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2017: General Discussion

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Going to be at the park next week ( as a leader) with a group of Scouts, the que times app today is showing 5 mins for Air/Galactica, Spinball 10 mins for the Smiller, 20 for Oblivion ( this has almost been walk on when I've been in the past) and Rita 25mins
 
bluesonichd said:
So Towers ruins are closed from tomorrow for scarcest preps. :rolleyes: It gets earlier and earlier.
Plus what's to prep. Mine tours was never taken down. It's all ready to go and will be running for the Scarecon event in 2weeks. o_O
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Wait, what? Last time I was there they still hadn't reopened from last year's event.
 
£5 for an annual passholder to reserve a spot seems reasonable. If it was free or £1 then many people would sign up to reserve and then potentially change their mind if it was raining etc, or book both Saturday and Sunday then only go one of the days. AT would then be turning people away who want to pay on the gate as they are waiting for those with booked tickets to turn up and its not fair on those day guests to bge turned away only for the AP holder to not actually turn up.

£5 feels like a fair amount to ensure the people who book actually turn up. You have the option of not paying and just arriving early.
 
Jordan said:
For a Saturday in June, it was sad to see the park very quiet today.
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I was in the park Saturday and Sunday and it was quite quiet but not too quiet. For me, it was comfortable. Never been on this weekend in past years before so have nothing to compare it to. But don't forget, schools, colleges and universities are still in the middle of their exam seasons. There was a distinct lack of student-age groups there. I'd expect it to pick up in the next few weeks as they all go there to celebrate finishing exams.

Did notice 2 hen party groups and one stag group there though!
 
It's a joke that they are called Alton "Towers" yet the actual towers are barely open two months now.

A few years ago the towers closed at the end of August, then by March the whole towers were re opened. Now you are lucky if they open in March, when they do open, half of the areas will be closed. Then it's closed in May or June!

As far as I am aware the whole of mine tours is still there, as that section of the towers hasn't opened this year. All of the indoor section of sub species is there, as once again that section hasn't opened either. And the majority of TOTT is also there. There's just the middle and end bit to put up. They didn't even bother taking the boards off the windows this season.

I'm sure it's not entertainments fault, as we all know they got loads of cuts last season (pirate show, park keepers and ATTP all binned off), so they probably have no budget to hire more staff to set up or remove scarefest, which is a shame.

Merlin should remove the "Entertainments" from their title as none of them parks have any form of entertainments now a days like they used to!


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The £5 fee is fine.

Any less, or free, and people would reserve and not show up.

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djtruefitt said:
Merlin should remove the "Entertainments" from their title as none of them parks have any form of entertainments now a days like they used to!
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Merlin did bring back some Ents departments across the parks after they had been all but killed off under previous managements, but never back to their original standard.

Also this is a company that has never truly understood entertainment (the creative or the technical side) and creates a 'have a go' culture that seems to rely purely on personal enthusiasm and stretching tiny budgets as far as they can go, despite the global size of the company.

Even when it was Vardon, they were well known for having very poor idea of professional 'entertainment' standards and maintaining the guest experience. The Dungeons became increasingly dumbed down under their watch, the group was pretty frowned upon by other theme park companies in the UK. Rather than achieve better standards themselves, it seems Merlin realised they could just buy everyone out and then they'd never need to care.
 
djtruefitt said:
As far as I am aware the whole of mine tours is still there, as that section of the towers hasn't opened this year. All of the indoor section of sub species is there, as once again that section hasn't opened either. And the majority of TOTT is also there. There's just the middle and end bit to put up. They didn't even bother taking the boards off the windows this season.
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Yup Mine Tours is indeed still all sat in situ as it's being offered out for Scarecon at the end of the month.
 
Looking at their theme parks, unless you enter CBeebies Land there is zero entertainment at Alton Towers.

Thorpe Park has zero entertainment. (And I don't count two actors on DBGT as entertainment!) or the couple of staff on I'm a celeb when that is open.

Even chessington has replaced their show with a meet and greet this season, and their panda show is now only on during the summer.

Legoland is the only remaining U.K. Park that still has a show where the lake it, and that gets massive crowds, so I don't understand why they don't do more shows like that.


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Yes. legoland has shows and good theming, and guess what it gets massive crowds! ! So surely merlin must understand that is what can help increase footfall and attendance. There's only so much cuts can help. After too many customers will refuse to go due to poor offering and so takings will deteriorate. However no further cuts can be made to rebalance takings because if they do there won't be anything there! ! So a point has to be reached when merlin realise an investment is needed to attract the needed customers.

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Went back to Alton Towers last Sunday for the first time in a couple of years and we got everything done by half three, including multiple rides on The Smiler and Nemesis. It's sad to see the park so quiet even though it's a bonus with no queues. The place is in much need of a couple of shows and some entertainment outside of cbeebies. That will be a good start anyway.

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2017/06/the-terrorists-are-winning-if-alton-towers-is-their-target/

I read this article today on how the recent terrorist attacks has affected attendance, can't imagine that's why people are not visiting, think there's a bigger picture here.
 
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