I don’t think this photo is real. The lift motor is located at the bottom of the lift, not the top. That’s the only thing that jumps out at me though
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Apollo's Chariot
- Thread starter Zachary
- Start date
Just because it's common practice not to divulge anything doesn't make it right. Is it unreasonable that a park should say if the problem is likely to last the entire season or a few weeks?
In most instances yes it is. While the problem may seem straightforward, actually getting the parts, installing them, testing, possibly finding new issues to work through can all throw a "simple fix" out the window. If they thought the two coasters would be down all season I assume they would share that. From what I know they don't expect them to be down all season. But they're not going to provide a timeline. Just like if a ride breaks down throughout the day, they're not going to give you an estimate of when it's going to reopen. There are too many variables at play and it doesn't make sense
That's the problem -- they haven't indicated either and they won't. You happen to know more, but the casual visitor has no clue either way.
I wouldn't expect an accountable timeline or project plan from them, but an indication of severity seems a fair ask.
During the member event last month
Kevin mentioned that both Apollos and Verbolten have mechanical issues that are outside the scope of usual annual maintenance and would need to have parts shipped to the park.
Thanks for that, I had no idea as I don't follow the member events. I assume Kevin is a management person at BG? The help line should have had this info to relay to callers.
And the info an executive gives to a group of hardcore fans at a member event should not be the same information distributed by the call center. The audiences are very different and the specificity of the information these audiences should receive is, likewise, different.
The second you put a specific timeline on unexpected projects, the worse off if can get from a PR perspective. Yes, transparency is a great thing and should be encouraged, but there are levels to it. What Kevin said is perfectly reasonable on the transparency front. If Kevin were to have said, “Apollos Chariot will be open by the end of April”, it puts a solid date on it and people will expect that. Unplanned maintenance is extremely difficult to predict because you are dealing with troubleshooting, shipping parts, bringing in outside contractors, and more. Any one of those items can and often does have delays that add time to a project. If you put a hard date on the project and something completely out of the park’s control like a shipping delay occurs, then the park has effectively lied to guests. The key is to be transparent, but allow for the unexpected.
I agree with you that what he said is reasonable and the lack of date given the circumstance makes sense. This info should have been passed to the help line so everyone who would want to know would benefit. One shouldn't need to visit a fan forum to know the severity of a problem that might affect every visitor.
Explanation from customer service: "This is not merely a scheduled maintenance issue, it is an unexpected repair. It needs parts we do not have on hand and an iterative work process whose timeframe we cannot yet reliably predict. As it continues we will have a better idea of the projected time to completion."
It would be difficult to not be understanding after having that level of detail as well as the most important answer -- why. My 2 cents.
Hey I mean I have reached the status where staff members stop me and ask me if I know what's wrong and when it will open.
I haven’t worked there for 2 years now and I still get asked lmao
That's also something, I forgot they moved the motor to the top because on April 1st nothing makes any goddamn sense
The issue is from a PR perspective is statements like this tend to cause more “panic” and ‘fear’ among park goers than just simply saying it’s closed causes. Trust me I get how disappointing it is to get to the park and to find a ride that’s closed, but sometimes it’s the oversharing that causes problems rather than just not saying anything.
I’ve heard from a friend Apollo is testing today.
I love seeing this thing operate from the parking lot. It's just so fitting of its name being a Chariot. Can't wait to ride for the first time since 2019...
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Verbolten and Pantheon seem perpetually down too. Verbolten is apparently dealing with a significant repair to the drop track.