planenut

Sadly, I think there is evidence that currently the finances and publicity of Merlin are mismanaged, I.e. growth in revenue, growth in visitors, but less revenue from returning visitors. The system of offering free returns to non-annual pass holders after paying for one day ticket is hardly their best idea.
 
Major incidents at "entertainments" require sensible reaction to encourage continuing and returning visitors, whether those entertainments are a one off, arranged on an annual basis or a daily opening location. The investigative authorities have a part to play in this and their co-operation or not, can cause the demise or success of the next similar event. The majority of those who then maintain that "it should be closed, not allowed, or restricted" will be those who don't attend those events, and those who have been sadly affected by incidents. Knee jerk reactions are the main cause of the cancellation of most recurring events, whether that be an injury sustained by a fairground ride, or an aircraft crashing at an airshow. No-one demands that a motorway is closed and grassed over following a fatal accident, rather, "get it cleared, I need to get on", why? because the majority use the motorways.
 
My opinions only.

The problems with that are:
-You have to keep staff later, meaning you have to pay them more.
-You alienate anyone who isn't planning / able to stay till end of the day.
-You eat into the time after park close that engineers have to do daily maintenance to the ride, which could result in more problems the day after.
 
It does solve some issues that the current set up has, but it creates many many more.
 
The trouble in the past is that Priority Passes were handed out like water. This year they're more like Coke - still on tap, but hidden away and a lot more restricted.

Oh no! Margate has some amazing sunsets! You’ll never catch a sunrise on the main sands however the sunsets are pretty spectacular overlooking the sea! ?

It was an interesting day yesterday, with five power outages, it caught me once on an outgoing train and once on inbound arriving at the platform, both on Stealth, but fairly quickly dealt with by the staff. The park is supplied by two different sub-stations, each in different Power Company districts, therefore not all rides are affected. Whilst the power came back on fairly quickly, some rides did not operate for a while due to the chance of riders being stuck out on the ride, and apparently it takes about twenty five minutes for the Rapids to fill sufficiently. The  Beach was also affected due to pump/filters not working. 
 
Whilst on a trip to check out the ablutions at one stage, a guy out on the "street", randomly started moaning at me about having paid £50 for his ticket then no rides being available; he took some persuading that power outages were not in the control of TP. TP were offering people return day tickets.
 
 

I appreciate that the report is from Reddit, but even if you take it with a massive pinch of salt, it's still completely inexcusable. Awful, awful reading.

Heard today on Stealth, "my brain's too loose for my head!", I didn't look again.

I don't think this is the right move at all. I strongly dislike actor led attractions as I get no enjoyment from them. On top of that they have high running costs and they are polarising with audiences.
 
I can see the dungeons working at Alton towers if implemented correctly but by no means should they be trying to install it now. They have almost no flat rides, the park is full of closed shops and food outlets and the opening hours are terrible. There are better investments to be made.

@JoshuaA yup yesterday the dispatches on Swarm and Colossus were pretty slow - Colossus being the worse - the staff could have done with a rocket stuck somewhere to speed them up a bit.  We were on the brake run for what felt like an eternity and I desperately needed paracetamol ? I guess at least they were on 2 trains which is good especially as the park wasn’t particularly busy

We are all different, and have different perceptions of everything in life, everything. If we were not different, then there'd be one heck of queue for what you did like. We don't have to like everything either, but to ride it once gives you the information to have an opinion on it.
 
Never worry about the things you don't fancy doing, it'll give you more time to do the things you liike. If someone has the time to criticize you, it's their brain cells they are wasting, enjoy your time.

Some people are very responsible, but sadly the majority, not that they're being irresponsible, just would not be safety aware, and the thought of anything hitting anyone on the ride really doesn't bear thinking about.
 
The only seats useable for filming would be front rows and even if secured, the items would be clearly seen. TP and Merlin are in it to make money, and therefore they would sooner you buy their material.
 
Make up some video off the rides, then enjoy the ride itself.

This is a tragedy, for the park and for the public, especially those who happily experienced the entertainment given.
 
As to the wrong humour or words, we can all plead guilty to that sometimes; unfortunate, but not always with any malice intended.

This is a tragedy, for the park and for the public, especially those who happily experienced the entertainment given.
 
As to the wrong humour or words, we can all plead guilty to that sometimes; unfortunate, but not always with any malice intended.

I would say it's way more intense than it looks. Really nice airtime, good laterals and a relentless pace. I did however ride it at the end of a hot, sunny day. If it takes a while to warm up then I probably rode it at the best time. Honestly, I was expecting not much from Wicker Man but it's probably my favourite ride at Alton Towers now.

Chatting with someone today who had experienced Wicker Man, was saying that he thoroughly enjoyed and considered it was quite intense for the whole ride. With the other comments, I am looking forward to riding this.

Talking with my "late eightys" Aunty, when I informed her of my enthusiasm for roller coasters she loudly commented......
"What? that's worse than tattoos, don't you tell any of my friends, up to now they liked you"......................right between the eyes!

Erm, yes.

Talking with my "late eightys" Aunty, when I informed her of my enthusiasm for roller coasters she loudly commented......
"What? that's worse than tattoos, don't you tell any of my friends, up to now they liked you"......................right between the eyes!

Met a chap yesterday at TP, and whilst having a brief chat he told me that "this is my last ride, I've got to catch my flight."
 
Yup, he flew over from Dublin to visit TP for the day.

I got my rides on Wicker Man yesterday (3 to be precise), and, well, it's good, but I have one major problem with it.
 
Let's go back to what I was expecting from Wicker Man:
 
 
As a coaster, this is what Wicker Man is. It's a fun family coaster; it's got its moments of fun and 'woah' bits, but it's quiet low-key: there's nothing during the course which made me, as someone who would be an older member of the family, think 'Wow, that was fun'. It was all very bog standard. And that's fine, as that gives a coaster for the younger age of the ride's market (6-8 years old) a perfect coaster to ride.
 
But then that's where's the problem lies, as they've done sort of done a Th13teen again. The pre-show (which might I add, I thought was brilliant) is, in my opinion, too scary and over the top for that age range. 6-8 year old me would have HATED it, to the point I'd have been afraid to go on the ride. The pitch black brakes at the end of the ride are equally going to be unnerving and too creepy there too (and would have benefitted from something actually happening in there anyways aside from a blast of smoke).
 
I don't know how well I've explained this, but I remain really unconvinced by this for now. We've got a coaster, which I enjoy, and fills in a gap in the market. We've got a theme and pre-show which I enjoy. But the two don't work together, creating a weird identity crisis of a proper family ride once again trying too hard to be scary. And unlike Th13teen, this isn't something which will die away in time, since the scary stuff is present in the attraction.
 
Maybe I'm making something out of nothing. Maybe 6 year olds are braver these days, I was a wimp back then, I'm over-exaggerating, or whatever. But to me, there is a clear divide in the ride experience which is given and the ride experience it is styled towards.
 
HOWEVER. I did ride with some people who have ridden it before, and they did say it was running noticeably slower today; both from an off and on ride perspective. That was regardless of time of riding (about 12pm, 2pm, 4pm) or where I was riding (near the front, back, middle respectively). So maybe I've caught Wicker Man on a bad day, in which case, I look forward to being able to catch it on a good day.
 
For more positive stuff:
-I love the queue
-I love the audio
-I love the statue
-I like the trains
-The random effect on the brakes at the end did catch me off guard on my first time.
 
So yeah, to round off. I got the coaster I was expecting. And it's a good representation of what a 'low-thrill' family coaster can do. But with the presentation of the theme and story, they've got a mismatch on their hands.
 
Hopefully I've caught it on a bad day. But if I have, one has to wonder if that was bad luck, or how many more bad days there are to come...

Was referring to The Walking Dead..

There was a particular group on the park yesterday, from "Essex". This did cause some delay to the ride loading and I politely reminded them that they were holding up the whole process. I'm sure they also caused some disruption on other rides, but then, I suppose it was the only way.

After a brief period of downtime on Saturday, Stealth was back up and running two trains like a dream - fair play to the ride team as they were always dispatching in the 40 second window, and the queue was moving quickly. There's a 2 second gap between "go go go!" and the green lights currently but I can forgive that for now.
 
For all you fans out there, the two trains running are No. 2 and No. 3 #truefacts

Can I take this opportunity to thank all those staff members who made my visits so good this year. The ride operators, the engineers and the cleaning staff, who all dealt with me and those within earshot so tactfully and patiently. Staff and even some managers whom I saw rush to assist to tidy up the mess that some unwell riders left.
 
Whatever you all do in the future, this should have been a good experience to meet and deal with such a wide range of people from all walks of life.
 
The staff should feel chuffed if their "customers" left with a smile, you've done your bit to make somebody's day, well done.

Can I take this opportunity to thank all those staff members who made my visits so good this year. The ride operators, the engineers and the cleaning staff, who all dealt with me and those within earshot so tactfully and patiently. Staff and even some managers whom I saw rush to assist to tidy up the mess that some unwell riders left.
 
Whatever you all do in the future, this should have been a good experience to meet and deal with such a wide range of people from all walks of life.
 
The staff should feel chuffed if their "customers" left with a smile, you've done your bit to make somebody's day, well done.

Can I take this opportunity to thank all those staff members who made my visits so good this year. The ride operators, the engineers and the cleaning staff, who all dealt with me and those within earshot so tactfully and patiently. Staff and even some managers whom I saw rush to assist to tidy up the mess that some unwell riders left.
 
Whatever you all do in the future, this should have been a good experience to meet and deal with such a wide range of people from all walks of life.
 
The staff should feel chuffed if their "customers" left with a smile, you've done your bit to make somebody's day, well done.