Quick question, is there any talk of tearing down Alpengeist in a couple years, or alternatively, are they planning a renovation? I think it might have been mentioned in the “Whispers” article a month back.
Alpengeist
- Thread starter Zachary
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Alpie's condition is far from dire right now, but there have been ideas considered internally for a Nessie-style partial retracting alongside notable thematic updates. No reason to think any decisions have been made thus far, but eventually the time will come for the park to decide whether to reinvest or cut their losses.
While this has generally been one of my personal favorites in the park, I could certainly understand if the park went a different direction ride wise. Alpengeist just doesn't seem to have the broad appeal of other rides in the park, and the area is noticeably less busy than other parts.
Alpengeist plaza gets a shit ton of foot traffic? It's right in the circle and a connecting point to 2 big areas depending which way you go when you get in the park. It's not off to the side anywhere. Now sure not many ride it vs other stuff. I see like 30+ people on a average day sitting in the plaza waiting on friends to get off.
Kevin was asked about a retrack the last meeting and he said it's not a focus any time soon. Kinda shrugged it almost like "no, it's not even worth talking about because were not even close to that point" is how i took it. This day in age though it could just be a cover because who actually knows.
While the foot traffic part is true, the ride itself can be rather intimidating due to the sheer volume of that ride’s roar when its flies by, the loud lift, and being an invert. Think of it this way—Pantherian is super intimidating and an intense ride, but even with it being easy to access and getting a pretty moderate amount of foot traffic, it’s line is not usually long. It’s a similar situation here, just with it not being a dead-end in the park. Like Pantherian has gotten a reputation as an intense ride at KD, Alpie is the same for BGW.
The level of prestige alpie has is quite high for a 30 year old coaster. It was the tallest of it's kind for a long time and it still rips like it. Although Banshee holds the records today, I've generally seen Alpengeist as the preferred of the two. The sheer speed it carries is unmatched among inverts, giving the layout a very different feel.
The ride itself is great, but I can totally understand why it doesn't get the ridership of other rides in the park. In my view given the guest demographics, the park would do probably do better with a little less intense ride that can attract the masses.
Rough week for Alpie, was testing at 10 on Monday but they turned the ride off and closed it for the day. It was on and off Tuesday, and is now closed today.
I'm pretty sure Alpengeist is scheduled to close on Mondays and Wednesdays for staffing reasons. Tempesto is also on that list of rides to close for staffing reasons.
Coasters going dark weekly for staffing is bonkers and completely unacceptable. WTF. I really hope that's not true.
That being said, if it's true, BGW needs to disclose this info.
That being said, if it's true, BGW needs to disclose this info.
Have you seen what BGW pays their staff? It’s 100% believable. Especially as someone who used to work there, I’m not surprised in the least.
I wouldn't assume the idea that they don't have enough staff is bullshit @MrBradferd. BGW is a massively uncompetitive employer on pay, benefits, hours, morale, etc.
United Parks obviously needs to combat the low staffing by increasing employee compensation, benefits, satisfaction, etc, but they won't unless FORCED by the customer base. Best thing we can do is to leave as much feedback as possible re: attraction closures.
United Parks obviously needs to combat the low staffing by increasing employee compensation, benefits, satisfaction, etc, but they won't unless FORCED by the customer base. Best thing we can do is to leave as much feedback as possible re: attraction closures.
Im js BS in general. Low staffing in the summer shouldn't happen
Part of the problem here is a large variety of issues—however two things come to mind from when I was there—obscenely low pay for the work, and blatant favoritism from supervisors. I’ve seen a few people be denied assistant supervisor despite being more than qualified, because the management was playing favorites. Zachary knows more about that but I’m not disclosing any extra about it. Regarding the pay, literally everyone just up the road—McDonalds, Wendy’s, Subway, etc pays more, and is indoors. Why would people choose to work for minimum wage in a mostly outdoor position at a place that doesn’t give two shits about their employees, when they had indoor alternatives that also pay much better?
I agree, however with the way the United Parks loves to control literally every single aspect of the park’s operations down to staff budgets, pay, and more, here we are. The reason for the low pay rates? Corporate. The reason for skeleton crews? Corporate. The reason prices in general are insane? Corporate.
Corporate doesn’t give a shit about us, they want as much profit as legally possible. I could share more about their ways but I’d rather not get in trouble, so I’m going to leave it at that.
Dang, looks like via the app it’s down for the day. Was looking forward to riding it again after 3 and a half years. Oh well.
Saw some guys inspecting Alpie, it was a crane up on the cobra roll.
Yea i saw that, i wonder if thats actually normal maintenance or what