It’s been on 2 most this season which is ok but adding the 3rd train on will certainly help
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Ride Availability/Operations 2022-24
- Thread starter Ethan
- Start date
Didn’t open the day I was there - but when it opened Saturday my friend said it was on a single car but who knows.
Regardless - I’m hoping any future development takes capacity into consideration.
We’re seeing slowly ride developments around the world with huge RPA numbers .. Th13teen must be 300-400 at times which is just not gonna cut it
Danscott22
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Smiler
It's been testing recently but that's all is known I think
You see what I mean it’s an absolute liability. I know it’s an important family coaster for the park but these issues have been looming for a couple years or more. They need to sort the reliability issues asap or get it gone imo no point having a ride that is closed more often than open
Blackhole_Sun
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Black Hole
Only 55% uptime over the last 7 days.
Not sure what the issues are this time, it’s not weather related. One car was down to 5 parts and stuck on the lift Sunday. It eventually opened up but I assume it’s missing parts or they haven’t allocated enough time for maintenance this closed season. Stupid as their 1.2 offerings is already poor.
It does need to go in my opinion, but no chance it happens.
Dave
TS Founding Member
Not really mutually exclusive. The cause of the downtime is the age of the rides, they can sort out those issues and install new rides at the same time to boost uptime.
Installing new attractions to compensate for poor availability of existing rides is not to the way to go about things. The more rides there are at a park the harder it is to manage them all and maintain everything so if anything new rides would just make the current situation worse
Dave
TS Founding Member
It’s not really the excuse that’s being pitched.
For some things it’s a valid point and Easter is very early this season. Some people have been getting hysterical every time a ride has had 20minutes of downtime which is just silly.
For other things (Rita and Thirteen on reduced capacity for example) it’s the historic neglect of the rides that is the issue and folk have a point.
Like most things it’s not as binary as some like to suggest.
Obviously - but this season start has been horrific.
Someone needs to assess each existing coaster and identify exactly what’s causing issues (ie; sensors on Galactica trains, weather on 13) and device a maintenance plan for each to resolve. This won’t be free, and maybe not cheap. But it’s a bit of a joke at this point.
Edit
I do agree with the above. It’s years of mismanagement by the previous people in charge. Just wish some transparency would be forthcoming about the issues. At this point I’m expecting 50% thirteen uptime through to scarefest
Someone needs to assess each existing coaster and identify exactly what’s causing issues (ie; sensors on Galactica trains, weather on 13) and device a maintenance plan for each to resolve. This won’t be free, and maybe not cheap. But it’s a bit of a joke at this point.
Edit
I do agree with the above. It’s years of mismanagement by the previous people in charge. Just wish some transparency would be forthcoming about the issues. At this point I’m expecting 50% thirteen uptime through to scarefest
Dave
TS Founding Member
I mean I wasn’t saying install more rides to compensate for the downtime, my post was quite clear.
Adding newer rides is not an issue so long as they deal with the historic neglect of the older rides as well. Installation of a new ride adds some extra demand for sure but they are generally easier to maintain and fact is the park needs the capacity so they have to manage it. The park used to have far more rides in its roster so they are more than capable of doing it.
The fact people on this forum think fixing 15 years of Merlin neglect can happen in 1 closed season and that they should not deal with the capacity issues at the same time is curious to say the least…
I certainly don’t think monitoring the queue times on an hourly basis is a particularly beneficial exercise to anyone (although must confess I have done this a bit myself recently in order to get the most out of my visit on Sunday).
Its probably been a bit of a perfect storm in terms of crowd numbers this month - early Easter, Alton after dark, Nemesis reopening, some real bad weather, maybe the park has bitten off more than they can chew in the short term.
Blackhole_Sun
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Black Hole
It’s clear they do nothing to rectify long standing issues on rides. How many years have they been calling battleships on Air’s restraints?
It can’t be unsolvable. If it’s broken then it needs fixing. Or redesigning so it works. Whatever the cost, or replace the ride with one that may work more often.
They have chosen the workaround option which is cheaper. Keep trying it until it says it’s locked. Bit ridiculous really.
It can’t be unsolvable. If it’s broken then it needs fixing. Or redesigning so it works. Whatever the cost, or replace the ride with one that may work more often.
They have chosen the workaround option which is cheaper. Keep trying it until it says it’s locked. Bit ridiculous really.
Dave
TS Founding Member
Galactica Bingo has been a thing since it opened, they would have to replace the entire control system and all three trains. I would guess that’s around £5 million so questionable they would ever do it unless it’s part of a bigger refresh like Nemesis.