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Alton Towers General Discussion


themeparkmad

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Not sure if that post is aimed at me but I'll be more clearer. When we were there, Raptor, Rougarou and Gatekeeper were on three trains. Each time, one train was stacked outside the station whilst one loaded. It doesn't make a ride have a higher throughput if a train is stationary, doing nothing and it doesn't improve dispatches. America in general (outside of Disney) has far more stringent and harsher checks on it rides which means there is no point running three trains if the safety procedures take longer than a ride cycle. Maverick was running six trains but it could have run four and would have still had the same people per hour.

 

The main reason I felt it necessary to praise Towers and Blackpool is because their dispatches were near perfect. Minimal stacking on full capacity is hard work but they did it near flawlessly. 

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Definitely not directly aimed at you and more intentionally as a perspective thing than any.

 

I can see your point on the stacking as trains waiting does nothing for throughputs. When I was there, sometimes they wouldn’t stack for long, whereas sometimes all three trains stacked which was not ideal. 

 

every park will naturally have their good and bad ride teams regardless of size and location. Gate Keeper’s operations were slightly better on our second ride whereas Maverick’s were worse as 4 trains (two loads) were stacking more. Apparently China has very strict legislations and operations in parks like Happy Valley are paint dry slow.

 

I'm not taking anything away from Towers or Bpb. As things go, Towers is generally still one of the better parks for operations. Wickerman and Nemy were run well on my previous visits. The only coaster with iffy operations generally is Galactica (VR to thank There). Blackpool’s operations have definitely improved in the last few years and found all major rides run efficiently except Nash.

 

P.A is amongst the worst for operations.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Did someone say Fireworks?

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Honestly can’t believe how quick this season has gone, especially being what is arguably one of the most exciting in the U.K. for some time.

 

Fireworks for me were largely enjoyable and great to see more used compared to 2016’s event, plus fire. The storyline was hit and miss but the pacing of lights was great. The park was busy but not necessarily rammed, which is surprisingly considering both days were sold out.

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Event also gave a perfect excuse to ride Wickerman at night, which was just incredible in the back row and looked great, both on and off ride. 

 

Operations were a mixed bag. Rides like Nemesis, Wickerman and Rita were overrated pretty efficiency during the trip, however Thirteen’s and Oblivion’s has room for improvement. Galactica by far had the worst operations. Good riddance to the VR if they are actually getting rid of it!

 

The discounted merch implies they might be.

 

Last ride of the (UK) season was Nemesis which for me was the best ride I’ve experienced on it this season (or even the last 2/3). 

 

Wickerman has likely been a very very successful investment in the park, giving them the best guest figure probably for many seasons at least. Hopefully they can retain this for next year, although we shall have to see.

 

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  • 2 months later...

I've got my visit pencilled in for 4th April, so am anticipating the park to be dead considering it's closed the day before. Should ruddy hope so anyway. Last year we went at a similar time - most things were walk on except Wickerman (obvs) and Galactica, because of slow loading (obvs). Maybe this year my mates I'm going with will actually get to go on Galactica, and Rita too since that was down all day :D

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Given that Thorpe's social media has taken a bashing lately, only fair for Alton to receive the same.

 

 

I'm all for banter between parks, but for there to public admittance that it's going to take a long time for part of the same company to 'sort itself out' (especially since it's actually true) seems like a rather large faux pas, surely?

 

Maybe I'm just getting old and don't get social media. Or I'm just looking for things to moan about. But I just don't get it.

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5 hours ago, JoshC. said:

Given that Thorpe's social media has taken a bashing lately, only fair for Alton to receive the same.

 

 

I'm all for banter between parks, but for there to public admittance that it's going to take a long time for part of the same company to 'sort itself out' (especially since it's actually true) seems like a rather large faux pas, surely?

 

Maybe I'm just getting old and don't get social media. Or I'm just looking for things to moan about. But I just don't get it.

 

Love it. It's like when Bob Iger slagged of Expedition Everest and the creator of that attraction Joe Rhode did a massive long instagram post about the inspiration behind Everest and why it wasn't just some non descript ride around India or whatever.

 

Wonderful. More of that please. 

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  • 1 month later...
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  • 2 weeks later...

A few thoughts from my first visit of the season yesterday.

 

Ride operations were fantastic all day with the exception of a delay on Galactica.  Wicker Man's dispatch times were nothing short of incredible, with the train entering the lift as the train before arrives back into the brakes.  Similarly across the park queues were moving very fast, the staff seemed focused on efficiency and despite the crowd level being fairly busy queue times were kept largely manageable.

 

Having the single rider queue back on Smiler is brilliant, long may it last!

 

Areas of the park look in need of a clean, Oblivion's and Nemesis's station for example (even though the latter has only just been re-done, it's looking tired again already on the queue-line side).  The cut scene in Oblivion's station video is horrendous and needs reinstating properly.

 

Wicker Man had no fire, it's unbelievable that this has become a persistent issue considering the ride is only in its second season and the foundation of the marketing was based around the (nonexistent) fire.  They knew about issues with the effect last year yet it still doesn't work consistently.  Extremely poor.

 

Hex was absolutely stunning.  To my knowledge everything was working with the exception of mist and the audio is back to its best in the vault.  Gave me goosebumps, it was that good!

 

Duel remains a complete waste of potential, despite having all the foundations of a great dark ride it continues to be let down by unprofessional lighting and broken effects.  What happened to phase 2 of the promised refurbishment?

 

My main criticism of yesterday would be that a 5pm close just isn't long enough when the park is anything but dead.  Even with good ride operations and planning our day around the shortest queues the only ride we managed a re-ride on was Wicker Man (joining the queue at the end) and we had to skip the rapids and mine train due to not enough time.  I'd therefore say the park still offers poor "value" in terms of a good day out, as there just isn't long enough to enjoy everything properly.

 

Overall, a decent day at Alton helped by hugely improved ride operations, but there's still a long way to go.

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