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Park Hours: Updates and Discussion

Matt.GC said:
Hex has been at the park since 2000. The Skyride since the 1980's. If the fun fair flats were intended to be a replacement of them, then the park really is in trouble.

The other permanent flats have been gone without replacement for years, and they decided to remove the temporary replacements before they did anything permanent. They even removed another permanent flat in Enterprise along the way.

It's not getting any better is it? Even if we pretend for a moment that they haven't known about the state of Enterprise, Hex, the Spa, and the Skyride for a number of years, then it's incompetence at best. Unless you really like Helicopters, purple paint, not being trusted to wait on train station platforms, a giant Fisher Price gun being added to a coaster you first rode 30 years ago, and food that's even worse and double the price as the slop served at CrapDonald's, then there really isnt much incentive to go to Towers at the moment.
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They were intended to boost capacity due to covid restrictions initially.

Enterprise leaving hasn’t helped things either but yes I agree Merlin have neglected so much of the park that chickens are now coming home to roost. Hopefully the rumours of 3 flats next year and the refurb work they are currently doing mean they can turn it round but only time will tell.
 
If they didn’t know the condition of Skyride and Hex, after such protracted closures in previous years, I think that speaks for itself.

Clearly it’s no surprise that removing flat rides without adding any genuinely “new” ones is going to create issues. The park made that decision and are now reaping the consequences.
 
venny said:
If they didn’t know the condition of Skyride and Hex, after such protracted closures in previous years, I think that speaks for itself.

Clearly it’s no surprise that removing flat rides without adding any genuinely “new” ones is going to create issues. The park made that decision and are now reaping the consequences.
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Real bizarre series of events. Suppose they've saved themselves a few quid by not having to rent the rides for a whole season though. Plus if they're ever questioned about their removal and non existent replacements they can just say we wanted them gone.
Years of poor investment and a patch up mentality has meant Alton Towers is a bit of a dump these days unfortunately.
 
It is easy to blame Merlin for all these problems and that's true but I do have to wonder what if the Smiler crash never happened which as we all know did lead to many of the cost cutting issues we see today, interesting to think if we'd be in the very same situation or even talking about this if this was the case.
 
venny said:
If they didn’t know the condition of Skyride and Hex, after such protracted closures in previous years, I think that speaks for itself.

Clearly it’s no surprise that removing flat rides without adding any genuinely “new” ones is going to create issues. The park made that decision and are now reaping the consequences.
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They knew the condition as far as we know, but the fix didn’t work. Certainly with Hex Vekoma has been involved so what more can you do if the manufacturer needs a few goes to fix it?
 
QTXAdsy said:
It is easy to blame Merlin for all these problems and that's true but I do have to wonder what if the Smiler crash never happened which as we all know did lead to many of the cost cutting issues we see today, interesting to think if we'd be in the very same situation or even talking about this if this was the case.
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That's an interesting question. I don't think the fallout of the Smiler crash necessarily caused everything to happen; things like flat ride removals and opening hour cuts predated the Smiler crash. Submission was removed prior to the crash, for example, and I also seem to remember staggered openings pre-dating the crash.

What I think the Smiler crash did do, however, was accelerate things. Had the crash not happened, I wager that a number of rides that closed in 2016-2018 either wouldn't have closed or would have closed later, at very least. Had the park not been impacted financially by the crash, I think they may have found the money to keep some things like Charlie going for a little bit longer, as well as maybe a couple of the flats like Twirling Toadstool. I think we would not have seen some of the entertainment like Ice Age 4D and the pirate show cut either, and I also think we would never have seen things like 4pm closures and midweek closed days.

Some or all of this may still have happened by 2024 regardless of the Smiler crash, but what I don't feel would have happened is the closure and cutting of loads of different things at once, which happened between 2016 and 2018 or so. I think the closure of lots of different things en masse was half the problem; if one attraction closed at a time, the park might have had a fighting chance of being able to replace it before removing the next one, but the park removed quite a few at once in 2016 alone, which suddenly made the to-do list of things to replace a lot longer in one fell swoop. When that list became longer, I think it posed problems for the park in terms of replacing things and picking what to actually replace.
 
Dave said:
They knew the condition as far as we know, but the fix didn’t work. Certainly with Hex Vekoma has been involved so what more can you do if the manufacturer needs a few goes to fix it?
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They knew the condition, but didn't fix things.
What is the excuse for the skyride then?
So all those less mobile customers suffer for two whole seasons.
Mucky Merlin.
Park hours should perhaps have been extended to give the less mobile a chance to get round all the rides, when operations and actual ride operations have been so poor, all season.
 
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Dave said:
They knew the condition as far as we know, but the fix didn’t work. Certainly with Hex Vekoma has been involved so what more can you do if the manufacturer needs a few goes to fix it?
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In fairness the ride is probably beyond it's expected lifespan anyway (I'm sure the original planning application stated an estimate of 15 - 20 years?), why would you not just replace the thing if you intend to keep it long term?

Trying different bodges isn't exactly a great long term strategy.
 
MaxPower said:
In fairness the ride is probably beyond it's expected lifespan anyway (I'm sure the original planning application stated an estimate of 15 - 20 years?), why would you not just replace the thing if you intend to keep it long term?

Trying different bodges isn't exactly a great long term strategy.
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There are older madhouses out there. The 15 year thing was just around demonstrating that when the ride does close they would remove the building to preserve the historic landscape.
 
Dave said:
There are older madhouses out there. The 15 year thing was just around demonstrating that when the ride does close they would remove the building to preserve the historic landscape.
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In fairness most well serviced machines last a lot longer than 15 years. Hex is effectively a giant machine so there is no reason why it shouldn’t last long other than the obvious
 
Jb85 said:
In fairness most well serviced machines last a lot longer than 15 years. Hex is effectively a giant machine so there is no reason why it shouldn’t last long other than the obvious
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...and the award for the most sweeping statement of the year goes to... :tearsofjoy:
 
Machinery can and will become life expired, this can be prolonged before end of life or can be deemed EoL before the predicted LE date. There's also support to be considered. Vekoma and Poma are supporting Hex and the Skyride still, so repairs are comparatively easier than supporting something with no manufacturer left.

Problem is, Towers have/had several things approaching both statuses, like Enterprise becoming EoL when I assume they ran out of metal to weld to.
 
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rob666 said:
They knew the condition, but didn't fix things.
What is the excuse for the skyride then?
So all those less mobile customers suffer for two whole seasons.
Mucky Merlin.
Park hours should perhaps have been extended to give the less mobile a change to get round all the rides, when operations and actual ride operations have been so poor, all season.
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Very good point that
 
Jb85 said:
In fairness most well serviced machines last a lot longer than 15 years. Hex is effectively a giant machine so there is no reason why it shouldn’t last long other than the obvious
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From the electronics side, a lot of items will have a theoretical calculated usage (there is a fancy term for it but it evades me)

Whereby if an item (relay, contact) is used X number of times it increases wear/replacement requirements.

Electrical systems with a current running through them, such as ones which operate control systems of rides. Are wearing all the time. Just by being on.
 
Katy said:
MTBF? Mean Time Before Failure.
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Ash said:
From the electronics side, a lot of items will have a theoretical calculated usage (there is a fancy term for it but it evades me)

Whereby if an item (relay, contact) is used X number of times it increases wear/replacement requirements.

Electrical systems with a current running through them, such as ones which operate control systems of rides. Are wearing all the time. Just by being on.
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True. But surely that’s why the manufacturer offers services and advises component replacements at certain intervals.
 
OK this is the park hours thread - as interesting as electronics are, could we please veer back on that topic please? Thank you!
 
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