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Ride Availability/Operations 2022-24

They’ve got Curse back open but Rapids has been closed all day. Not really sure what’s going on but just when you think the previous seasons awful ride reliability can’t be beat, we have this season proving that wrong
 
Danscott22 said:
They’ve got Curse back open but Rapids has been closed all day. Not really sure what’s going on but just when you think the previous seasons awful ride reliability can’t be beat, we have this season proving that wrong
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To be fair, it appears as though Gangsta Granny has returned as well. The only rides currently closed are Skyride, Hex, Nemesis Sub-Terra and Congo, so the situation isn't too bad.

It does seem as though ride availability at Alton Towers has suddenly really declined in the last year or two, though. I swear this never used to be the case even a couple of years ago, but it now feels quite frequent for Alton Towers to have at least one of the rides closed all day even when putting aside Hex and Skyride being in long term limbo.

I wonder why this is, particularly given that some of the other Merlin parks don't seem to be suffering quite as badly?
 
Matt N said:
To be fair, it appears as though Gangsta Granny has returned as well. The only rides currently closed are Skyride, Hex, Nemesis Sub-Terra and Congo, so the situation isn't too bad.

It does seem as though ride availability at Alton Towers has suddenly really declined in the last year or two, though. I swear this never used to be the case even a couple of years ago, but it now feels quite frequent for Alton Towers to have at least one of the rides closed all day even when putting aside Hex and Skyride being in long term limbo.

I wonder why this is, particularly given that some of the other Merlin parks don't seem to be suffering quite as badly?
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1) Merlin historically underpaid tech services staff so they have a high turnover.

2) It appears Merlin reduced investment in non safety critical maintenance.

3) They never prepared for the impact of Brexit by stockpiling parts and tried to continue with the next day delivery model which doesn’t work thanks to Brexit border changes.

To my knowledge these are being looked at but as has been said many times you can’t turn so much damage round that quickly.
 
Lack of tech services staff I believe, which explains why it takes them so long to get everything open at the start of the day. You might as well just arrive in the park at around 11am now.

It's clearly a challenge recruiting skilled workers willing to work weekends and public holidays in a remote location, and there are better paying positions elsewhere. I understand it also takes quite a long time to train up tech services staff so even if they are addressing the issue with recruitment drives it will be some time before any tangible benefit is felt.
 
yoursilentface said:
It wasn't overly busy today tbh

Oblivion was down most of the day too...didn't open until after 2 i think
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It did open late morning. There was a very lengthy evacuation from the top of the drop. Smiler went down a fair bit also today (no great loss).

Curse was down a lot as well today (again) when open half the effects were not working, second half of the ride was practically darkness. No Sub Terra again. Rapids didn’t open in perfect temperatures, I believe it was staffing issues rather than anything technical.

Seems worse than last year so far with several rides down and some not even opening at all. Thirteen still on two trains. Biggest surprise is that Galactica was two stations and three crafts… nearly fainted at that.
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
It did open late morning. There was a very lengthy evacuation from the top of the drop. Smiler went down a fair bit also today (no great loss).

Curse was down a lot as well today (again) when open half the effects were not working, second half of the ride was practically darkness. No Sub Terra again. Rapids didn’t open in perfect temperatures, I believe it was staffing issues rather than anything technical.

Seems worse than last year so far with several rides down and some not even opening at all. Thirteen still on two trains. Biggest surprise is that Galactica was two stations and three crafts… nearly fainted at that.
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This is getting very poor indeed, a daily occurrence, in half term, with the park grinding to a start, then constant, repeat closures through the day,
Add in Hex and skyride...the park is rather a shambles at the moment operations wise.
Things are still heading south, I thought we were in for a big improvement in ops this year, isn't that what we were fed by the new gaffer?
Things appear to be getting worse, not better.
 
Blivvy got evacuated from just before the drop about 11ish I think. Luckily was walking nearby when it reopened around same time as Smiler did (which meant as Blivvy took longer loads of people left the queue to go on Smiler).

Things did keep dropping in and out over the day. Galactica was being run really well (walk on pretty much, though why they had extensions open am not sure). Wickerman bit faffy given they seem to let offload clear out before opening the gates, meaning 3 trains weren't exactly beneficial (stacking).

Think we were lucky that we avoided most things when they were broken. Guess though it really depends on why they were closed. Smiler did evac off brakes and the queue so was substantial. Nemesis might have only been smaller stuff.
 
Benzin said:
Blivvy got evacuated from just before the drop about 11ish I think. Luckily was walking nearby when it reopened around same time as Smiler did (which meant as Blivvy took longer loads of people left the queue to go on Smiler).

Things did keep dropping in and out over the day. Galactica was being run really well (walk on pretty much, though why they had extensions open am not sure). Wickerman bit faffy given they seem to let offload clear out before opening the gates, meaning 3 trains weren't exactly beneficial (stacking).

Think we were lucky that we avoided most things when they were broken. Guess though it really depends on why they were closed. Smiler did evac off brakes and the queue so was substantial. Nemesis might have only been smaller stuff.
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That was basically my take on it. We arrived at the right ride at the right time.

Nemesis two goes first thing, opened at 9:50
Oblivion just when it came back up
Thirteen at 25
Spinball at around 25
Galactica was walk on in the morning and had another go when it was 10 minutes
Rita at 35 but queue was in the tunnel where fast track enter
Wickerman sent one train empty on a 50 minute queue as there was an empty station.
Smiler single rider, easy but goodness me it was running bad

Literally the only way you will have a decent day when it’s kind of busy. Shouldn’t take this much thought, luck and knowledge to have a good day. Lots of mutterings about rides being down. My advice is don’t join any queue over 40 minutes. Not worth the hassle.
 
My day yesterday with rough times/route

0900 Arrive at Park
0920 Smiler Queue.
1015 Smiler - that turn before the last loops still hurts but still a great ride otherwise.

Oblivion had queue forming. Thought it was just opening late but then after a tannoy announcement a few mins later after joining queue we did one

1045 Rita - never a fan of it..but family wanted to do it. Launch is great - rest of it..meh.
1100 Thirteen - all the effects working now.. I've only just noticed that it was a count up to 13 before the electric effect 🙈
1145 Nemesis - 1st time on since it reopened. Brilliant. Just Brilliant
1240 - Galactica - hits differently in blinding sunlight - nice and gentle ride after I scoffed lunch in queue. 😂
Long walk to Wickerman via Manor kiosk for a goth ice cream 🖤
1345 Wickerman - never misses.
1515 Spinball - I rate it so much. Chaos and fun everytime.
1600 Smiler (single rider) was exactly the same queue time as normal queue 💀 but I got rid of my kids for 90 seconds.. 😉
(Oblivion was open but 40 mins queue.. Nope!)
1630 Curse of Alton - walk-on, and was perfect till it failed on the final turn. Better late than never. 😉
1700 - 10 mins Nemmy queue - awesome
1730 - 3 laps of Mine train then home 😂


A few years back you could.have banked on 13/Rita at opening but now it feels like Smiler is the go to as long as your there at 0915. Nemmy queue route is a ball breaker but time wise astounding value..

Interesting to see the rapids river was drained. Is that standard on non operating day? Looked like a mario kart track.

The visitors today were brilliant. No queue pushers, great atmosphere. Hyperia t-shirt wearers - stop gloating 😂

Hopefully the park can get rapids and hex open for the school kids holidays as my main concern at the moment is on its peak days there are not enough rides or availability of rides to stop people having a reduced experience. Ie: 3/4 rides in a day.

Other than that, a normal great day at AT.
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
That was basically my take on it. We arrived at the right ride at the right time.

Nemesis two goes first thing, opened at 9:50
Oblivion just when it came back up
Thirteen at 25
Spinball at around 25
Galactica was walk on in the morning and had another go when it was 10 minutes
Rita at 35 but queue was in the tunnel where fast track enter
Wickerman sent one train empty on a 50 minute queue as there was an empty station.
Smiler single rider, easy but goodness me it was running bad

Literally the only way you will have a decent day when it’s kind of busy. Shouldn’t take this much thought, luck and knowledge to have a good day. Lots of mutterings about rides being down. My advice is don’t join any queue over 40 minutes. Not worth the hassle.
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There's always been this aspect to any seasoned visitor to be fair. Educated guesses will pay off more times than not. But I do feel for first time visitors who probably turn up to 3 rides consecutively and get no ride or a massive massive queue.


I tell myself 1 65 min queue for Wickerman in the afternoon is standard. Other than that it's get that app open and keep a very close eye on things.


Saying that my app had only Spinball displayed yesterday. But my wife had them all so probably my device at fault there.
 
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