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Ride Availability/Operations 2022-24

Wicker Man queue update; some of the initial slowness may have been caused by a particularly long coffee order at the queue line shop, as the queue has sped up slightly after passing that pointā€¦

However, itā€™s still moving pretty slowly. This is my current vantage point, 110 minutes in:
IMG_0834.jpeg
 
Matt N said:
Wicker Man queue update; some of the initial slowness may have been caused by a particularly long coffee order at the queue line shop, as the queue has sped up slightly after passing that pointā€¦

However, itā€™s still moving pretty slowly. This is my current vantage point, 110 minutes in:
IMG_0834.jpeg
Click to expand...

I'm in the RAP queue and I'm pretty sure it's longer than when we didn't have to pre book!
 
Matt N said:
Wicker Man queue update; some of the initial slowness may have been caused by a particularly long coffee order at the queue line shop, as the queue has sped up slightly after passing that pointā€¦

However, itā€™s still moving pretty slowly. This is my current vantage point, 110 minutes in:
IMG_0834.jpeg
Click to expand...
You been on yetšŸ˜‚
 
Matt N said:
Iā€™m currently in the queue for Wicker Man, and itā€™s moving bizarrely slowly.

For reference, I joined an advertised 70 minute queue at 4:30pm. Itā€™s now been 70 minutes, and Iā€™ve only just exited the portion of the queue inside the turnaround near the wicker man structure.

Iā€™m unsure why itā€™s going so slowly. Based on my throughput reading (around 830pph), Iā€™d take a stab at it only being on 2 trains, and the RAP queue does look pretty considerable, but this must be the slowest Wicker Man queue Iā€™ve ever stood in by quite some margin. It feels like weā€™re crawling along, and I reckon we could easily have the best part of a hour left to queue.

Does anyone have any theories on why it could be so slow?
Click to expand...
Wind sensors kicked in a few times whilst we were queuing, leading to some downtime in the pre show building and cramped.waiting around. I'm not sure if that's responsible for the poor throughout, or a contributing factor.
 
Ethan said:
You been on yetšŸ˜‚
Click to expand...
Yes! It ultimately took around 145 minutes to get to the airgates, and by the time I got off the ride and was stood in the shop, that was the full 2.5 hours from when we joined the queue. That might well be the longest queue Iā€™ve waited in for an operational ride at a UK theme park!

To be fair, though, it was pretty much a night ride by the time I boarded, andā€¦ wow! Wicker Man at night is insane, and certainly didnā€™t disappoint! I dare say it almost made the 2.5 hour queue worth itā€¦ almost!

That results in 3 rides today all in all. To be fair, I satisfied both of my personal goals, in riding Nemesis and riding Wicker Man at night, and the weather couldnā€™t be helped. But to put it politely, I have had far, far better days at Alton Towers than today.
 
Skyscraper said:
I believe it's because they haven't been able to start all the pumps, hence the low water level.
Click to expand...

The water level is actually higher than when the ride is operational there because it is near the end of the ride and the pumps are switched off. Plus, there is zero water flow. The wind has just blown the boat that is all.

Once the pumps start the water level will drop and the boat will move. Totally normal for this to happen.
 
Matt N said:
Yes! It ultimately took around 145 minutes to get to the airgates, and by the time I got off the ride and was stood in the shop, that was the full 2.5 hours from when we joined the queue. That might well be the longest queue Iā€™ve waited in for an operational ride at a UK theme park!

To be fair, though, it was pretty much a night ride by the time I boarded, andā€¦ wow! Wicker Man at night is insane, and certainly didnā€™t disappoint! I dare say it almost made the 2.5 hour queue worth itā€¦ almost!

That results in 3 rides today all in all. To be fair, I satisfied both of my personal goals, in riding Nemesis and riding Wicker Man at night, and the weather couldnā€™t be helped. But to put it politely, I have had far, far better days at Alton Towers than today.
Click to expand...

3 rides in a 10 hour day?

And youā€™re not angry?
 
Matt N said:
Yes! It ultimately took around 145 minutes to get to the airgates, and by the time I got off the ride and was stood in the shop, that was the full 2.5 hours from when we joined the queue. That might well be the longest queue Iā€™ve waited in for an operational ride at a UK theme park!

To be fair, though, it was pretty much a night ride by the time I boarded, andā€¦ wow! Wicker Man at night is insane, and certainly didnā€™t disappoint! I dare say it almost made the 2.5 hour queue worth itā€¦ almost!

That results in 3 rides today all in all. To be fair, I satisfied both of my personal goals, in riding Nemesis and riding Wicker Man at night, and the weather couldnā€™t be helped. But to put it politely, I have had far, far better days at Alton Towers than today.
Click to expand...
Credit where credit is due, three rides in a day I wouldnā€™t be satisfied with that. Even if all three were Nemesis front and back row!
 
Ash said:
3 rides in a 10 hour day?

And youā€™re not angry?
Click to expand...
Same experience, but there was literally nothing the park could have done differently today to prevent that. They cannot run rides in unsafe weather. They had rides running as soon as they were able to get them up again.

Your blue sky thinking is great, but realistically would take years to implement. With the lineup the park had today, and the weather the park had today, I'm struggling to see how it could have operated better.

I'm not angry with the park, I'm disappointed with the weather. I'm also appalled at how staff have been treated today, usually by people with lanyards around their necks.

If there's a blizzard and my plane can't take off, I'm angry with the weather, not with the airline; provided the airline did all they could to get me on the next available flight and apologised. Alton Towers have done exactly that today and have initiated VAFF.
 
Matt N said:
Yes! It ultimately took around 145 minutes to get to the airgates, and by the time I got off the ride and was stood in the shop, that was the full 2.5 hours from when we joined the queue. That might well be the longest queue Iā€™ve waited in for an operational ride at a UK theme park!

To be fair, though, it was pretty much a night ride by the time I boarded, andā€¦ wow! Wicker Man at night is insane, and certainly didnā€™t disappoint! I dare say it almost made the 2.5 hour queue worth itā€¦ almost!

That results in 3 rides today all in all. To be fair, I satisfied both of my personal goals, in riding Nemesis and riding Wicker Man at night, and the weather couldnā€™t be helped. But to put it politely, I have had far, far better days at Alton Towers than today.
Click to expand...
To be fair Wicker Man at night is pretty special. Especially if they have been blasting the smoke out, which I hope they did, for your sake... :)
 
I arrived at 6pm and have done Oblivion and Nemesis. I may yet get on Smiler but it's just closed again due to wind so who knows...

Very glad I didn't bother getting here earlier though, the park has clearly been dreadful today.

Edit - it reopened, just got off. Think 3 rides from 6pm is a good result given how poor the park was today
 
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