Coaster Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 Going by that review it sounds like it could seriously affect throughputs, which isn't good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 Going by that review it sounds like it could seriously affect throughputs, which isn't good. Agreed. VR severely reduced Alpen Express's throughput at Europa Park, and that only uses it for about a third of the train. Towers staff are going to have to really fight to get Galatica a high throughput. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L7123456 Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 Let's just pray that they don't how find a way to keep throughout high... However all the praying in the world won't work; throughput will be pretty bad (on the bright side, better than IAC's shocking 100pph) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project LC Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 Air actually has an issue of dispatching too soon (according to ride ops ive spoken to). Over the course of the day the stations become out of sync because one station is normally too fast (could also be seen as one was delayed). I'm sure you have all been on it where it slows down on the lift hill or even stops. Cleaning each headset will clearly reduce the throughput but out of all the rides to choose from they chose the best one. Its not hard to get an air train ready to dispatch in time during normal operation so hopefully on a good day the throughput wont be effected too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 Air actually has an issue of dispatching too soon (according to ride ops ive spoken to). Over the course of the day the stations become out of sync because one station is normally too fast (could also be seen as one was delayed). I'm sure you have all been on it where it slows down on the lift hill or even stops. Cleaning each headset will clearly reduce the throughput but out of all the rides to choose from they chose the best one. Its not hard to get an air train ready to dispatch in time during normal operation so hopefully on a good day the throughput wont be effected too much. ERM........I am lost for words.... Occasionally the lift hill slows down but 90% of the time that I have been on it, I have been left dangling the brake run for a minute or so. there are always harnesses that need rechecking..... Throughput gets even worse when it's only on 2 crafts as they often do on off peak days, I imagine it'll still be the case this season too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project LC Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 I was referring to when 2 stations are in use. If one station is delayed the other one doesn't need to go as fast as the time before they can dispatch is longer. Think of it as a train has to leave within a time from the previous train leaving. Not the time from when the train arrived back in the station. While the overall time is the same the individual time is not. So to achieve a good throughput all you have to do is a really fast first train and a good time for trains 2 and 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 Air actually has an issue of dispatching too soon (according to ride ops ive spoken to). Over the course of the day the stations become out of sync because one station is normally too fast (could also be seen as one was delayed). I'm sure you have all been on it where it slows down on the lift hill or even stops. Cleaning each headset will clearly reduce the throughput but out of all the rides to choose from they chose the best one. Its not hard to get an air train ready to dispatch in time during normal operation so hopefully on a good day the throughput wont be effected too much. Well... sort of. My understanding is that you only slow to a crawl on the lift hill when the initial part of the break run isn't clear. The Swarm does exactly the same thing if a dispatch has been particularly quick. The ideal way they run Air from what I've witnessed is that as a train comes into Station 1, in Station 2 that train is already assuming the position and dispatching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam T Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 This whole project is like Swarm backwards but on a massive scale, that frightens me. It's already been mentioned this is going to be Alton Towers most staffed ride, a title which N:ST once owned... look how that turned out. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited by VR, space and even a ride that didn't have a theme, getting one. But if the risk is loosing a very "simple but efficient at what it does" ride to a gimmick, then I'm praying for the future of Alton Towers & their management to wake up. This screams short term, I just await the 2017 season when Galactica is just Air with 'portal' head-chopper. HermanTheGerman, MattyMoo, stretchy and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project LC Posted March 15, 2016 Report Share Posted March 15, 2016 I would have said 2020 when it is no longer viable to continue use of Galactica in the way they intend to use it this year. Its a gimmick that will quickly show its age. The animation looks of very poor quality and the technology is going to age incredibly fast. Will cost a lot to run and a lot to maintain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 Read over on TST that there will be one staff member per row, presumably to ensure that throughput is as high as possible. So, this means on 2 station operation, there will be something up to 20 staff on this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian-S Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 Surely it's possible to coordinate the system so that the non-VR station can dispatch two trains to the VR's one? Or maybe it isn't that simple? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 Surely it's possible to coordinate the system so that the non-VR station can dispatch two trains to the VR's one? Or maybe it isn't that simple? I don't believe there's a non-VR station. You simply choose whether you want to have VR or not; if you want to, you put it on. If not, you put it in the pouch in the sear. Ian-S 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 Is having a staff member per row really sustainable over a number of years? When the initial rush of people going to try it ends, I can see it being yet another staff-heavy attraction that ends up costing the park too much money. Part of me thinks they would have done better to spend the money on keeping everything else open, but we shall see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 They are looking at it in a very short term way though, they want to try get lots of people in the park this year. To them, Galactica will bring in more guests this year than no new attraction but all rides open. OldFarmerDean 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldFarmerDean Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 That literally sums Merlin up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stretchy Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 I totally agree that this is meant to be a short term fix to bring back the crowds. BUT I believe it has been on the table since well lbefore the Smiler Accident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 Yes It's not a rushed in project to bring back crowds for this year, it's been a much longer term project. It's still incredibly short sighted but that's the way Merlin work as everyone knows by now. Merlin directly fund staffing and operations of new attractions for their first year or two, after that it will be handed over financially to Alton Towers' own budget again, at which point it will likely collapse operationally just like Sub Terra did once that got handed back. HermanTheGerman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 Would it not be a better idea to invest in attractions that will serve the park well for years? I just can't see the sense of investing in so many short-term additions (Sub Terra, Saw Alive, IAC etc...) which all fizzle out after a few years when they could invest the same amount of money into an attraction that will last for years, for example a dark ride on the scale of Sub Terra, but one that doesn't rely on so many staff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark9 Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 Would it not be a better idea to invest in attractions that will serve the park well for years? I just can't see the sense of investing in so many short-term additions (Sub Terra, Saw Alive, IAC etc...) which all fizzle out after a few years when they could invest the same amount of money into an attraction that will last for years, for example a dark ride on the scale of Sub Terra, but one that doesn't rely on so many staff. In short yes. Thats why The Swarm is considered a failure for instance when for me it's Merlins most complete attraction. Coaster and OldFarmerDean 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian-S Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 I don't believe there's a non-VR station. You simply choose whether you want to have VR or not; if you want to, you put it on. If not, you put it in the pouch in the sear. Ah ha that figures, and I agree, with the sentiments above, I've no idea why Merlin have start investing in staff heavy attractions, it's like they're trying to fail (either that or they're on the same stuff Osbourne is). Coaster 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeah Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2016/03/alton-towers-galactica-vr-roller-coaster-delighted-and-frustrated-me/?utm_content=bufferb6de8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer-gizmodouk First part gives me hope. The rest of it looks quite promising though. Despite the fact it takes 30 seconds at the least to put the headset on, and that's someone who's used them before. The throughput is gonna be down the DRAIN. Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stretchy Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 not a bad article over at Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/18/galactica-vr-roller-coaster/in I find it interesting that even he, a tech reporter, seems to think that it will be a slow process dispatching trains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 It seems Galactica is having a soft opening today. Source: Adam is on park. pognoi, Kerfuffle and Matt 236 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stretchy Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 Galactica started with a soft opening at 12:15 today. For anyone who hasn't read any reviews, we will be doing a mini live tomorrow at live.towersnerd.com with loads of pics of the area, queue line and any changes we find. JoshC., Matt 236 and David B 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 From the pics I've seen, the ride looks noticeably improved. There's a new entrance, paving feature and of course the new portal element and lightly rethemed station too. There's also lots of merch in the new [smaller] shop as well which looks nicely themed again too. Liam T and David B 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.