Themeparksandy1981 wrote:The Smiler reopening next season is good for Alton Towers but would guests be still willing to pay roughly £26 each with a 2 for 1 ticket just to queue up all day for Rollercoasters?
People will always pay the on the gate ticket price (as long as it doesn't top about £65 because it then becomes a joke) because they have traveled all the way to the park. A more sensative approach needs to be taken to the online price as it is easier for people to say nah and leave it. Alton Towers have previously stated that around 45% of their guests buy tickets online or use an annual pass whilst around 55% buy their tickets at the gate. There will be the use of promotional offerings such as the kellog's vouchers in that 55% however.
SeaWorld has rescued over 35,000 animals in need![/i]
Themeparksandy1981 wrote:The Smiler reopening next season is good for Alton Towers but would guests be still willing to pay roughly £26 each with a 2 for 1 ticket just to queue up all day for Rollercoasters?
£26 sounds like an alright deal to me. I've done it before, and I'll do it again.
Themeparksandy1981 wrote:The Smiler reopening next season is good for Alton Towers but would guests be still willing to pay roughly £26 each with a 2 for 1 ticket just to queue up all day for Rollercoasters?
I think the park could already do with some more modern rides to go along with the coasters, most of altons flat rides are age old relics now, I figure they had already planned to remove/replace many of them in the next few years, the Smiler has just been the catalyst for closing those rides a little earlier than originally planned!
New articles are now reporting the female operator has been sacked. A source has told The Sunday People that she was allowed to remain working there after the incident while the internal investigation was ongoing but has now been dismissed. However the end of season could class as the end of employment anyway.
The company provides help and support to all of those who were on the ride, has taken full responsibility for the incident and is helping the Health and Safety Executive inquiry.
Nice to see that acknowledged in the Mirror at least.
Now this annoys me, they basically crammed every bad thing about the ride and every little detail (which was unnecessary) to make the park seem much worse than it is. Also for 80% of the article there wasn't a single mention of the worker.
Themeparksandy1981 wrote:There will be the use of promotional offerings such as the kellog's vouchers in that 55% however.
I wonder if companies like kellog's will continue to offer vouchers after this year. They should do, but I remember people being annoyed at seeing The Smiler on the back of cereal boxes after the incident, and I suppose it depends on whether this had an affect or not.
Does no one feel sorry for this apparently 20byear old girl that caused the accident? Yes others were hurt but she also has to now live her life knowing she did this to people. I know that is something I'd find very challenging.
Also articles (yes I know ..don't believe everything you read) say she was allowed to continue to work whilst Investigation was ongoing. I don't think I could of if I knew Id possibly pressed a button that caused the accident!
Because of the lack of detail that has been given about the circumstances I don't think it is possible for anyone to have any genuine sympathy/lack of sympathy. If the chain of events happened like I believe it to (she reported the wrong problem to the technician) I feel for her massively.
It is also possible that she wasn't sacked, as almost all staff on park are seasonal, but she wasn't called back or she didn't reapply. I think we have to wait for confirmation of what has happened before making any real judgement.
Firstly, you have to be at least 16 to be a ride host / 18 to be ride operator. Ride operators start on smaller rides & progress onto the bigger ones - often over many seasons. So for a 20yr old to be in charge of The Smiler on 2nd June - whilst not impossible - it does seem odd.
Override keys should only be held by Team Leaders or Technical Services staff. The ride operator should have no access to these under normal operating procedures. So if correct key-holding policy were being followed, someone with these keys was present in the operators cabin & used them / allowed them to be used under their watch.
Whichever way you look at it, Alton is up to it's neck in it - I suspect the HSE may well start proceedings when their formal investigation is complete.
I had a good think about this and I can't believe just 1 girl is to blame for this accident. The whole team that was in charge that afternoon should be all to blame. Like a few points Does anyone know how long it was from the moment it shutdown to been manual restarted again? Did any staff go up to the train on the lift hill and how guests noticed the stalled train and reported to some of the staff in the queue and still nothing got done? The whole team that day let them 16 guests down not just this 20 year old girl.
Does anyone know how long it was from the moment it shutdown to been manual restarted again?
The system stopped the train and it was stationary at the top for an estimated 15-20 minutes with staff communicating to the guests through the speaker system.
Sure you could argue the observation & communication could of been better on that day and not even have lead to the train being full of guests in the first place and it not getting stuck at the lift hill.
But to say the whole team is at fault is a bit harsh. The ride did shut itself down it was only that one erroneous human moment that led to the actual collision.
Themeparksandy1981 wrote:But not 1 member of the team noticed the stalled train for 20 mins even after guests reported it to a few members of staff.
It did happen on a quiet Tuesday, staff would of probably been minimal and I'm guessing they went to tell staff in the shop and probably misunderstood. I'm sure guests on park wouldn't have used the term "stalled" either when telling staff and even then I'm not 100% sure a 17-20 year old retail worker would get what they meant after all the technical side of the ride is for the ride hosts, operators & technicians/maintenance.
And again yes this is bad observance but the team doesn't account as a whole for an individuals manual override of the system. Who was in the operators booth that day and why they didn't follow protocols is anyones guess.
Surely if it took 15-20 mins someone else was involved in the decision not just one person!? I doubt one person would have sat there for 15 mins looking at the screen then go "uh I'll press this"... Surely there will be more this one person involved in that decision!?
Management could have put the ride in manual mode and she could have pushed the wrong button which also could be Alton Towers/Merlin fault for lack of training it also could have been with management and other staff round her in the booth watching her put her under extra pressure. I get like that at work when visitors stop and watch me work while the bosses explain what I am doing.
