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11am ride openings - legal? fair?

Research shows that when you're second only to Disney, slashing area and ride openings is perfectly normal.
 
Danny said:
Research shows that when you're second only to Disney, slashing area and ride openings is perfectly normal.
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Well Disney are leading the way with SBNO attractions at the moment. At Disney's Hollywood Studios at WDW, three attractions all closed in the last year and another one has been "seasonal" for ages.
 
Let's not forget that only a season or two ago Hex and Th13teen were on ERT! They've gone from a 9am opening to 11am!

Equally, it's poor showing when the other thrill area on that side of the park can't handle queues. Everyone headed for DF will go to X Sector. The Smiler is hardly a throughput monster and Oblivion currently has hugely reduced capacity. :/
 
does anyone know the power useage per hour for each of the coasters in that area?
 
At least it's still better than Blackpool Pleasure Beach who have to be the worst park for staggered openings. I've known them literally open the park with only two rides available for the first half hour.

What's happening at Alton is pretty poor to be honest but I do remember back in 2004 when Ug Land and Cred Street actually opened at 12:00 every day so they're right to say that it's nothing new.

I think come summer time, especially schools week, they'll have no choice but to open these rides earlier as demand will be huge.
 
Im pleased to see they are at least advertising on the site their limited openings.
 
I think for the price you pay to get in, especially on the door, losing an hours worth of time in many areas of the park is pretty unacceptable. I'm not sure why they have done this since the majority of visitors seem to visit the smiler first since its opening or sonic spinball due to his close to the entrance it is. As for the towers I can't comprehend why they are closed either.
 
I hear that there are no more 12pm openings altogether, and that 11am openings in DF etc are now 10am on weekends, not sure about during the week though.
 
I guess they got too many complaints? To be honest it does seem fairer to only have staggered openings on off peak days when demand for these rides will be a lot lower first thing in the morning and when queues are likely to be so short throughout the day that late openings won't have a big impact on people's days. I've been to PortAventura on busy days when the queues before 12:00 have been horrendous due to so many rides opening late. On off peak days this is never really an issue so it does make perfect sense for staggered openings to vary based on how busy the park is likely to be.
 
The late openings where always going to be dependant on guest numbers, though it does seem they gave relaxed the thresholds a little bit.
 
Enter Valhalla said:
I guess they got too many complaints? To be honest it does seem fairer to only have staggered openings on off peak days when demand for these rides will be a lot lower first thing in the morning and when queues are likely to be so short throughout the day that late openings won't have a big impact on people's days. I've been to PortAventura on busy days when the queues before 12:00 have been horrendous due to so many rides opening late. On off peak days this is never really an issue so it does make perfect sense for staggered openings to vary based on how busy the park is likely to be.
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but....the off peak days still cost the same as the peak days
 
phildenholm said:
dont give them any more ideas, they could soon change that too!
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Thing is, different prices for peak and off-peak days isn't the worst idea in the world and is something they have done previously I think. Of course if they were to do this then the price for off-peak days should be reduced rather than the price for peak days increased.

:)
 
Rob said:
Thing is, different prices for peak and off-peak days isn't the worst idea in the world and is something they have done previously I think. Of course if they were to do this then the price for off-peak days should be reduced rather than the price for peak days increased.

:)
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The peak / off-peak pricing was around 10-15 years ago, but was abandoned with the push to 2for1 vouchers. Personally I think a compromise could be to offer an off-peak price online only, that works out cheaper than using a 2for1. e.g. gate price £50, so 2for1 £25, online weekend day £27, online off-peak weekday £22. That way by encouraging more people to book online they can predict guest numbers better too!
 
towerslover101 said:
but....the off peak days still cost the same as the peak days
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You arguably get a much better experience when you visit on an off peak day because queues are minimal, not just for rides but also at admissions and in the food and retail outlets. Demand for rides is clearly much lower on these quieter days so I don't think its at all unfair to have some form of staggered ride opening. On peak days however when thousands upon thousands of people get there for opening and queue times already exceed 60 minutes in the first hour of the day, it would be grossly unfair and impractical to open a significant number of major rides at 11:00 when the demand is clearly there. Supply and demand, that age old formula. It's no surpise that in this day and age Alton Towers aren't excempt from that and have to make savings. The effect of these cuts on off peak days will be minimal.
 
Seems the wording that some rides may open at 11am, has gone from the opening hours!

All rides back open from 10am, and water rides from 11am?
 
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