Ride Downtime 2013

General discussion regarding the UK's No.1 Theme Park. Talk about anything and everything Alton Towers here.
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Hmv
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marita wrote: Hi all

My children and sister were on the back row of the Smiler yesterday when it broke down on the second lift hill....

Now I'm OK with things like this happening but i am not OK with being lied to...

I thought my family were in the queue line when the down time occurred so I went through the exit to the station to see if I could see them to give my youngest his medication. They were not there. I asked in the shop about the downtime to be told that "they were putting another car on the track" now I know it does not take 30 mins to put a car on and they would not stop a car on the lift hill to do this. I waited for a hour, no update just the queue line being evacuated.

I was with another lady who's daughter was on there as a single rider. She was also complaining about the lack of communication. We managed to spot a manager walking towards us and called her over to voice our concerns and ask questions. She replied that there was no safety issues but the harnesses would not open. She also told us there was a power issue to that part of the ride and assured me they were doing all they could. I get that there are problems. I was getting concerned now as my youngest has behavior issues and his meds had run out. A medic came to me took the medication and assured me he would get them to my son. I was assured that someone was talking through the P.A system to the people in the car but they was not communicated to at all they were left there for 2 hours

Next thing you know there is a scream and the cars start to move BACKWARDS down the lift hill.. omg I have never seen anything like it. Now I would of thought that they would of evacuated the car at the bottom but they did not. They took water to people and gave my son his medication. Waited another 20 mins then sent them back through the ride. This I thought was strange.

I cannot fault the staff in the shop and the medics they were blinking brilliant.
Rides are very strange beasts when they go down and often one problem can cause another and so on, so they could well have been putting a car on that then had the knock on effect of causing the technical problem. As for the way that the communication was handled it sounds very strange, but without knowing the full picture I would be unable to comment. Also the time scale they were up there would be because a vertical lift evacuation would be a last resort measure and trust me it would take much longer than two hours.
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Wedjie
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Is it possible Oblivion is struggling with the extra attention it's getting due to it's proximity to the smiler?

Up until this year I've never seen the queue over 30 minutes - rarely even that high, now its been peaking at 75 minutes, frequently touching 45...
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djedwardsmith
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marita wrote: Hi all

My children and sister were on the back row of the Smiler yesterday when it broke down on the second lift hill....

Now I'm OK with things like this happening but i am not OK with being lied to...

I thought my family were in the queue line when the down time occurred so I went through the exit to the station to see if I could see them to give my youngest his medication. They were not there. I asked in the shop about the downtime to be told that "they were putting another car on the track" now I know it does not take 30 mins to put a car on and they would not stop a car on the lift hill to do this. I waited for a hour, no update just the queue line being evacuated.

I was with another lady who's daughter was on there as a single rider. She was also complaining about the lack of communication. We managed to spot a manager walking towards us and called her over to voice our concerns and ask questions. She replied that there was no safety issues but the harnesses would not open. She also told us there was a power issue to that part of the ride and assured me they were doing all they could. I get that there are problems. I was getting concerned now as my youngest has behavior issues and his meds had run out. A medic came to me took the medication and assured me he would get them to my son. I was assured that someone was talking through the P.A system to the people in the car but they was not communicated to at all they were left there for 2 hours

Next thing you know there is a scream and the cars start to move BACKWARDS down the lift hill.. omg I have never seen anything like it. Now I would of thought that they would of evacuated the car at the bottom but they did not. They took water to people and gave my son his medication. Waited another 20 mins then sent them back through the ride. This I thought was strange.

I cannot fault the staff in the shop and the medics they were blinking brilliant.
To be fair the staff have probably been told consistently not to relay details about breakdowns as no doubt they'll be asked every 2 minutes about it if it stops running. Even though you had a justifiable reason for asking, the staff probably hear all sorts of excuses for needing to know information. The good thing is that you were able to pass on the medication which I'm sure the ride ops must have been compliant with in able to allow them to get into the area.
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ollboll9
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According to ridetimes.com the flume and rapids are down,also (not to do with downtime) how the he'll is spinals queue 0 mins  :-?
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Dan
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ollboll9 wrote: According to ridetimes.com the flume and rapids are down,also (not to do with downtime) how the he'll is spinals queue 0 mins  :-?
The Flume and Rapids don't open til 11 o'clock.

As soon as the park opens all rides are shown as 0 mins. It's not til about 11 o'clock that it starts showing realistic queue times.
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Wedjie
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ollboll9 wrote: also (not to do with downtime) how the he'll is spinals queue 0 mins  :-?
I'm guessing it's closed on park, but not on the system. Spinball queue is never 0 mins at noon...
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ollboll9
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ok thanks guys  :)
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Shutterbug
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Smiler was down today from at least 1pm until 5:30pm due to it getting stuck at the bottom of the lift hill, people on the ride were evacuated but I think this took about 2 hours...
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camlees
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And now with Air leaving people stranded up in the air!

Not looking good for a few rides at AT!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... stuck.html
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imcn
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One onlooker said: “It was terrifying. People were just left hanging upside down for ages.
“They looked really frightened. There were people screaming and crying.
“Two members of staff had to go up there and try to calm everyone down. But people were in hysterics.
“It took ages to get the ride going again.
“When the passengers got off they looked really pale and shaken. There certainly wasn’t anyone smiling.
“They re-opened the ride eventually but it put people off going on it. I certainly didn’t fancy it after witnessing that.
I think The Sun have made it sound a lot more dramatic than it really was.
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lozzyhickers
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imcn wrote: [quote

I think The Sun have made it sound a lot more dramatic than it really was.
Exactly! I've been stuck on it for much longer than that before, sun are just fishing for a story
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camlees
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lozzyhickers wrote:
imcn wrote: [quote

I think The Sun have made it sound a lot more dramatic than it really was.
Exactly! I've been stuck on it for much longer than that before, sun are just fishing for a story
I mean it is the sun.... but still interesting!
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Themeparksandy1981
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Has Enterprise been sorted yet?
Last edited by Themeparksandy1981 on Sun Jul 07, 2013 10:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Jack
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imcn wrote:
One onlooker said: “It was terrifying. People were just left hanging upside down for ages.
“They looked really frightened. There were people screaming and crying.
“Two members of staff had to go up there and try to calm everyone down. But people were in hysterics.
“It took ages to get the ride going again.
“When the passengers got off they looked really pale and shaken. There certainly wasn’t anyone smiling.
“They re-opened the ride eventually but it put people off going on it. I certainly didn’t fancy it after witnessing that.
I think The Sun have made it sound a lot more dramatic than it really was.
agreed, Air is a ride that breaks down a lot, wonder if the sun knew that :lol:
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Altonaction
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  They need spit grids on the ground just b4 u go back to the station as the sight of loads of greenies and grot

  not ver nice tbh lol

  Ive not needed to spit once air has finished so i wonder who the culprits are???  :lol:
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Alex Tyler
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Themeparksandy1981 wrote: Has Enterprise been sorted yet?
Yes, working yesterday.
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RCandrew
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Apart from the smiler obviously, rita is the only ride I haven't been on and I have been looking forward to riding it most this Wednesday/Thursday, does anyone know why it has been closed and if it will open soon!? :(
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12344321
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Rita has experienced a bit of downtime, similar to air, but has not been closed! And certainly not for an entire day.
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RCandrew
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I just noticed it was closed yesterday and this morning but it has just opened again :)
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12344321
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It's around this time of year that they change the rope so if it was down for a long period if might have been that
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