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2026: General Discussion

It doesn’t make it okay, but I hope and suspect that the staggered openings are a result of the park being open until 8 and being able to manage staff accordingly.
 
AT86 said:
Extrapolate that £600 payroll saving across the season and you are talking somewhere in the region of £140k in savings.

Combine it with the cost saving of only running water rides between May and September and running the monorail for 30mins fewer per day and the savings mount up even more. I can absolutely believe this is due to a concerted effort to reduce costs and not just because of local labour availability.

It comes back to the same thing it has year after year, the operational budgets allocated by Merlin do not appear to be sufficient to run their parks.
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I graciously concede that your arithmetic is flawless (and you make an excellent, well reasoned point regarding the broader operational budget), but I would offer some reasonable pushback regarding the extrapolation of those morning coaster delays.

The £140,000 saving figure relies on the assumption that the staggered openings are a permanent fixture for the entirety of the 200+ day season.

If these 09:30 am park / monorail and 11:00 am ride openings persist into the peak Summer Holidays, I will happily eat a large serving of humble pie, but at this moment, it has all the hallmarks of an early season triage measure.
AT86 said:
Also worth noting that Towers are not currently advertising any ride related roles, suggesting they have everyone they need for the budget allocated.
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The fact that they're not currently advertising doesn't mean they have a full, robust operational roster; it just means that their Spring recruitment drive (which typically launches in January and February) has concluded.

If your newly hired workforce consists primarily of 17 to 21 year olds, they're currently constrained by college timetables, exam revisions and the legal limits on working hours. They might have the exact number of staff "needed for the budget allocated," but if those staff can only legally work a 6 hour shift on a day the park is open for 10.5 hours, the management is forced to open the rides late (or close them early) to make the maths work.

Merlin is certainly guilty of squeezing operational budgets, but I feel that this specific morning mess screams more of logistical desperation rather than a masterstroke of financial engineering. Both can be true, however.
 
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DanJB said:
They also have someone with a megaphone yelling at the queue to have tickets and bags ready to mitigate the mess they’ve made by cutting half an hour of minimum wage. What a welcome!
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How has cutting 30 mins off opening the gates made a mess? Surely the crowds will be there whether it was 9, 9.30 or 10. As for the megaphone, well if people were more organised and prepared at the security tents and not engrossed in their phones up until the last minute then maybe a guy with a megaphone wouldn't be needed!
 
Towers never used to struggle to find staff years ago, the jobs were always fought over.

Pay isn’t high enough, the hours aren’t there for full time staff anymore if you wanted to do it full time, in house transport options from around North and South Stoke have been cut.

If they can’t find the staff which never used to be a problem they only have themselves to blame.
 
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Blackrock said:
Towers never used to struggle to find staff years ago, the jobs were always fought over.

Pay isn’t high enough, the hours are there for full time staff anymore if you wanted to do it full time, in house transport options from around North and South have been cut.

If they can’t find the staff which never used to be a problem they only have themselves to blame.
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We've recently been discussing the specifics over on the "Theme Park Staffing Issues" thread, so I'll direct you to there rather than repeating everything ad nauseam here and further annoying everyone.
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Essentially, the fundamental socio-economic pillars that supported the seasonal leisure industry for the last thirty years have crumbled away.

We're witnessing a perfect storm of five distinct factors, none of which are within the control of a 17 year old looking for a summer job.

1. The Prohibitive Cost of Transport
Theme parks, by their nature (and planning permission constraints), are usually located in the middle of nowhere. Alton Towers is in a forest in Staffordshire. Paultons Park is on the edge of the New Forest. Lightwater Valley is in a field in Yorkshire.

You need to drive to work there, however, driving has become an unattainable luxury for the demographic these parks rely on. The average cost of car insurance for a 17 year old driver is now hovering around £2,500 - £3,000 a year. Driving lessons are £35 - £40 an hour. Used car prices remain inflated.

If you're on minimum wage (£7.55 for under 18s, £10.00 for 18 - 20), you are working the first 300+ hours of your contract just to pay for the privilege of getting to work.

Simultaneously, rural public transport has been decimated. Bus routes that used to funnel locals into these sites have been cut or reduced to frequencies that don't match shift patterns. If you can't drive, and the bus doesn't run, the job effectively doesn't exist.

2. The Education & Skills Act 2008
We often forget that the pool of school leavers entering the workforce at 16 has legally vanished. Since 2015, young people must stay in some form of education or training until they are 18.

The cohort that used to fill these full time seasonal roles are now in college or apprenticeships. They can only work weekends or holidays, drastically reducing the available labour hours. The 18+ demographic, who can work full time, are now looking for "career" jobs or university placements, not seasonal zero hours contracts pushing buttons.

3. The Gig Economy & Remote Work
Why stand in the rain at Thorpe Park being shouted at by guests because Hyperia has stalled again, when you can work in a climate controlled Amazon warehouse, pick your own shifts via an app and earn significantly more? Or better yet, find a remote customer service role you can do from your bedroom?

The "prestige" of working at a theme park doesn't pay the rent, and the alternative options for unskilled labour are now far more comfortable and flexible than they were in 2005.

4. Housing
If you can't recruit locals (because they can't get there), you need to recruit from further afield, but where do they live? The rental market in the UK is broken. A seasonal worker on minimum wage can't afford to rent a flat near Chessington or Windsor. Unless the park provides subsidised accommodation (which most don't, or have sold off), the job is geographically unviable.

5. Brexit
And finally, the self inflicted wound. The UK leisure and hospitality sector, for decades, relied on a steady stream of EU nationals willing to come over for a season, live in shared accommodation, work hard and travel home. They filled the gaps that the local labour market couldn't.

We severed that overnight. We told them they weren't welcome and created a visa system which makes it impossible for them to return for low skilled work. We removed a massive chunk of the flexible workforce and are now acting surprised that there is nobody left to operate the flat rides.

It's structural failure. Until the parks start offering transport, accommodation, or wages that actually cover the cost of living, the shortages will endure.
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People have every right to be moaning on opening weekend. This is a weekend guaranteed to see lots of bloggers and influencers who could promote Alton towers to others, so it’s in the parks interest to get it right this weekend.

Just seeing pictures of the queues this morning and checking queue times just now and how little is open makes me feel I definitely made the right choice not going up this weekend. Especially with the newly announced staggered openings.
 
GaryH said:
People have every right to be moaning on opening weekend. This is a weekend guaranteed to see lots of bloggers and influencers who could promote Alton towers to others, so it’s in the parks interest to get it right this weekend.

Just seeing pictures of the queues this morning and checking queue times just now and how little is open makes me feel I definitely made the right choice not going up this weekend. Especially with the newly announced staggered openings.
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They ended the vlogger loyalty programme thing as well didn’t they so none of them will feel the need or requirement to glaze the park this year.

I can see their feedback being even more negative than that of the general public
 
Steve74 said:
Of course it will, even if its not justified because, well, views and clicks.

According to Towersstreet's X, Wicker Man opened early, I wonder how many vloggers will fail to mention that because it won't fit their negative narrative.

From: https://x.com/TowersStreet/status/2032758923564818710?s=20
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To be honest whether the Vlogers do it for clicks or not the park do not help themselves.

Day 1 after a 4 month closure and the monorail and Skyride are both down, they’ve now turned the rapids into a seasonal ride.

Nobody will ever convince me that a corporation suffers such bad luck that this stuff can’t be dealt with in the closed season - it’s a choice. Either because they don’t want to pay the staff to deal with it over the closed season or because they don’t want to pay the staff to run it at the start of the open season.

Either way for the money people pay it isn’t good enough.
 
Steve74 said:
Of course it will, even if its not justified because, well, views and clicks.

According to Towersstreet's X, Wicker Man opened early, I wonder how many vloggers will fail to mention that because it won't fit their negative narrative.

From: https://x.com/TowersStreet/status/2032758923564818710?s=20
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Speaking of vloggers I’ve seen two today posting pictures of them painting the corkscrew.

They _say_ they were invited by winners/friends who won but the public perception is a bit whiffy
 
GaryH said:
Why does it feel like they are so unprepared so opening day every year. It’s like someone comes and turns on the lights the weekend before then realises half the things are not working!
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Because they don’t want to pay the people that they would need to pay to be prepared.

It really is that simple.
 
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