Ride Availability/Operations 2022-24

[Eidderf]

I remember at the start of the season when the rapids was closed for ‘maintenance’ being assured by someone on here that it was down to legitimate maintenance works and not because it was quite cold and not that busy.

My view on that was I’d guarantee it would open for the Easter weekend; which it did.

It’s now closed again for the cold end of the season.

Of course it could all be for legitimate reasons but it does absolutely smack of them shutting it when they think they can get away with doing so as it’s expensive to run.

I think the problem is a lack of transparency too, I feel like if they just listed that the rapids will only operate in summer seasons or busy periods at least people would know what to expect when coming to the park. Efteling have a rapids ride that they don't operate in the winter season (though I think they wanted to change that) but because they clearly list that, people aren't disappointed to find out it's closed when they turn up on the day.

 

[s_g_k]

Much better start to the day today, coaster wise at least. Seems they’ve out performed their own staggered opening times.

 

[Ethan]

Much better start to the day today, coaster wise at least. Seems they’ve out performed their own staggered opening times.

My life get Nemmy back on 2 trains immediately

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

My life get Nemmy back on 2 trains immediately

Christ there’s some real karens on this forum you got anything better to do other than getting on Towers back whenever rides are down

Three days, but it's ok, relapses happen. Just know that we're all here for you, we know you can do better and one day you'll get there.

 

[Ethan]

Three days, but it's ok, relapses happen. Just know that we're all here for you, we know you can do better and one day you'll get there.

Moaning about coasters being on reduced capacity is different to constantly pointing out when rides are down. Ride downtime will always happen

 

[Bowser]

 

[Ethan]

Precisely. Downtime happens at every park around the world and regardless of the number of engineers it is unavoidable. Now I understand things can go wrong with the ride vehicles however do the park not have parts for anything that could go wrong? Unless it’s a rare and unexpected issue and therefore they have to wait for a part to be delivered, the park should be prepared with the necessary spare parts surely

 

[Matt N]

Precisely. Downtime happens at every park around the world and regardless of the number of engineers it is unavoidable. Now I understand things can go wrong with the ride vehicles however do the park not have parts for anything that could go wrong? Unless it’s a rare and unexpected issue and therefore they have to wait for a part to be delivered

Downtime is unavoidable to an extent. One could argue, however, that having more engineering staff employed, or having engineering staff deployed more efficiently, can reduce downtime or make it less likely to occur.

If inspections and such happen more frequently, problems can be detected and resolved before they become significant downtime incidents, and any downtime that does occur can be resolved more quickly.

 

[John]

The mental gymnastics here are mind-blowing. The implication that a problem resulting in Nemesis being closed for the past week would somehow be more excusable than a problem resulting in it being open (but on reduced capacity) is clearly absurd.

 

[Squiggs]

What is downtime, if not the ultimate reduced capacity?

 

[Josh555]

The mental gymnastics here are mind-blowing. The implication that a problem resulting in Nemesis being closed for the past week would somehow be more excusable than a problem resulting in it being open (but on reduced capacity) is clearly absurd.

To be fair the argument is that downtime can happen due to a mechanical fault, these can sometimes take a while to fix, sometimes even needing various parts to do so.

Reduced capacity is usually a conscious decision to run a coaster with less capacity than it’s capable of, presumably as a cost cutting exercise.

 

[Rob]

To be fair the argument is that downtime can happen due to a mechanical fault, these can sometimes take a while to fix, sometimes even needing various parts to do so.

Reduced capacity is usually a conscious decision to run a coaster with less capacity than it’s capable of, presumably as a cost cutting exercise.

Yes, but Nemesis being on one train is far more likely to be a technical issue as opposed to a conscious cost cutting measure.

The same cannot be said for when Oblivion and Galactica are being operated on one station, as that saves on staffing costs.

 

[GaryH]

Out of interest are Battle Galleons open this time of year - if rapids are closed due to it being colder then I would assume both water rides are closed.

 

[Rob]

Out of interest are Battle Galleons open this time of year - if rapids are closed due to it being colder then I would assume both water rides are closed.

The Rapids are very staff intensive to operate now due to HSE requirements, whereas Battle Galleons probably only needs a couple of staff members (not totally sure, I've not ridden it for years). So you will save a lot more money by closing the Rapids than you would Battle Galleons.

 

[Dave]

Nemesis on one train is definitely tech rather than cost cutting. The coasters you get a saving from by dropping capacity are Galactica and Oblivion, everything else still requires the same number of staff regardless of number of trains.

 

[venny]

The notion that downtime is unavoidable is for the birds. The vast majority of downtime is entirely avoidable. Thorough, proactive maintenance and good operation will mitigate most downtime; that’s shown in parks across the world.

It’s not just bad luck that certain parks experience more downtime than others.

 

[jibbsie]

The notion that downtime is unavoidable is for the birds. The vast majority of downtime is entirely avoidable. Thorough, proactive maintenance and good operation will mitigate most downtime; that’s shown in parks across the world.

It’s not just bad luck that certain parks experience more downtime than others.

Not really, it is like servicing your car, you can do it but it will still break eventually, and consider most of altons rides are first models or early models, the smiler, oblivion, air, thirteen and more each will have issues that were baked into the design such as 13s over speed requiring trims.

It is also important to remember how often rides are run, a 0.1% failure per dispach may sound good but if you are sending 1000 trains per day the chance of something not working right is 63.72% over the entire day.

Also you are ignoring guest actions for instance on the smiler if a guest holds the restrains down too long when returning to the station it requires tech services to reset the ride.

 

[GaryH]

The Rapids are very staff intensive to operate now due to HSE requirements, whereas Battle Galleons probably only needs a couple of staff members (not totally sure, I've not ridden it for years). So you will save a lot more money by closing the Rapids than you would Battle Galleons.

Yes true. My point was that if it’s because of the cold then close both. People don’t ride BG in the winter as you get absolutely soaked through. People would more likely ride rapids in the winter as you tend not to get as wet. Pity as rapids at night was lots of fun and very atmospheric.

 

[Bowser]

Not really, it is like servicing your car, you can do it but it will still break eventually, and consider most of altons rides are first models or early models, the smiler, oblivion, air, thirteen and more each will have issues that were baked into the design such as 13s over speed requiring trims.

It is also important to remember how often rides are run, a 0.1% failure per dispach may sound good but if you are sending 1000 trains per day the chance of something not working right is 63.72% over the entire day.

Also you are ignoring guest actions for instance on the smiler if a guest holds the restrains down too long when returning to the station it requires tech services to reset the ride.

People often trot out this reasoning and it's not without merit but it also seems like one of many ready made excuses.

Don't plenty of other parks around the world have a similar set of "prototypes"? Disney, Universal, Europa, Efteling etc? The difference is they invest just as much in the maintenance of said rides.

Not to mention there are just as many typical and newer rides at AT that seem equally as unreliable.

Rides are designed to run hundreds of times a day. If anything AT's operate less than their contemporaries due to some of the shortest opening hours in the industry and a long off-season.

And of course, guest behaviour is not unique to the park.

I don't think it's unfair to point out that the parks issues are of their own doing rather than an unexpected side effect of a handful of early coasters. As per your opening metaphor, a classic car will run for 60 years if it's well looked after.

 

[venny]

Not really, it is like servicing your car, you can do it but it will still break eventually, and consider most of altons rides are first models or early models, the smiler, oblivion, air, thirteen and more each will have issues that were baked into the design such as 13s over speed requiring trims.

It is also important to remember how often rides are run, a 0.1% failure per dispach may sound good but if you are sending 1000 trains per day the chance of something not working right is 63.72% over the entire day.

Also you are ignoring guest actions for instance on the smiler if a guest holds the restrains down too long when returning to the station it requires tech services to reset the ride.

Your own argument defeats you. If I maintain my car well, it’s far less likely to break down than if I never change the oil, never get it serviced and run it into the ground. If, as your argument suggests, breakdowns are inevitable, then they would inevitably occur at similar distributions and occurrences at parks across the world. That, as a matter of fact, is not the case.

I do enjoy your optimism of 1000 trains being dispatched a day. I can’t wait to see 2-3 trains per minute being dispatched from Nemesis.