Alton Towers operating calendar has been edited over the past few days to reflect reduced hours during the summer period. The theme park has often closed earlier this season compared to recent years, as a combination of poor weather and increased financial pressures have taken hold.
In recent years, the park has remained open until 7:00pm during the school summer holiday period, typically from mid/late July to the start of September. However, when the park hours were released for 2012 earlier this year, the resort made the decision to cut this to 6:00pm. This has now been edited further – with the first week of the school break showing mostly 5:00pm ride closes. Only August now is showing as 6:00pm ride close.
A 5:00pm ride close is typical of a quiet day – and with queues in recent weeks frequently reaching up to 1 hour for some of the more popular rides and attractions, it remains to be seen whether this has a negative impact on the guest experience at the theme park. Beyond the summer holidays, the park will close at 4:00pm on the majority of days through September and October – with exception to Scarefest which will remain at 9:00pm.
UK theme parks have traditionally closed considerably earlier than theme parks on the continent – many of which close well into the evening. Merlin Entertainments’ Italian theme park, Gardaland, will close at 11:00pm daily through the July and August holiday period – giving guests up to 6 hours longer to experience the park when compared to Alton Towers. Thorpe Park and Legoland, two of Merlins other UK theme parks, will both close at 7:00pm during the same period. Pleasure Beach Blackpool, another of the UK’s biggest parks, will close at 8:00pm during the summer. All of these other UK theme parks attract less guests annually than Alton Towers.
These developments further underline the financial difficulties which are being experienced by Alton Towers this year – with many other cuts having been trialled and/or reversed since March. You can discuss the park opening hours on our fantastic forum which can be found at the following address:
http://www.towersstreet.com/talk/
