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.

 

[AltonLover123]

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.

They would need to close parts of the park during the season if they wanted to do the work that has been required.

It is taking longer becuase they are doing the work outside of operational hours.

Everyone would moan if they had to close dark forest during the day for a week or so.

 

[WillPS]

They would need to close parts of the park during the season if they wanted to do the work that has been required.

It is taking longer becuase they are doing the work outside of operational hours.

Everyone would moan if they had to close dark forest during the day for a week or so.

If stuff needs to shut for essential work then stuff can shut. It would not be the first nor the last time that will have happened. Even if they couldn't do that, Skyride last ran 2 years ago - there has been plenty of time with no guests on park, including 2 full closed seasons.

It seems likely that the ride was closed in 2023 on cost saving grounds (or perhaps because there was some investment which was postponed), planned to reopen this year only for them to discover there were (more) problems necessitating a full overhaul. None of the possibilities are a good look for park management.

 

[rob666]

They would need to close parts of the park during the season if they wanted to do the work that has been required.

It is taking longer becuase they are doing the work outside of operational hours.

Everyone would moan if they had to close dark forest during the day for a week or so.

How do you know this exactly?
It is taking longer because they did little to nothing for the first year of closure...tardiness to spend the essential funds for park access.
I wouldn't moan if parts of the park were briefly closed, because I don't have decent reasonable access to the rest of the park when the skyride is closed...for what has been twenty eight months in a line.
Again...read what has actually been posted, they have had two full years to complete the repairs, no excuses, and no actual need to close any areas of the park down for repairs whatsoever, IF a proper job of initial assessment of needs for repairs had actually been undertaken.
It obviously wasn't, or we wouldn't still be discussing this two whole years later!
Very large excuse notice boards do not make the lengthy closure fair, or, in my jaded eyes, legal...under the Equality Act 2010.
I think the bean counters were hoping for a slow quiet closure of the ride, but events from awkward pushy customers quoting the law at them have slowed down their overall plans somewhat.

 

[tayspru]

And once again there’s no legal requirement for large theme parks to operate scenic attractions such as the Skyride - this would not have impacted any decision to save or close the ride

It’s clear funds - and will - weren’t there in the past - nothing anyone writes on a forum now will change that. What’s clear is that this season we’ve seen

Work on cables (over guest accessible areas)
POMA staff on site
Cabins returned to TS station
Acknowledgment of the works taking place

This thread is the same person arguing as it was 10 pages ago, it’s no wonder I haven’t checked in in a while

 

[Craig]

As requested many, many times before can we please stick to new discussion points or updates about the Skyride? The same points are being made repeatedly and this topic is 17 pages which could ultimately be compressed down to about 10.

I get that new contributors may not read the whole topic before posting their opinions. But when the same people are raising the same points again and again It’s not really doing a whole lot to progress discussion and merely just ending up with things going repeatedly round in circles.

We are where we are with Skyride, we know there’s work going on because we’ve been reporting on it. We have very little knowledge of the reasoning behind the additional season’s closure. While lots of people have speculated on it, please avoid just constantly repeating that same speculation.

Again, please take up issues about equality/accessibility directly with Alton Towers - we are not a legal forum. Despite this, we’ve facilitated debate about it multiple times, but there’s little to be gained from doing it all over again in the exact same topic for the umpteenth time.

 

[WillPS]

It's a bit reductionist to summarise the last few pages as being about the accessability/legality issues. It isn't, it's a more fundamental debate about what should and should not be considered acceptable from the country's premier theme park.

If we can't opine over what is and isn't acceptable, and what should and shouldn't be a priority for the park, we're basically banning any form of debate - surely? Is this now an 'updates only' thread?

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

It's a bit reductionist to summarise the last few pages as being about the accessability/legality issues. It isn't, it's a more fundamental debate about what should and should not be considered acceptable from the country's premier theme park.

Neither the accessibility / legality issues, or a fundamental debate about what should and shouldn't be considered acceptable from the country's premiere park, are "The Future of Skyride" (which is the topic).

If we can't opine over what is and isn't acceptable, and what should and shouldn't be a priority for the park, we're basically banning any form of debate - surely? Is this now an 'updates only' thread?

We can, but as @tayspru and @Craig and other have pointed out, we're having the literal same conversation, with the same points each time and nothing new. We're going around in circles and sometimes it's advisable to take a time out, or helpful if someone points that out. If an update happens, of course we can opine about that, but we don't need to bring up the spectre of "legal access", or "they ran it into the ground" again, and again, and again.

If you'd like to opine about what should and shouldn't be a priority for the park, we have far more appropriate threads for that discussion. Including this recent addition:

If I ran the Towers…

So, let’s imagine you, under some illogical circumstances, find yourself in the main office for Alton Towers. Bianca Sammut has got the axe (for whatever very polite reason because I have absolutely no hard feeling for her in any way, but if she didn’t my whole story would make no sense would...

towersstreet.com

 

[Craig]

It's a bit reductionist to summarise the last few pages as being about the accessability/legality issues. It isn't, it's a more fundamental debate about what should and should not be considered acceptable from the country's premier theme park.

If we can't opine over what is and isn't acceptable, and what should and shouldn't be a priority for the park, we're basically banning any form of debate - surely? Is this now an 'updates only' thread?

One could argue a bit reductionist to summarise that my post is aimed solely at accessibility/legality issues too. That’s only part of my reason for stepping in.

In addition, across the 17 pages of this topic we have already discussed and speculated multiple times about the potential reasoning behind the ride being closed for a further season, along with discussion about what should and shouldn’t be a priority for the park. I’m not banning any form of debate, merely just pointing out that a lot of the points being made have already been done repeatedly. It’s of value to no one reading or participating in this topic to just go round in circles reading the same thing again and again.

So for all those wanting to contribute, please just have a quick scan through the topic (and for some even your own posts!) to check your point hasn’t been made already. In my post I didn’t state “updates only“, I also asked that any discussion points being made are new ones.

 

[DiogoJ42]

...
So, anyone else think it's a shame the Skyride isn't open?

 

[tayspru]

If anyone at Towers is reading this, I think it would be sensible to make it so that guests must alight at FV

There’s been a long enough break that a new operations procedure won’t cause uproar, and it would benefit your average guest.

As enthusiasts, we always knew not to wait at FV as it can take a lot longer due to guests not alighting, but your average guest doesn’t know that. To make it a requirement to alight would be the best way to keep all 3 queues moving at a reasonable pace and keep the attraction accessible for everyone, not just those “in the know”

It’s a scenic attraction after all

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

If anyone at Towers is reading this, I think it would be sensible to make it so that guests must alight at FV

There’s been a long enough break that a new operations procedure won’t cause uproar, and it would benefit your average guest.

As enthusiasts, we always knew not to wait at FV as it can take a lot longer due to guests not alighting, but your average guest doesn’t know that. To make it a requirement to alight would be the best way to keep all 3 queues moving at a reasonable pace and keep the attraction accessible for everyone, not just those “in the know”

It’s a scenic attraction after all

There'd also be nothing from stopping the alighting guests from joining the queue at Forbidden Valley either, it might only lead to a few minutes of added (metaphorical) journey time too.

 

[Steve74]

If anyone at Towers is reading this, I think it would be sensible to make it so that guests must alight at FV

There’s been a long enough break that a new operations procedure won’t cause uproar, and it would benefit your average guest.

As enthusiasts, we always knew not to wait at FV as it can take a lot longer due to guests not alighting, but your average guest doesn’t know that. To make it a requirement to alight would be the best way to keep all 3 queues moving at a reasonable pace and keep the attraction accessible for everyone, not just those “in the know”

It’s a scenic attraction after all

Good idea, but If they're not prepared to do this, then the very least they can do is enforce a policy to allow waiting guests at FV to join a gondola with people already in (unless full of course). They do it for the rapids and coasters, so no reason why this can't be a policy on the Skyride.