Downtime 2015

Wed Jun 24, 2015 5:25 pm

Anyone know whats wrong with ripsaw? There are pictures of it covered in scaffolding and tarpaulings - hope its nothing too serious :/

Wed Jun 24, 2015 5:58 pm

Everton-99 wrote:Anyone know whats wrong with ripsaw? There are pictures of it covered in scaffolding and tarpaulings - hope its nothing too serious :/

I'm not a mechanic or staff member but they're working on the arm; the circular part that rotates the carriage. They were working on it when we left the park yesterday and early this morning but not at the end of the day. They were hammering away. I'm guessing that it won't be open tomorrow, especially if the scaffolding remains. I'm guessing that it will only be removed outside of operating hours as there is a lot of it.

I REALLY don't know why they need to cover up the breakdown other than they aren't expecting this to be open for at least a few days/weeks. They've even added enchanted village advertising on the cover.

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Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:57 pm

Morgano wrote:
Alex Tyler wrote:Dual was open today as I went on it,has Sub-Terra got the rotating floor like the one at the London Dungeon?
What time?

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around mdday.

Thu Jun 25, 2015 2:00 am

Morgano wrote:
Everton-99 wrote:Anyone know whats wrong with ripsaw? There are pictures of it covered in scaffolding and tarpaulings - hope its nothing too serious :/
I'm not a mechanic or staff member but they're working on the arm; the circular part that rotates the carriage. They were working on it when we left the park yesterday and early this morning but not at the end of the day. They were hammering away. I'm guessing that it won't be open tomorrow, especially if the scaffolding remains. I'm guessing that it will only be removed outside of operating hours as there is a lot of it.

I REALLY don't know why they need to cover up the breakdown other than they aren't expecting this to be open for at least a few days/weeks. They've even added enchanted village advertising on the cover.

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The scaffolding if it has sheeting over the top of it, is to keep the ride from getting wet, because from what I understand when they strip the ride down they don't want to allow water to gather inside the ride and get near the electrics, this would be also why they do this during the winter.

Sun Jun 28, 2015 8:43 pm

Seems that Alton is taking a leaf out of Thorpe's book this year... On park today, the following out:

Charlie (until about 2)
Ripsaw
Nemesis SubTerra
(The obvious) Smiler

Add to that, Air on 2 craft / 1 station and Th13teen seemingly on 2 trains...

Sun Jun 28, 2015 8:52 pm

To be honest there is nothing to be done about 3 of those at present:

Nemesis: Sub Terra was down for maintenance / design update due to restraints, those new restraints opened up a whole can of new problems therefore had to re-close.
Ripsaw a few weeks back ceased operation out of nowhere, I'm guessing since then it had teething problems therefore closed and now maintenance has begun on it.
Smiler, we all know why that's closed.

On quiet days you'll often find them using less trains / bays.

Mon Jun 29, 2015 3:12 pm

I'd be pretty annoyed if I was paying full price to enter the park at the moment. I'm a season ticket holder and I've been quite a lot recently and the amount of downtime has been pretty terrible.
Yesterday there were at least 5 rides out of action and it's been the same on most other visits.
We're heading into peak season and it seems to be a bit of a mess, and AT don't really help by not giving any specific reasons for rides being out of action or timescales for reopening.
I've seen loads of people asking AT on twitter why Sub Terra is not running and they just get one word meaningless answers, it's not really good enough.

I notice Ripsaw doesn't even appear on the Ridetimes site.

Mon Jun 29, 2015 3:47 pm

ginsters wrote:I've seen loads of people asking AT on twitter why Sub Terra is not running and they just get one word meaningless answers, it's not really good enough.

I notice Ripsaw doesn't even appear on the Ridetimes site.

I believe they've always said Sub Terra has been closed for a 'design update' which we now know to be changes to the ride's restraints. For most guests that provides enough of a reason for its closure, with it just being impractical to go into exact detail of what's happening and it's unlikely that the social media team will have all this information.

I don't think Ripsaw's ever been on Ridetimes, so there's been no change there.

EDIT: AT Twitter have provided more insight into what's going on with Ripsaw.

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Mon Jun 29, 2015 5:10 pm

If they're paying for a replacement part then does that mean they don't plan on removing it soon?

Mon Jun 29, 2015 8:20 pm

Themepark247360 wrote:If they're paying for a replacement part then does that mean they don't plan on removing it soon?

Still got half a season to go and with sub t plus smiler out guess they need all the rides they have up and running

Kirsty25 · Tue Jun 30, 2015 11:07 am

I'd reckon that they'll keep if open, it's one of the flats that always has a pretty decent queue. I'll be quite sad to see it go when it does leave

Tue Jun 30, 2015 9:42 pm

what rides will be closed tomorow?
is x-sector and spinball still closed?

Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:24 pm

lebro7 wrote:what rides will be closed tomorow?
is x-sector and spinball still closed?

X-Sector and Sonic Spinball have both re-opened.

The current closed rides are:
- The Smiler (obvious reasons)
- Nemesis: Sub-Terra (design update)
- Ripsaw (essential maintenance)
- Enterprise (essential maintenance)

Wed Jul 01, 2015 8:58 am

When are we going to see a comeback of the two rides under maintenance?

Wed Jul 01, 2015 8:59 am

TheBeast wrote:When are we going to see a comeback of the two rides under maintenance?

AT have stated on Twitter that both Ripsaw & Enterprise are waiting for replacement parts from the manufacturer, so it's difficult to say exactly when they'll re-open.

Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:05 pm

I see again today there are numerous rides out of action.

Air, Rita, Sonic Spin, Sub Terra, Enterprise, Ripsaw, The Smiler (obviously)

At 50 quid a ticket it's not really good enough.

Wed Jul 01, 2015 10:48 pm

Reportable in the post-smiler world

BBC- Alton Towers: 80 stuck as monorail breaks down

Eighty people were stuck for an hour at Alton Towers after two monorail trains broke down on the hottest day of the year.

The park's Air rollercoaster was also temporarily stopped on Wednesday afternoon, with some people stranded in mid-air for 20 minutes.

Two monorail trains stopped at 17:25 BST, leaving people trapped inside.

Last month, 16 people were hurt when the Smiler rollercoaster crashed into an empty carriage at the theme park.

A spokesman said delays were "within expected levels" and the monorail would re-open on Thursday.

It took an hour to walk 80 people off the monorail using the evacuation walkways, the park said.
"The train drivers kept guests informed via the on board PA system and refreshments were provided," an Alton Towers spokesman said.

Wed Jul 01, 2015 11:08 pm

God's sake, now the reliable news site has turned on us...

Wed Jul 01, 2015 11:40 pm

To be fair though this is actually quite serious compared to other news like common ride technical difficulties, being stuck for that period of time in not well ventilated trains in this heat with that amount of guests, towers walking a very tight rope at the minute.

Thu Jul 02, 2015 12:29 am

Any big down time will get covered and the monorail going down is not good as everyone will know

We all know AT want rid of the monorail maybe this could be what they want ... its too unreliable so we're closing it for ever . .. as far as gp are considered they can't get any lower so nows the perfect time to drop stuff they want rid off ?