Alton Towers: Closed due to Heavy Snow 21.2.10

General discussion regarding the UK's No.1 Theme Park. Talk about anything and everything Alton Towers here.
Mr P

[quote=""Vik""]
Does anyone know if any of the Alton Towers buses ran this morning, or the 32A? I somehow doubt it, but still be nice to know. :D[/quote]
All buses in North Staffs area were cancelled/off because of the snow, although by the afternoon most buses were running again.
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The Crunchy Nutter
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[quote=""Vik""]The first time was 27th October 2002 when they were forced to close, and cancel that nights fireworks event due to gale force winds, which made it unsafe to operate the rides.[/quote]

I was there that day - the park opened for about an hour but walking round I saw several marquees around the lake had already collapsed, and others looked like they wouldn't last much longer...

Still managed to get a ride on the Black Hole, and Hex before the park shut 8)
Anonymous

Hi, I'm a first time poster, who has followed the boards for some time. I stayed overnight on Saturday, at Splash Landings, and I have to say, I thought the staff were fantastic, a true credit to Alton Towers.

On Saturday evening, guests received letters under their doors informing them that adverse weather had been forecasted overnight. At that stage, it was intended for a limited opening at 10am, with Nemesis, Oblivion, Air, RMT and Sonic Spinball being in full operation by midday.

Sunday morning came, and my girlfriend and myself, seeing the snow, decided to have a late breakfast, and to take our time heading over the park, assuming it would still open. Unfortunately, it seemed other guests had the same idea. The queue wound from the Flambo's reception desk to near the lift area on that floor. We decided to take our chances and head over the Secret Garden in ATH. There, we met ATH's night manager, very nice guy, who allowed us to join the queue for Secret Garden, before closing it to any further guests. In response to massive demand for a late breakfast, the Conference Centre had been opened and was fully stocked and ready to go. I found that to be an excellent move, and most of the guests that were redirected, were more than happy to head over.

The night manager told us that he was expecting, at that point, to have to run the day shift, and carry on through Sunday night. He was expecting a day relief of around 60+ members of staff, he got 6! One of the staff was so committed that, on finding her car of little use, she rode in on horseback. It says it all about the manager, that he wasn't in the least bit down, still finding time to have a bit of banter with guests. What clinched it for me, is the fact that he said that going outside and making snowmen with the kids would get him through the next few hours.

By the end of breakfast, AT had already redirected park staff to the hotels to lend a hand. On returning to Splash Landings, it was confirmed the park would not open. Guest relations were more than happy to honour our tickets in main season though, taking our details to dispatch new tickets. As we don't drive, we needed to hop on a shuttle bus to get back to Uttoxeter station. We were told that AT were liaising with Staffordshire County Council, and would take a decision on running the buses as soon as possible. The gentleman on reception was more than happy to keep us regularly updated, all we had to do was ask. At the same time, they were advising drivers to not even consider driving at that point, allowing guests a late checkout option to facilitate this.

Finally, the County Council cleared the roads, and normal shuttle services resumed. The gentleman at the desk was willing to also re-route the shuttle down to the hotel bus stop, to ensure that we safely left the site.

I apologise for this being long, but I just wanted everyone on the site to know that Alton's staff met the challenge head on, and for me, came out with flying colours.
Last edited by Anonymous on Mon Feb 22, 2010 11:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Big Dave

I think that is 1 Rep point to the Alton Towers Hotel team. Small things make a huge difference and by the looks of your post Alton got it spot on.
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NF2
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I've always found the hotels very helpful if something ever does go wrong. Last year me and a mate returned from the park planning to go into Cariba whilst my mum was in the Spa. Unfortunately she hadn't returned which meant we were left out of the room with no swimming stuff and no hotel room to return and wait in. The reception staff rang around the enitre Spa just to help us gain contact, and then with no avail allowed us (despite being 16) to check in anyway as long as we could confirm the details. They must have spent about 15 minutes trying to help us get get into contact with the Spa, and then were very kind to trust us with the check in despite only having minimal booking knowledge.

Such practices really make you feel valued as a hotel guest, the fact they take up their time to help you makes you feel like a person rather than just somebody who is passed through the system as if it were a conveyer, extracting money on each stage. I extend my kudos to the hotel staff just as much, they really often do seem to be prepared for any situation :D
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UnleashedLlama
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Following the disappointment of being snowed off on Sunday, I organised an Alton Towers Water Park trip for tomorrow. Guess what... it appears I've made it snow again! Sorry about that everyone. :lol: If I keep making it snow, I can see me losing the few Rep Points I have. :roll:
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Voni86
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I'm glad to hear the hotel staff are sill on top form! Last year, both cash machines in Splash Landings and ATH were down, so staff drove us to the park staff room (I'm not sure what it's actually called, it has an old car tied up outside it?) to use the one in there!
Crofty

HAHA Typically My works social club went up to Alton Towers on this day (from South Wales)

They didn't advertise to staff that it was limited opening, I did warn many people not to go, in case they expected a fully running park, it's a long way to go for a half open park. They (My company) were charging the same as they do in the summer too!

But the icing on the cake is they obviously didn't check that the park would be open and made the trip anyway. Oh, to top it off because of the long drive with no break in-between they had to wait at the services for the driver to have his break.

Our work trips there never seem to go well, I remember going on on once and we had to turn around halfway because the skylight blew off the coach. :lol:
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