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Little Changes: What would you do?

jon81uk said:
Can't happen until social distancing is no longer needed.
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Agreed, but when they do I hope they keep Ambulant RAP access on Thirteen through the Fast Track entrance and just mix them like Thorpe does. I went that way during Scarefest last year and it was nice being able to use an actual entrance as opposed to the exit.
 
I would like to see the restoration of Early Ride Time to 9am. Pushing it to 9.30am has had no impact on arrival times and has merely served to exacerbate queues at the start of the day.

However, like many things Merlin, now Alton has semi-coped for the past few years with a reduced ERT offer, I doubt they could ever justify returning it back to how it was.

:(
 
Plastic Person said:
The briefly introduced McCain oven chips one can stay in whatever haunted warehouse it's currently banished to, mind.
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I would have thought that any vending machine that produced a lot of heat - i.e. to boil water / cook oven chips - will be banished from the vicinity of any Skyride station. We don't want any fires do we?! (Admittedly, only one of the two Skyride fires was caused by a vending machine).
 
AstroDan said:
I would like to see the restoration of Early Ride Time to 9am. Pushing it to 9.30am has had no impact on arrival times and has merely served to exacerbate queues at the start of the day.

However, like many things Merlin, now Alton has semi-coped for the past few years with a reduced ERT offer, I doubt they could ever justify returning it back to how it was.

:(
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I’ll be surprised if ERT actually comes back once covid ends. A nice saving there.
 
djtruefitt said:
I’ll be surprised if ERT actually comes back once covid ends. A nice saving there.
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Well Disneyworld is making big changes to their EMH too and cutting it to half an hour so there is some kind of worldwide precendence.

The best extra hours I've used was Phantasialand, the one hour for hotel guests to use Taron after park close was fantastic.
 
ERT has been a nice perk, but for the past few years it’s been a bit of a waste. Even when it was an hour there were times when they would simply let anyone in the park to use it, making it not exclusive at all, or the staff wouldn’t check if you were allowed it or not.

I did like last season that the parks entrance opened so early so you could wonder the park and get to rides, however this did mean by 10am all the major rides had big queues, so it would be nice to let guests in early but have some kind of ERT still in place.

In terms of little changes, I think there’s a few clear places which need a good clean, and a regular clean. The Smiler being the main one. The design of the ride and area isn’t great, but that’s no excuse for mouldy walls, peeling paint, etc. I would give the whole ride a bit of TLC, including the marmaliser, which has bits missing or broken.
 
Personally, I think the entrance plaza and Towers Street need a real revamp. The whole entrance feels quite outdated and almost tacky now, which I don't think was helped by the multicoloured painting of the buildings on Towers Street and the monorail station. Not entirely sure that this would class as as "little change" though ;)
 
Isnt the fact the place is still a bit in the past part of its charm when you arrive? Maybe its just me, but the memories over the years come back when walking down Towers Street - probably because much hasnt changed.

If there were going to modernise anything in that area it needs to be the monorail!
 
The thing is, I would prefer it if towers street looked more like it did a few years ago. I feel like the buildings have lost nearly all of their charm by being painted like toyland tours. You can modernise something while still retaining a certain nostalgic charm.
 
Cheap fix...few quid spent on stripping the vinyls off the monorail windows.
Big difference for most punters for peanuts...if it ever reopens.
 
jon81uk said:
The best extra hours I've used was Phantasialand, the one hour for hotel guests to use Taron after park close was fantastic.
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I have to say I don't like it after close. If a park extends hours, you basically end up hanging about for ERT. So, that dinner reservation in the hotel? Those plans for a drink in the bar?

I prefer it in the morning at a fixed time.

EP's and DLP's are about right.

:)
 
AstroDan said:
I have to say I don't like it after close. If a park extends hours, you basically end up hanging about for ERT. So, that dinner reservation in the hotel? Those plans for a drink in the bar?

I prefer it in the morning at a fixed time.

EP's and DLP's are about right.

:)
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True, if the "normal" hours get extended it can be a problem, but does that happen often at parks with evening ERT?

At Disney the hours are fixed and they don't extend on the day, plus most people eat in the parks anyway as they stay for fireworks. I did like having time after that for ERT but Disney parks are kinda different to everywhere else.

At Phantasialand I visited in October so the hours were unlikely to change. But we left the park, collected room keys, dropped bags in the room, went back for Taron ERT and then for dinner at something like 7.30pm which was perfect in the end.

I'm not often a morning person, so any ERT before 9am is unlikely to benefit me!
 
I know what you mean - it can be a bit early at times. When visiting somewhere like EP, I would probably make a point of doing ERT once during the trip.

Either way, the ATR offering needs to go back to 9am. Even 9am is nowhere near as early as some parks open for it - such as EP or DLP (8.15 and 8.00am respectively).
 
Guide books to be sold in the park like they used to I’m sure it’ll be alright in the shops and stalls, would be nice.


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