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Alton Towers General Discussion


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18 minutes ago, Mark9 said:

Alton Towers continuing to have their heads in the sand by still doing retro squad and not actually addressing the severe lack of rides is a vibe I'm not really into it.

 

2021, this made sense. Two years later they need to get their act together.

 

Why accept anything but mediocrity?

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On 3/4/2023 at 11:02 AM, Benin said:

 

Why accept anything but mediocrity?

 

I mean they could add another Frog Hopper or two to add to the collection I guess?

 

Also, one would assume they are unlikely to be considering a permanent flat ride anytime soon on the Enterprise site or they wouldn't have put down brick paving? Surely we can't have Retrosquad in 2024... Though I think I probably said the same last year.

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11 hours ago, MattyMoo said:

 

I mean they could add another Frog Hopper or two to add to the collection I guess?

 

Also, one would assume they are unlikely to be considering a permanent flat ride anytime soon on the Enterprise site or they wouldn't have put down brick paving? Surely we can't have Retrosquad in 2024... Though I think I probably said the same last year.

 

Ug swinger got some fantastic paving when that was removed as well. The way Towers deals with its crippling lack of rides is so stupid. It's an absolutely giant theme park and after a 15 minute walk you find Galatica, Blade and an always closed temporary flat ride. Such a joke. 

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"The rumours are true!"

 

No actually substantial reasoning beyond the things being cleaned as well as the trough. Goes from "hopefully ready for testing" to "THEYRE COMING BACK!!1111".

 

Don't really care if they're on or off but I mean people jumping to absolute conclusions is just weird to me. 

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2 hours ago, Benin said:

"The rumours are true!"

 

No actually substantial reasoning beyond the things being cleaned as well as the trough. Goes from "hopefully ready for testing" to "THEYRE COMING BACK!!1111".

 

Don't really care if they're on or off but I mean people jumping to absolute conclusions is just weird to me. 

@Benin I suspect the guy who posted this knows an Alton Towers employee. The same poster has made statements about The Curse At Alton Manor.

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If it is true, that's very good news!

 

Congo River has been in a bit of a state for a while now. Great to see some work being done, especially if the waterfalls are being restored.

 

The Merlin parks have really been stepping up (mostly anyway) since taking the company private again. Lots of improvement work going on throughout the parks, finally.

Yes the food going to Aramark has been a step backwards, and AT does desperately need some thrilling flats, but generally I think things are improving!

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  • 3 weeks later...

It really really really annoys me that Towers seem to have taken the decision that Duel/Curse of Alton Manor and Hex can never be open at the same time.

 

In a park with frankly appalling ride offerings and ride availability, it is unacceptable that these two rides can never function at the same time. 

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It could be coincidence. I don't know for sure. I just know Hex was closed nearly all of last year until Duel closed and then suddenly Hex was back.

 

This year, they both operated for a few days and now Hex is just down as 'closed all day' on the app. 

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1 hour ago, MattyMoo said:

Hilarious scenes reported at Towers today of RAP queues being longer than the main queue on the Smiler for example. I give up.

 

Or the mile long queue at guest services to get the damned thing to begin with. "I cant queue".....or something.

 

Problem now is that Merlin have backed themself into a corner with how they have handled Rap the last few years. They have allowed anyone and their dog to get it which has resulted in people who frankly do not need it taking the *censor* out of the system which has led to ridiculous Rap waits which in turn is hurting those who GENUINELY need it. Those who genuinely CAN NOT queue. The amount of times I've been to towers in particular and seen the rap queue for Oblivion heading right back to the arcade with those in wheelchairs AND those with kids with severe special needs who are clearly stressed with waiting at the hands of those who see it as "free fastrack" is nothing short of an outrage.

 

The issue now is that if Merlin actually did try to strip these people who are too lazy to queue like everyone else who are abusing the system, these people will probably write to the newspapers and rant on social media about Merlin being saying "not disabled enough" which will lead to a PR nightmare for them.

 

So they are between the devil and the deep. Either carry on with the shambles we see at the parks today OR risk a bunch of Karen's crying to the papers and social media. Either way they have backed themself into a corner.

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There is clearly an issue where many are simply abusing it as I can't say I see hundreds of people going for RAP equivilent in ANY other theme park I've ever been too outside of Merlin or even the UK. It really is unfair on those genuinely needing it. 

 

Nothing will change though as this has been going on years now. 

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Easter weekend queues are always terrible.

 

But you know when they've not enforced their own rules over the years, opening the system to abuse, whilst also many visitors (often MAP holders) openly encourage people to abuse the system and staff for doing their job it's a rod they've made for their own back.

 

Needs fixing. But they won't risk the backlash. Which means we'll limit our own visits because this affects both our day using it and the other guests too. Especially when factoring in Fastrack.

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Never liked how often the discussions on RAP devolve into trying to guess who is and isn’t disabled, as if you could ever know. 
 

There are definitely some people who abuse the system, but the fundamental problem is the system is massively mismanaged. It needs to be rethought completely.

 

On paper it’s a virtual queueing system but it rarely operates like this. There needs to be a real investment into the system to get it up to scratch, but who knows if they’d ever spring for that.

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Reality is a lot of AP holders are RAP holders. Therefore know how to exploit the system. And on busy days like Easter and Halloween, this will happen every single time. 

 

I don't think it can be fixed either, unless you made the queues wheelchair accessible and severely limited what qualifies for RAP and even then, I don't think Merlin would do it. 

 

Also, the really awful reliability and operations at the park are making this process 10 time worse. 

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