Everything is so fragmented these days. I wouldn't be surprised if they had already sought the services of a third-party company to make the deal with Aramark to begin with.
WTF Merlin?
- Thread starter nadroJ
- Start date
LaurenceUK
Roller Poster
You can no longer view the Q times on the AT app unless you are physically in the park. Great way to discourage locals to take a spur of the moment visit to the park. The Chessington and Thorpe app have not followed suit yet
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Fluorineer
Mega Poster
Hey look, they did a Phantasialand. Maybe they haven't gotten the memo where it says that you need the most spectacular theming in the world before you get to act like you actively hate your guests?
Weird timing as i was there on Sunday and wondered if my phone had messed up since.
You can partially bypass it if you go to the map and click on rides or enter a single letter as a search and they'll all come up (if they contain said letter)
EDIT: Actually just click attractions top left and they all come up as before.
JoshC.
Strata Poster
Not that I'm defending this, because it's poor and not difficult to get a 4 or 5 hygiene rating really, but there have been times in the past when other food outlets at Merlin parks have had similarly poor hygiene ratings. The worst I've seen is a 1 I believe.
This is more to say that this isn't an Aramark problem per se, but a general problem which seems to happen when standards slip, or staff turnover is particularly high, or something like that.
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As for the not displaying queue times if you're not on park, that's a fairly common thing for several park apps tbf. It's a bit annoying if you're planning a trip and want to keep an eye on things, or if you're local and want to pop in with an Annual Pass. But that will only affect the minority of people using the app I'd say.
Fluorineer
Mega Poster
Not everything needs to be turned into ****ty democracy. Most people never go to Alton Towers, that doesn't mean that it should be permanently closed. Removing access to queue-times from outside the park is weasly and pathetic.
Personally it's very annoying. Having a disabled child, planning a theme park trip can be challenging at the best of times and gauging what queue times will be like is part of the process so it's disappointing to have that taken away (or attempted to).
Seems slightly duplicitous too, what possible reason could they have for doing it?
@Fluorineer - while I can see how it’s a slight inconvenience; but I’m sure there are reasons behind the changes and it’s not really any of our business to know the in’s and out’s of every change.
It’s also worth noting, if you haven’t updated the app this week you can still see the queue times.
It’s also worth noting, if you haven’t updated the app this week you can still see the queue times.
emoo
Hyper Poster
It's already been pointed out that you can check queue times in other ways.
This has a history of queue times and park capacity of many key locations so can provide a better prediction than just eyeballing the current situation that could change in an instant.
witchfinder
Giga Poster
Or has already been stated, you can ignore the battery-draining app completely and go to this low-drain, quick-loading webpage 
queue-times.com
Alton Towers live queue times
Live queue times for all rides at Alton Towers, updated directly from the park. Find the longest and shortest queues here, instantly.
queue-times.com
Chris Brown
Mr CoasterForce 2016
I dont get the hate on this one. Oktoberfest events outside of parks are very popular, with similar pricing if not worse. My local Southampton one easily sells out a friday, saturday and sunday and has done for the last few years, they serve overpriced beer and bratwursts, put on an oompah band and people lap it up (me included). The fact that its hosted within the park with the rides are closed is irrelevant, its not aimed at people that want to ride rides, its aimed at people that want to sit in a tent and drink. It could be in a huge tent 2 mins from Thorpe Park in Staines and people wouldnt blink an eye but the second its within the park its a crime that the rides aren't open. I appreciate that traditional Oktoberfest in Munich incorporates rides but the popular UK Oktoberfest events dont, and they serve as the blueprint for this.
Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
100% agree with you.
This kind of Oktoberfest event is clearly NOT for the likes of @Nemesis_Inferno from Twitter, and that's ok. They'd do well to simply recognise and accept that, rather than whining about it on social media.
The 'drunks' probably don't want them there anyway, they don't seem like they'd be much fun at a party.
toofpikk
Hyper Poster
By theme parks very nature though, this feels odd.
You used to be able to do summer nights which were like 3-4 hours extra ride time for an extra £5-10.
Surely if the GP hear there's an oktoberfest happening at a theme park, the images that are thrown up are of the oktoberfests in europe, where the environment is enclosed in fair ground rides and attractions.
Personally, I wouldn't go to a theme park for events where there are no attractions available because I'd simply rather go to nicer places.
You used to be able to do summer nights which were like 3-4 hours extra ride time for an extra £5-10.
Surely if the GP hear there's an oktoberfest happening at a theme park, the images that are thrown up are of the oktoberfests in europe, where the environment is enclosed in fair ground rides and attractions.
Personally, I wouldn't go to a theme park for events where there are no attractions available because I'd simply rather go to nicer places.
Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
Isn't that the point though? It's after hours, well after park closing, you don't have to go, even if you're on park that day, and likewise you don't have to be on park to attend. It's just a case of the park diversifying and using their land to try other things.
Nobody bats an eye lid when a farm puts on a Halloween event.
Nobody cares when stately homes or race tracks host music festivals.
How about pubs having Christmas fairs?
Reactions to this stink of thoosie entitlement, like "I'm just salty there'll be people on park, but I don't get to ride the coasters for longer."
toofpikk
Hyper Poster
Isn't that the point though? It's after hours, well after park closing, you don't have to go, even if you're on park that day, and likewise you don't have to be on park to attend. It's just a case of the park diversifying and using their land to try other things.
Nobody bats an eye lid when a farm puts on a Halloween event.
Nobody cares when stately homes or race tracks host music festivals.
How about pubs having Christmas fairs?
Reactions to this stink of thoosie entitlement, like "I'm just salty there'll be people on park, but I don't get to ride the coasters for longer."
I vehemently disagree with you.
Totally hear your points about locations and land being diversified in it's use; all for that. But again, as I stated in my previous sentence to the one you highlighted, Oktoberfest at a theme park conjures up images of steins of beer, pretzels, and rollercoasters zooming round in the background.
Previous beyond-open hours events, including summer nights as I previously mentioned, and Ministry of Sound nights have seen at least a limited ride lineup open throughout the event. It seems like a total no brainer to me to do this?
Of course, this is a personal perspective and I wouldn't expect everyone to imagine the same thing as me, I just think considering the history of events held at Thorpe with open attractions, why of all events would oktoberfest be the one that they decide not to have any. Thorpe is my local park yet I haven't been in years; I'm pretty certain if I told my mates about this event and mentioned even in passing that the rides wouldn't be open, they'd laugh in my face and just say to go to somewhere in central london instead.
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