And finally, Rita is available again. 

And if you guessed that In The Night Garden Magical Boat Ride would be the next ride to break down, well done! 

It's now back open again.

Can we all stop making such a big fuss over rides breaking down!?!?
Ride availability is something out of Alton's control most of the time. If a ride breaks down then so be it. Is a piece of mechanical equipment it can't often be helped!!!

I respectfully disagree that it's 'out of their hands', other parks seem to have much less downtime. The only time I've ever seen a ride down for more than 15 minutes at Europa Park was due to weather conditions. Portaventura (despite their reputation) also seem to get their rides up and running again much quicker than the Merlin parks. 

I believe that Merlin scrimp on preventative maintenance, obviously I can't prove this. Yes, breakdown happen and they should be safely resolved. It just seems to affect Merlin and the way they operate/maintain their rides more.

I do agree with Liam, that this isn't in Alton's control (Merlin are the ones responsible), but a also agree with streetmagix. It's highly likely Merlin won't properly fund preventative maintenance. And they probably don't hire enough ride mechanics to deal with all the frequent breakdowns that happen as a result of that, meaning longer downtime, which pushes up queue times for all of the rides that are actually open. 

It really isn't acceptable. Because Merlin can do something about what is happening. But that will cost them money. Merlin don't want to spend their money. They like their money firmly in their pockets. Safe and sound.

If Merlin are not careful, I worry Alton's reputation will have suffered some serious damage by the time this season is over. Alton Towers do not have enough money to operate the attraction. And it's showing. It's directly negatively affecting guest experience of the attraction. 

Something needs to change. And very very soon, or it will be too late.

Think this is the first time I’ve seen this all year!

AT currently have full ride availability!

I'm spooked... this is such a rare phenomenon.. 

Not only are all the rides currently available, but the queues are not too long either! Things are looking a bit better today.

Looks like I spoke too soon... Wicker Man... unavailable. Again.

The Smiler has yet to open this morning, making the already small pre 11:00 lineup even shorter today.

And TH13TEEN has just reopened, so Towers are back to a full line up today!

According to queue-times Enterprise has been down since Sunday, can anyone confirm?

https://queue-times.com/parks/1/rides/4627

Yep, it's been down since around 3pm on Sunday. I do wonder what's wrong with it though..

Robert.W wrote:

Yep, it's been down since around 3pm on Sunday. I do wonder what's wrong with it though..

Especially as this one of the last flat rides in the park!

At the time of posting: Rita, Thirteen, Galactica, Wicker Man and Battle Galleons are all Unavailable.

It’s somewhat ironic that exactly one month ago they struggled to open the rides due to the cold, and now, on the hottest day of the year so far, the heat may be causing them issues too.

I'm told the issues on park at present are down to a power surge but that's yet to be confirmed.

They seem to be sorting whatever the issues are out as only Wicker Man, Rita and Battle Galleons are unavailable now. 

And Wicker Man is now open again. Just the other two still closed.

They've said on Twitter that they are revalidating tickets, nice of them to be proactive during times like this. Hopefully as an annual pass holder I'll get something but I'm back tomorrow so hopefully everything will be back to normal.

Ride close has also been extended by half an hour to 4:30pm. 

Wickerman down again (along with Rita). Where are you seeing the extended opening times? I've checked Twitter and can't see anything about it

streetmagix wrote:

Wickerman down again (along with Rita). Where are you seeing the extended opening times? I've checked Twitter and can't see anything about it

Ah, they confirmed the extended opening times via a DM on Twitter.
Not good to hear Wicker Man is down again though..

Wicker Man is back running... for now...

...until now. Wicker Man is closed again...

Back at Alton today and have been told that Rita 'is unlikely to open today' by the guy at the entrance.