Chessington General Discussion

[TPJames]

It's obviously in Merlin's interest for every ride to have a queue, so they are able to sell Fastrack and multi-day tickets... Do the staff have targets to hit, like they musk keep queue times above 30 mins, etc?

Probably, thorpe are at least trying to get their rides open and on multi-trains but chessie just seem to be slacking at the moment...

[Matt 236]

So it seems now Merlin's intentions of getting rides to a certain capacity or throughput have changed to them reaching a certain queue time instead. :/

[Fred]

It's obviously in Merlin's interest for every ride to have a queue, so they are able to sell Fastrack and multi-day tickets... Do the staff have targets to hit, like they musk keep queue times above 30 mins, etc?

No. I imagine they've brought in new rules which they're interpretting wrongly, or their staff are just ****. As I always say, noone intentionally builds a queue. Noone. For rides staff, the more fastrack = more stressful work is. So everyone tries to avoid that. I know, I've been there.

As for this whole "merlin must want queues" bollocks - Thorpe are on full capacity more often than not, and towers have had mentions of good teams with extremely good dispatching on Nemesis over the forums so obviously it's not the mentality of all.

[dragon2000]

I know I read them aswell- it is very disappointing that the staff are working so slowly and are deliberately not loading fast enough resulting in trains to be stacked up outisde the station(on safari skyway, rattlesnake etc.) I think that they should be more efficient and on Kobra the wait is 3 hours when it should be 30 mins because they are taking 15 mins to unload and load. They really need to sort this all out...

This situation is madness! At the moment it would be quicker to drive to Paultons Park in Hampshire and ride their Disco Coaster rather than wait in line for Kobra at the moment. At Paultons *one* ride operator can unload and load a full load in about 2 minutes.

Seriously Chessington - what are you playing at this year?! I've not had a visit to the park yet this year, and I'm not looking forward to it by the sounds of it.

(This is coming from someone who visited last year pretty much every fortnight). Depressing.

[Inferno]

noone intentionally builds a queue. Noone. For rides staff, the more fastrack = more stressful work is. So everyone tries to avoid that.

I get what you're saying, but who's to say the rules haven't changed this year?

In my job I am asked to meet targets set by management that really degrade customer satisfaction for the sake of making a few quid on the side. At the end of the month, if we haven't met our targets, they will want to know why! We have no choice but to do what the managers say, no mater how stupid we think it is. Who's to say the same thing isn't happening here?

I can't imagine the staff are simply too lazy to work hard, because keeping the customers sweet makes life easier (and happier!) for everyone... Something has got to be going on higher up here, surely? Or are they just really short-staffed?

I haven't been to Chessington this year and I've never worked there, so just speculating

[TPJames]

No. I imagine they've brought in new rules which they're interpretting wrongly, or their staff are just ****. As I always say, noone intentionally builds a queue. Noone. For rides staff, the more fastrack = more stressful work is. So everyone tries to avoid that. I know, I've been there.

As for this whole "merlin must want queues" bollocks - Thorpe are on full capacity more often than not, and towers have had mentions of good teams with extremely good dispatching on Nemesis over the forums so obviously it's not the mentality of all.

Lets just take a look at this situation in reality- chessie has staff. The staff are told to reach a certain target and are paid. We have vampire running on one train, trains stacked up outside safari skyway and rattlesnake stations. Kobra is taking 15 to load and unload and zufari is getting ridiculous queues. Yes, zufari's queues are MOSTLY because of this stupid photo point, but they should at least let people skip it/go around another way if you do not want your photo taken.

Anyway, chessie are performing poorly, either staff are too lazy or they are being told to make queues long. I doubt the staff are too lazy as they are likely to be sacked by merlin- however, if they increase queues, merlin can make more fastrack sales and more money for merlin. So if we look at this in reality, it has to be merlin telling chessie to do this.

I am also getting a bit fed up of chessies staff. Some of them are really nice however others are really pushy and bossy. We went in the sealife centre asked for our photo NOT to be taken but she made us and said 'I'm in charge therefore your photo has to be taken.' And guess what, the queue for sealife was curving all the way up to hocus pocus hall just because she was making people have their photo taken. I don't like the attitude and lazyness of the staff. People always say to me thorpe's staff are the horrid ones but I actually find thorpe's staff really kind and helpful

[Marc]

Sorry but as Fred says, its absolute rubbish to think that Merlin are trying to get the parks to create queues to sell fastrack.

Beleave it or not they DO care about guest satisfaction..

[TPJames]

Sorry but as Fred says, its absolute rubbish to think that Merlin are trying to get the parks to create queues to sell fastrack.

Beleave it or not they DO care about guest satisfaction..

It doesn't make sense to me how these things are happening then! Surely merlin should hire better staff?

As for the staff themselves, some of them are very rude and ignorant

[RideAddict]

The best and most helpful staff are Alton Towers'.

[Ryan]

The best and most helpful staff are Alton Towers'.

Agreed, although Northerners in general are more friendly and helpful than us Southerners (based on my own experience when I've been up north countless times)

[dragon2000]

We went in the sealife centre asked for our photo NOT to be taken but she made us and said 'I'm in charge therefore your photo has to be taken.' And guess what, the queue for sealife was curving all the way up to hocus pocus hall just because she was making people have their photo taken.

This is the kind of comment that should have been taken to guest services straight away so the member of staff can be dealt with. Unacceptable attitude from someone supposed to be providing an enjoyable day out. No one should ever be forced into having a photo taken of them.

[Matt 236]

This is the kind of comment that should have been taken to guest services straight away so the member of staff can be dealt with. Unacceptable attitude from someone supposed to be providing an enjoyable day out. No one should ever be forced into having a photo taken of them.

Exactly, there are people out there who don't like being photographed regardless of the occasion. The only accretions pass ports and the likes.

[Fred]

Picsolve have other motives, and her motives would be to gain as many photos as possible so that they achieve a higher sale rate and maybe linked to an incentive for her.

Rides are different. They don't have targets, apart from achieving customer service and throughputs. Obviously at this park, throughputs have gone out of the window and they're concentrating purely on one thing, which is having a detrimental affect on both.

That still hasn't changed.

Who knows why they're doing it. I've asked a couple of the guys in the management team, to no response. Perhaps they're literally all new, perhaps they're having no encouragement by management, perhaps they're all useless. It's not to sell fastrack and make money, as rides are not a money making dept and have never, ever, been linked in such a way.

[BigBobJones]

Picsolve will get no business from me this year after reducing the number of photos on the photopass, removing MAP discount and charging extra for digital downloads...

[Benin]

MAP discount hasn't been available since before I started college (5 years ago)...

As for the staff at chessie? They're just crap these days it seems... In amongst the stupid safety stuff they have to follow anyway but also just the overall lack of pushing throughputs...

And we think they want to have longer queues? Nah, it's just a poor work ethic that's the problem...

[RideAddict]

This is the kind of comment that should have been taken to guest servic straight away so the member of staff can be dealt with.

Guest services at Chessington are about as much use as a chocolate teapot. I've never complained but I've been in there for other information though, and it's not that informative. Seriously, anyone who complains here will get more sense talking to Falls' Buddha.

Generally park attitude is fine for me, but a couple of years ago a lad refused us entry to the main car park, and we were told to go to the other car park. The car park was a third full and they told us it would be full later. It was only two thirds full when we left that night. Anyway, my mate who was driving fed him some bull**** by saying he's just had new suspension fitted on the car, that unfortunately didn't do us any favours, and so we turned round and headed to the entrance/exit by the traffic lights which were red. At this point I spotted the lad mimicking our complaining. If it wasn't for the quick change of lights to green and other cars behind us, I would've stepped out of the car to confront the jumped-up gobby moron.

[RideAddict]

Jumping on someone because the weather is crap is wrong, let alone pointless.

Now, are you saying that the people who work on the ride photo desks work for Picsolve, and not the park/Merlin?

[Mark9]

I would also like to point out that people seem to forget that Picsolve staff are a completely different kettle of fish and you should not group them together with the people who work for Chessington.

As true as that is, they wear Chessington uniforms so for all intents and purposes they are Merlin staff to a normal guest.

There could be many things that have been causing slow loading at the moment but I don't think it is fair to place judgement on them unless you know.

A few of us who have commented on the slow loading have been in that situation, having worked for Chessington in the past. Even with all the new staff to the park to the years, there must be returning staff or managers who know that the ultimate way of pleasing guests is short queue times and efficiently run rides. If staff are by themselves, doing rides for the first time then that also concerns me as staff should feel confident in running a ride or attraction.

No one is denying that there are some hard working staff at Chessington. But on rides like Fury and Vampire, one staff member can completely ruin that balance.

[Fred]

Now, are you saying that the people who work on the ride photo desks work for Picsolve, and not the park/Merlin?

Yeah, they work for Picsolve. Just like games are HB leisure. However, they wear the chessington uniform so guests presume they're Merlin staff and therefore any bad picsolve staff puts a bad light on the park itself.

[RideAddict]

I never realised the games are HB leisure, but when they wear Chessington uniform, the park are shooting themselves in the foot, although I can understand why they make them do that.

They could probably get uniforms made up with the CWOA and Picsolve logo on the same item of clothing, but that would cost a lot, and probably wouldn't happen because it's a Merlin secret!

[TPJames]

Yeah, they work for Picsolve. Just like games are HB leisure. However, they wear the chessington uniform so guests presume they're Merlin staff and therefore any bad picsolve staff puts a bad light on the park itself.

That totally explains why she was so pushy and demanding- trying to get as many photos as possible for picsolve. I never realised it was all run by different compaines, because the uniform is like a disguise. I can now see why the staff at the games stalls are so eager to get your money as well.

Speaking of bad customer service, on the same day as this sea life encounter, we went into the arcade. We were playing this game where you had to shoot the ball downwards into the hole. We managed to get the jackpot and only 5 tickets came out. We went over to complain and got this staff member who was really annoying and said 'the machine works' and left us without our jackpot. Typical staff who don't want to give their prizes away but later on we had a nicer member of staff who showed us how to play a game because we didn't understand how to play. He was very friendly and helpful- I guess at chessie it is just a mixture of nice and horrible staff!

[RideAddict]

That totally explains why she was so pushy and demanding- trying to get as many photos as possible for picsolve. I never realised it was all run by different compaines, because the uniform is like a disguise. I can now see why the staff at the games stalls are so eager to get your money as well.

All of a sudden my opinion of Picsolve and HB have dropped faster than Detonator dropping.

[TPJames]

You are kidding me right:

If it takes THAT long just to check some doors by these slow staff, I can't imagine how long loading takes!

[Matt 236]

That's ridiculously slow. Chessington really need to speed their dispatches of rides up this year.

[Jake C]

You guys have no idea what was going on there, somone might have been having trouble with something or maybe one of the staff members were getting trained. They were not being slow on purpose I can assure you of that.