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Ride Availability/Operations 2022-24

VerticalLoop123 said:
I think the new queueing reporting feature is definitely a positive addition. We reported a group in front of us last weekend vaping and vandalising in the Smiler queue. Shortly after an announcement came from the op to tell people to stop vaping and they vaping inside the indoor queueline is actually illegal!

Sounded like a shocking day yesterday! Definitely think Towers needs more filler things to do- don’t think it be too hard to throw together a pop singing show to put on the main stage they’ve got on the lawns. Just something for people to do when the rides are working other than go and stand in the guest services queue!
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What is this reporting feature? I saw multiple occurrences of queue jumping (in the RAP line no less).
 
Yesterday was just a good example of how years of neglect have impacted the park.

The weather was bad enough to shut down x-sector for sure (since the Smiler crash they follow the manufacturers wind limits). And yes the beginning of a season will always have higher downtime.

However the chronic underfunding of support attractions is now having a massive impact on the quality of a day on park.

They desperately need 3 flat rides, replace blade and get Dungeons back into an operating family dark ride and they need to do it urgently.

One flat next year is not going to cut it!
 
lee2804 said:
Wouldnt be bad if the ride ops were on it but they look lile they are out for a stroll. No urgency to check restraints or clear the trains for new riders.
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Because there’s not much they can do on 1 train operations will be pretty slow regardless
 
Alton Towers was dreadful yesterday, one of the worst days I've ever had at a park.

Wicker Man only running two trains, despite being one of the only coasters ready to open at 10am, was a joke. Rita only running one train with a queue reaching 100 minutes at points, again, inexcusable. Spinball filling half cars, an issue that has been present for years but not fixed. Thirteen unable to run in light drizzle, again, it's been an issue for years yet hasn't been fixed. That ride was down for most of the day yesterday.

Skyride still closed after a year, taking out a vital method of transportation that could have helped us towards having the time to get on more rides. Being at Forbidden Valley and seeing on the app that The Smiler had suddenly opened, we could have hopped on and tried to get a ride via the SRQ, rather than missing out (within an hour of it reopening, I saw that it had once again closed, so we made the right call in not walking over).

Then we come onto the delays. It was very rare to see more than 5 coasters open at once yesterday, and at various points, there were only 2! Our advertised 60 minute queue for Oblivion took 2 hours due to there being three stoppages. Whilst I appreciate that the wind was causing issues, the announcement played throughout the queue was the normal technical delay one; at no point was it communicated to us that the stoppages were due to weather conditions.

I see that, in comparison, Thorpe Park now use the queue boards across the park to inform people of weather delays, and if the wind is causing problems, they tell people. Alton Towers' communication yesterday was atrocious.

In addition to the issues with the coasters; Hex, Congo River Rapids and Blade were closed all day. This took away three vital support rides which could have gone towards making yesterday somewhat more bearable.

The Curse at Alton Manor was going down constantly, at one point closed for over an hour. Gangsta Granny was closed at multiple points throughout the day. It meant that the few rides that were open had hideous queues, which were also plagued by stoppage after stoppage.

We spent the entire day in the park, arriving through the gates around half 9, and leaving after 8pm. All we managed to ride was Wicker Man, Oblivion, Nemesis Reborn 3 times, Sub Terra, Galactica and 4 rides on Curse. Galactica was only because we got lucky, being nearby as it reopened after a closure. Apart from a very short break for lunch, this was with us trying to maximise time! Getting on so few rides on a long day like yesterday is shocking.

Highlights; Nemesis Reborn night ride, and The Curse at Alton Manor was fabulous. Lowlights; everything else.
 
Coaster said:
Alton Towers was dreadful yesterday, one of the worst days I've ever had at a park.

Wicker Man only running two trains, despite being one of the only coasters ready to open at 10am, was a joke. Rita only running one train with a queue reaching 100 minutes at points, again, inexcusable. Spinball filling half cars, an issue that has been present for years but not fixed. Thirteen unable to run in light drizzle, again, it's been an issue for years yet hasn't been fixed. That ride was down for most of the day yesterday.
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Sounds like a terrible day and agreed its not great having the reduced capacity at the start of the season. It was causing unnecessary queues on off-peak weekdays so couldn't imagine how painful that must be on a busy Saturday.

On Thirteen though - it can now run in the rain and the issues its been having this week are unrelated to the rain. It was running in the rain on Wednesday, and now has new breaks fitted at the bottom of the lift in case of a rollback.
 
Call_um said:
On Thirteen though - it can now run in the rain and the issues its been having this week are unrelated to the rain. It was running in the rain on Wednesday, and now has new breaks fitted at the bottom of the lift in case of a rollback.
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Do you know what the issue is? I'm not being cheeky, but the majority of the downtime so far seems to have come in wet conditions.
 
Coaster said:
I see that, in comparison, Thorpe Park now use the queue boards across the park to inform people of weather delays, and if the wind is causing problems, they tell people. Alton Towers' communication yesterday was atrocious.
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I'm not sure where you were looking yesterday, but certainly I noticed both on the queue boards (the big ones & the ones outside each individual ride) were indeed showing "weather delay" when the rides involved were closed.

Having been into X Sector I also heard the ops announce multiple times that the delays were due to gusting winds and that they couldn't guarantee a reopening time.
 
Alastair said:
I'm not sure where you were looking yesterday, but certainly I noticed both on the queue boards (the big ones & the ones outside each individual ride) were indeed showing "weather delay" when the rides involved were closed.

Having been into X Sector I also heard the ops announce multiple times that the delays were due to gusting winds and that they couldn't guarantee a reopening time.
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I got stuck in oblivion due to a wind gust, the staff said they had to wait for 10 mins untill they could restart opperations
 
Alastair said:
I'm not sure where you were looking yesterday, but certainly I noticed both on the queue boards (the big ones & the ones outside each individual ride) were indeed showing "weather delay" when the rides involved were closed.

Having been into X Sector I also heard the ops announce multiple times that the delays were due to gusting winds and that they couldn't guarantee a reopening time.
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We queued for Oblivion around 11am, at that point the announcement being played was the standard technical delay one. Not sure what they were saying later on as we didn't return to X-Sector at all.
 
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