The Future of Skyride

[jibbsie]

I don't believe that is the quickest it can be done, no. Many hands make light work.


I'm not pretending to have any industry specific knowledge, are you?

From the work I have seen, it has required quite a lot of cable manipulations, with the cable often not being one a set of supports, one reason it probably hasn't been as quick is because the can't move the cable without clearing the ground of people.
This means they have had to work on it over night often, if the were to do work during the day the probably would have had to close areas like dark forest so they can work on it (there is no way to get to 13 or rita without going under the cable)

 

[WillPS]

It is ***a*** top priority, I guess - not ***the*** top priority (I've not seen that quote if it's been labelled as any kind of priority, apologies).

With disrespect intended, we now have highly PR-trained figureheads speaking on behalf of the park, saying something is a "top priority" and "requires major work" etc, while implying issues have just been discovered and work is progressing as fast as possible, it is not actually saying that at all. It could easily be saying that "we know it is millions of investment and we are not allowed to spend that this year".

The quote is to this board, not anyone official. Specifically @Dave 's reply to @Matt.GC upthread.

From the work I have seen, it has required quite a lot of cable manipulations, with the cable often not being one a set of supports, one reason it probably hasn't been as quick is because the can't move the cable without clearing the ground of people.
This means they have had to work on it over night often, if the were to do work during the day the probably would have had to close areas like dark forest so they can work on it (there is no way to get to 13 or rita without going under the cable)

...then close Dark Forest for a few days. It's not impossible if something legitimately is a top priority.

It isn't though, that's my whole point here. Even we treat the timescales this is all being done in as 'fastest possible' (and it isn't) this is still evidenced by the fact the attraction was closed with not a great deal going on last year.

It's a symptom of how degraded the place is that any of this has been allowed to happen in the first place, and while it's great that it isn't just being consigned to the bin the fact people seem to see 2 full seasons out for an overhaul as an acceptable timescale kind of says it all about the low expectations the management cultivate nowadays.

They reap what they sow. Please help us Comcast...

 

[Steve74]

...then close Dark Forest for a few days. It's not impossible if something legitimately is a top priority.

Oh yeah and how well will that go down considering the angry responses on socials about Wicker Man and Spinball being closed recently! Why close an entire area if they can do the work overnight/closed season all within the plan to open it in March next year? Doing stuff with the cables may only be a small part of the entire works so even if they did close an area for a few days, it probably wouldn't mean Skyride would've opened any quicker.

They reap what they sow. Please help us Comcast...

I've said this a few times regarding peoples wishes for Universal to "sort Merlin out in one way or another"... be very careful what you wish for; you don't know what you've got until it's gone.

 

[WillPS]

Oh yeah and how well will that go down considering the angry responses on socials about Wicker Man and Spinball being closed recently! Why close an entire area if they can do the work overnight/closed season all within the plan to open it in March next year? Doing stuff with the cables may only be a small part of the entire works so even if they did close an area for a few days, it probably wouldn't mean Skyride would've opened any quicker.

Perfectly valid argument if they hadn't already had 2 closed seasons between when the Skyride last operated and today.

Sometimes stuff has to shut to allow maintenance. It's not unheard of - if you're a decent business you plan and communicate these sort of closures in advance. Again, I'm not saying they should be doing this - but I'm saying it shouldn't be an excuse preventing a top priority investment.

you don't know what you've got until it's gone.

I think I do, because it already more-or-less has...

 

[MaxPower]

They had no problem shutting Spinball for a few days to install a single rider queue. If they really wanted to, they could've shut the Dark Forest area for a few days if they really wanted Skyride up and running quicker.

Exactly what happened with Skyride is happening with the monorail now. Every person and their dog can see it needs investment, but they're running it into the ground until it finally gives up the ghost.

I wonder if they'll use the whole 'unexpected maintenance issue' excuse when that's inevitably SBNO for years.

Imagine the amount of business some of these Ski resorts across the world would lose if their main cable car taking people to the slopes were to be out of action for a year? It would be financially disastrous, so they maintain them properly, not just the bare minimum to make them safe.

 

[jibbsie]

they could've shut the Dark Forest area for a few days if they really wanted Skyride up and running quicker.

Not entirely sure what I started, but the closing of the dark forest was an example of what would probably have been required and that would only have solved the FV to DF route, to fix the towers street to FV the would have probably had to close even more rides, mutiny bay, wickerman, katanga and probably more as the only route to that side of the park would be via the gardens and turning up where the yellow route exits making a huge bottle neck and confusing many people.

Again this is from the work I have seen, I am not sure what work has taken place inside each station etc

 

[Matt N]

The problem they face with it is that I think doing any kind of major work to the support columns or physical circuit during the open season is a non-starter, as it would require considerable and sweeping ride closures for them to get to the ride in a safe manner.

 

[rob666]

There have been two full closed seasons to deal with this, third one incoming.
No need to close areas of the park during the season, just a need to plan and manage a major overhaul competently...like big multinational players are meant to be able to do.
If they can be bothered.