To think 2 hours queuing times is wrong at Merlin?

[ToBeOrNotToB]

We went to Chessington Howl’oween. The queues for most of the big ticket rides were 2 hours long all day. Some were 90mins. We went on 3 big rides in total. Shouldn’t theme parks limit number of visitors to guarantee better value for money? (It costs over £100 for a family of four to visit).

You can't even blame it being a weekend/half term/special event, last time we went to Alton Towers it was one of the first Wednesdays of the season and the queues were still ridiculous because they had fewer cars running.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach has always been reasonable for getting on loads of rides in a day.

Legally, consumer law would say what did they promise? What do the tickets terms and conditions say?

If adverts said "you can go on all rides with no queuing", that's what needs to happen but they obviously don't.

I have paid for universal studios fast passes, they generally are 15 min waits as very expensive or only available to those staying in 3 expensive hotels. So limited.
Not sure how Alton towers fast passes sell themselves?

@Whatthetrolley And it’s not the price I begrudge so much as the value for money when you’re there. You need to take a day off work and the expectation is for a nice day out with your kids. It’s disappointing when you have to queue for 2 hours plus for every ride. Having said that, I met a lovely lady and her daughter in the queue for one ride and we were like old friends by the end!

We have a ride access pass and merlin passes so go regularly and there is no way I would have gone this week. I’m on the merlin additional needs group on Fb and theres been reports of people queueing an hour in the ride access queue, there is no way my autistic son would cope with that, there are just certain times of year we avoid. Luckily our half term was a week earlier than rest of country so we went to Alton towers the Monday of the previous week and it was fine

Apply for a NIMBUS access card. If your DC have problems with queueing then this card will allow you to bypass the queue.

All the while people are prepared to pay huge amounts for a couple of funfair rides, the theme parks will get away with it.
Much nicer days out to be had for much less money.

@WahineToa That explains why you were a bit savage then possible. You don’t have a need to go to the theme park. If they were managed better, people wouldn’t get so frustrated.

For example, tell people at the beginning of the queue about the new height restriction for the Dragon’s Fury, not after they’ve queued 2 hours. It would protect the staff from backlash. The more I think about this, the more poorly managed I believe the Merlin experience to be. Some of the rides were creaking and some broke down leaving queuing customers irate. They’re running them into the ground.

They are usually running two trains on vampire though, sometimes even three, so one train is loading and ready to go as other is going round, if it went round twice they’d only be able to run one train so queue would be longer.

I went to Blackpool pleasure beach this summer. We spent six hours there. Went on five rides. For the price we paid it would have been better to pay a fiver a ride and then go and do something free. I said to the child I'm not going again but will spring for fast passes for her and a friend when she is old enough to go alone.

The pre-built queue compounds were definitely very much in existence in the 90s.

the thoroughfares stay relatively quiet largely because loads of people are contained in queues at any particular time.

Theres no point though. People are determined to imagine Alton towers was some utopia of short queues even at peak times in the 90s.

And in the 90s people were whinging about how expensive it was and how the queues were ridiculous. And how it wasn’t like that back in their day (which may have been true because the whole big destination rides at theme park things wasn’t necessarily widespread in the UK in the 60s as it was in the 90s - and it’s only become more of a thing since).

In 2050 people will be complaining that it didn’t used to be this way in the 20s. And so on. 🤷🏻‍♀️

That explains why you were a bit savage then possible. You don’t have a need to go to the theme park. If they were managed better, people wouldn’t get so frustrated.

Savage? Really? You do not have a need to go. I went once and not with kids. DH went. I don’t like them! Nobody has a need to go, it’s not a necessity and it’s a luxury at the best of times and especially now. You made a post in AIBU and think someone saying you are is savage? Or did my username trigger that remark? Anyway, you sound super entitled and naive. Don’t go if you don’t like queues!

I went to a Thorpe park ministry of sound night a few years ago, tickets were really cheap compared to normal entry and there was hardly any queuing, got on lots of the big rides multiple times. Made it worth it even though we didn’t stay long for the dancing bit after.

Ive never been on a family day with my kids to any of the big parks as I’m just so put off by the prospect of spending 99% of the day in a queue and spending loads of money to do so.

Went Alton towers last week most queues were over an hour, one was three hours. Evening was better. However I think you are being unreasonable because if people were that bothered by long queues or the price they wouldn’t go so people clearly think it is worth it!

@WahineToa I didn’t even register your username, I will Google it. Harsh. Your tone is harsh for a Sunday morning. Parents of grown up kids got an extra hour lie in.

I was talking to my dc about this the other day. Told them no point going in school holidays and they agreed. Will give them a day off school one time and take them instead so we have half a chance of doing some rides and getting our monies worth!

@DonnaBanana I think it’s likely people went who couldn’t afford it. I’d like to see people get value for money, that’s all.

We go to Southend, barely have to Q, can get a wrist band, it’s brill!

yep! I’m not handing my money to a greedy theme park.

Exactly most rides run two or three carriages and always have. Hence making it impossible for it to go round twice. It certainly couldn't go round at speed without stopping. It would have to stop in the loading station and wait until the appropriate time again. The runaway train (or whatever it changed its name to) used to go round twice as there was only one train.

You really notice a difference with queues on rides that have one "car". So rides like bubble works that are a continuous stream of cars may be long but move quickly. Rides like samurai may look short but take ages to get through due to having one "ride" at a time. Most big coasters including vampire run 2 cars at a minimum. Then add a third if possible on busier days. If they had one car only going round twice the queues would be HUGE even with less people in the park. I once waited about an hour for samurai and it only went round about 4-5 times while I waited. That's a slow ride/queue due to the nature of it.

I haven’t been, but I’ll check it out. Thank you!

Yes!! It's the cheapest and most efficient option. And the rides are quite good

Buy a book for under a tenner, pack a picnic and head out for a walk in the countryside, stop and take turns to read.

WTF?

We went to Legoland twice over the summer (June & Aug) with DS(3) and that wasn’t our experience. I think a lot of queuing can be cut out if you organise your day a bit.

Some rides are extremely popular so if you know you want to go on it then try first thing, lunchtime or right at the end of the day. You don’t have to stand there for 2 hours, you can go on other rides and check back in with the app to see wait times through the day.

We were gobsmacked that people were queuing up for the Skyrider (the dragon shaped that takes you on an high loop above a bit of the park) for over an hour at 2pm. It’s a very short boring ride and had no queue most of the day. I think people were just joining the queue without knowing what it was and assuming it must be good!

Everyone knows that going to an event at a theme park is going to be busy and you have to manage your expectations. If your enjoyment hinges on going on the popular rides, go at a quieter time. The events are for the extras and atmosphere. The decorations, unique shows, special foods and merchandise. If you don’t care about that and just want to fit in the big rides, go a week before/after.

I went in the 80s and 90s and remember queueing 2 hours for the log flume! On nemesis there is an overgrown part of the queue line that is no longer used as queues never get that long anymore

I don’t understand why they can’t all do virtual queuing like Legoland