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General Queue Times Discussion
- Thread starter Craig
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And what actual facts have you got to support your theory on rollercoaster lifetimes?
A degree in metallurgy or engineering perhaps?
Routine repairs and repeated checking means rides don't simply wear out.
Look at the woodies of Blackpool...Dipper is heading towards a hundred years old...
Oh but it isn't as smooth as it was, and it isn't as popular as it was...it won't see out the decade.
You're clearly not thinking about the fact that Icon was the first major investment at Blackpool in 24 years since Big one opened. Towers are building coasters every 4-6 years. By the end of this decade there will be no room to fit SW10 and therefore they will have to start replacing rides. Towers will not keep nemesis until the very end where it literally can't run anymore. It will be replaced many years in advance. Corkscrew wasn't replaced because it had reached the end of its life, it was because towers wanted something new and more exciting
Nothing to do with Icon, or the Big One.
There are coasters out there that are reaching a century old.
Why are you so certain that nemesis will go within a decade?
There are other areas for permitted development in the park.
There are other rides that could be replaced.
Like Triggers broom, individual parts, both track and train, can be replaced and repaired endlessly.
Nemesis has decades to go.
There are coasters out there that are reaching a century old.
Why are you so certain that nemesis will go within a decade?
There are other areas for permitted development in the park.
There are other rides that could be replaced.
Like Triggers broom, individual parts, both track and train, can be replaced and repaired endlessly.
Nemesis has decades to go.
MaxPower
TS Member
Realistically though, you could only replace Nemesis with something very similar due to the terrain and the same goes for Oblivion.
Rita and Spinball are the most likely to be removed next IMO, especially given that Spinball has been earmarked for being moved or removed in the past.
I'm saying it will be gone because its the oldest out of the secret weapons so why would they replace any of the others first
Squiggs
TS Team
Icon wasn't the first major investment in 24 years.... it was the first large roller coaster in 24 years - BPB's major investments are aimed at the market the park operates in, which hasn't required a significant number of coaster additions (mainly because they have 125 years worth of coasters to play with already).
I think it's probably safe to assume that Nemesis won't be the first of the coasters to be removed from the Towers. I suspect that Rita, Galactica and Spinball will certainly all go before Nemesis. And unless something significant happens in the meantime to reduce its lifespan, we could well see it outlast Thirteen and The Smiler too.
I dont understand how you can think they would rather keep Nemesis over other rides when its the oldest and the one ride that rarely gets a queue. Yes you will tell me it has a better throughput but realistically, if nemesis has a 10-15 min queue and Rita has a 60 min queue, Rita has more people in the queue
...and over a day, nemesis will have had more riders, making it the more popular ride.
I'm not getting into another stupid argument over throughputs again...it isn't that long since we went round in those circles.
MaxPower
TS Member
Still more logical than some of the queue times posted on the Alton Towers app...
Danscott22
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Smiler
I'm 95% confident that Spinball Whizzer and Rita will be on their way out of the park first than Nemesis. Nemesis and Rita are 40 minutes and 60 minutes respectively currently, so actually there's probably more people in the Nemesis queue right now because of its higher throughput, but there's only 20 minutes different in the wait time.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Currently, Nemesis is listed at a 40 minute queue according to the app, which I would still personally call a fair queue. Let’s, for instance, compare it with Rita, which is currently listed at 60 minutes.
Using Nemesis’ RCDB throughput of 1,400 riders per hour, this would mean that it currently has approximately 933 people in its queue.
By comparison, Rita’s throughput is lower; I think I heard @AstroDan say that he once worked on Rita, and the hourly record was something like 1,020 in an hour (correct me if I’m wrong on that one, Dan). So let’s say that Rita’s hourly throughput is around 900-950 people per hour under regular circumstances.
So that means that even though Rita has a longer queue, giving the illusion of greater popularity, Nemesis could in reality be just as popular as Rita, if not slightly more so.
Using Nemesis’ RCDB throughput of 1,400 riders per hour, this would mean that it currently has approximately 933 people in its queue.
By comparison, Rita’s throughput is lower; I think I heard @AstroDan say that he once worked on Rita, and the hourly record was something like 1,020 in an hour (correct me if I’m wrong on that one, Dan). So let’s say that Rita’s hourly throughput is around 900-950 people per hour under regular circumstances.
So that means that even though Rita has a longer queue, giving the illusion of greater popularity, Nemesis could in reality be just as popular as Rita, if not slightly more so.
Squiggs
TS Team
I have no idea what Nemesis' throughput is tbh... but I do know that it is a popular ride with guests and I would suspect is one of the park's core rides that the vast majority of guests will ride at least once per visit.
Rita on the other had, is a fun little ride, but is costly to maintain and often shows its age (some of the sounds that ride makes these days are alarming to say the least). You have to remember that it was a quick addition that was designed to be a filler ride, essentially to allow for the Corkscrew to be removed without leaving a gaping hole at one end of the park for a couple of years. 15 years later it has more that filled it's original purposes and will have more than given the park the needed ROI, so it would make perfect sense if it were to disappear in the next few years, not least because it would free up a huge plot (actually plots) of land for future developments.
All that said... this is clearly not the right thread for this particular discussion, so I might now back out and let you return to your queue time discussions.
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
This may be hard for some to believe, but Alton Towers are not going to use queue times to decide which rides they do or do not want to remove. Nemsis is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Anyway, this thread was created for people to post about and discuss queue times on any given day. So let's stick to that and use other more relevant threads (of which there are many) to discuss future ride removals.
Anyway, this thread was created for people to post about and discuss queue times on any given day. So let's stick to that and use other more relevant threads (of which there are many) to discuss future ride removals.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Yeesh, that would mean a huge 5,700 people were waiting for it, as according to RCDB, it’s theoretical throughput is by far the highest on park, at 1,900 riders per hour!
Which would also mean that with Oblivion’s current 30 minute queue, roughly 950 people should be waiting, making it roughly on par with Nemesis and Rita for popularity!
I’ll actually do a little estimate for number of people in each major coaster queue at the moment using the RCDB (or TowersStreet, if RCDB has no data) data for throughputs (this does not take social distancing into account):
- Spinball: 317 (throughput of 950pph, 20 minute queue)
- Galactica: 750 (throughput of 1500pph, 30 minute queue)
- Oblivion: 950 (throughput of 1900pph, 30 minute queue)
- Nemesis: 933 (throughput of 1400pph, 40 minute queue)
- Thirteen: 917 (throughput of 1100pph, 50 minute queue)
- Rita: 1150 (throughput of 1150pph, 60 minute queue)
- Wicker Man: 1190 (throughput of 952pph, 75 minute queue)
- Smiler (Queue at capacity, so I’ll go with a queue of 60 minutes, as that’s always where it seems to cap off): 1000 (throughput of 1000pph, 60 minute queue)
That’s correct if the loading is continuous, but in my case I remember being stood still in the queue, for what seemed an eternity, which I assume was short bits of downtime. The video playing constantly really did the job of making you have squeaky bum time!
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