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Selected rides opening from 11:00am - Reversed

Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

I never said they should drop their prices, however, they shouldn't be putting them up. Especially when park hours are decreasing, the time that rides are running is decreasing, food outlets are decreasing and maintenance of theming and rides (aesthetics, not safety) is still near enough being nonexistent.

Merlin have made people rely on buy one get one free vouchers, so that's now what people expect. If they reduce buy one get one free vouchers then even fewer people will visit. That's just another problem that they've caused themselves. I honestly don't know how they are going to get out of all of this.

:/
 
Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Remains to be seen...

Just arrived, Let's see what today holds!
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Loving this topic, but yea I can see why they would choose to close some of the outlets if the demand is less then you don't need them, however to completely close outlets and shops seems silly, but then perhaps it's to much of a logistical nightmare to say certain ones will open on busy days.

I remember visiting American Adventure back when it was in trouble and this is exactly how they used to operate, cutting open ride times and shops to save cash, if people don't see value for money in a product then it will not sell,
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

With regards to opening hours, let's not forget that they were pretty poor last year, so to reduce them like they have is ridiculous even if it is less than was planned.

A major theme park resort should be open until at least 8/9pm in the summer months. Even last year you felt like you were being short-changed being kicked out at 7pm.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Family of 4 is costing us £99 this year, I don't know wether we should bother.

It seems pointless considering half of the park is closed until 11am, Then closing at 4 is just rediculous.

MERLIN OUT!
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Going to be really awkward now :3 Its normally Air, then Nemmy, then Th13teen then Rita for us, starting at 9 AM, but now I guess we'll have to repeat on ourselves
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Maya said:
Going to be really awkward now :3 Its normally Air, then Nemmy, then Th13teen then Rita for us, starting at 9 AM, but now I guess we'll have to repeat on ourselves
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Pro-tip: RMT is great during ERT! Almost guaranteed three laps minimum! :D
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

I usually do Rita during ERT anyway. At least be thankful they didn't cut Nemesis ERT.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Spark said:
Loving this topic, but yea I can see why they would choose to close some of the outlets if the demand is less then you don't need them, however to completely close outlets and shops seems silly, but then perhaps it's to much of a logistical nightmare to say certain ones will open on busy days.
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I doubt its logistics so much as that the savings would not be anything like as good to keep these units on 'standby'. If the units are left on standby they would still require fridges and alike to be on and stocked, a level of cleanliness to be maintained, inspections to be done and stock rotated.

It is much more cost effective to mothball them, as none of the above then applies they can just close them up and walk away until such time as they feel it would be cost effective to reopen the units.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Yea I didn't think of the other side of keeping them on stand by. I suppose they can always wheel out the carts if it gets busy to gain a few extra pounds lol
 
Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Rick said:
the things you mention are short term solutions to what may or may not be a long term problem.
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This is unfortunately typical Merlin. All of their plans are short term with no real long term thinking. The longer their short term plans go on, the worse the situations seem to get...
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Personally the closed outlets do not bother me, as I never use them.

However, it does not look good for guests, it reminds me more of a town centre (just come to Newport and look at the high street!) with buildings bordered up or closed. It does not leave a lasting impression.

The key problem Alton may face is that they will have more guests using the restaurants, and this will cause longer queues to eat and so on. It will also affect guests that use these outlets for a quick snack or a quick meal to eat - as the offerings of 'quick eat' outlets are narrowed down the customer will not have much of a choice food wise.

I doubt stock orders on park would be any smaller though would they? The same amount of guests will still visit so the average food bought by each guest will still be purchased either way, closed outlets or no closed outlets.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

I was thinking of splashing out on this years visit and doing a restaurant instead of a fast food unit. as it my daughter first time to the towers. but after reading this, I think it will be a packed lunch.

If this sort of thing carries on it may be her last.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

interestingly Ive just been writing about places to eat as a family:

I suggest:
Explorers Pizza and Pasta in Katanga Canyon - its a set price all you can eat buffet, good if you are especially hungry.
Fried Chicken Co in X Sector - similar to KFC in price and better quality.
Corner Coffee on Towers Street - fresh pastries, pasties and sandwiches.

The bottom 2 are relatively cheap too, infact cheaper than the Burger Kings in park and alot better quality. And lets not forget picnics are welcome at Alton Towers and there are several nice places to eat them.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

The Psychoaster said:
WillPS said:
Alton Towers continues to hack itself to death, I see.

Just as with the planned Enterprise/Submission closure, it's blatantly obvious that this is about the bottom line - however in this case it's not as if they have an excuse to opportunistically hide behind, they've simply whacked up a spreadsheet and cut down the most expensive-to-run rides. I don't know which is more telling, frankly!

Same thing applies, anyway. Customers aren't stupid. The reason visitor numbers are dropping is because people have had enough of feeling like they've been ripped off. Cutting attraction availability at the start of their busiest period in the season will not resonate well.

Even if you're minded to blame the economy entirely for the slow-down, those who are visiting now wont forget this and when they do have spare pennies again they'll be more likely to stick them together and go elsewhere.
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I really don't agree with you. PBB operates several of their rollercoasters after 11am including their most popular one, and to my knowledge it hasn't really affected the visitor numbers whatsoever. The situation at AT is completely different, only two of the major coasters are closed and they are in completely different areas meaning it would be unlikely for the majority of people to have ridden them both before 11am anyway. As well as this, I severely doubt that people looking to visit AT will see the website and go "well, we won't be going today or ever again for that matter, because we'll get an hours less riding time on Air and Thirteen!"

It will be of limited impact, if any on the numbers of visitors.
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I disagree strongly. Pleasure Beach Blackpool has historically opened their rides later and closed much later. The latter has gone and opening has been dragged back - actually I'd prefer to see PBB opening later and closing a bit later, it's a different park with different (read: 100000000 x better) transport connections and an enormous resort population within walking distance, but ho hum.

Alton Towers is a totally different proposition, and the idea that the last two Secret Weapon rollercoasters are unavailable for the first two hours is, in my view, unacceptable.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Exactly, Alton Towers is a destination park that people will get up early and travel to for the day. PBB is part of a destination, and is simply an attraction people visit whilst in Blackpool. They will have a leisurely morning and there will be no pressure for them to get there early or even go if they don't want to. Therefore it is OK for them to open rides later, and they always have! Another thing they have is clear opening times posted at each ride. Alton Towers do not have these and people do arrive early. They cannot simply go back the next day of their holiday unless they stay in a hotel. So are keen to get everything done on their one day! :)
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Just thought I'd say, yesterday on what was a quiet Saturday (air had a 5 minute queue at half 2ish), Th13teen had a huge queue waiting for it to open wrapping up to the previous Ug Swinger area, and that was for a 10 opening. I just don't understand how they think they are going to cope, or how guests are going to understand, especially when the park starts getting busier.

The sooner this is rectified the better.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

James6 said:
Just thought I'd say, yesterday on what was a quiet Saturday (air had a 5 minute queue at half 2ish), Th13teen had a huge queue waiting for it to open wrapping up to the previous Ug Swinger area, and that was for a 10 opening. I just don't understand how they think they are going to cope, or how guests are going to understand, especially when the park starts getting busier.

The sooner this is rectified the better.
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Well Thirteen and Rita are the nearest major coasters to the entrance- and so people are likely to flock to there first of all, and this is why their queues are the highest early on. If they close Air, fair enough, because it is the furthest place from the park's entrance, and there are a lot of filler attractions and Nemesis to soak up the queues before Air opens, but Thirteen, there's only Rita. This will lead to huge queues at Rita, early on, as there is no Thirteen to balance it.
 
Selected rides opening from 11:00am

I agree with the above. Th13teen's queue during ERT waiting for ride opening at 10 has generally been very big this season. Although to be honest, Air has also seen quite long queues forming just before 10 as well. It's the dark forest that will suffer here though. Rita gets long queues as it is, and with absolutely ZERO other attractions to soak up the queues until 11 - it'll be chaos.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

With them keeping Air and Th13teen closed till 11 due to what we think are higher running costs then surely it smacks in the face of everyone if they are building another "worlds first" does it mean this will open at 11 because they can't afford to run it?

Don't build them if you can't afford to run them!!!
 
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