Alton Towers, Price rises AGAIN!
- Thread starter Dan1989
- Start date
Mark
Strata Poster
roomraider said:
You would be surprised tbh. When I was at MT I was surprised by just how many people who were clearly overseas visitors had things like the Tesco BOGOFs. Besides that a great deal of them had bought their tickets from tour operators like Big Bus and so on. Id say that the percentage of overseas visitors paying full price at our attractions is only marginally higher than that of domestic visitors.
Pierre said:
Indeed. Of course, I know this isn't how Merlin are going about it, but they are overinflating their prices just so that they can then have most people use a BOGOF anyways. Like Joey said, it creates this notion of great value.
For me personally, I think that £25 would be great value and I would happily pay that for a day out in a great place (if that were the standard price). With a standard price of £46 (only £5 cheaper than DLP and that includes both parks btw) which I think it is extortionate, there is no way in hell I would go unless I was using a BOGOF. It works out that IF you only get on each coaster once and nothing else, you are paying £5.85 per coaster. Ordinarily I would say that this idea is ridiculous because you are bound to also get on other rides and so on but in the case of Alton Towers on a not great day, you would be lucky to get on all the coasters in a single day let alone other rides etc.
nealbie
CF Legend
roomraider said:
Again, I agree with Mark.
From experience at Thorpe, foreigners also come with a million BOGOFS from various sources. The only thing I've noticed is they don't fully understand the terms & conditions so you have to explain the best way to get them in cheapest.
I think it naive and somewhat xenophobic to think people in other countries don't do what we do when looking at a holiday and searching the internet for the cheapest deal!
roomraider
Best Topic Starter
That's not quite what I meant. I include us British in this completely. I used Alton towers as the example as that's what we were talking about but I've seen British tourists do exactly the same thing at Terra Mitica and Dream World (Thailand) when deals were available just not written in English.
I will bow to your experience if you've seen lots tourists use them in parks here but In my experience its not always the case and people end up paying these over the top prices without knowing better.
Screaming Coasters
Strata Poster
Well its like how Disneyland Paris lets the parisian locals have some seriously big discounts compared to the brits. Also if you look on the Disney site itself and try to book using euros, its considerably cheaper, but it won't let you proceed without a french postcode.
Most major parks are like this.
Most major parks are like this.
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
^ That's different though - they are arguably offering the discount because those people have to deal with Disney ****.
No matter what the price of anything is, I look for discounts. I expect all parks to have some form of discount available somewhere. Even if the price was £10, I'd expect to find a discount.
I was put off going to Paulton's park because it was £20 and there was no discount anywhere.
That's why high prices with big discounts make more sense than low prices to start with. I'm not fooled if the end result is still an unreasonable price, but £25 for a premium theme park isn't unreasonable. £20 for Paulton's is.
No matter what the price of anything is, I look for discounts. I expect all parks to have some form of discount available somewhere. Even if the price was £10, I'd expect to find a discount.
I was put off going to Paulton's park because it was £20 and there was no discount anywhere.
That's why high prices with big discounts make more sense than low prices to start with. I'm not fooled if the end result is still an unreasonable price, but £25 for a premium theme park isn't unreasonable. £20 for Paulton's is.
Pierre said:
I've just noticed Flamingo Lands on the day ticket price for 2015 and was horrified. It prompted me to look at others and revisit this post...
2015 Prices
Percentage increases based on 2013 prices....
Alton Towers
On the day £50.40 (9.1% increase)
2-6 Days in advance £45.36 (30.1% increase)
7+ Days in advance £37.80 (9.1% increase)
Thorpe Park
On the day £49.99 (9.6% increase)
Advance weekend £29.99 (20% increase)
Advance midweek £24.99 (no change)
Chessington
On the day £46.00 (6.5% increase)
1-4 Days in advance £31.00 (4.3% decrease)
5+ Days in advance £26.00 (19.75% decrease)
Advance tickets have a rainy day guarantee, allowing guests to come back for free if it rains for more than one hour
Drayton
On the day £36.00 (no change)
1-7 Days in advance £25.00 (25% increase)
7+ Days in advance £20.00 (no change)
Flamingo Land
On the day £37.00 (23.3% increase)
Advance £31.00 (14.8% increase)
Annual Pass
2015 Standard Online £169.00 (18.19% increase)
2015 Premium Online £209.00 (18.75% increase)
2015 Standard Online Renewal £129.00 (16.21% increase)
2015 Premium Onlline Renewal £159.00 (16.06% increase)
3Dimensions
Mega Poster
Student tickets for Alton are £25ish, depending where you get them. If you get them from an SU (if you're studying nearby) then that's probably the price you'll pay, but otherwise you'll have to ring the corporate discount number up and quote your NUS card number. Obviously sucks if you aren't a student, but you're more likely to be earning anyway.
Thorpe with my college was about the same price - but that was an organised trip with group discounts (and included travel).
Thorpe with my college was about the same price - but that was an organised trip with group discounts (and included travel).
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
^****, I never realised they did a discounted ticket for students...especially not that much of a discount. I have an NUS card as well. Ahh well, I'll know next time 
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
I would love to know what the average amount each guest pays when you add everything together, including annual pass sales, and divide it by the attendance. It must be less then £20, surely? I bet at Chessie it's barely a tenner..
There is no way ticket sales are their main profit. This is why I've never understood why they don't invest in proper restaurants and stuff and later hours to keep guests for dinner. Chessington are trying with their hotel eateries it seems, lots of signs out. But you need a big sit down coffee place at chessie's entrance like Alton have at the top of towers st and Thorpe have in the dome.
There is no way ticket sales are their main profit. This is why I've never understood why they don't invest in proper restaurants and stuff and later hours to keep guests for dinner. Chessington are trying with their hotel eateries it seems, lots of signs out. But you need a big sit down coffee place at chessie's entrance like Alton have at the top of towers st and Thorpe have in the dome.
3Dimensions
Mega Poster
Jordanovichy said:^****, I never realised they did a discounted ticket for students...especially not that much of a discount. I have an NUS card as well. Ahh well, I'll know next time
But if your students union doesn't have them, you then have to ring the number and it costs quite a bit more than a normal call, still cheaper than booking online though!
llamafarmer
Roller Poster
AT and TP are like Pizza Hut - you're not supposed to pay full price.
You could survive a winter burning all the vouchers they throw at you in newspapers, shops, internet, etc, etc
You could survive a winter burning all the vouchers they throw at you in newspapers, shops, internet, etc, etc
