Alton towers dead, (rumor or fact)?

[nadroJ]

Well then you must have been extremely unlucky then because the park has been posting maximum 45 minute queues all week...

Can also guarantee I've been at Thorpe more times than you this week! XD

 

[Smithy]

I can sort of see where he's coming from, if you look at a lot of the replies and comments to Alton being dead stories, they're from people saying AWESOME NO QUEUES LETS GO, I don't think Alton will be too thrilled at the prospect of people thinkin they're struggling but if anything it will help bring some people in if they're reading how quiet it is and how there's no queues at all.

 

[Colossus]

W Went thorpe on Thursday we queued 90 minutes for everything and Swarm and a few others went down.

I was there Wednesday at it was certainly the quietest I have ever seen it in July, we queued for nothing practically, even my work mates who I was with, who aren't enthusiasts, were shocked at how quiet the park was.

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

The first two weeks of summer are always quiet, but never walk ons on the entire park... Especially Spinball and Rita...

Thorpe averaging 45 mins shows that the effect isn't pushing further than Towers...

 

[nadroJ]

Not averaging 45 mins, 45 mins MAX, I'd saying averaging around 20-25 mins.

And believe me, it is having a knock on effect.

 

[Zac]

To end thorpe arguments, it is having a reduced number of visitors, but they are still getting lots of people, here were the queues for yesterday

 

[SaiyanHajime]

Tis a fact, although these stories might just be Towers using the media as a bit of free advertising...

Only Towers has really been affected though... Thorpe and Chessie are still heaving...

Dunno man, seemed a little quieter than usual to me when I last went Chessie. A lot of that park's problem that even when its not busy, it's grand total of two worthwhile attractions have crap capacity. I think Vamp hits 90 mins regardless, but won't get much higher on busier days because people think **** that mess. Rattle is also still closed, but that can't be adding much to the other two because Rattle never had a queue. It was the saving grace on a busy day.

 

[Darren B]

To end thorpe arguments, it is having a reduced number of visitors, but they are still getting lots of people, here were the queues for yesterday

Somebody needs to get laid.

 

[Robbie]

To end thorpe arguments, it is having a reduced number of visitors, but they are still getting lots of people, here were the queues for yesterday

I admire your data collecting skills, but I think an average queue time comparison between this year and previous years would be more helpful. It would certainly put things in context.

 

[Serena]

Hang on, this graph doesn't account for good ol one train operations. I wouldn't be surprised if those longer waits for The Swarm and Colossus were due to only running one train. A park can be dead but still have long queues if they're operating coasters like that.

I'd also put money on that being the case for Vampire's 90min queue at Chessington too.

 

[Darren B]

Serena, I think you need to demonstrate with your own graph. I'm sure everyone else agrees

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Thorpe have apparently been running two trains on things apart from when they're unavailable...

Vampire is just poor operations and a lack of an alternative major attraction at the park...

 

[Rankle07]

Only one way to be clear about how busy the park is, having the admission numbers.

As one or two have said here. AT won't be dead for long. If i wasn't moving house and busy at work, I would be looking at going now after seeing this.

I usually stay clear of theme parks on school holidays and most weekends. Really surprising.

Just to edit my post.

After looking back at the pictures that the Daily Mail has posted, they could have been very selective. Looking at the shadows, most could quite easily of been taken at the start of the day or at the end of the day when guest numbers are not at there highest.

 

[gavin]

^ There's no "could" when it comes to the selection of pictures. Pictures for a news story will ALWAYS be chosen to suit the angle of the story.

Also, the story makes it clear the times of day the pictures have been taken: mostly around the 10/11 am period.

I agree that the real information will come out in around 10 months when that annual theme park attendance report comes out. There's no question that the numbers absolutely will show a drop for Alton Towers over last year. There has to be.

 

[Brookes]

I went to Thorpe on Tuesday last week, they were running 2 trains on all the major rides (apart from Saw obviously) and none of the roller coasters could maintain a queue of more than 5 minutes. They were even letting you get off Stealth and jump on the train in front if there was nobody in the bay. The only thing we queued significantly for was Tidal Wave, which was only running 1 boat.

I then went to Towers on Wednesday which seemed even emptier. Nemesis was on 1 train operation, Air on 1 station, Oblivion was only loading in the front part of the station and they also took a "shuttle" off because they couldn't fill them. The summer holidays are normally quieter than school trips week, but not that quiet...