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Overpriced Food

furie

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dropthefloor93 said:
dropthefloor93 said:
But I blame it on Merlin, food pricing at all their parks suck.


^ Need I say more?

Yes please. What about the pricing at Alton Towers? I've not been to Thorpe for some time, so if you could let me know what their pricing is like now please?

Also, with only Gardaland being a Merlin attraction in Italy, how has that pushed up the cost for the Italian parks.

Your answers are eagerly awaited... ;)
 

T0M

Hyper Poster
Alton Towers increased food by up to 8.5% this year.

£7.50 for a half-pizza meal deal at Pleasure Island and £3.50 for a bacon bun at Lightwater Valley.

Catering is crazy bad at LWV, and it's no good saying they're no worse than anyone else. They excel in most other areas of customer relations, so they should be addressing the food and drink issue without delay.
 

jayjay

Giga Poster
Tom G said:
Catering is crazy bad at LWV, and it's no good saying they're no worse than anyone else. They excel in most other areas of customer relations, so they should be addressing the food and drink issue without delay.
I've heard from relatives that live near Lightwater that there's actually a half decent restaurant outside the park gates (but within the shopping area). I've only eaten in their main food court area, and that was silly expensive.
 

marc

CF Legend
furie said:
dropthefloor93 said:
dropthefloor93 said:
But I blame it on Merlin, food pricing at all their parks suck.


^ Need I say more?

Yes please. What about the pricing at Alton Towers? I've not been to Thorpe for some time, so if you could let me know what their pricing is like now please?

Also, with only Gardaland being a Merlin attraction in Italy, how has that pushed up the cost for the Italian parks.

Your answers are eagerly awaited... ;)

Gardaland was actually cheaper than the other parks, for both food and drinks.
 

Mushroom

Goon of the Year
The marketing guys at LWV do recognise there is a problem with the food, they are looking at different options at the moment
 

dropthefloor93

Hyper Poster
I lost internets due to the hurricane. I've just heard complaints from Alton, but I am farmilliar with the overpricing of other Merlin parks namely Legoland.

Also my girlfriend has often complained about the pricing at Alton and Chessington. Gardaland was just obsurd considering how inexpensive the food in the rest of Italy is.

I don't think Merlin is worse than Six Flags though, Six Flags is probably the worst I've found, especially Great Adv.

I must hand the best pricing to Disney World.
 

Ploddish

Hyper Poster
I was always under the impression that parks used the same pricing model as cinemas - make as much profit on the food you sell because it's not like anyone has anywhere else to go. Captive audience and all that jazz.
 

Robbie

Hyper Poster
Ploddish said:
I was always under the impression that parks used the same pricing model as cinemas - make as much profit on the food you sell because it's not like anyone has anywhere else to go. Captive audience and all that jazz.
That's not entirely why cinemas charge high rates for their food - it's mainly because they make no money on the films and if they didn't push up the price of coke they'd all go bust. But, in that regard, it probably is the same with theme parks.
 

gavin

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DLP is pretty ridiculous. There's a shop right next to the train station that sells "normal priced" sandwiches and bagguettes and stuff, so that's not a bad option at all.

Oppositely, Tokyo Disney isn't bad at all. You know, considering that Japan is "so expensive", it's the best-priced Disney park after Hong Kong. Parks in general over there are way better priced than parks in Europe.

Personally, I can happily skip lunch anyway; I've never seen the point of taking time out to pay for over-priced crap when you can just hold out for a few hours and get something when you leave.
 

Error

Strata Poster
Pretty much all food prices are extremely high so they can make profit. When I worked at CP, I could get some pizza for $1 at the employee area. I think it's more towards $5 in the park.

Only one place that I've bought food was worth the price: Busch Gardens. $15 for a huge meal that was both **** amazing and stuffed me? Hell yes!
 

Martyn B

CF Legend
Dont quite understand why Merlin is getting stick... £8 for Pizza Hut buffet including drinks is actually cheaper than the high street restaurants.

Think its the same price at Alton, but its their in house pizza/pasta buffet. Still very nice though.
 

furie

SBOPD
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Administrator
Moderator
Agreed Martyn, which is why I wanted more justification from Dropthefloor's anti-Merlin outburst.

Apart from Legoland, I find Merlin food prices to be pretty decent value. The quality is good and you'll pay roughly the same as take-away prices from elsewhere, or a little bit more, but you get a better serving.

Plus everyone saying Gardaland was cheaper than the other Italian parks. I'd say that they're pretty much on the ball with their pricing.

Also, while Drayton can be hit and miss, you can get decent food at a decent price. Avoid the Pizza and chicken place like the plague, but the pie shop is brilliant and you get a good meal for about a fiver, and the chip shop is about the same as any other chip-shop price wise and only a little lower in quality.
 

Thekingin64

Strata Poster
^ I do agree about Merlin's food prices actually being quite good. If you go into any of the branded places like KFC or Burger King, the prices are the same as a normal branch of them. The own-brand places are well priced as well.
 

Martyn B

CF Legend
^ I dont think the Burger King prices are the same as a normal branch. I'd say they sit comfortably inbetweeen the high street prices, and the service station prices.
 

dropthefloor93

Hyper Poster
Jer said:
The worst prices for park food have to be a Dorney, $6 for fires, $10 for a cheese steak, and $4 for a 20oz Soda, pass on all of that!

10 For a cheese steak is perfectly normal.
At any normal Subway, a cheese steak runs $8.85
It was like 20 for a CS at SFGreatAdv.
 

Thekingin64

Strata Poster
Martyn B said:
^ I dont think the Burger King prices are the same as a normal branch. I'd say they sit comfortably inbetweeen the high street prices, and the service station prices.

At least the KFC's pries are the same. Don't actually know for the Burger king, I was guessing that it it'd be the same like the KFC is.
 

gavin

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The Merlin pizza/pasta buffet is vile: truly **** ing awful. The price is fine, but the quality is piss poor. I've eaten better pizza and pasta in a school canteen.

There, I said it. I've never understood the love it gets. I've eaten it twice, and twice hated it.
 
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