Highest throughput ride at Alton Towers?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. Sorry if this seems like an unnecessary thread, but leading on from a discussion that started in the Duel thread, I’ve got a question; what actually is Towers’ highest throughput ride, at a guess? Let’s exclude the Monorail and the Skyride, as I know both of those have obscene throughputs (4,100pph for the Monorail and 2,880pph for the Skyride, as per TowersStreet’s fact files for each).

My personal guess was initially Duel, but the theoretical capacity is apparently only around 1,300pph… I’ll admit this shocked me a bit, as I thought it would have a similar capacity to the average omnimover (~2,000pph or so), and I’d heard that the theoretical capacity was more along the lines of 1,920pph or so from a different source.

With that in mind, my personal guess is Congo River Rapids, as even though the boats only seat 8 people, they come by at incredibly frequent intervals, and that turntable loading system must surely do wonders for the throughput!

I wasn’t too sure, though; has anyone done more in-depth dispatch timing of Towers’ rides?

 

[DistortAMG]

I very much doubt it will be the rapids. 9 seater Intamin rapids rides get about 1000 per hour give or take. I know from my days at Drayton Manor we used to do about 800 per hour on their rapids. That is with the boats coming at that same intervals as Congo.

My guess is one of the big coasters.

 

[Matt N]

I very much doubt it will be the rapids. 9 seater Intamin rapids rides get about 1000 per hour give or take. I know from my days at Drayton Manor we used to do about 800 per hour on their rapids. That is with the boats coming at that same intervals as Congo.

My guess is one of the big coasters.

Rapids rides only get 1,000pph or less? I’ll admit I’m very surprised indeed by that; the boats, while not huge, aren’t tiny, and I’d have thought that the turntable would surely keep things moving at a rapid pace!

That’s very interesting to know that Drayton’s rapids only got 800pph; thanks for the info @DistortAMG!

 

[DistortAMG]

That figure is also mirrored on the official Intamin river rapids product page.

Thinking about it, I would still say Duel. The vehicles go past every 10 ish seconds. So we can use that as a good metric.

5 people every 10 seconds means 25 potential people every minute. Times that by 60 minuites and you get theoretical throughput of 1800. When it was the Haunted House you had an extra seat, so that figure rises to 2160.

 

[Ethan]

I imagine it will be Get Set Go.

 

[Matt N]

I imagine it will be Get Set Go.

That’s a good shout, actually; those cars do go through at a fairly frequent interval! Although they are quite small; don’t they only seat 2?

 

[Ethan]

That’s a good shout, actually; those cars do go through at a fairly frequent interval! Although they are quite small; don’t they only seat 2?

I will point out it was a joke as that definitely isn't the case haha. I mean I would've thought Duel tbh that thing moves constantly how can it not have the highest

 

[rob666]

Nemesis and Oblivion from my personal experience over the years.
River rapids was a slow line in comparison, and remember, if you are not filling all the seats you are killing throughput, making figures for the Rapids completely meaningless...average number of seats actually filled will barely be 50% of theoretical output.

 

[Ethan]

Nemesis and Oblivion from my personal experience over the years.
River rapids was a slow line in comparison, and remember, if you are not filling all the seats you are killing throughput, making figures for the Rapids completely meaningless...average number of seats actually filled will barely be 50% of theoretical output.

You think Nemesis and Oblivion will be higher than Duel?

 

[rob666]

When running at full whack, yes...you can't really turn Duel "up" by an efficient team that is on a roll. The Haunted House/Duel queue, (back in the day when it had one) you went for an extended walk in the cemetery graveyard, that queue was much slower than Nemesis/Oblivion at their finest.

 

[Rick]

Nemesis.

 

[Danscott22]

Can't decide between Duel, Nemesis and Oblivion (when being run properly)

 

[Matt N]

In hindsight, I’ll admit I’d have to guess Duel based on my experiences. Even when I queued all the way through the cemetery and back out onto the path in 2020, it didn’t take long to get on at all; maybe 5-10 minutes at worst!

 

[spinba11]

That figure is also mirrored on the official Intamin river rapids product page.

Thinking about it, I would still say Duel. The vehicles go past every 10 ish seconds. So we can use that as a good metric.

5 people every 10 seconds means 25 potential people every minute. Times that by 60 minuites and you get theoretical throughput of 1800. When it was the Haunted House you had an extra seat, so that figure rises to 2160.

Isn’t it 30 people every minute (5 every 10 seconds is 1 every 2 seconds)

 

[MellowPasta]

I don’t have any technical knowledge or do any mathematical calculations, but going from my own experience, I reckon Nemesis.

In the last 21 years riding it I’ve never felt like the queue isn’t moving. A lot of the time I’m wanting it to slow down to get a shot of it at a certain part but before you know it you’re moving again.

(Not counting breakdowns or k**bs delaying it or filming with their phone on ride)

 

[Rob F]

Thirteen with a bag room open ….

 

[DistortAMG]

Isn’t it 30 people every minute (5 every 10 seconds is 1 every 2 seconds)

Sorry yes, a typo on my behalf. The actual throughput figures are correct though, based on 30 and 36 people per minute for the 5 and 6 seater cars..