Alton Towers Resort General Discussion

[Justin]

I don't think it has been a mistake as booths have just been relocated. What I do think has slowed things down is the bag searches, which in my opinion, I'd rather have in place to ensure guest safety. I do think they could improve admissions though, by having a bag free turnstile, allowing quick entry to the park. Obviously this will still have to be patrolled. Also, with MAP and hotel guests only receiving ERT, this has caused some confusion and dismay, but staff have been active in ensuring people have the correct ticket.

[cubwolf]

Not been this year but are you saying if we have no bags we still have to join the huge q and wait to be waved through? If thats the case I wont be bothering again.

[Robert.W]

At least the long queues set guest expectations to a more realistic level I suppose. Having said that, no one will expect that poor operations mean queues stay long, poor maintenance mean rides break down frequently, meaning queues stay long, lack of flat rides mean queues stay long... all meaning that at the end of the day, you might not have even been on many rides...

And I'm not saying that you should go to a theme park and expect not to queue. I'm very aware that it doesn't work like that. But for a resort that in previous years had very good operations, it makes what is happening this year look even worse. Merlin, YOU NEED TO SORT IT OUT. VERY, VERY SOON.

[Justin]

Not been this year but are you saying if we have no bags we still have to join the huge q and wait to be waved through? If thats the case I wont be bothering again.

Unfortunately, a couple of queues form and contain a mixture of guests with bags, picnic trolleys etc. Last Friday, I was queuing at the Monorail station for ERT, but the queue moved quite quickly.

[MakoMania]

Has anyone been reading TripAdvisor recently? The park are getting an absolute hammering!

[daveclarkedaveclarke]

Hey guys some of you go very regularly compared to me (2/3 times a year) with Alton now implementing no single rider queues me and the mrs will now have to use the normal queue (not really into coasters but will ride some), but my question is have you seen many couples queue together then only one ride and the other walk through when they get to the station? I don't really like the prospect of being separated for hours on end, contacted Towers and they have said it's fine just don't want to look like the awkward ones.

[Jcoaster]

Going Sunday but after reading the trip advisor reviews and comments on the forums I am now dreading our trip, does anyone have any tips on how to move about the park during the day, making the most of getting on as many rides as possible?

[Stan.H]

Going Sunday but after reading the trip advisor reviews and comments on the forums I am now dreading our trip, does anyone have any tips on how to move about the park during the day, making the most of getting on as many rides as possible?

To be honest with you I'd leave Wicker Man towards the end of the day, as it does go down at least twice every day. I'd probably hit Oblivion first, then Smiler. The head onto TH13TEEN & Rita, Skyride over to Nemesis & Galactica, get a spot of food - then do the likes of Duel, Rapids and Hex. Do a few re-rides, bearing in queue times. Then head to Wicker Man and get in the queue for that! Also, bear in mind it does shut at 6 pm on Sunday! Other than that I would expect a pretty busy day (considering at this moment in time Wicker Man is on 200 minutes, TH13TEEN & The Smiler on 120 minutes, etc..) so, if you do have the money to hand I would consider purchasing fastrack. Finally, have a great day! I'm sure it won't be too bad as both my visits this week haven't been awful, just fairly busy! 

[Jcoaster]

Going Sunday but after reading the trip advisor reviews and comments on the forums I am now dreading our trip, does anyone have any tips on how to move about the park during the day, making the most of getting on as many rides as possible?

To be honest with you I'd leave Wicker Man towards the end of the day, as it does go down at least twice every day. I'd probably hit Oblivion first, then Smiler. The head onto TH13TEEN & Rita, Skyride over to Nemesis & Galactica, get a spot of food - then do the likes of Duel, Rapids and Hex. Do a few re-rides, bearing in queue times. Then head to Wicker Man and get in the queue for that! Also, bear in mind it does shut at 6 pm on Sunday! Other than that I would expect a pretty busy day (considering at this moment in time Wicker Man is on 200 minutes, TH13TEEN & The Smiler on 120 minutes, etc..) so, if you do have the money to hand I would consider purchasing fastrack. Finally, have a great day! I'm sure it won't be too bad as both my visits this week haven't been awful, just fairly busy! 

Thanks so much Stan, I am looking forward to it, massive towers fan but don't go as regularly as I like which is why I need to make the most of my day.

[Robert.W]

Has anyone been reading TripAdvisor recently? The park are getting an absolute hammering!

I think they might want to remove the TripAdvisor link from the bottom of their website  :lol They ain't gonna win that "Travellers Choice" award this year!

[nemefan08]

I still don’t understand why people go to a theme park in a school holiday with a new major ride and not expect to queue!

[Robert.W]

It's not really just that though. Simply you can't go to a theme park and expect not to queue obviously, but when the park is very underfunded by its operator, Merlin, poor operations and maintenance negatively impact guest experience. 

[Phild94]

Hey guys some of you go very regularly compared to me (2/3 times a year) with Alton now implementing no single rider queues me and the mrs will now have to use the normal queue (not really into coasters but will ride some), but my question is have you seen many couples queue together then only one ride and the other walk through when they get to the station? I don't really like the prospect of being separated for hours on end, contacted Towers and they have said it's fine just don't want to look like the awkward ones.

I’ve seen it loads of times, it’s not awkward at all. Just say to the ride op before you get assigned to a row and they will have no problem with it at all!

Have a good trip when you get down there!

[ThemeParkEwan]

In the car on the way back from a day at Towers; completely disappointed to be honest. Managed 5 rides in 6 hours, Wicker Man was down for probably 3 quarters of the day and the operations were awful. I was evacced from the station once then came back and they were sending trains with people on after a breakdown without opening the queue for a good while. Didn't manage Nemesis because of the massive queue created by running it on 1 train.

On the bright side the Duel refurb is nice, love the new updates to the queue especially!

[AltonOperator]

I was there Thursday and Friday and yes, it’s been ridiculous. My Instagram post ( lists my many complaints

Wickerman was exceptional. The preshow is dramatic and uses technology well. The coaster itself has good forces and the theming throughout is brilliant. I enjoyed the real fire and mist effects. The ending was very confusing though as everyone expected something to actually happen.

But there were issues. I have a few notes.

1. In the morning, more signage and barriers are needed to inform people which queues are for ERT and which are not.
2. When you open so little at 10am you need to actually open them. You cannot still be testing rides at 10:20. It’s unacceptable to tell people to try another ride when you have only 2 things open.
3. Your queue times need to be accurate. We walked all the way from forbidden valley to dark forest, a 20 minute walk at best, in order to get to Rita which was advertised as a 15 minute queue, only to wait 75 minutes to get in the ride. This happened with Th13teen and Galactica too. The only queuetime that was accurate was Wickerman
4. Rita needs sorting. Over the 2 days we were there, we experienced 4 breakdowns on Rita. Ridiculous.
5. The Galactica VR is ok but slows down the trains for everyone. I think one station should be VR and have one train and the other should be without, and have two trains.
6. Please try and get Nemesis’ second train back!
7. The amount of fasttrack tickets that are being sold means the regular queue suffers and the fasttrack queue is so long they feel ripped off
8. Bring back single rider lines. With the amount you’re making on parking alone, you can afford the staff to man a single rider line.
9. The TLC work so far has been brilliant but next I think a Galactica track repaint and a smiler queue refurbishment are in order.
10. A virtual ride reservation system would be nice to avoid 3 hour queues on Wickerman but i know you’d never even consider it because it would stop you selling the highest tier of Fasttracks

Just some suggestions.

[Robert.W]

You make some really good points there AltonOperator.

[AltonOperator]

Numbers 2 and 3 were the worst. Its no fun running across the park for the queue to be 5 times what it said. Its also ridiculous to still be testing Oblivion, Smiler and Spinball at 10:20 and to be told to try something else when only Wickerman is actually available and has a THREE HOUR QUEUE.
Rita was ridiculous. We got in a 50 minute queue and waited 2 hours only to be told that it was busted and we'd have to leave. A priority pass was given but because there were so many people in that Rita queue getting them, we still had to wait a good half hour for oblivion. It was not enough compensation.

[Sawboss]

On my last trip we went on 7 rides, Duel and Hex both had short queues and were operating fine but every one of the 5 coasters stopped at least once while we were queuing. You shouldn't hear a 'technical issues' announcement in every single queue.

Hopefully if they get enough complaints the accountants will have to bite the bullet and give Towers an actual effective maintenance budget. I love AT and don't want to see it go downhill.

[ChessingtonSam]

Numbers 2 and 3 were the worst. Its no fun running across the park for the queue to be 5 times what it said. Its also ridiculous to still be testing Oblivion, Smiler and Spinball at 10:20 and to be told to try something else when only Wickerman is actually available and has a THREE HOUR QUEUE.
Rita was ridiculous. We got in a 50 minute queue and waited 2 hours only to be told that it was busted and we'd have to leave. A priority pass was given but because there were so many people in that Rita queue getting them, we still had to wait a good half hour for oblivion. It was not enough compensation.

Amen to that. Rita said 0 minutes today, queue was out the door!

[AltonOperator]

Ok so just putting this out there (don't bite my head off)
Would anyone actually have any serious objections to some sponsorship in the park? I'm not talking Oblivion and Fanta level but just some small bits of advertising or sponsorship so they can stop the staggered openings and SBNO rides. As long as it didn't dramatically affect the ride experience I think it'd be ok. Just wanted to see your opinions