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Park Hours: Updates and Discussion

I havent been to Alton Towers since 2014 for many of the reasons Pluk mentioned. I would also love to check out Wicker Man but visiting is simply not worth my time (even considering free entry).

However I log on here every day. I havent lost my love for Alton Towers, I've just been put off visiting.
 
I havent been to Alton Towers since 2014 for many of the reasons Pluk mentioned. I would also love to check out Wicker Man but visiting is simply not worth my time (even considering free entry).

However I log on here every day. I havent lost my love for Alton Towers, I've just been put off visiting.

We’re of the same opinion.

We haven’t been up to Alton Towers since The Smilers’ opening year mainly because it doesn’t offer enough rides that parents and kids can go on together (The ridiculous opening hours obviously don’t help).

When Disneyland and Europa Park are so easy to get to, it really makes no sense to drive 3 or 4 hours to Alton Towers.

Don’t get me wrong, we still love the place. They just need to give us a reason to go back in the form of better operations & opening hours, entertainment, and more family attractions.
 
A 15 minute ride close like yesterday seems more insulting than not even extending at all. It's like they know that they needed to extend, but they just couldn't be bothered to do it properly. Who on earth signed that off!?
 
I still visit Alton, but with last years staggered opening times and the current lack of opening hours (as well as last years ill health) I have reduced my visits to the park last year and also this year. As much as I love the rides and the park, I just feel that its a lot of effort to spend half a day at a theme park that has queues that are on average an hour long. A longer day will make it more worthwhile for me.

The other issue with kicking everyone out of the park at 4pm, is the queues of cars that the car park generates upon exit. Opening later would also ease this as people will leave at different times when they are ready to leave as oppose to everyone leaving at the same time.

As everyone has already said, extending yesterday ride closure by 15 mins is a complete insult and beyond believe, you just couldn't make it up :rolleyes:
 
The extra 15 mins is to help those who are constipated and stuck on the loo past 4. After all, I'm sure nick doesn't want to shoot everyone
 
Today is another stunning example of why we didn't renew our season passes and why this is most likely going to be the first year since 1980 I won't have been to Alton Towers.

All rides are at present 55+mins according to ridetimes with what is still down for a 4pm close, hopefully they might stretch it to 16:23 though!

The parks hours are awful, the shortest normal season day at PortAventura being an hour longer that the longest normal season day at Towers. Add to that the park is closed most off peak Wednesdays (my day off midweek) and as mentioned previously a 4pm close dumping you onto the roads and motorways at the worst time it all makes up for not really wanting to try and find a reason to go via holidays/shift swops etc.

*just noticed the above post about 5pm. Towers haven't confirmed via social media or its website that still shows 4pm. Of course it's likely that the time is shown on resort, but even 7 hours at 1hr per ride isn't long imo
 
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We don't even bother with midweek at towers anymore the 4pm opening hours and mediocre weekday oppperations mean you get on so little. Sundays now are our go to- opps are better and you get hours longer on park with similar crowd levels.
 
We don't even bother with midweek at towers anymore the 4pm opening hours and mediocre weekday oppperations mean you get on so little. Sundays now are our go to- opps are better and you get hours longer on park with similar crowd levels.
I disagree with your first sentence. I went midweek back in April and got on everything, with 2 or 3 re-rides on Wicker Man - and that was even with a (self-inflicted) wait by the Dungeons for 20 minutes before our allotted time and the Dungeons taking over an hour because of an evac of the boat section. Operations were not mediocre, they were spot on and just right for such a small amount of people at the park that day. And to be honest, with the amount of people at the park (it was a term time school day) a 4pm close while not ideal, was perfectly adequate.
 
I disagree with your first sentence. I went midweek back in April and got on everything, with 2 or 3 re-rides on Wicker Man - and that was even with a (self-inflicted) wait by the Dungeons for 20 minutes before our allotted time and the Dungeons taking over an hour because of an evac of the boat section. Operations were not mediocre, they were spot on and just right for such a small amount of people at the park that day. And to be honest, with the amount of people at the park (it was a term time school day) a 4pm close while not ideal, was perfectly adequate.

I should say that I haven't done mid week this year, my choice is based off my experiences last year. Things may have improved this season.

On the other hand we did a Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago on the way back from elswhwere and managed most of the coasters in less than two hours including walking.
 
I should say that I haven't done mid week this year, my choice is based off my experiences last year. Things may have improved this season.

On the other hand we did a Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago on the way back from elsewhere and managed most of the coasters in less than two hours including walking.
Yeah from my experience and from watching vlogs so far this season, operations have definitely improved on last year; whether it's different staff, more staff, more training, more motivation and incentives to improve operations who knows, but it is definitely paying off.
 
I know it won’t happen but bringing bag bag hold on smiler, 13 and swarm would help operations a lot.

Slightly off topic as it isn't at Towers, but actually the removal of the baggage hold on Swarm is the only one that made sense to me. The bag drop boxes on the platform are easy to use and faff free, unlike climbing across a whole row of guests on Smiler or walking to the opposite end of the platform on Th13teen.
 
Slightly off topic as it isn't at Towers, but actually the removal of the baggage hold on Swarm is the only one that made sense to me. The bag drop boxes on the platform are easy to use and faff free, unlike climbing across a whole row of guests on Smiler or walking to the opposite end of the platform on Th13teen.
Yep of all the rides that could do with a bag drop swarm is the least needing of one....

Back on topic what's the most time towers have been known to extend? Most I have known is 60 mins
 
I have seen a 90 mins extension.
29th June 2018 was scheduled 10-4 then extended first to 5 then to 5:30 because the park was very busy partially due to the heat wave.
 
I disagree with your first sentence. I went midweek back in April and got on everything, with 2 or 3 re-rides on Wicker Man - and that was even with a (self-inflicted) wait by the Dungeons for 20 minutes before our allotted time and the Dungeons taking over an hour because of an evac of the boat section. Operations were not mediocre, they were spot on and just right for such a small amount of people at the park that day. And to be honest, with the amount of people at the park (it was a term time school day) a 4pm close while not ideal, was perfectly adequate.

I agree with you, I've had some really good midweek days this year. The problem is the recent few weeks, where the park has school trips, the weather is good, longer daylight hours, gate numbers are up, but yet the 4pm closure don't justify this or increase inline with the guest numbers and daylight hours.

I should say that I haven't done mid week this year, my choice is based off my experiences last year. Things may have improved this season.

Anything Alton done this year was an improvement on last years shambles of a park operations. Last year operations and staggered opening times was a complete disaster.
 
I know 4pm at any time of the year is really poor, however it's not too bad if the park is quiet. This week though, with many school trips, it's ridiculous as some queues are an hour or more!
 
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