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Selected rides opening from 11:00am - Reversed

Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

I must admit, I would much rather see an area, or clust of rides opening at 11am - Say perhaps Dark Forest. It would then tie in with the later opening of Skyride. Or they could run several rides on reduced capacity first thing. As several times I've witnessed severe over staffing of rides this year!
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Like others have said, it seems silly they'd close the rides with a very high popularity.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

I give up tbh. No point protesting any more.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

The inclusion of Air and Thirteen is, quite frankly, unbelievable. Two of their headline rides and some of the most popular attractions in the park. Air generally has the longest queue in the park! Things like Battle Galleons on the other hand is pretty logical as no-one ever goes on it anyway.

The fact that Alton Towers is unable to fully function as a theme park even for it's already short opening hours is nothing short of embarrassing. These cuts are hugely damaging to the park's image and are completely at odds with the premium product they promote (and more crucially price) themselves as.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Most of us on here have annual passes or have visited Alton Towers so many times, this wont be a problem. However if youre Joe Bloggs who is on their yearly visit and has paid full price and you go to get on a ride only to be told it doesnt open until 11am, your going to be slightly peeved off. Especially as if you go back to the said ride after 11am to find a big queue and staff selling fastrack at the entrance.... :mad:

Most parks close entire areas until a certain time, but only on off peak days, but if this is year round, this is going to leave a bad taste in the eyes of their customers.

Our company is in the same vicious cycle, not making enough money, so cut staff. However cutting staff, is making our customers unhappy, they then go somewhere else, so we dont make enough money, so we cut more staff. And so on and so forth.

Keep customers happy = return customers....
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Opening a selected area or areas at 11 am would have made so much more sense. It would mean that people could still enjoy all park areas with all rides open and make the planning of peoples days so much easier. I can already see what will happen, people will go on Nemesis/Rita at around 10am and then move on to Air/Thirteen only to be told that they don't open until 11am. They will then have to re-plan their whole day and end up going back on themselves unnecessarily.

:)
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

I don't think Merlin get the point do they?

How on earth could they close Air and TH13TEEN?
Rita's queues will be even worse because of this.

Maybe close some of the other rides until 11am, such as the water rides because hardly anyone wants to go on them straight away, as well as Duel, because people usually head to Nemesis instead!

I do not see the point in all of these cuts.
Merlin must be in serious trouble now, but to solve this, why don't they sell some of their other attractions that don't get so many visitors compared to others?

Surely this would be better, both for Merlin and the other parks. Merlin would have more money, and wouldn't have to make cuts, and the other attractions, if a buyer is found would receive more funding as it would be focused upon. Of course, if a buyer isn't found, then Merlin would have to keep the attractions as we wouldn't want any going to waste!
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Why not open X-Sector later? Its still got a headline attraction if they must close one (and goodness knows the logic behind that) - and its mostly a construction site atm anyway, also when oblivion does open its a right throughput beast.

But 13 is still their newest coaster, im not a massive fan but Im so dissapointed with this decision - I think it shows Altons complete lack of faith in their own ride. So much for it being the ultimate rollercoaster - its that good, they cant even open if for the full day.

--
At the moment DF and FV are the two places most people head to on arrival, this is going to have a massive impact early on in a guests day and make an awful first impression. Then people cant organise their day without doubling back on themselves - thank goodness the sky ride now opens every day to help them navigate altons flawed ride openings.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

This is absolutely infuriating. If people are willing to support a decision to have some rides open as little as five hours per day, and often on reduced service/trains...well I just can't understand how anyone could support that unless they are a Merlin accountant.

This is all about profit margins, they don't HAVE to do it. The way they choose to make savings is ultimately self-defeating, and will prove so in the long term. SW7 had better be truly world class or the park will continue to destroy itself.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

It's disappointing that Merlin force these cuts in the first place. The Merlin attractions should be able to make their savings from the buying power that Merlin has when its comes to buying stock.

Cutting ride time and opening times is just not what you expect of a company that is "Second" to Disney.

I would of thought with the background of the people working for Merlin, they would want Alton Towers to be thier flagship product.

Sadly, it seems they want to make as much quick money as possible, and not worry about the quality they are offering.

As much as I want Alton Towers to be fantastic, under Merlin's leadership I doubt they have the desire to build a flagship product, and hope non merlin parks in the UK can take advantage of what Merlin are doing.

Maybe when there is some decent competition to Alton Towers Merlin will change how they operate.

Ian
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Th13teen and Air?

Why not Submission, Enterprise, Blade and Ripsaw to open late?

Would make a lot more sense...
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Yeah, X-Sector would have been a much better option compared to Air & Th13teen. It would also be really easy to communicate aswell. The simple addition of a barrier of some sort with a large sign on it at the entrance to X-Sector saying "Ssssshh! X-Sector's still sleeping and will wake up at 11am!".
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Hmm. While I'm understanding of the reasons, the fact they've chosen Air and Th13teen seems a little odd?

I can only think its due to costs of not only running the rides, but staffing them - Th13teen must have *counts* possibly 7 staff on site at any time. Air must have *counts* 9?

There again, Oblivion operates with 5 or 6 on double station, so why not just open that at 11 and disperse the crowds elsewhere around the rest of the open park?

Alas, we shall never know...
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

They probably don't want to close X-Sector until 11am as it is probably something they would not want to take forward into 2013 with SW7 opening. However they can take the current late openings into 2013 without disrupting SW7 in any way. Saying that, Verbolten as BGW doesn't open until 11am!

:)
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Ok so lets get the list right:

First it was trying to close Submission and Enterprise all season

THEN
Trying to close Sky Ride on non peak days

NOW
Late openings for a random mix of rides including 2 headline attractions.

--

I think I cant even be bothered to fight anymore. Merlin really do not give a damn about the park or its guests. If they back down over this something else will pop up in a few weeks, like only using half the LEDs in duel, or only using half the speakers in the resort.
I just feel sorry for the management and staff at Alton who will once again get bogged down with complaints and abuse over something they cant control.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

So Mr. Crabbe, please tell us what the next COMMERCIAL IMPERATIVE will be. Charging vehicles to park based on the number of passengers?
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

I actually don't think this is that bad a decision. After the previous proposed cuts this seems like a happy middle-ground. Most general visitors don't arrive untill the 10.30 - 11am timeframe and they wont be too affected by it. I completely agree with most of you that they would have been better suited to closing specific areas such as Dark Forrest or X-Sector.

It's a shame that the park, and indeed the other Merlin parks are facing such cuts. Hopefully they won't continue into the next few seasons and that they don't get any more severe. :(
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Th13teen and Air are the last two rides people get to which ever direction a guest takes when entering the park. I imagine that is why they have chosen these two coasters.

I actually understand the reasons behind this, the whole industry is struggling and i have never seen such a quiet season, i don't think Towers will be keen on doing this but they do have to balance the books. Think a few better selections could have been made though!

God i hope next season the guests come back
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Out of interest, what happens with regards to staffing? I know the ride now doesn't open for the first hour but are the staff who are due to work on that ride on a certain day now getting their hours reduced? :(
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

I know it was mentioned earlier in the thread but the way the park open rides this year in terms of ERT and the new 11am openings is AWFUL. I know they want people spread across the park but closing rides in areas where others are open makes the closures more noticeable. It also makes it very difficult to plan and make best use of your time as you are constantly moving around all over the place! :-\
 
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