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Food & Beverage: The Aramark Era begins

The cost of these plans, the complex tiered structure and the number of exclusions and restrictions make it clear that Alton Towers haven't got guest experience at the heart of this and are simply trying to make as much money as possible.

Not only are there extremely specific and complicated rules about what outlets/restaurants one can use, but there are even restrictions on which menu items you can order - and no information about what these are before you commit. I can see this causing a huge amount of confusion and headaches for the staff as they're challenged on what is/isn't included in the dining plan. I also cannot see how these plans save the purchaser much money given what's on offer for each tier.

This is clearly a money-grabbing scheme, pocketing guests' cash well before they realise they've been fleeced for overpriced, poor quality food - by which time it's too late to back out.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
but there are even restrictions on which menu items you can order - and no information about what these are before you commit.
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This is the main issue I think, not knowing exactly what the exclusions are so you could turn up and discover its impossible to break even on the plan.

On face value though I still think the £50 one is fine, £12 at Burger Kitchen, £7 on dougnuts and a drink and £31 in Secret Garden (where most mains are over £20 anyway) is about right, as long as there are no stupid rules that mean you can only get a main for £18 in secret garden for example. Maybe less value if you go to Flambo's and there are (as you say) restrictions at Crooked Spoon (which doesn't make sense when I thought its generally cheaper than Secret Garden!).
 
Are there any plans that includes multiple fast food outlets. If there is not, I wont even consider buying it.

I dont want to sit down at an eat in restaurant, in a park, where your day is already horrendously short. I would much rather be able to go to a few fast food outlets.

The website appears to be down, so I cant check.
 
DistortAMG said:
Are there any plans that includes multiple fast food outlets. If there is not, I wont even consider buying it.

I dont want to sit down at an eat in restaurant, in a park, where your day is already horrendously short. I would much rather be able to go to a few fast food outlets.

The website appears to be down, so I cant check.
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The basic £50 plan is Burger Kitchen or Just Chicken for lunch with the hotel restaurant for dinner (plus doughnuts as a snack)
 
jon81uk said:
The plans are only for hotel guests anyway I think.

As you say, kind of pointless if off-site as you aren’t likely to eat in the hotel restaurant for dinner.
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Oh sorry. I thought these were for park guests. Not exclusively for hotel guests.

Towers website is still down so havent had a chance to take a look.
 
Ash said:
The bridge house pub and hotel


The food is excellent, locally owned business.

5 mins away from the park gates, and you can have a walk down the old railway after.
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Just so you’re aware that’s changed now, I’m not sure if you know. The bridge house is now a Thai place that opens up at weekends (evenings), not 100% sure about the weekdays but it’s very popular as she’s local and the food is good so reservations are a must.

The website is outdated and those times etc don’t reflect what it is right now anyway.

The Talbot however still does all their usual food but gets busy.
 
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£90!! That IS bat-shit crazy, not least because it's supposed to be a "good deal". So basically it's saying if you want to eat at the RCR, have dinner and a snack/drink it's going to cost over £100/day (and that's before wine, etc). It probably will, but I wouldn't advertise it 😏

Perhaps they're gearing up to competing with Universal (or price, at least). Or more likely, creating the UK market for them.
 
Just reading the T&Cs -

2.2
  • Plans must be purchased for the full duration of your stay.
So if I stay for 2 days is that £100 for your base plan or does the £50 cover both days?

3.3
  • Evening meal menus may display symbols or labels indicating which dishes are included in your Dining Plan. Items without these indicators may incur an additional charge. Please speak to a team member if you are unsure.
So they may or may not exclude items from the menus but you won’t know what these are in advance and have to basically take the chance that the pass may or may not save you money.

4.1 and 4.2
  • Restaurant opening times and availability are subject to change without notice.
  • Some outlets may close for operational reasons.
In other words not all restaurants may be open and you may have very limited choice of where to use your voucher. If the place you wanted to eat is closed, tough luck you ain’t getting a refund!

Last bit :

Please note that all packages and offerings are subject to change without prior notice due to operational, seasonal, or unforeseen circumstances. This may include temporary closures of locations, menu changes, or unavailability of certain items or experiences.

So as above, we can close whatever outlets we like, when we like and remove whatever menu items we like and you don’t have any come back on this.

Interestingly it doesn’t say what the exclusions are in either crooked spoon or windmill restaurants.

Seriously who came up with this crazy idea because they are so out of touch with the reviews online over the past two years and how the public really feel about eating in the resort.
 
GaryH said:
Just reading the T&Cs -

2.2
  • Plans must be purchased for the full duration of your stay.
So if I stay for 2 days is that £100 for your base plan or does the £50 cover both days?

3.3
  • Evening meal menus may display symbols or labels indicating which dishes are included in your Dining Plan. Items without these indicators may incur an additional charge. Please speak to a team member if you are unsure.
So they may or may not exclude items from the menus but you won’t know what these are in advance and have to basically take the chance that the pass may or may not save you money.

4.1 and 4.2
  • Restaurant opening times and availability are subject to change without notice.
  • Some outlets may close for operational reasons.
In other words not all restaurants may be open and you may have very limited choice of where to use your voucher. If the place you wanted to eat is closed, tough luck you ain’t getting a refund!

Last bit :

Please note that all packages and offerings are subject to change without prior notice due to operational, seasonal, or unforeseen circumstances. This may include temporary closures of locations, menu changes, or unavailability of certain items or experiences.

So as above, we can close whatever outlets we like, when we like and remove whatever menu items we like and you don’t have any come back on this.

Interestingly it doesn’t say what the exclusions are in either crooked spoon or windmill restaurants.

Seriously who came up with this crazy idea because they are so out of touch with the reviews online over the past two years and how the public really feel about eating in the resort.
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It's just a bad offering isn't it. They've clearly tried to emulate the Disney dining plan with the symbols on the menu, different tiers etc but the restrictions are all just a bit.. rubbish. The fact they don't even include a Freestyle cup/refill when you are forking out £90 a day on top tier as well..
 
Call_um said:
Hilarious that the £90 package includes 20% off Food and Drink for the day.

Who in there right mind is going to spend any more than £90 on Food and Drink in 1 day in a theme park 🤣
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On the face of it that does seem odd, but I guess could be useful if the package owner is with guests who are day visitors or don't have a dining package themselves.
 
GaryH said:
Please note that all packages and offerings are subject to change without prior notice due to operational, seasonal, or unforeseen circumstances. This may include temporary closures of locations, menu changes, or unavailability of certain items or experiences.
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This is basic in all terms and conditions really. The delivery might not turn up, the electric might go out, there could thousands of reasons why they can't offer a particular dish or open a particular restaurant.
 
The only justification for it seems to be ‘well if you do this, this, this and this then it sort of pays for itself’. But thats not going to entice people to buy it - it has to be something you can just look at at first glance and see its great value.
 
Out of curiosity, I have just looked at SeaWorld Orlando's website for prices for next week. They are offering all day dining for $40 (so broadly comparable with the £50 offer by Aramark). Like Aramark, the all day dining is limited to certain restaurants at SeaWorld & one could argue the food is of Aramark quality too. The difference is you can use the all day dining every 90mins (and believe me, some Americans do... I remember being in the Mako station at 10:50 and an American guest shouted to his friend "hey, it's only 10minutes until we can get our first meal"... so clear where his priorities lay). Oh, at SeaWorld free beer is back, one 7oz sample per day. If you are a passholder you get two samples per day.

Back to Alton Towers, it is clear Aramark are getting desperate, to lock the guests dining spend in before they have seen the quality of the food.

Or, here is an idea - are Towers & Aramark slowly ramping up costs to warm guests to the higher prices. After all in 5 years time or thereabouts their new competition in Bedford will doubtless be charging £150+ just for park admission.
 
Kraken27 said:
Out of curiosity, I have just looked at SeaWorld Orlando's website for prices for next week. They are offering all day dining for $40 (so broadly comparable with the £50 offer by Aramark). Like Aramark, the all day dining is limited to certain restaurants at SeaWorld & one could argue the food is of Aramark quality too. The difference is you can use the all day dining every 90mins (and believe me, some Americans do... I remember being in the Mako station at 10:50 and an American guest shouted to his friend "hey, it's only 10minutes until we can get our first meal"... so clear where his priorities lay). Oh, at SeaWorld free beer is back, one 7oz sample per day. If you are a passholder you get two samples per day.

Back to Alton Towers, it is clear Aramark are getting desperate, to lock the guests dining spend in before they have seen the quality of the food.
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Not comparable as Seaworld is all fast food outlets, whereas Alton Towers is one fast food lunch and one two course dinner at the hotel. Sea World don't have hotels.

Kraken27 said:
Or, here is an idea - are Towers & Aramark slowly ramping up costs to warm guests to the higher prices. After all in 5 years time or thereabouts their new competition in Bedford will doubtless be charging £150+ just for park admission.
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Universal won't be charging £150+ for admission.

Mick said:
The only justification for it seems to be ‘well if you do this, this, this and this then it sort of pays for itself’. But thats not going to entice people to buy it - it has to be something you can just look at at first glance and see its great value.
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Some people just like knowing its pre-paid. So they can spend £50 per person when booking the hotel and then not worry about how much lunch & dinner will actually cost them.
 
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