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Throughput Timings Thread

Apologies for being late, but I just remembered that I had a series of throughput timings to share from my trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach last month. Due to relatively short queues, some of the averages were not as comprehensive as I might usually have liked, but the throughput timings I was able to get were as follows:
  • Avalanche (Theoretical: Unknown on 3 trains) - 266pph (1 train, average of 3, 30th April 2025)
  • Big Dipper (Theoretical: Unknown on 2 trains) - 241pph (1 train, average of 2, 30th April 2025)
  • Big One (Theoretical: 1,700pph on 3 trains) - 361pph (1 train, average of 2, 30th April 2025)
  • Icon (Theoretical: 1,070pph on 3 trains) - 573pph (2 trains, average of 2, 30th April 2025)
  • Steeplechase (Theoretical: Unknown on 3 sides/unknown number of cars per side) - 200pph (2 sides/unknown number of cars, average of 2, 30th April 2025)
If I were to offer a general opinion, operations at Blackpool were definitely somewhat more sluggish than on my last visit in 2019. Every coaster that can run multiple trains was running 1 train with the exception of Icon, which led to some rather slow dispatch times, and even Icon itself was notably slower than in 2019, where I remember it getting 1,000pph on 3 trains.

It wasn’t a major problem for me personally, seeing as I managed 26 rides, but even still, some queues were surprisingly long given that the park wasn’t overly busy; I still waited a solid 30 minutes for an Avalanche reride at one point when the queue was not even out of the station building.
 
I have some throughput timings from my trip to Alton Towers on 26th and 27th July that I’d like to report!

Across the two days, I managed to grab the following throughput timings:
  • Galactica (Theoretical: 1,500pph on 3 trains/2 stations): 1,207pph (3 trains/2 stations, average of 4, 26th July 2025)
  • Nemesis Reborn (Theoretical: 1,400pph on 2 trains): 1,163pph (2 trains, average of 5, 26th July 2025), 1,130pph (2 trains, average of 5, 27th July 2025)
  • Oblivion (Theoretical: 1,900pph on 7 shuttles/2 stations): 787pph (5 shuttles/2 stations, average of 3 dual dispatches, 26th July 2025) (Note: This figure was obtained in a brief moment when the ride did not have a batcher, so the platform staff were having to multitask), 939pph (5 shuttles/2 stations, average of 4 dual dispatches, 26th July 2025), 644pph (4 shuttles/1 station, average of 2, 27th July 2025)
  • Spinball Whizzer (Theoretical: 950pph on 8 cars): 631pph (6 cars, average of 2, 26th July 2025 (Note: While I got relatively few readings for Spinball, I had a longer timing that I accidentally messed up by missing one, and the longer timing had a very similar, if not slightly faster, average; ops seemed pretty consistent on here for the whole time I was in the area)
  • The Smiler (Theoretical: 1,200pph on 5 trains): 882pph (4 trains, average of 10, 26th July 2025), 830pph (4 trains, average of 6, 27th July 2025) (Note: This figure was skewed downwards slightly by one instance of a larger guest who didn’t fit needing to be rechecked and evicted; the average of the other 5 readings was higher)
  • Thirteen (Theoretical: 1,100pph on 3 trains): 1,272pph (3 trains, average of 7, 26th July 2025) (Note: This reading was skewed down by 1 or 2 instances of larger guests needing rechecking, as well as 1 instance where guests lingering from the prior train needed ushering off the exit platform prior to dispatch)
  • Toxicator (Theoretical: 1,200pph): 482pph (average of 3, 27th July 2025)
  • Wicker Man (Theoretical: 952pph on 3 trains): 970pph (3 trains, average of 10, 26th July 2025), 1,080pph (3 trains, average of 6, 26th July 2025), 991pph (3 trains, average of 7, 27th July 2025)
Overall, I thought operations were broadly excellent across the weekend! In terms of a few specific thoughts that stick out to me:
  • After a bit of a slip in efficiency last year, Nemesis seems to have returned to its pre-retrack form in terms of operations; they were brilliant on there all trip, with little to no stacking, and there were staff members hurrying people along on the platform and at batching!
  • It has been a bit inconsistent on some trips in the past, but I have to say that Galactica was doing brilliantly last weekend! They were killing it on 3 trains and 2 stations; I rode it twice and didn’t stack either time, and whenever I was in the station, it seemed very common for there to be a notable gap between a train leaving my station and the train behind re-entering it. The train was frequently slowing down on the lift hill (because the train in front hasn’t cleared the block yet) too. Brilliant!
  • The key throughput highlight of the weekend was probably Thirteen. Given that my 1,272pph average was skewed down by a couple of larger guests needing rechecking, I think it’s fair to say that the Thirteen staff were doing brilliantly! It was on 3 trains, and they were throwing the trains out; when they were on a roll, they were getting dispatch intervals as fast as 50s, and the vast majority of dispatch intervals were under a minute! There was a dispatch where the staff had checked the train so fast that they had to usher the guests still exiting from the previous train off the exit platform to dispatch. Isn’t that awesome? It was like being in Europa Park or Universal! That ride really is a queue muncher when it runs to its full potential!
  • The one bleaker spot on the otherwise excellent throughput picture was Oblivion. When I encountered the ride on Saturday, it was lacking a batcher at one point; that 787pph figure is probably the worst I’ve ever measured on 2 stations, and it was almost solely due to the platform staff having to duck out from the platform to come and batch people at periodic intervals. They did regain a separate batcher later in the day, but even then, the operations were not exactly staggering, with the average still being above 2 minutes between dual dispatches. It was also only running one station on Sunday, which definitely isn’t ideal in the summer holidays. This is the one ride that notably doesn’t quite hit its potential; I think baggage is the key thing that stymies it, as it takes a long time for people to cross those long rows. If it had a baggage hold or fancy cages like Yukon Striker, I think the throughput on Oblivion would go up two-fold.
  • Wicker Man was doing really well as usual, with frequent cases of a train going up the lift hill before the one in front hitting the brake run, but I do think it might now be time to dispense of the compulsory pre-show. I noticed that they were often having to wait for the pre-show to end before they could fill the airgates (the station queue was running out of people before the doors were opening to let a new batch in), which did seem to slow dispatches down in some cases.
Overall, the weekend boasted broadly excellent operations, and no queue was very long at all! It’s weekends like this one that make me disagree with the common consensus that Alton Towers have dreadful operations; I’d argue that figures like these suggest that the park actually do very well on throughputs in general, with most rides running on full capacity and dispatching promptly!
 
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