Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attractions

[marc]

Speaking to people who work at parks they actually think visitors will drop this year due to the Olympics as people are coming here for that and that only. Traffic on the roads will be greater and people just won't bother.

As joey said they would do better just opening weekends until the summer, but this would no doubt effect pass sales etc.

I am more concerned that Alton that is meant to be the best in the uk is having to do this.

 

[Robbie]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

I understand that they need to reduce costs, but the rides they are closing for it make no sense! Both Air and Thirteen always attract a crowd, if they were determined to close one of the main coasters surely oblivion would be the most logical, seeing as it always has the shortest queue.

I would assume Air and Thirteen cost more to run than the other rides, with the long queues being part of the problem as it means a couple more staff members.

 

[Jake]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

I guess they can't really close the park on say, mondays or something because of the whole 'resort' aspect? It wouldn't be good for the hotels, and you'd obviously get people who hadn't read the smallprint turning up and having a bitch fit about the park being closed.

I know Drayton used to close on Mondays (and maybe Tuesdays) in October, and looking at their site they seem to have scrapped it and are now open every day. I wonder if it has something to do with the hotel, or if they've just been doing well in the last few years because of Thomas Land etc...

 

[Robbie]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

I guess they can't really close the park on say, mondays or something because of the whole 'resort' aspect? It wouldn't be good for the hotels, and you'd obviously get people who hadn't read the smallprint turning up and having a bitch fit about the park being closed.

True, but Legoland are closed on quite a few Tuesdays and Wednesdays. But, I guess in Windsor if people turn up to a closed park they can be redirected to another not-too-far away.

 

[Nic]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

^^I thought that, when Drayton is "Open" in the low season, it's actually mostly only the Zoo and Thomas Land. I've got a feeling most (if not all) of the other rides don't open? Unless they've changed it recently? Pretty sure Paultons do the same thing with PPW too.

 

[marc]

True about the hotel thing, but the hotel is open all year even when the parks shut.

 

[Jake]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

True about the hotel thing, but the hotel is open all year even when the parks shut.

Yeah, but it's more common knowledge that theme parks are closed in the winter. It gets more complicated when you start closing on random days in the week. Like, if you'd booked a long weekend and planned on going into the park on Sunday and Monday, and it was closed on Monday, you wouldn't be happy.

I didn't realise Lego closed, that sort of goes against what I'm saying, but yeah, haha.

^^I thought that, when Drayton is "Open" in the low season, it's actually mostly only the Zoo and Thomas Land. I've got a feeling most (if not all) of the other rides don't open? Unless they've changed it recently? Pretty sure Paultons do the same thing with PPW too.

Nah, the whole park is open now for the whole of October.

They do random Thomas Land weekends and stuff in January, February, November and December now, but that's a bonus, as the park never used to be open then anyway.

The Zoo has always been open basically every day all year, but obviously the animals don't go anywhere anyway, and they still need staff in there feeding them and stuff. It's sort of like Supermarkets opening 24 hours - might as well if staff are going to be in there anyway.

Edit - I just checked the site and they don't seem to mention the zoo being open every day anymore, so it might have changed, but they never used to make a massive deal about it anyway...

But yeah, they defo used to spite all the rides on Mondays/Tuesdays in October, and now they don't!

 

[Brookes]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

Stafford Borough Council doesn't have a disabled/pushchair transport system to get from the bottom of Stafford Castle to the top either. Are they seen as discriminating or just "well, it doesn't have one, sometimes life sucks".

I've pushed both wheelchairs and pushchairs around the park. It really isn't the end of the world when the Skyride isn't working. Like, seriously, it's a none issue and I don't know why people are so up in arms about it. If I can manage it and still have a good day, what is the problem?

The two are hardly comparable. And I didn’t say it was the end of the world, but it’ll put people off. The whole “if I can do it so can anyone else” attitude doesn’t really stand up.

Only because the cost saving during off-peak was moaned about so much and rescinded. It's a case of "well done to everyone complaining, you've managed to get Alton to back down on things that would have made little to no impact on quiet days to very few people and instead forced them to make decisions that will now impact everyone on busy days". So, congratulations on the complaining, you've only brought it on yourself due to being selfish about something maybe upsetting you whoring the park for free. Give yourselves a round of applause.

I thought the proposed plans to reduce opening hours were also going to affect peak days as well?

I think opening later in the morning is better than closing earlier. But I think that should be generalised anyway. I'd prefer it if parks year round were 11-7 instead of 10-6, and I'm damn sure most other people would too. And I'm sure the parks would make more from food sales that way, too. But what do I know.

Honestly I’d prefer the earlier opening, and that’s not what they are proposing anyway. Rides are opening later but closing at the same time.

It's POINTLESS having a ride open with like 3 people on it. The opening of certain rides later allows the park to fill up and people to get over to those rides. The ONLY people it sucks for are the full time staff who need the money. NO one else is effected. They aren't doing this on peak days, they aren't compromising your ability to ride everything a sh!tton of times. The parks are dead, that's why they are doing it.

Have you seen Air at 10am? There are certainly a few more than 3 people there waiting to ride.

 

[silenthillXD]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

Ah yes, that would make perfect sense, especially as it would cause queues to build up once they open, encouraging people to buy fast track for them. Sneaky!

 

[Twn114]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

Last time i went to Alton was last August and pretty much all of the rides mentioned that are opening at 11, when i was there, opened at 11. I thought that was normal (after having a long drought of not going Alton) so when i started reading the topic i got a bit confused because it was no different to what i had experienced last year!

 

[Gavin]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

^You're reacting all wrong! You're supposed to be outraged, not just getting on with things and enjoying your day, oblivious to any minor changes, just like the vast majority of park guests would be.

 

[Thekingin64]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

I can see this turning into the anonoying and stupid system that PBB have. Park opens 10, Some rides 10:30, rest: Later until 12

 

[Tomatron]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

A lot of people really don't have a clue how businesses work or how they work in the current economic climate.

 

[furie]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

The whole “if I can do it so can anyone else” attitude doesn’t really stand up.

Nope, not against the mighty "I think but actually have no experience or evidence or anything to back myself up" attitude it doesn't :roll:

Only because the cost saving during off-peak was moaned about so much and rescinded. It's a case of "well done to everyone complaining, you've managed to get Alton to back down on things that would have made little to no impact on quiet days to very few people and instead forced them to make decisions that will now impact everyone on busy days". So, congratulations on the complaining, you've only brought it on yourself due to being selfish about something maybe upsetting you whoring the park for free. Give yourselves a round of applause.

I thought the proposed plans to reduce opening hours were also going to affect peak days as well?

No, the original cost saving measures (closing the Skyride and early park closing) were only for off-peak days. As everyone shouted them down, it's now spread to hit peak days (with the late ride opening) because they didn't make enough early savings in the year.

Last time i went to Alton was last August and pretty much all of the rides mentioned that are opening at 11, when i was there, opened at 11. I thought that was normal (after having a long drought of not going Alton) so when i started reading the topic i got a bit confused because it was no different to what i had experienced last year!

Yep, and the same with the Skyride that quite often never ran off-peak (they just didn't say why) or the idea of closing an empty park early which doesn't affect anyone on park because it's empty and they have more than enough time to do the entire park and multiple re-rides. Or in other words...

^You're reacting all wrong! You're supposed to be outraged, not just getting on with things and enjoying your day, oblivious to any minor changes, just like the vast majority of park guests would be.

 

[furie]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

Double post, but required.

After visiting yesterday (with one first timer and one person who hasn't been for five years (trip report later)), I can firmly say that this change has done the following to the day.

Nothing. It made not even the slightest, tiniest bit of difference to the day. Okay, you had to walk instead of getting the skyride, but often the skyride isn't open first thing anyway. Every (major) ride done by 2:00 p.m. anyway, no waiting for things to open because we just did other rides first. It just didn't make any difference.

Okay, maybe I might have "wanted" to ride Air or whatever first and it limited choice, but in reality, it just has no affect on the day and nobody is sitting around disappointed or complaining.

 

[Ian]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

^ BUT IT'S AN OUTRAGE!!

 

[furie]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

Sorry, yes, actually my life is over. Both this and Pendulum splitting up have completely destroyed my entire life.

 

[Ian]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

Hahaha, just read that the park has scrapped the staggered ride opening hours. Was posted on Towers Times, however much of a reliable source you consider it.

Maybe it's because we were all OUTRAGED!!!

If it's true, then lets face it, a park like Alton Towers was never going to really do such a thing. If anything, I think those who have been OUTRAGED were part of a successful online/viral campaign. I expect there will be several "negative announcements & u-turns" from Alton Towers during the next few months.

Although, they did listen to criticism regarding Sub-Terra so perhaps they do listen. If that's the case, then perhaps as enthusiasts we need to suggest ways for them to cut down on expenditure without pissing people off.

Either way, if what TT reports is true, we can stop being OUTRAGED at this originally irrelevant news.

 

[Martyn B]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

Oh yeah, they'll come up with something else. This all started ages ago with the closures of Submission and Enterprise, that caused OUTRAGE and ever since they've been trying other stuff, and its all casuing OUTRAGE!

 

[T0M]

Re: Alton Towers shorten opening hours of certain attraction

Here's the first rule of big business greed, right on page one.

"A successful tightfisted/penny-pinching/cost-cutting measure must not cause so much of a negative backlash from customers that the effect is financially counterproductive."

Seems that a lot of fat cats are making poor calls at Alton Towers.