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Ride Availability 2017

I thought it would be a fun worthwhile project. Do some brainstorming, get some feedback and get publicity about listening to customers and making improvements. All the supermarkets and restaurants do it. So why don't AT use it to their advantage to get publicity and public support?

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DiogoJ42 said:
They gathered a few enthusiasts in a room and labelled them the "customer council".

.... and that's about all that happened.
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There was also a 'competition' to be on said council if I recall, that may or may not have been slightly rigged in favour of certain people!

I think it would be a good idea to do something like this again though, even if it was to highlight areas which are in need of improvement (Although most of which are pretty obvious).

The problem is that Merlin are simply not interested in listening anymore. AstroDans thread highlights Merlins attitudes towards enthusiasts feedback quite well: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/the-sinking-ship-un-love-letters-to-merlin.4252/
 
Bit risky but I was thinking if a certain newspaper would run a story about ride availability at the park. Picture of Galactica out of action, a pic of N:ST closed, and pic of no ripsaw past/present, closed Charlie, closed ice age, no entry to towers, etc. Wonder what Merlins response would be?

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Yeah but I would love to see the responce but I guess it would be moves had to be taken after smiler crash blah blah so we closed rides to beat the fall in gate numbers but forgot that would result in even less people coming

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DENsWXNXgAI-zmZ

Nemmy 2 train and 40 mins ... it's a record this season :)
 
bluesonichd said:
DENsWXNXgAI-zmZ

Nemmy 2 train and 40 mins ... it's a record this season :)
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I decided i'd had enough around the time of that screenshot but decided to walk to spinball as it was a 5 minute que.....yeah right more like 55

We did 18 holes of extraordinary golf which made me chuckle as its now like an alton towers museum as most of the holes aren't even open rides anymore
 
Towers better get Oblivion and Galactica open as soon as possible, as the final weeks of the school year would have started by now and even with/if Galactica and Oblivion open you know all rides will be on 90min queues.

I'm really looking foward to the 3 hour queues for SW8 already for next summer(not)...
 
Not good. It's July and a third of the big six offering is out of action. This is what they get when they put an over reliance on this offering with no filler attractions like ripsaw and N:ST. How are they going to sort out this mess for the summer?

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Ride Availability was appalling yet again today.

I've never known ATR have sucha bad season.

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Oblivion was down due to a lift hill motor issue all day yesterday.

Technical Services rapidly need to get their house in order.

The park has been busy lately and the ride queues have been far too long because there have simply been either not the throughputs across the park or that major rides have been closed.

Spinball has spent half the season on reduced capacity, so has Th13teen, Oblivion has been closed on and off, The Smiler (need we say more) and Galactica has had its worst season since 2002. Nemesis is about the only thing to have caused little problems.

Thorpe Park is usually the joke of the UK when it comes to reliablity, but I fear this year Alton is trying to take that crown.
 
Hi guys. Newbie here and this will be a long post so please go easy.

I've been a long term watcher of this forum and thought it about time to sign up. I'll get to the ride availability/downtime subject in a minute.

Myself and my better half make a point of going to AT for our wedding anniversary in August every year for a couple of days. It's not just a drive down the road for us either as we're from Northern Ireland so our trip involves flights, car hire and accommodation so it isn't cheap. However we love the place and it's the location and surroundings that make it special and different from other parks.

We go to Orlando every few years and I look forward to my trip to Alton Towers more than the Florida holiday.

We're hitting the park in August for three days this year and staying onsite but I'm beginning to worry about what the place is going to be like when we get there. The way things are going will any rides be open?

From reading the recent trip advisor reviews, guest complaints on AT's own twitter page and this very thread I'm concerned at what direction Towers is headed.

As a maintenance engineer in an Airport thats open 24 hours a day, 364 days a year I understand the importance of maintaining critical equipment like baggage systems which run non stop 20 hours a day. That small four hour window we have each day is our preventative maintenance time. We still manage over 99% uptime on our most important equipment and that's due to thorough inspection and a preventative maintenance program.

With regards to ride reliability I am struggling to understand how Alton Towers are failing especially with the luxury of a closed season to carry out essential maintenance. I can only assume that Merlin have cut the maintenance budget or there's that much time and money now spent on the safety side of things maintenance has taken a back seat, though both things should go hand in hand realistically.

VR aside Galact'air' has been down over 4 weeks so far this season due to lift hill issues if what I've read is true. First was a couple of weeks earlier in the season and then the more recent breakdown. I'm no expert in coasters but I would assume that B&M would have most parts on the shelf and if not it would not take that long to manufacture. Part availability aside if a chain or gearbox component was wearing to the point of needing replaced it should have been spotted when preventative maintenance was being carried out during the closed season. It's not difficult to inspect components like that in this day and age, for example we inspect gearboxes by draining the oil and inserting a tiny camera down into the bits we can't see. We can inspect every tooth on every gear and if unsure we strip it down.

I've worked in maintenance for over 25 years and have seen similar issues of what is happening at Towers. It's either lack of a decent maintenance budget OR a high throughput of maintenance personell (people not staying in the job for long).

It's all about keeping the shareholders happy. A couple of bad seasons due to a horrible accident, less profit, cut budgets, less maintenance, ride reliability reduces park attendance, another bad season, unhappy shareholders, cut budgets. Rinse and repeat.

It sickens me to see my favourite theme park go to the dogs and I reckon the for sale sign will be up if SW8 is a success.
 
Last edited:
Austin Towers said:
Hi guys. Newbie here and this will be a long post so please go easy.

I've been a long term watcher of this forum and thought it about time to sign up. I'll get to the ride availability/downtime subject in a minute.

Myself and my better half make a point of going to AT for our wedding anniversary in August every year for a couple of days. It's not just a drive down the road for us either as we're from Northern Ireland so our trip involves flights, car hire and accommodation so it isn't cheap. However we love the place and it's the location and surroundings that make it special and different from other parks.

We go to Orlando every few years and I look forward to my trip to Alton Towers more than the Florida holiday.

We're hitting the park in August for three days this year and staying onsite but I'm beginning to worry about what the place is going to be like when we get there. The way things are going will any rides be open?

From reading the recent trip advisor reviews, guest complaints on AT's own twitter page and this very thread I'm concerned at what direction Towers is headed.

As a maintenance engineer in an Airport thats open 24 hours a day, 364 days a year I understand the importance of maintaining critical equipment like baggage systems which run non stop 20 hours a day. That small four hour window we have each day is our preventative maintenance time. We still manage over 99% uptime on our most important equipment and that's due to thorough inspection and a preventative maintenance program.

With regards to ride reliability I am struggling to understand how Alton Towers are failing especially with the luxury of a closed season to carry out essential maintenance. I can only assume that Merlin have cut the maintenance budget or there's that much time and money now spent on the safety side of things maintenance has taken a back seat, though both things should go hand in hand realistically.

VR aside Galact'air' has been down over 4 weeks so far this season due to lift hill issues if what I've read is true. First was a couple of weeks earlier in the season and then the more recent breakdown. I'm no expert in coasters but I would assume that B&M would have most parts on the shelf and if not it would not take that long to manufacture. Part availability aside if a chain or gearbox component was wearing to the point of needing replaced it should have been spotted when preventative maintenance was being carried out during the closed season. It's not difficult to inspect components like that in this day and age, for example we inspect gearboxes by draining the oil and inserting a tiny camera down into the bits we can't see. We can inspect every tooth on every gear and if unsure we strip it down.

It's all about keeping the shareholders happy. A couple of bad seasons due to a horrible accident, less profit, cut budgets, less maintenance, ride reliability reduces park attendance, another bad season, unhappy shareholders, cut budgets. Rinse and repeat.

It sickens me to see my favourite theme park go to the dogs and I reckon the for sale sign will be up if SW8 is a success.
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Very interesting to read, and welcome to the site!
 
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