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2014: General Discussion

To be fair I have also heard that it is going to be 6pm. Just seems strange that the website says 5pm.

:)
 
Looks like it has been updated on the official site. Showing 6pm close between 24th May and 1st June.
 
Whilst from a guest perspective its great to see them extend the hours, I totally understand why they are reluctant to do so sometimes. From a management perspective, making the call for an extension means that you are going to go way over budget for that particular day… add up all the staff that need paying an extra hour and the running costs of rides, and it wouldn't be a small amount. Not to mention forcing staff to stay later than they anticipated is not going to make you very popular, especially if they have already scheduled other commitments around their shift. Bear in mind that Alton is in the middle of nowhere so in extending someone, that member of staff may have missed their only bus home and be stuck, or be severely late for a pre arranged plan that evening.

Its great to see them finally looking out for the guests, and is frustrating when you have a 5PM close on a busy summer day, but extending the park isn't just something you can do on a whim.
 
NF2 said:
Whilst from a guest perspective its great to see them extend the hours, I totally understand why they are reluctant to do so sometimes. From a management perspective, making the call for an extension means that you are going to go way over budget for that particular day… add up all the staff that need paying an extra hour and the running costs of rides, and it wouldn't be a small amount. Not to mention forcing staff to stay later than they anticipated is not going to make you very popular, especially if they have already scheduled other commitments around their shift. Bear in mind that Alton is in the middle of nowhere so in extending someone, that member of staff may have missed their only bus home and be stuck, or be severely late for a pre arranged plan that evening.

Its great to see them finally looking out for the guests, and is frustrating when you have a 5PM close on a busy summer day, but extending the park isn't just something you can do on a whim.
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But it is a theme park. Both Thorpe and Chessie extended their hours over the weekend. You have to be reactive to the circumstances each day. A couple of years ago Towers would have extended until at least 5.30pm on Saturday.

The staff issue has been brought up before. If you choose to work at a theme park you have to expect unpredictable hours. You don't know before the day starts if the ride you are on is going to be walk on or have an hour queue come ride close.

:)
 
Could anyone tell me how busy it's likely to be for may half term and maybe even the summer holidays? :)
 
NF2 said:
Its great to see them finally looking out for the guests, and is frustrating when you have a 5PM close on a busy summer day, but extending the park isn't just something you can do on a whim.
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They can extend close on a whim, and they did over easter (remember random 630pm ride close).

It's just people are scared to extend on the day for some reason, unsure why.

At least most of june is 530 it seems on the website, last year was 5pm with The Smiler bringing in crowds which was just awful.
 
thefatone said:
It's just people are scared to extend on the day for some reason, unsure why.
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Perhaps they have to give the staff notice in advance so they know what time they will be working until.
 
Well if every other theme park in the UK can extend then there is no reason why Alton Towers can't. I think at the weekend LegoLand, Chessie, Thorpe, Drayton and Blackpool all extended. I'm sure it will be in the staff contracts that flexibility is needed.

I really hope CBeebies works well for them and we see more extended hours when the park is busy.
 
After getting into contact with the park about this, I have been told that they are open until 6pm for the whole of may half term but that they haven't updated their website.
I am going to hold them to this as anything before 6pm in school holidays is dire.
 
I forgot to post this last month, but it made me giggle when I was at Towers:

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On one side you have fenced off stairs because they're corroded, dangerous, the general public are idiots, they will fall off and break their legs! But don't worry, just walk around the corner and feel free to walk along the lake edge and fall into it.

I like too how opposite the lethal stairs you can fall down a steep hill into the gardens and hit a wall along your way. Easily resulting in fractured bones. Maybe broken ones if you really run to fall down there quicker, because of course, the general public are idiots.

Oh then you get to fencing around the Towers. Not the whole perimeter is fenced so you can fall into the ditch but walk two feet up and oh no there's a fence stopping you from falling at that point. So I can only walk along the Towers wall for 2 feet and fall to my death but beyond that I can't? Maybe they ran out of fencing budgets up the that point... But the general public are idiots, they will see this two feet of unprotected area and know the right thing to do is walk along it and fall and die!

Because, logic.

Just a light-hearted post before anyone gets their knickers in a twist!
 
500 (crappy) golf balls available if anyone is interested...

I thought the above was strange too, there were groups of lads trying to chuck each other in, no doubt it won't be long before someone falls/is pushed in and yet more fence is erected. hehe erected
 
James, just highlighting areas without fencing will only do things to create fencing.

Would not be surprised if there's fencing on that side soon, especially the more it's highlighted.
 
More fencing is inevitable whether it's mentioned now or not. Give it 2-5 years and I bet the majority of the lake will be fenced, along with every available gap around the Towers and gardens!
 
Yep, there's only going to be more fencing put up over the coming years. I despise H&S at times, if people don't have common sense then that's their problem. At Tripsdrill we all crossed live coaster track and stood between moving theming objects as the train full of unsuspecting guests passed by, now obvioulsy that's an extreme example but it shows the huge contrasts between Germany and the UK.

:)
 
Apologies for the double post. TowersStreet have posted some photos of Towers Street Bar and Grill to Facebook:

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Believe it or not it's meant to open tomorrow! They've had so long to get this done yet it's still not finished the day before it opens. That is poor for a food establishment. I'd imagine the staff will have to work in their tomorrow with very little training in the completed place. I just hope they've got all of the hygiene and standards practices up to scratch as they need to be from day one. Hopefully they will get inspected soon to make sure of it.

I also think it looks somewhat uninspiring but if it is going to be a two phased thing I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

:)
 
I wish phase one included new flooring, it looks so outdated for something they will ironically advertise as "new".
 
Looking at those pictures, what was so bad about the old style of the restaurant?

Yes it was dated but I think it was quite a nice Mediterranean style decor.
 
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