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Ride Availability/Operations 2022-24

Operations were OK today. The only ride that disappointed was Thirteen. The line barely moved once we got to the baggage hold. We also had three trains stacking (station, next to Corkscrews motor and before the switch track from the reverse section). No seeming issues.

Rita’s line moved well and Galactica was on three trains. Everything else was about average really. Oblivion had shortest queue all day and ran two stations.
 
Watching UK Theme Parks' latest vlog from this BH weekend, he says he noticed the skyride gondolas with new suspension and fixing [to the cable] mechanisms in place and he believes this is the reason the Skyride is closed. Would explain why they're not in the maintenance shed and just sat on pallets!


From: https://youtu.be/rSfF6OMZG_g?t=344
 
Surely it’s just basic customer service and decency for the park to have made an announcement at the start of the season that could’ve read something along the lines of, “As part of our continued investment in our attractions, we are currently undertaking a major refurbishment of the Sky Ride to ensure maximum availability in the years to come. We therefore regret to announce that this attraction will be unavailable until x. For guests with additional mobility needs, please visit our accessibility page to learn more about the extra services we are introducing whilst Sky Ride is undergoing its maintenance program”

Surely this is simple stuff?!
 
s_g_k said:
Surely it’s just basic customer service and decency for the park to have made an announcement at the start of the season that could’ve read something along the lines of, “As part of our continued investment in our attractions, we are currently undertaking a major refurbishment of the Sky Ride to ensure maximum availability in the years to come. We therefore regret to announce that this attraction will be unavailable until x. For guests with additional mobility needs, please visit our accessibility page to learn more about the extra services we are introducing whilst Sky Ride is undergoing its maintenance program”

Surely this is simple stuff?!
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Yep perfectly simple, although this may cause people to reconsider their visit so the park will lose out on £
 
RIPCorky said:
Yep perfectly simple, although this may cause people to reconsider their visit so the park will lose out on £
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I also suspect they do not have an exact date it might re open.

Steve74 said:
Watching UK Theme Parks' latest vlog from this BH weekend, he says he noticed the skyride gondolas with new suspension and fixing [to the cable] mechanisms in place and he believes this is the reason the Skyride is closed.
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Sorry to be pedantic but the skyride doesn't have a suspension. The springs look like a suspension though. They are part of the couping assembly. They provide compression to forcefully clamp the assembly to the cable when not in a station. Thus holding the gondola on the cable with a tight grip.

I suspect these couping assemblies needed work or off site testing to be carried out. Which is not something they need every year.

This has either delayed the process of getting the skyride back up due to major components being off site, or the extra work involved in what is already a maintenance heavy attraction, in closed season, has stretched an already thin maintenance team. As they still missed a few attractions and trains being ready, even with an attraction that requires alot of engineers being pushed back.

I suspect the second one. As select coasters struggled to be avaliable properly until later in the season. If this was the case, (whole post is purely educated speculation) I think Towers made the right decision of focusing on the coasters. People visit for them, much more than the skyride. Plus delaying it, would have freed up a considerable amount of man power which clearly, was all needed for the main attractions.

The fact the attraction can be seen running now, is quite possibly because the engineers are doing the work on the system that they would have done in closed season, but resources were placed else where.
 
Some people avoid the Towers when the skyride is closed because of access issues.
I am one of them, Merlin are causing access issues for those with mobility problems, by not getting the transport system open.
Simple, unavoidable fact.
Previous service should be reinstated as soon as possible because of this.
Merlin are letting down disabled users of the park, in a major way.
Poor, again.
 
Yesterday (Tuesday 9 May 2023) was a standard quiet weekday visit, with an acceptable level of ride availability and operations.

Unavailable all day that impacted my trip (I can't comment on anything in CBeebies/Walliams!):
  • Skyride
  • Hex

Technical issues with temporary unavailability:
  • Spinball
  • Galactica

Everything else was running well with good operations, including:
Wickerman on 3 trains with a consistent 15 - 20 minute queue all day
Oblivion on 4 shuttles (1 station) being walk-on

However, Th13teen had the most bizarre loading I've seen in years; 3 trains on but only filling 1 or 2? It seemed really silly to consistently run at least one train of the 3 empty, meaning the drop-track and other ride components went through a cycle needlessly...?? I recognised that trains had to be either full or empty... so why not just make sure they were always full! Very frustrating being in the station watching an empty train set off.

There was a thunderstorm in the afternoon which meant a welcome visit to Alton Manor as all outdoor attractions closed. Being an adult though, Alton Manor was my only option for a non-fishy indoor experience across the whole park...

I had been apprehensive that my 2h39m / 129mile journey would be for naught, and that my day would be spent aimlessly wandering across the park in search of something that was open. I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case, and I was grateful. My return journey home was spent with aching, soggy feet that had zig-zagged around the park all day getting to ride everything that they arrived at (apart from Galactica upon leaving).

The presentation of the park, food/drink offerings and shop prices are all teeth-grinding frustrations for another topic...
 
Sazzle said:
However, Th13teen had the most bizarre loading I've seen in years; 3 trains on but only filling 1 or 2? It seemed really silly to consistently run at least one train of the 3 empty, meaning the drop-track and other ride components went through a cycle needlessly...?? I recognised that trains had to be either full or empty... so why not just make sure they were always full! Very frustrating being in the station watching an empty train set off.
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3 trains signed off in case it gets busy but requiring 18 to dispatch. Nemesis was a regular of running 2 and loading 1
 
Poisson said:
3 trains signed off in case it gets busy but requiring 18 to dispatch. Nemesis was a regular of running 2 and loading 1
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Great, so take one off and maintain a queue that moves consistently and doesn't cause guest frustration when there are empty trains on the circuit. It's not rocket science!! The queue never extended beyond the Faraday cage all day, so running a third wasn't warranted.
 
I dunno, I get why they have 3 on Thirteen consistently. I went on it three times the other week and there were times when all 3 were loading, 2 were loading and then just 1 was loading. I’d rather it be on three in the first place and be able to maximise its capacity when it needs to. The staff were actively telling guests that they would need to wait for 18 people to show up, and no one seemed to complain
 
DistortAMG said:
I also suspect they do not have an exact date it might re open.



Sorry to be pedantic but the skyride doesn't have a suspension. The springs look like a suspension though. They are part of the couping assembly. They provide compression to forcefully clamp the assembly to the cable when not in a station. Thus holding the gondola on the cable with a tight grip.
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No you're right it doesn't, any suspension you "feel" would be the bouncing of the cable I guess. But to people who who wouldn't know otherwise, they just look like mini versions of suspensions springs so was easier to say that! He says "new suspension" in the video but he could've meant the suspension mechanism, ie the mechanism to suspend it from the cable.
 
lee2804 said:
3 train service on wickerman. Cnt complain
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Park is a lot quieter this year than I thought it'd be. With the absence of Nemesis, one of towers capacity monsters, there's more pressure on the other rides. But it seems none of the other rides have bigger queues than normal
 
I'm not at all surprised with the cost of living crisis. Would be a massive factor for a lot of people I'd assume
 
Danscott22 said:
I'm not at all surprised with the cost of living crisis. Would be a massive factor for a lot of people I'd assume
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People want value for money in these tough times. Other parks have been very busy. All the issues with Towers this season, including ride availability. Do not seem to be going down well with the public.
 
Sazzle said:
Great, so take one off and maintain a queue that moves consistently and doesn't cause guest frustration when there are empty trains on the circuit. It's not rocket science!! The queue never extended beyond the Faraday cage all day, so running a third wasn't warranted.
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The problem Towers have is it's a massive faff to get a train on or off, not just a case of techs adding or removing a train. I imagine they'd rather run 3 trains and load 2 than have to download the ride on all trains, add a 3rd, test and then get it signed off again to run 3. It's procedure causing the issue I believe.
 
Operations were decent all day yesterday. Wicker Man and The Smiler on 3 trains. Didn't queue any longer than 15 minutes.
Spinball was testing but out of action whenever we passed it.
Galactica seemed unusually rough, came off with a bit of a migraine. Although we were sat on the back row.
 
idleross said:
Operations were decent all day yesterday. Wicker Man and The Smiler on 3 trains. Didn't queue any longer than 15 minutes.
Spinball was testing but out of action whenever we passed it.
Galactica seemed unusually rough, came off with a bit of a migraine. Although we were sat on the back row.
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I have noticed a bit of a rattle to galactica over the past season or two. Nothing uncomfortable in my opinion! Maybe down to maintenance or age I’m not sure. But that’s a discussion for the Galactica Thread.

Nice to see most coasters back up to their full capacity, looking forward to seeing how the park deals with Mardi Gras crowds now! Will be a lot better with the main stage open on the lawns to keep more people out of queues.
 
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