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Ride Availability/Operations 2022-24

RIPCorky said:
Wasn't it getting to the crypt too quickly or something?
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Shocking designing realistically. So with trims off it run round empty but with people the trims need to be on so it doesn’t get to the crypt too quickly, however if there isn’t enough weight with trims it will stall? What a shocking piece of design how have towers put up with this from intamin
 
When it first opened it kept e stopping on the second lift hill as it was running too fast. That’s when the trims were added. But they can either be on or off. There is a sensor in the station on the op cabin about shoulder height, if the beam is broke then the trims will be on as it shows there is someone on the train, so even if it just had one person on the train the trims would activate.
 
I have to say that I’m surprised Intamin couldn’t build a more nuanced trim than a simple on/off trim. Don’t numerous coasters with trims, like some B&M Hyper Coasters, adjust the amount they trim depending on how fast the ride is going?
 
Matt N said:
I have to say that I’m surprised Intamin couldn’t build a more nuanced trim than a simple on/off trim. Don’t numerous coasters with trims, like some B&M Hyper Coasters, adjust the amount they trim depending on how fast the ride is going?
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That requires enough suitable track in terms of layout and length in order to have the speed calculated and then the trim to be added in a suitable location to slow it down in time.

I believe because of the retro fit nature of what happened with 13 this couldn’t be achieved.
 
I think the trims for Thirteen have been there since opening day? Certainly, it's always ridden pretty much the same. Although it was much, much more capacity efficient in its inaugural seasons.

This could be either misremembered or complete nonsense, but I was once told by a reliable source that, following an incident during testing, H&S advised that the ride needed to either slow down or fits the trains with a different, ratcheted restraint mechanism. Towers consulted with Intamin and found that the trims required of the first option were much cheaper, and would allow the ride to open with the season.
 
OK, couldn't be bothered with an actual tour report, but thought I would add a comment on today's ops, after a three and a half year gap.
Top marks for express parking and entry...no mobile, no printer, but entry pre arranged, and in through security and turnstiles in less than two minutes.
Slow limp to the Dark Forest, very short front seat wait for Rita, but 13 closed, quite a queue for a closed ride, but not even testing...hung around for ten minutes, but noisy schoolkid queue...so
Smiler, again top marks, bypassed an entrance paperwork dispute, down single rider, straight through the merge in less than a minute, straight into a gate at the top of the stairs.
Enjoyable ride, usual rough bumps, but nice to be back...noticed the queue was getting long for an off peak day.
Oblivion, meant to be twenty minutes, but the spiralling queue looks twice that, and they were not sending trains round...one train in about five minutes. So no.
Slow wander round the lake, fed the ducks, off to spinball, twenty minute queue, problems with a breakdown, so a delay getting off.
Fun.
Back to the car for an excellent early lunch, then off to the runaway train.
Very, very slow ops.
Four staff checking belts, but the whole process seemed to take so much longer than in the past.
Still fun, but not really worth the three train wait.
Rapids, closed, with four bored staff on the gate.
Curse, fine, good makeover, walk on as expected...improvement on the zombies.
Sub terra, half an hour queue, nope.
Nemesis, breakdown when halfway round the new, very steep starting queueline.
Let people past me in the limp out of the queue, so everyone beats me to Galactica.
Big queue for that, so no.
Most enjoyable part of the day...gardens, lower level lakes, stepping stones, more ducks, and feeding the giant carp.
Some work has been done on the gardens, but the main valley alpine shrubbery is in an absolutely shocking state, last year's dead ferns all over the place, full of weeds and weed trees.
Soaked my swelling ankle in the corkscrew fountain rill, then off to Wickerman.
Half hour queue, lovely ride, very good ops, no complaints...but see the rapids haven't opened at all.
Hear in the queue that 13 is down again, so, more food and beer time.
Eastern express...massive queue of people waiting to order and pay, another massive crowd of people waiting for their orders, so I don't bother.
Go for a welcome inn beer, but the barman hasn't a clue...no price list, no beer percentages (driver needs to know), plastic glasses, struggles with the family in fronts order, so I wander off, back to the car for a picnic (with choice of beverages) part two.
No skyride means my limp is bad, and I simply couldn't be arsed doing another full lap to mop up the closed rides...so day done by 2pm.
Lovely day out, but lots of closed stuff all over the park.
4/10 rating for availability, 7/10 for ops on the rides that were actually open when I was in that area of the park.
 
djtruefitt said:
When it first opened it kept e stopping on the second lift hill as it was running too fast. That’s when the trims were added. But they can either be on or off. There is a sensor in the station on the op cabin about shoulder height, if the beam is broke then the trims will be on as it shows there is someone on the train, so even if it just had one person on the train the trims would activate.
Click to expand...
is that what the sensor is for? I have been wondering what it is for ever since i first saw that sensor
 
rob666 said:
OK, couldn't be bothered with an actual tour report, but thought I would add a comment on today's ops, after a three and a half year gap.
Top marks for express parking and entry...no mobile, no printer, but entry pre arranged, and in through security and turnstiles in less than two minutes.
Slow limp to the Dark Forest, very short front seat wait for Rita, but 13 closed, quite a queue for a closed ride, but not even testing...hung around for ten minutes, but noisy schoolkid queue...so
Smiler, again top marks, bypassed an entrance paperwork dispute, down single rider, straight through the merge in less than a minute, straight into a gate at the top of the stairs.
Enjoyable ride, usual rough bumps, but nice to be back...noticed the queue was getting long for an off peak day.
Oblivion, meant to be twenty minutes, but the spiralling queue looks twice that, and they were not sending trains round...one train in about five minutes. So no.
Slow wander round the lake, fed the ducks, off to spinball, twenty minute queue, problems with a breakdown, so a delay getting off.
Fun.
Back to the car for an excellent early lunch, then off to the runaway train.
Very, very slow ops.
Four staff checking belts, but the whole process seemed to take so much longer than in the past.
Still fun, but not really worth the three train wait.
Rapids, closed, with four bored staff on the gate.
Curse, fine, good makeover, walk on as expected...improvement on the zombies.
Sub terra, half an hour queue, nope.
Nemesis, breakdown when halfway round the new, very steep starting queueline.
Let people past me in the limp out of the queue, so everyone beats me to Galactica.
Big queue for that, so no.
Most enjoyable part of the day...gardens, lower level lakes, stepping stones, more ducks, and feeding the giant carp.
Some work has been done on the gardens, but the main valley alpine shrubbery is in an absolutely shocking state, last year's dead ferns all over the place, full of weeds and weed trees.
Soaked my swelling ankle in the corkscrew fountain rill, then off to Wickerman.
Half hour queue, lovely ride, very good ops, no complaints...but see the rapids haven't opened at all.
Hear in the queue that 13 is down again, so, more food and beer time.
Eastern express...massive queue of people waiting to order and pay, another massive crowd of people waiting for their orders, so I don't bother.
Go for a welcome inn beer, but the barman hasn't a clue...no price list, no beer percentages (driver needs to know), plastic glasses, struggles with the family in fronts order, so I wander off, back to the car for a picnic (with choice of beverages) part two.
No skyride means my limp is bad, and I simply couldn't be arsed doing another full lap to mop up the closed rides...so day done by 2pm.
Lovely day out, but lots of closed stuff all over the park.
4/10 rating for availability, 7/10 for ops on the rides that were actually open when I was in that area of the park.
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Ducks... Fudging ducks... Are you kidding me? MY COUSINS WERE RIGHT THERE!

I'm glad to hear you finally got down though. Had you been nice to the geese, instead of the ducks, you'd have had a better time.
 
rob666 said:
OK, couldn't be bothered with an actual tour report, but thought I would add a comment on today's ops, after a three and a half year gap.
Top marks for express parking and entry...no mobile, no printer, but entry pre arranged, and in through security and turnstiles in less than two minutes.
Slow limp to the Dark Forest, very short front seat wait for Rita, but 13 closed, quite a queue for a closed ride, but not even testing...hung around for ten minutes, but noisy schoolkid queue...so
Smiler, again top marks, bypassed an entrance paperwork dispute, down single rider, straight through the merge in less than a minute, straight into a gate at the top of the stairs.
Enjoyable ride, usual rough bumps, but nice to be back...noticed the queue was getting long for an off peak day.
Oblivion, meant to be twenty minutes, but the spiralling queue looks twice that, and they were not sending trains round...one train in about five minutes. So no.
Slow wander round the lake, fed the ducks, off to spinball, twenty minute queue, problems with a breakdown, so a delay getting off.
Fun.
Back to the car for an excellent early lunch, then off to the runaway train.
Very, very slow ops.
Four staff checking belts, but the whole process seemed to take so much longer than in the past.
Still fun, but not really worth the three train wait.
Rapids, closed, with four bored staff on the gate.
Curse, fine, good makeover, walk on as expected...improvement on the zombies.
Sub terra, half an hour queue, nope.
Nemesis, breakdown when halfway round the new, very steep starting queueline.
Let people past me in the limp out of the queue, so everyone beats me to Galactica.
Big queue for that, so no.
Most enjoyable part of the day...gardens, lower level lakes, stepping stones, more ducks, and feeding the giant carp.
Some work has been done on the gardens, but the main valley alpine shrubbery is in an absolutely shocking state, last year's dead ferns all over the place, full of weeds and weed trees.
Soaked my swelling ankle in the corkscrew fountain rill, then off to Wickerman.
Half hour queue, lovely ride, very good ops, no complaints...but see the rapids haven't opened at all.
Hear in the queue that 13 is down again, so, more food and beer time.
Eastern express...massive queue of people waiting to order and pay, another massive crowd of people waiting for their orders, so I don't bother.
Go for a welcome inn beer, but the barman hasn't a clue...no price list, no beer percentages (driver needs to know), plastic glasses, struggles with the family in fronts order, so I wander off, back to the car for a picnic (with choice of beverages) part two.
No skyride means my limp is bad, and I simply couldn't be arsed doing another full lap to mop up the closed rides...so day done by 2pm.
Lovely day out, but lots of closed stuff all over the park.
4/10 rating for availability, 7/10 for ops on the rides that were actually open when I was in that area of the park.
Click to expand...
Talking about the limp. This may sound far-fetched, but I saw a young guy riding around on a little E-scooter last time I went. I was going to get a photo but when I went around a corner near Wicker Man he had already disappeared somewhere. No idea how that happened or how he was allowed to do it. I promise I'm not making it up :sweatsmile:
 
Sorry for the late reply, fell asleep around 7pm!
Right in order...
Your cousins goosey, were very aloof I'm afraid.
Nothing less than stuck up.
I love feeding all our avian friends, they were aware of the fishfood party, together with the odd moorhen and the thrush late to the party in the runaway train queue.
They did not come over to join in, much to my amusement.
Not once.
Didn't want to gander over.

Ethan, it was a Towers three and a half year gap mate, I was actually quietly celebrating fifty years of solo riding.
I have had a variety of medical issues that has meant no crowds and no long walking.
I have a season pass every year, and do other parks.
This is my first year without a pass anywhere this millennium.

Mr Zola, prowling the gardens was without doubt the best bit.
Shame about the overgrowth...
Actually had to hunt out the stepping stones.

Back on topic, with the skyride out, lukewarm operations are a real pain in the ankles for many.
I wasn't the only one limping out of the nemesis queueline.
A 2 pm finish due to being clapped out from a cloverleaf walk around the park hunting out open rides with modest queues on a quiet day wasn't great.
Good job I didn't go to knock up a ridecount.
Very nice day, I didn't get the expected (from previous discussions) conversation with the accessibility officer in person, which was disappointing, but the park overall is a long way away from its past performance operations wise.
 
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Going Alton Towers next Thursday (25th) will it likely be quite this day?

As it's only open 6 hours so am assuming it will be less than busy all going well.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
I see no reason why it wouldn't be quiet, we're not in school trip season yet.
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Now year round.
Last Thursday had half hour queues due to lots of breakdowns...not quiet like it used to be!
School trip season at the end of June, going into July, is extremely busy and the kids don't get a good day out, usually only getting on 2 or 3 rides.
There are no rules on when schools arrange trips.
Some schools now do termly reward trips, with the winning class selecting their own rewards.
Little sods.
 
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Alexsniff7 said:
this has probably been discussed many times before but why are school trips a year round thing now?
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Alton Towers offer peak and off peak pricing for schools to incentivise them to travel all year around, and not just in the summer. - https://www.altontowers.com/schools/prices-and-planning/

School visit season has always been year round, schools can decide when to visit attractions after all. Traditionally it's been in the summer term but as school budgets are forever stretched, along with parents' pockets, there's more of an incentive to visit at other points in the year.

@Bowser - No one can give you a definitive answer to whether Th13teen will be running on Monday, rain or not. You can be certain, however, that Alton Towers will want it to be running.
 
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