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Park Hours: Updates and Discussion

Opening hours for 2024 have now been loaded to the website, obviously this far out they may change, but generally the hours posted at this point can be taken as the minimum hours with extensions added closer to the time.

Sadly the dreaded 4pm closes still persist - but mainly only in April and May, also there does seem to be improvements over the 2023 hours. For example every Saturday throughout the season is a min of 6pm close. Every day in July is also listed as 6pm close.

It also appears the 7pm closes during Oktoberfest are back, all Fri, Sat and Sundays are back to 7pm.

It seems the scheduling for Scarefest has been tweaked. Looking at the hours it is likely to run every day from 11th Oct-3rd November.

www.altontowers.com

Opening Times - Theme Park & Waterpark | Alton Towers Resort

Our Theme Park and Waterpark Opening Times vary throughout the year to it's best to plan ahead. Use our calendar to check what time Alton Towers opens.
www.altontowers.com www.altontowers.com
 
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I would say fireworks are 1st,2nd,3rd not scarefest.

Oddly they show 4,5,6 Nov as 4pm closes which is unusual for after the fireworks as they usually shut up shop so to speak on the Sunday of fireworks
 
Mattie boy said:
I would say fireworks are 1st,2nd,3rd not scarefest.

Oddly they show 4,5,6 Nov as 4pm closes which is unusual for after the fireworks
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The Merlin pass exclusion dates being 7-10 Nov are pointing towards Fireworks being a week later next year.

It seems they haven’t released the hours for those dates yet. I would be surprised if the season finished on a random Weds so I think fireworks and the potential move to 4 nights will be confirmed at a later date.
 
That's true as I did check the exclusion dates on passes so that would tie in with the random weds close... hopefully it will be from the Thurs that week for fireworks as all schools are in term then..

However i still don't think SF would run after 31st... has it ever ?
 
Mattie boy said:
That's true as I did check the exclusion dates on passes so that would tie in with the random weds close... hopefully it will be from the Thurs that week for fireworks as all schools are in term then..

However i still don't think SF would run after 31st... has it ever ?
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Yep:

2013

2014

2015

2018
 
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Matt.GC said:
"New Merlin, give them a chance".

4pm closes persist, the earliest close of any park of its size on the planet during main season. Also shorter than the rest of the Merlin estate. Embarrassing
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There's 4 days of fireworks, season is a week longer than this year, all Saturdays in September are 7pm and you still look at the negatives. How many years have people on here moaned about 4pm closes and its never changed. Nothing you can do about it other than not visit on those days
 
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Ethan said:
There's 4 days of fireworks, season is a week longer than this year, all Saturdays in September are 7pm and you still look at the negatives. How many years have people on here moaned about 4pm closes and its never changed. Nothing you can do about it other than not visit on those days
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Well we aasume 4 days of fireworks, yet I must admit scarefest seems to have been streched more if the hours stay as they are so some nice quiet 9pm closes weekdays on the very first scarefest week id take that over a 4pm
 
Are the hours decided by Alton Towers or Merlin? If the latter, it does seem odd that Alton Towers seemingly has shorter hours than the rest of the Merlin estate.

Also, is it a possibility that factors outside of Alton/Merlin's control could be forcing their hand slightly? The current economic period is not particularly great for staffing in roles like the bulk of the ones that Alton Towers offer, and compared to the other Merlin parks, Alton Towers is less well connected by public transport and the like, which could make late opening hours harder logistically.
 
Ethan said:
There's 4 days of fireworks, season is a week longer than this year, all Saturdays in September are 7pm and you still look at the negatives. How many years have people on here moaned about 4pm closes and its never changed. Nothing you can do about it other than not visit on those days
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I thought that under the Noise Abatement Order - a/k/a the "Roper Case" the park were limited to 3 nights of fireworks? Admittedly the case was some years ago, but have not seen anything saying the restriction has been dropped.
 
Still a huge shame July and August isn't later opening its light until around 10pm can't understand why the closing time is do early
 
Matt N said:
Are the hours decided by Alton Towers or Merlin? If the latter, it does seem odd that Alton Towers seemingly has shorter hours than the rest of the Merlin estate.

Also, is it a possibility that factors outside of Alton/Merlin's control could be forcing their hand slightly? The current economic period is not particularly great for staffing in roles like the bulk of the ones that Alton Towers offer, and compared to the other Merlin parks, Alton Towers is less well connected by public transport and the like, which could make late opening hours harder logistically.
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My understanding is Merlin used to give them an operational budget and an expected income against that budget. The various parks could allocate that budget how they saw fit and if they where not meeting the expected income they had to adapt to that.

Obviously things may have changed.
 
Worth mentioning that whilst the other Merlin parks tend to have longer hours, they have midweek closures which Alton haven't had for a few years now. I'm actually not sure which I prefer.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Worth mentioning that whilst the other Merlin parks tend to have longer hours, they have midweek closures which Alton haven't had for a few years now. I'm actually not sure which I prefer.
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For the UK parks (and probably the entire RPG group though I can’t be sure) Towers has the biggest accommodation portfolio so I doubt they are can easily close mid season as it impact holiday bookings. Probably why they go for the 4pm’s based on their budget.

None of this justifies it but it’s sometimes worth understanding the balance the management are working with I suppose.
 
Matt N said:
Also, is it a possibility that factors outside of Alton/Merlin's control could be forcing their hand slightly? The current economic period is not particularly great for staffing in roles like the bulk of the ones that Alton Towers offer, and compared to the other Merlin parks, Alton Towers is less well connected by public transport and the like, which could make late opening hours harder logistically.
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The factor you mention is entirely within Merlin's control. There is absolutely nothing to stop them compensating staff fairly, taking into account local circumstances.
 
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