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Ride Availability/Operations 2022-25

Ethan said:
Have you ever seen a ride as unreliable as Rita this season. You telling me it’s had 2 lengthy periods of downtime and now a few weeks after reopening its shut again. Time for Merlin to get rid
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I don't want them to remove unless they have a proper replacement oh the way keep it going but if you are going to remove it have another coaster ready to open the same year that it closes
 
I agree about Rita i could see it closing before a new coaster is set to replace it , then Galatica either needs a big retheme for forbidden valley or replacing , there's a lot that needs doing
 
Regardless of having a new coaster ready to go, at some point they’re going to have to make a decision on whether they want to keep putting money into a ride that is giving diminishing returns.

As they’ve just done a big fix on it (not that I’m techy enough to know the details) you’d think they’d want to get their money’s worth by keeping it going for a bit, but it’s starting to feel like sunk cost fallacy.
 
Wicker Man's estimated queue close time is listed on the app/queue times sites;,

Screenshot_20250828-122506.jpg


That's good, although it may cause a last minute rush of guests.
 
Danscott22 said:
Anyone know for definite why it’s an early close for Wicker Man?
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Maintenance maybe but they don’t want it shut all day for a few days when the park is so busy during the last week of the school holidays.

So I’d assume they’re trying to spread out the maintenance over a few days but also have it open for a few hours a day to appease those on park.

Either that or lack of staff but I can’t see that being the issue.
 
AT86 said:
Now they have limped it through the school holidays, Wickerman is closed until 11th September, presumably to address whatever is causing them to not be able to run the ride all day.

www.altontowers.com

Ride and Attraction availability | Alton Towers Resort

We want you to have an unforgettable fantastical escape to our Theme Park
www.altontowers.com www.altontowers.com
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At least its quiet and they can prep it for busy period in October and November
 
Does anybody actually know the issues with Wickerman yet or is it still unknown? On my visit on Saturday, during its short operational stint, it shut for around 10 minutes and maintenance were walking round the track, inspecting it and spraying it with some sort of liquid. It wasn’t a hot day either, so I’m wondering if it’s something to do with friction causing excessive heat.
 
This kind of reply really winds me up. Any excuse to have a dig at Towers/Merlin. Part of me really hopes that Universal will not be the saviour of UK theme parks that many think it will be. Destroying Merlin = virtually destroying the theme park industry as we know it we have and be left with an expensive American IP based park. I've said it many times, some people will be in for a shock when they see the ticket prices, season pass prices and car parking prices released when it opens.

If this person stopped to think about the logic here, they'd soon realise that closing now while quiet to get it open ready for Scarefest - their busiest time of the season - is better than "doing it in November". I replied similar to this if you expand the post.


From: https://x.com/ZeppelinRulezz/status/1962884860629991701
 
Steve74 said:
This kind of reply really winds me up. Any excuse to have a dig at Towers/Merlin. Part of me really hopes that Universal will not be the saviour of UK theme parks that many think it will be. Destroying Merlin = virtually destroying the theme park industry as we know it we have and be left with an expensive American IP based park. I've said it many times, some people will be in for a shock when they see the ticket prices, season pass prices and car parking prices released when it opens.

If this person stopped to think about the logic here, they'd soon realise that closing now while quiet to get it open ready for Scarefest - their busiest time of the season - is better than "doing it in November". I replied similar to this if you expand the post.


From: https://x.com/ZeppelinRulezz/status/1962884860629991701
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I think tweets like that miss the nuance that these things are unavoidable to some extent. While ride closures are never ideal, I think something unexpected has genuinely cropped up in the case of Wicker Man, and in the park's defence, they did aim to limp the ride through the remainder of peak season before shutting it completely. In that sense, the park has done effective damage limitation.

And as brilliant as Universal's stuff can be, I'm quite sure that Universal's new park will almost certainly have its fair share of teething problems in the early years if Epic Universe is anything to go by!
 
Steve74 said:
This kind of reply really winds me up. Any excuse to have a dig at Towers/Merlin. Part of me really hopes that Universal will not be the saviour of UK theme parks that many think it will be. Destroying Merlin = virtually destroying the theme park industry as we know it we have and be left with an expensive American IP based park. I've said it many times, some people will be in for a shock when they see the ticket prices, season pass prices and car parking prices released when it opens.

If this person stopped to think about the logic here, they'd soon realise that closing now while quiet to get it open ready for Scarefest - their busiest time of the season - is better than "doing it in November". I replied similar to this if you expand the post.


From: https://x.com/ZeppelinRulezz/status/1962884860629991701
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Alton must start attacking these comments and youtubers because they are being allowed to get away with it.

There a 4 youtubers who Alton really should be going after to stop the misinformation
 
Matt N said:
And as brilliant as Universal's stuff can be, I'm quite sure that Universal's new park will almost certainly have its fair share of teething problems in the early years if Epic Universe is anything to go by!
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Absolutely, watch Adventure Planet's first public opening day vlog of Epic and you'll see that the Harry Potter ride didn't open until 3pm due to teething issues - and that thing had had weeks of testing and passholder preview days to iron out initial problems. Can't wait for the scathing attacks on Universal GB when some of their rides open 5 minutes late. But of course, that won't happen because Universal can do no wrong! 🤣
 
Hid said:
Alton must start attacking these comments and youtubers because they are being allowed to get away with it.

There a 4 youtubers who Alton really should be going after to stop the misinformation
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Reporting things about Alton that aren't expressly positive is not "misinformation".

In Sanbrooke's case, all he did was state fact; Wicker Man is closed for maintenance from 2nd-11th September. That's just trying to drive transparency and inform people about developments at the park, and is in fact the polar opposite of misinformation if anything!

In the tweeter's case; granted, I don't agree with their opinion. But even still, it is their opinion, and they're entitled to hold it. They are not "spreading misinformation" just because they hold a negative opinion.

I'm not saying that I don't feel some overcook the negativity a little at times. But blind sycophancy and censoring any negative opinion or dissent about the parks isn't the answer either. It's important that constructive criticism and critique are allowed to be aired.
 
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