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Ride Availability/Operations 2022-25

After a few weeks of steady ops and finally bringing trains back into service, it seems like over the last week or so things are starting to go to sh!t again. The Towers lottery of operations continues - hopefully it’s just some panicked maintenance before half term and school trip season.
 
Bowser said:
It's a real shame. Had such high hopes for this year. We still have free fastpasses from the opening week debacle but will be surprised if we end up going back this year.

What is the main factor behind the poor reliability? Just don't see how a park can be closed for 4+ months of the year and yet still not be running properly after 2 months of opening.
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Historic poor maintenance, border difficulties getting parts and maintenance staff recruitment and retention. I believe there is work ongoing to fix all of these issues but no idea what or how it’s going.

Ash said:
Can anyone reasonably explain why the 4D cinema isn’t open?

This seems a glaring miss, and an easy win.

I shudder to think what the state of the building is like.

Getting a couple of cheap 15 minute 4D films must be a no brainer surely? Dare I say it with this new media company…maybe they could do a Walliams film and Henry Hound one.

Kitting it out with some 4D chairs would be a great low cost, quick upgrade. Maybe for next season
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It closed to cut staffing numbers and the rumour is that the whole thing has deteriorated so much (the building is basically a tent) it would require some significant investment to re-open.
 
Did either of the dark forest coasters open at all today?
I know availability is all covered in the terms and conditions, but this, together with the other long term closures, is becoming a bit of a long running shitshow.
 
Mick said:
After a few weeks of steady ops and finally bringing trains back into service, it seems like over the last week or so things are starting to go to sh!t again. The Towers lottery of operations continues - hopefully it’s just some panicked maintenance before half term and school trip season.
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The older the rides get, the worse it becomes.

Went to Chessington on Friday and the availability and reliability was faultless. When you are behind Chessington in this respect it’s time to make some significant changes to your operations.
 
Interestingly Towers currently have an advert out for trained mechanical engineers, salary £43,261 per year (plus discretionary bonus and 25 days holiday). Anyone know if that’s competitive? Google says average is £35,000 - £37,000 but no idea if that’s accurate.
 
Dave said:
Interestingly Towers currently have an advert out for trained mechanical engineers, salary £43,261 per year (plus discretionary bonus and 25 days holiday). Anyone know if that’s competitive? Google says average is £35,000 - £37,000 but no idea if that’s accurate.
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Drayton Manor Park and Zoo have an advert for one too, albeit on a 0 hours contract.
 
Dave said:
Interestingly Towers currently have an advert out for trained mechanical engineers, salary £43,261 per year (plus discretionary bonus and 25 days holiday). Anyone know if that’s competitive? Google says average is £35,000 - £37,000 but no idea if that’s accurate.
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I got pinged for a similar job the other day, indoor working, Monday to Friday, 40 hours. £40-45k in Rotherham.
 
25 days holiday sounds poor for a job that demands weekends and bank holidays. As someone who also works them, I'd expect 30 days to be the minimum.
 
Would say there are a lot of midweek days off for engineers due to shift arrangements?

Seems they have nudged up a little bit on salaries to try and recruit/retain better. The Academy is a long term strategy to retain, and likely keep wages down in my view. Will be interesting to see when the effects kicks in in a few years time.
 
Matt.GC said:
25 days holiday sounds poor for a job that demands weekends and bank holidays. As someone who also works them, I'd expect 30 days to be the minimum.
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If you work a bank holiday you legally have to have the time back to take another time. It’s basically 4 weeks plus 8 days either on a BH or elsewhere if worked.

Anyway bit off topic.
 
Depending on the quality of the employer of course.
I have known staff round here who worked Christmas Day on single time...as it was on the weekend, and no additional payment was made...it wasn't a bank holiday.
After kicking off, they were grudgingly given a lieu day, and nothing more.
 
I'm self employed, and take any day off I fancy, often at a moments notice.
You should also budget holidays into your hourly/daily rate.
Rainy days to the coast/theme parks a speciality...especially if the cash pile is getting high and I might end up with a tax bill.
I would say I take six to eight weeks every year, but being a gardener, only extended weekends at the most through the summer.
 
Dave said:
If you work a bank holiday you legally have to have the time back to take another time. It’s basically 4 weeks plus 8 days either on a BH or elsewhere if worked.

Anyway bit off topic.
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So are you saying this is additional to bank holidays? In which case that's not too bad. But I know employers do it differently. Mine for example lump it all in at the beginning of the year to include bank holidays, regardless of whether they are worked or not. They only add additional time when there is an unplanned bank holiday, like the king popping his clogs or something. Varies every year due to when Christmas falls as Christmas Day and Boxing day aren't bank holidays when they fall on weekends, so we get less holiday that year if they do fall on those days.

RIPCorky said:
If you are self employed you get 0 Holiday pay, so 5 weeks paid leave sounds alright to me.
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I know, my partner is self-employed. We're talking about job competitiveness for these engineers, not a competition with a self-employed person. It might not be a good deal if a firm down the road is offering more holiday.
 
That bored, self isolating, I resorted to ridetimes, sorry.
Four main coasters down, again...including the ususal...both dark forest coasters.
They do really need to sort their reliability sorted.
This is becoming routine.
 
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