopen immediately if the wind speed drops.

I think Merlin's policy on ride closures may be more strict than the ride manufacturer's, otherwise they surely wouldn't run Smiler at all..?
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When I was there the other week, winds were 20ish mph with gusts above 30mph. They were sending Smiler trains round every so often and announcing on the tannoy to not group around the entrance while the trains are going round as they are purely for testing and warming purposes, not a sign the ride was about to open. They told people to look at the app and if the ride says "open" on there then the ride had reopened.

I think with the wind, they have a set time span they have to keep a ride closed - about 30 mins to start with I think - and that starts after the 2nd gust that triggered the wind alarm (if that one was within a set time from the first). Then it's just monitoring gusts in that time period and if there are none then it can reopen or if there is another gust, the whole process starts again. That may not be completely accurate but I think it's a rough guide as to what they do.
 
A wacky worm of operations today.
Smiler- 4 trains then changed to 3
Oblivion- 4 shuttles 1 station
Nemesis, Rita- 2 trains
Wicker man, Th13teen- 3 trains
Galactica- 3 craft 2 stations
Have to say that Galactica with 2 stations is an absolute god send. No more than 15 mins today compared to highs of 45-60 on 1 station. Interesting that they were running Galactica on maximum capacity but not Oblivion. General thoughts are that Nemesis, galactica, WM and th13teen all have superb throughputs, Smiler and Rita are below par and Oblivion is very below when operating 1 station
 
Ethan said:
A wacky worm of operations today.
Smiler- 4 trains then changed to 3
Oblivion- 4 shuttles 1 station
Nemesis, Rita- 2 trains
Wicker man, Th13teen- 3 trains
Galactica- 3 craft 2 stations
Have to say that Galactica with 2 stations is an absolute god send. No more than 15 mins today compared to highs of 45-60 on 1 station. Interesting that they were running Galactica on maximum capacity but not Oblivion. General thoughts are that Nemesis, galactica, WM and th13teen all have superb throughputs, Smiler and Rita are below par and Oblivion is very below when operating 1 station
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I’ll echo that the Galactica operations were fantastic today - a credit to the staff, they were the best ops.
 
Managed to get in Th13teen first thing today. Blimey, those had to be some of the best operations I've seen!

It was an absolute walk on the first hour of opening, literally, there weren't enough people at the air gates, and each train was in and out faster than I could blink!
 
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Trooper Looper said:
Managed to get in Th13teen first thing today. Blimey, those had to be some of the best operations I've seen!

It was an absolute walk on the first hour of opening, literally, there weren't enough people at the air gates, and each train was in and out faster than I could blink!
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Thirteen, despite a listed theoretical of 1,100pph, actually has one of Towers’ highest potential capacities; it apparently got 1,440pph in its opening year, which for reference would make it Towers’ highest capacity ride by a good 200pph if you were to compare it to the present ride capacities!

In terms of potential capacity, I’d wager that only Oblivion beats it; that one was allegedly the highest throughput B&M on Earth (or at least in Europe) when it opened, with a theoretical of 1,900pph! For reference, Silver Star at Europa Park, the current highest throughput coaster I’ve timed, gets around 1,700pph, and that queue moves!
 
Matt N said:
Thirteen, despite a listed theoretical of 1,100pph, actually has one of Towers’ highest potential capacities; it apparently got 1,440pph in its opening year, which for reference would make it Towers’ highest capacity ride by a good 200pph if you were to compare it to the present ride capacities
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That's 72 trains in an hour! They would have to dispatch a train every 50 seconds to achieve that. Pretty sure it doesn't do more than 55 trains now days (1100 pph)
 
Ethan said:
That's 72 trains in an hour! They would have to dispatch a train every 50 seconds to achieve that. Pretty sure it doesn't do more than 55 trains now days (1100 pph)
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Believe it or not, it allegedly attained that in its opening season. Given how quickly Thirteen moves trains around, a 50 second dispatch window could still allow for 40 seconds or so parked, which definitely isn’t unattainable by any stretch!
 
The difference between Thirteen ops with and without the bag room open are more significant than on Smiler.

I really cannot overstate just how impressive Thirteen ops were when it was new. In opening season it was common for them to have to wait for a train to get back to the station when on full capacity. When one train was entering the crypt the next train was already on the first lift.
 
I actually didn’t think the Thirteen ops were that good - did it twice in the first hour, it had no queue but all three trains were stacked both times, as in there was one in the station and one directly behind even when we’d just come out of the backwards section. Rita wasn’t too bad,also did that twice in the first hour, with the queue being very minimal on the steps
 
Rides tend to run much slower when there are no punters in the queue, and that particular ride needs a minimum number of riders.
I remember getting only three rides per hour on the Big One years back, routine ten minute wait for the train to fill up on quiet days.
Even had them kick me off because it got windy while I was sat on the train waiting!
 
rob666 said:
Rides tend to run much slower when there are no punters in the queue, and that particular ride needs a minimum number of riders.
I remember getting only three rides per hour on the Big One years back, routine ten minute wait for the train to fill up on quiet days.
Even had them kick me off because it got windy while I was sat on the train waiting!
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With that in mind; surely having more trains is actually counter-intuitive on quiet days because you stack more?
 
Danscott22 said:
I actually didn’t think the Thirteen ops were that good - did it twice in the first hour, it had no queue but all three trains were stacked both times, as in there was one in the station and one directly behind even when we’d just come out of the backwards section.
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I agree, we experienced the same thing too, perhaps we were on the same trains @Danscott22 !
 
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