YAY Merlin!

[Nicky Borrill]

An absolutely perfect day at Alton today, really pleased. Yes it was only at 28% capacity, but strong uptime allowed us to ride everything with rerides (including first train of the day on Wicker Man!), two front row Nemesis rides, the best ride we've ever had on Rita somehow, and even time for Curse, Gangster Granny (had never ridden it), time to stop and eat at Explorer's Pizza, and time for the Aquarium too.

Oblivion did go down for a long period (evac from the lift and crest!) but they actually reopened it for the last half hour, Europa Park style.

Really impressed with the park overall today, great staff too.

Bank Holidays really are great right now aren't they?

If only I could actually get out of working them to enjoy the quiet parks...

 

[Tonkso]

Ah but that sweet bank holiday overtime pay I hope you're getting at least?

One of the big factors in yesterday was definitely the 10-6 opening, this really should be the absolute minimum and we would no longer consider going to a park when hours are less than that. Opening the gates at 9 is also a huge bonus, Alton is large enough that that extra hour is appreciated. Prime gardens time.

I'm now on a Thameslink platform heading to work, listening to the strike announcement on the tannoy. I know where I'd rather be.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Ah but that sweet bank holiday overtime pay I hope you're getting at least?

One of the big factors in yesterday was definitely the 10-6 opening, this really should be the absolute minimum and we would no longer consider going to a park when hours are less than that. Opening the gates at 9 is also a huge bonus, Alton is large enough that that extra hour is appreciated. Prime gardens time.

I'm now on a Thameslink platform heading to work, listening to the strike announcement on the tannoy. I know where I'd rather be.

Nah, self employed, gotta make hay while the sun shines (figuratively speaking at least) though.

Shame you won't visit on the 4pm closes though, as they are the days we get the most rides in, the days we've already reached double figures on Nemesis, and ridden most other things in a day. They do extend closing time if the park's even slightly busier than expected. Last Monday for example, I got a total of 27 coaster rides in, plus others, but they still extended it to 5:30pm (not that we stayed that late, we headed out around quarter to 5.)

 

[Niles]

Tomb blaster has opened after being closed since the start of the season. The ride has had some TLC including refreshed smell pods, new lighting within the ride, new emergency exit platforms and the theming in the queue line has been refreshed and added to.







And some easter eggs too.

Source

Allways nice to see some TLC, shame it wasn't ready for season start but hay ho.

 

[Tonkso]

With everything going on at the Cedar Fair parks right now (mostly TT2...), it's probably a good time to applaud Merlin for their continued commitment to free item bins at every ride where you cant bring aboard. It's such a small but impactful part of the guest experience that Merlin get absolutely right. They could move to a mandatory locker system to squeeze more money out of their guests, but they don't, and they continue to include free storage on their new investments too.

 

[owenstreet7]

With everything going on at the Cedar Fair parks right now (mostly TT2...), it's probably a good time to applaud Merlin for their continued commitment to free item bins at every ride where you cant bring aboard. It's such a small but impactful part of the guest experience that Merlin get absolutely right. They could move to a mandatory locker system to squeeze more money out of their guests, but they don't, and they continue to include free storage on their new investments too.

I would say that is the one thing I believe we take for granted in the UK is that there will be bag storage in ride stations on the coasters. (Only ride that doesn't (unless it's been added recently) but should have one that I know of is Valhalla at Blackpool)

I haven't been to the US parks yet but am surprised to hear about Cedar Point not putting in a bag storage rack on the station.

I'm presuming this is common practice in the UK and possibly Europe rather than the US?

 

[Ollie]

Thorpe have extended the closing time of the park till 8pm for Hyperias opening and the following day.
Means everyone going those days may be able to squeeze in one more ride on something else after queuing all day for Hyperia

 

[StevenX]

Did they do anything to the Bank Holiday Monday? I think that was always 6pm?

 

[Callum]

Did they do anything to the Bank Holiday Monday? I think that was always 6pm?

Nope just extended Friday and Saturday to 8pm so far. Sunday and Monday have remained at 6 but they said they will monitor pre-books and sales on them days

 

[Nicky Borrill]

I just wanted to say, after yesterday morning’s fiasco, Yay merlin for their handling of Nemesis opening day. Opening the park and ride early, and not doing some silly, dangerous, rope drop, created a much safer experience for all. And having staff along that entire route from the entrance to FV to create that organised queue immediately from opening was a very smart move also.

If Alton Towers had held people back at the bottom of Towers Street until 10am like Europa Park did, sure they’d have gotten their wonderful social media videos and images, but it’s very obvious that there would have been crowd control issues.

I really hope Thorpe are considering this for Hyperia, that kinda of crowd surge exiting the dome after a rope drop would be a recipe for some serious injuries if not worse!!!

 

[Matt N]

I really hope Thorpe are considering this for Hyperia, that kinda of crowd surge exiting the dome after a rope drop would be a recipe for some serious injuries if not worse!!!

I did see Merlin saying on the MAP Facebook page that they’re limiting entries to Thorpe on 24th and 25th May to “ensure a better guest experience”, for what it’s worth.

Whenever I’ve been to Thorpe, they’ve tended to do a rope drop, but I don’t know if they’ll change that for Hyperia’s opening.

 

[Callum]

They've been doing a lot of planning in the background and say they have plans in place. I believe they will be releasing a video in the coming week to explain all the details for opening day

 

[Nicky Borrill]

I did see Merlin saying on the MAP Facebook page that they’re limiting entries to Thorpe on 24th and 25th May to “ensure a better guest experience”, for what it’s worth.

Whenever I’ve been to Thorpe, they’ve tended to do a rope drop, but I don’t know if they’ll change that for Hyperia’s opening.

The rope drop, in it’s normal form, absolutely cannot happen! A walking wall of security maybe, but even that would be a risky thing. Much better to abandon the normal rope drop altogether imo.

It seems casual coaster enthusiasm is very ‘main stream’ at the moment, coaster opening days right now are not like they used to be, with just a hundred or so over excited goons running for the first train. These days there can, and will be, hundreds if not thousands running. It’s too dangerous.

 

[Hixee]

I wonder what the alternative is? Perhaps open Hyperia at like, 1pm or something, and set up a queue line so people can gradually congregate before the ride opens? The super-keen can run there, but they won't really achieve a lot.

A rope drop would be a recipe for disaster.

Either way - glad I won't be there.

 

[JoshC.]

Park should just build a temporary queue all across the park. Literally starting at the entrance. Go across the bridge, left around the dome, around the Lost City flats, down the old Saw Alive pathway, cut across Saw and Samurai and boom.

Make it single file, have it so people can't jump in. Have security man points.

Perfect for start of day, no rope drop drama, just whoever gets there first, goes first. You won't need all that queue for long, so can be quickly removed after the first hour or so.

(I am joking here...mostly)

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Park should just build a temporary queue all across the park. Literally starting at the entrance. Go across the bridge, left around the dome, around the Lost City flats, down the old Saw Alive pathway, cut across Saw and Samurai and boom.

Make it single file, have it so people can't jump in. Have security man points.

Perfect for start of day, no rope drop drama, just whoever gets there first, goes first. You won't need all that queue for long, so can be quickly removed after the first hour or so.

(I am joking here...mostly)

This… Queue from the dome and no rope drop has to be the safest, and easiest to implement, solution.

 

[Swat]

Utilising the old saw alive area should be a given really, no entrance to the queue from any other area but from up by zodiac. Even hold off opening saw and samurai for a few hours would allow for a proper fenced queue. I’ll be there on the 24th and expect chaos but if Thorpe get this right, it would be a huge win.

 

[emoo]

Josh that's more on point than giving yourself credit for. Could be a tour around the park of the refreshed areas for extra time passing interest. As long as the extended queue allows for needed toilet breaks like we got with Nemesis.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Josh that's more on point than giving yourself credit for. Could be a tour around the park of the refreshed areas for extra time passing interest. As long as the extended queue allows for needed toilet breaks like we got with Nemesis.

I know right, @JoshC. thinks he’s joking but after what I’ve seen here, I can think of any better, and cost effective, ways to manage it.