2025: General Discussion

[s_g_k]

Aside from sluggish openings, operations and availability seem much better than last year overall.

 

[Ash]

Can only concur with this and say today was much the same, brilliant day on the park one of my favourites in recent times. Beautiful day, busy enough but a chilled atmosphere around, I think you’d struggle to find many people who were there today who said they’d had a bad day.

The ops were consistently excellent with The Smiler in particular having extraordinarily quick dispatches. Oblivion being on one station was the only ride not operating at full capacity that I noticed. The usual slow start in opening rides up which I can only assume is staff related as once rides got opened they pretty much always stayed open.

Managed Spinball, Mine Train, Curse x2, Toxicator, Galactica, Thirteen, Hex, Smiler, Oblivion, Wicker Man, Nemesis with no wait longer than around 25 minutes - Hex and Toxicator are so great for the park capacity. Left around 4, could’ve got Rita done to complete all the coasters as well as another couple of rides but feet were in pieces so left early but very satisfied.

And yes - Rapids reopened in the afternoon, perfect day for it but sadly a lot of people thought the same and with no official queue time the workers were advising an hour!

As it should be…

 

[AT86]

According to the opening times page, and the booking pages it appears the park is set to be closed on Sunday 7th September.

Given it’s listed in three separate places (on systems that I don’t believe are linked) it seems it’s unlikely that it is an error.

Very unusual for them to close on a weekend mid season, perhaps there is a private hire that was too good an offer to refuse?

 

[Steve74]

RIght at the start of Oktoberfe...oh wait.

 

[karenstreet]

I’d be surprised if Blade goes anytime soon, feels like it still draws a decent crowd. X-Sector does seem the most likely spot though, especially if the food vans don’t show up again this season.

 

[rctneil]

I’d be surprised if Blade goes anytime soon, feels like it still draws a decent crowd. X-Sector does seem the most likely spot though, especially if the food vans don’t show up again this season.

Blade has gone. Food vans are there.

 

[AT86]

Wowzers. Surge pricing has definitely kicked in for the Easter holidays.

 

[That Guy]

And yet the queues seem to have been ok so far. Hoping it stays that way when we are there tomorrow, I checked at the weekend and this week was all £56 for weekdays so they may have sold even more.

 

[siralgenon]

Wowzers. Surge pricing has definitely kicked in for the Easter holidays.

The funny thing is it's not worth half of that. Especially with the likes of Efteling, PortAventura and Phannyland all being cheaper.

 

[s_g_k]

Wowzers. Surge pricing has definitely kicked in for the Easter holidays.

Where are you seeing these prices? I’ve just been on the app and the prices look normal.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Where are you seeing these prices? I’ve just been on the app and the prices look normal.

The idea behind surge pricing, or dynamic pricing, is that they go up and down based on various factors including demand. It's entirely possible that when @AT86 was looking at it, so were plenty of other potential customers with tickets in their basket.

 

[AT86]

Where are you seeing these prices? I’ve just been on the app and the prices look normal.

It’s the same for me too, I get the prices you have posted when looking in the app, and the prices I posted when going via the website.

 

[s_g_k]

The idea behind surge pricing, or dynamic pricing, is that they go up and down based on various factors including demand. It's entirely possible that when @AT86 was looking at it, so were plenty of other potential customers with tickets in their basket.

…but to increase pricing by 60% within an hour of us both looking, and then reduce it back down seems a tad extreme.

I’ve never seen advance tickets advertised at £61, even the day before peak fireworks.

 

[s_g_k]

It’s the same for me too, I get the prices you have posted when looking in the app, and the prices I posted when going via the website.

Strange. Just went on the website and they mirror what I saw on the app!

 

[Smiley]

Brilliant. Charge a lot more. Give people a better experience.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

…but to increase pricing by 60% within an hour of us both looking, and then reduce it back down seems a tad extreme.

I’ve never seen advance tickets advertised at £61, even the day before peak fireworks.

I agree and I can understand the hesitation, but @AT86 has a decent enough track record that I don't believe the screenshot they've posted is doctored.

It's possible that they're factoring in location and device into the price too, as well as sales channel (app vs website).

 

[s_g_k]

I agree and I can understand the hesitation, but @AT86 has a decent enough track record that I don't believe the screenshot they've posted is doctored.

It's possible that they're factoring in location and device into the price too, as well as sales channel (app vs website).

Of course! I’m just quite surprised at the huge swing in pricing. I live in Devon and looked an hour after @AT86’s post so there are clearly different algorithms at work.

 

[Poisson]

Moral of the story is: no matter if it is theme parks, flights, hotels, hire cars etc, always look in something that has no tracking on it.

 

[jon81uk]

…but to increase pricing by 60% within an hour of us both looking, and then reduce it back down seems a tad extreme.

I’ve never seen advance tickets advertised at £61, even the day before peak fireworks.

Its only next day that is £61 (the same as the on the day price).

But yes even the £56 is the most expensive advance tickets for a while.

Wouldn't be a bad thing if they already have sold enough tickets for the park to be fairly busy and they are trying to put people off coming. Keep the queue lengths shorter.

 

[Smiley]

Moral of the story is: no matter if it is theme parks, flights, hotels, hire cars etc, always look in something that has no tracking on it.

I think that used to be a thing. Apart from it being illegal, tracking provides no benefit relating to pricing (eg customers are less likely to purchase if the price has gone up rather than down). More likely some aggressive pricing algorithm (or worse - AI) at work. Let's not forget rogue algorithms have crashed stock markets in recent years!