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Ride Availability/Operations 2022-25

Shawn has uploaded a video from today, and I have to say that I think his thumbnail, with the “e” missing from “Towers”, is strangely apt given the day that ensued!:


It does seem odd that the park closed everything when no thunder was even visible or hearable; the radius for storm closures must now be very big!
 
It took around two hours after everything closing for any sort of rain or thunder to appear, same happened at 16:00. we stayed until park closing with the tiniest hope anything would open, the notifications we got through the app were extremely vague. The Smiler was sending trains from 17:00 till closing. No major rides operated from 13:15 onwards, apart from the 5 minutes everything reopened then shut again.
 
Shawn has uploaded a video from today, and I have to say that I think his thumbnail, with the “e” missing from “Towers”, is strangely apt given the day that ensued!:


It does seem odd that the park closed everything when no thunder was even visible or hearable; the radius for storm closures must now be very big!

Is this thumbnail current or an old picture when the sign had a letter removed

Why hasn't Merlin sold Alton to a new operator its clearly time to shift it to someone else to have a shot.
 
All anyone does these days about Alton is complain these days myself included so why aren't Merlin or Towers management listening its the guests that get you the money
The majority of people complaining are enthusiasts.

Most guests aren't enthusiasts and are too terminally British to care all that much. Let alone complain.

Make do and mend turned very quickly turned into shut up and put up.
 
All anyone does these days about Alton is complain these days myself included so why aren't Merlin or Towers management listening its the guests that get you the money
In some regards, the park’s hands are tied.

Even at the park management level, Alton Towers’ managers have their hands tied by the budgets they are given by Merlin and the park they have to deal with. An individual like Bianca (for example) might have honourable intentions, but they can’t carry those out if they’re given an insufficient budget by the Merlin higher ups, or if the list of priorities is too long.

Heck, even at the Merlin management level, their hands may be tied to some extent. There may simply be too much to do for Merlin to have the money to solve it all in one fell swoop.

In terms of today’s weather; once again, the park’s hands were tied. The closures were unfortunate, but they were a safety precaution. There’s nothing Alton Towers can do about there being electrical storms within a 20 mile radius or whatever; they have to shut the outdoor rides if inclement weather is nearby.
 
Shawn has uploaded a video from today, and I have to say that I think his thumbnail, with the “e” missing from “Towers”, is strangely apt given the day that ensued!:


It does seem odd that the park closed everything when no thunder was even visible or hearable; the radius for storm closures must now be very big!


The early ride availabilty was communicated on the app due to electrical storms the day previous and overnight.

He muses in his video he “wonders why” yet it was communicated to guests.

He also left before the storms actually hit the resort. I can gurantee had he been on a ride and they hadn’t closed which would then go down due to loss of power he would be moaning too.

Towers communicated the issues. He failed to tell his viewers this was the case.

Yes, Florida copes but they have more extreme weather so they are of course catered better for it.
 
I am going to be honest, people are really making a big deal out of nothing currently,

I haven't seen if AT has given people a free return (they probably should for this) however the thunderstorms we have had in surrounding areas have been quite weird, there are no signs of a thunderstorm then literally 30 seconds later there is thunder everywhere, heavy heavy rain. yesterday in the time it took me to walk from the turnstiles to the sign missing the E it went from some what cloudy to a full thunderstorm.

they have storms which came in very quickly, shutting down the ride not only has to be done to stop people going on it, but also to remove people on the ride. the smiler take like 2 mins to cycle, you need to get the last people on the ride to complete the cycle and have a buffer before lightning can reach the resort. I have been to florida in a particularly stormy year, they do suffer with very similar storms (it would clear, only to have another storm too close)

also I didn't see the missing E yesterday, given the heavy storms we had I wouldn't be surprised if it blew off (also the sign is usually fixed within like a week)
 
When the rides closed at 1:45 as noted on here it was only about 20 minutes or so later when I could hear the thunder/the rain came in and I’m only a mile away from the park.

The thunder at that time lasted about 30/45 minutes or so and really did come out of nowhere. It then cleared up for a while and then there was some more thunder for a short while.

It does maybe seem like they’re being a bit more cautious but today the weather was very sporadic, boiling hot just before when I was walking my dogs, rain and thunder just as I got back, then it cleared up for a short while and some more thunder and rain came through. It was far more sporadic than yesterday when there was that huge storm/thunder lighting locally.

Difficult for them really because it really was off and on over a couple of hours. The iPhone weather app never noted anything like what actually transpired and I assume they’ve got far better systems to check the weather than myself on my iPhone.
 
The majority of people complaining are enthusiasts.
Citation required...
Thoosies make up about five percent of visitors.
The majority of people complaining are not enthusiasts, they are just punters expecting a reasonable time for their money.
The thoosies may be more vocal, but they are very much a minority.

And the problems with thunder and lightning...
It does not follow the weather front like "normal" rain, it simply self generates, over a wide area...more fun following lightning strikes through the day than ridetimes!
lightningmaps.org

Lightning areas can jump areas of up to fifty miles in seconds...simple as that...and you might get a single strike and no more in two hours...but if they are forecast, you must show action, inaction can mean a claim if a strike occurs.
Minimising risks isn't that straightforward with god playing with the lecky.
Big lumps of metal sticking up in the sky are most likely to be struck...the metal copes, sensors and switchgear gets damaged, humans tend to fail.
Only once have I spotted a local lighting strike from the top of a coaster...Shockwave, very appropriately!
Don't want to be in that position ever again thanks.

And one last point, the florida storms tend to come in repeatedly and regularly in set weather patterns, "rolling in"...some days you can set your clock by them.
We have a completely different climate, and cannot "plan" closures the same.
 
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When the rides closed at 1:45 as noted on here it was only about 20 minutes or so later when I could hear the thunder/the rain came in and I’m only a mile away from the park.

The thunder at that time lasted about 30/45 minutes or so and really did come out of nowhere. It then cleared up for a while and then there was some more thunder for a short while.


Exactly yet his vlog fails to mention any of this. It was clearly edited to make it look like there was never or no chance of thunder. He even at one point says something along the lines of “IF there even is any thunder in the area…there’s clearly something going on” as if they’re closing rides for no goddamn reason.

He’s started to spread misinformation to get views.
 
Exactly yet his vlog fails to mention any of this. It was clearly edited to make it look like there was never or no chance of thunder. He even at one point says something along the lines of “IF there even is any thunder in the area…there’s clearly something going on” as if they’re closing rides for no goddamn reason.

He’s started to spread misinformation to get views.
I have started to dislike Theme Park Worldwide almost every Vlog making out Alton Towers is the worst park ever when it's really not. Other youtuberz do the same as well.

Misinformation is easier than spreading facts
 
Another point...lightning is not easy to forecast either.
Both the Met Office and (separate) BBC said massive storms for Sarurday...very heavy rain, but almost no thunder over land.
God fiddling the leccy is not easy to spot coming accurately.
 
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