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2014: General Discussion

Having been to the Towers today, I must say, the atmosphere this year is well above that of the past 3-4 years and I did feel as though there was indeed some magic back. The park was not as busy as I had expected and the extra hour opening was definitely well received on park (although it should be at least 6-7pm standard). The lack of in your face up-selling and advertising, and the general upkeep of effects and entertainment this year definitely made me smile. This season is by far the best of recent years.
 
Of course its great they have extended opening hours, but lets not forget that this weekend is also gypsy weekend. No doubt they dont want the park open "too" late in to the evenings when even more trouble could be caused!!
 
Spark said:
Park certainly wasn't busy yesterday (Tuesday) 20 mins for the smiler at 4pm :D
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I was there yesterday too along with @jackandylan123. Really surprised about how short queues have been this weekend. Easter weekend, bank holiday galore, school Easter holidays, dead quiet park. :/

Pah, why am I complaining?! 34 rides!
 
Is it possible that they had a quiet Easter as families with very young children are waiting for CBeebies Land to open?
 
It's great to hear that the park is doing well! :D I just wish I could be there now
I guess it's possible jon, but I think there are probably other reasons as well. It seems strange that they would have a really quiet Easter, just because families with young children weren't going as much. I mean, there are the other age groups that wouldn't have been affected by this CBeebies Land thing. :/
 
Most families are holding off until CBeebies Land so the park has been pretty quiet this Easter!

A few things from my recent visit...

Pizza Pasta

Service last Saturday was diabolical. I don't know what has happened to staff in there this year although the service received was far from how good it has been for years. We were sat relevantly quickly, no problems. It was very quiet in there and loads of staff around so we expected quick service. Then we waited for a staff member to come to the table for payment, no one for 2 minutes, 5 minutes, longer... we ended up having to go up to a member of staff to say we had not had anyone come up to us.

Even when a male staff member served us he took our money and then took forever to return with the plates, we turn around and he's having a social conversation with a colleague. I'd say 5+ minutes passed before he returned. While he did say "sorry for the wait" it was a laughable thing to say when it was quiet inside and we watched him talking to a colleague while stood at the till (not processing the order).

Got a tut from a staff member when I bumped into them too, nice. Only decent staff member I came across in there was the young guy behind the pizzas. Other than that it looks like the staff were more concerned about talking to each other rather than serving customers. There were a few other disgruntled guests in there waiting forever to be served too. If it were busy I wouldn't moan and understand, but there's no excuse when the restaurant is near enough empty.

ERT

This new system seems strange. It's simple in getting guests through one part of the park although it needs to be advertised more/made more clear. There were guests wandering around in all directions just to be told they need to be on the other side in what is quite a hidden path.

Hex

Hex is looking as great as usual although the creaking and banging seems worse in the octagon. Not sure if there's no change but it doesn't sound good when you sit on certain parts of the ride. Other than that it seems to be working well. Still delays with parking but that's an issue that doesn't affect the ride that much.

CATCF

There's a new sheltered area outside the ride for prams which is good to see! Although the quality of it looks awful, looks like a botch job! Inside Charlie is the same as usual, crap theming, exposed warehouse galore... onto the lifts. Towers need to invest in some WD40! Both lifts are creaking beyond belief, to the point that not even the speakers can drown it out. It ruins the illusion and I saw a few people pulling funny faces at the noises the lifts were making.

Ice Age - Butlins?

Ice Age is the same as usual. Not sure about the new crowd interaction bit though. Haven't seen it mentioned here although the two staff members split the room up into two sides and have a competition on which side can make the most noise... I just find this random and too cheesy for Towers. Maybe if there was more at the start it would be fine but it seems so random for a 4D cinema. I think this kind of idea would be more suited for a live show. For Ice Age though, no thanks!

Monorail and Skyride Audio

Both sound great now and the toned down upselling is great! Although both the monorail and skyride audio could do with being at a higher volume. When you've got people talking in both the audio tapes you can barely hear. Not sure if the technology is limited with volume although it would be nice to see both a little louder.

Monorail TVs

Not sure if something's wrong with them although in both stations all TVs were off and no music was playing. If it's a case of no video being available they can whack some music on. If it's a case of staff not being arsed to turn them on then they should be told to.

Staff

Pizza Pasta aside, staff elsewhere are as great as always. Didn't come across any bad service. Just great customer service as always from Towers. Still the best theme park for staff!
 
There hasn't been any audio or videos in either monorail station all season (on all my visits anyway), I think they must have new videos and audio, but it all mentions CBeebies Land. Either than or something is broke, which would be odd in both stations. I don't know why they dont just play the old audio even with videos turned off.


I have to say the one area of the park that is really letting Alton Towers down this season is the food and beverage (F&B) department.

Price
Firstly the prices at all outlets is getting far beyond a joke now, I mean £7.50 for a 3 piece meal in Fried Chicken (KFC its about £5)!

Closed!
Secondly the amount of outlets that seem to always be closed around park, not only does it look bad having a closed outlet, but also it surely must mean people spend less money. The following were closed yesterday (and on my other visits this season):
- Ben & Jerry's
- Refresh @ Ripsaw
- Waffles & Ices
- Wobble World Cafe
- Spinball Noodles (OK it may have been closed for a year or so now, but please take the signs down Alton Towers! For a normal guest it just looks like a closed outlet!)
- On top of that Towers family restaurant (and the two kiosks outside are closed till May),

Surely these outlets don't cost much to run, most of them have one or two staff, and the fridges/freezers will be running all the time anyway, I just don't see the logic with closing them. You would only need to sell a few Ben & Jerry's to cover the staff wages.

Deals
My final issue with F&B was yesterday, in corner coffee they now have a new deal on where you can buy a sandwich or panini, bag of crisps and hot or cold drink for a set price (around £6 I think). I then tried to get annual pass discount on it, but was told as it was already a deal I couldn't use annual pass, which is strange as last season I have had annual pass discount with similar deals. Yet you can get annual pass discount on the deals in Towers Trading (currently 2 drinks for £2.50).

So we went and asked at guest services and was told she would imagine we should get the discount, but we are best to ask at the box office. So we asked at the box office, the woman wasn't sure but thought we should do, but would ask someone else. The other person then said she didn't see why we shouldn't get the discount, but would ask a F&B manager. However she couldn't get hold of one so told us to come back later. We come back later and she still couldn't find out, but the staff in corner coffee told her they have been told not to give discount on deals.

We then went back at the end of the day and a different manager was there and told us that it will be in the annual pass terms and conditions, however it will be one of them things that chances are come back tomorrow and you will get the deal, and its just a bit of luck really.

So firstly why can't you get annual pass discount on a F&B offer yet you can in all the retail outlets? And why can you get discount on something like a burger meal or chicken meal, but not a sandwich meal? Surely they are both the same thing? And once again towers lack of communication mean we spoke to 4 different people and still never really got a proper answer to it, and no one manager from food and beverage could be found to answer it.

The worst thing is I bet I could go back tomorrow and get the discount, yet go back on Friday and you would probably be told no!
 
djtruefitt said:
There hasn't been any audio or videos in either monorail station all season (on all my visits anyway), I think they must have new videos and audio, but it all mentions CBeebies Land. Either than or something is broke, which would be odd in both stations. I don't know why they dont just play the old audio even with videos turned off.
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They don't have a video, and they can't play the old one seeing as 75% of it features old rides anymore. Hence the issue. Think they're eventually getting music on it though.

As with the deals, that's strange.. that was something chessie used to push really heavily and made a real negative experience however something they've completely dropped this year (i got annual pass discount on everything, including all offers and reduced items which was never the case at chessie beforehand). To see corner coffee start to take that approach is something which is really upsetting and worrying, just give the discount for christ sake.
 
The monorail stations *do* have a video and it came with the new remix of ITHOTMK a couple of years back. Whether the new video for this year hasn't been made yet because of CBeebies, they've lost the DVD or the system is broken I don't know.

Last year if the new stuff wasn't working they'd just whack on the old Monorail DVD and have the music for that playing - which is a shame if they're not doing so!!
 
F&B is pretty much a weight dragging the whole park down, nearly every negative I had on park was F&B related (other than park closing times). It says something when you think a product is still too expensive after a MAP 20% discount.
 
I agree that if a burger or fried chicken meal deal gets the 20% discount then a panini meal deal should. I suggest you email Alton Towers to let them know of your disappointment, particularly that no-one in guest services could give you a firm response immediately.

The 2 for £2.50 offer on soda bottles is why most of my cold drinks get bought from Retail not F&B, as to make it worthwhile getting an unlimited refill bottle I would have to get at least the equivalent of 5x 500ml bottles from the refills!


I think the closed outlets isn't a huge issue, its not really ice cream season and on quieter days I don't really see it being a problem that Ben & Jerry's is shut (although Waffles & Ices maybe should be open as its only outlet in Gloomy Wood). Also refresh @ripsaw isn't often busy so as long as all the other Forbidden Valley F&B is open having one closed isn't a problem on quieter days. I don't see Spinball Noodles coming back in a hurry, especially as there will be a new outlet inside CbeebiesLand.
 
These outlets have been closed on busy days too, F&B seem to be on a money making spree.... Ironically enough their prices seemed to be putting off a lot of people paying for food so they are probably having the opposite effect.

I'm certainly eating at Eastern Express from now on, cheaper and not run by Towers.
 
The amount of closed outlets is still not a good thing to see, whether it's busy or quiet. I fancied a pasty on Sunday and was in Mutiny Bay, went to Pirates Pasties, oh it's closed, didn't fancy walking to the other side of the park to Dark Forest (since it was the end of the day), money Towers could have got off me!

Closed outlets do leave a bad impression, even if you don't intend on buying anything. It's just as bad as having rides closed in the morning. If they cannot afford to run all outlets all season they may as well remove them.

Prices don't bother me too much. Theme parks are expensive, that's a well known fact. Towers prices are pretty much on par with European parks. It's expensive yes, but that's a theme park for you. It's just like motorway services, they know they can charge a high price because customers have no where else to go.

I think Towers need to seriously look at introducing off-peak tickets in 2015 at a lower price. This would justify food outlets being closed and they could closed smaller rides too. The main issues at the moment seem to be guests paying the same but recieving less on offer on quieter days. Seems strange off-peak tickets have not yet been looked into.
 
They abandoned off-peak tickets almost 10 years ago I think and it seems to have co-incided with the rise in availability of 2for1 vouchers. Thorpe Park currently have a new online booking website where it is possible to show different prices per day (although currently as long as you book more than a week in advance they are all low!) so we may see flexible prices for online booking coming.

I still don't think that a few closed food outlets is the end of the world. It's not really the season for Ice Cream so I wouldn't expect Ben & Jerry's to open for another month or so. Maybe with places like Refresh they need to paint something onto the shutters that directs people to Burger Kitchen or Fish and Chips in quiet season?
Also Disney's Magic Kingdom has several food outlets that only open in peak season, as do many other UK parks so its nothing new at all.
 
Yeah I agree that having an ice cream shop closed isn't the end of the world. Although a place like pasties is a bit of a pain. It limits where you can get a quick meal (not everyone wants to go and sit down for a meal).

They should advertise clearly which outlets are closed really. Even if it's a simple case of having temp signs placed around the park.
 
Its frustrating isnt it - small things which could easily be sorted which have such a big impact on your day.

The music and tv's in the monorail stations for example, the build up to entering the park at the start of the day, and the music and video at the end of the day to remind you what a great day you had.

As for food outlets not open, I noticed this opening weekend, and agree, it would cost nothing to have a notice at the entrance informing people which food outlets are open/closed. Or on the electronic screens. Or even on their resort app.

Also, on the subject of food and drink, what I feared is now taking place in terms of Merlin kicking out the competition (MaccyD, KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger Krap) and replacing them with their own substandard food outlets then raising the prices as they have the monopoly. Not good, not wise. I remember Alton did this many years ago and more and more people ended up bringing in their own packed lunches. This was only reversed what franchised outlets were allowed on park.

I think the same thing will happen again - people simply wont pay the prices, especially for the poor standard of food. While Pizza Pasta is nice - its pushing it now at £10 per adult. Burger Kitchen has been a big disappointment, Mexican Cantina has had its menu chopped down, just hope the Talbot Restaurant (is it still called that??) will offer something new this year.

And Towers, ffs, open the Swiss Cottage again - even if its just between June - September when the weather is nice as a coffee shop where people can sit outside in such stunning surroundings and have a nice coffee and a cake! Get Costa in to run it!!!!
 
I think the branded restaurants were also expensive though (with the exception of McDonalds), Burger King & KFC was £5-7 for a meal (Burger Kitchen is around the same). Although they are expensive due to a captive market I avoided Burger King because it was expensive even before it became Burger Kitchen. I do think the food in the theme parks is expensive, but I don't think it has gone up since the branded outlets went, plus of course we now get AP discount everywhere!

Pizza Hut on the high Street charges £7 (or more in London I think) plus £2.45 for drinks so £9.95 in a theme park is reasonable.
 
Scott said:
The monorail stations *do* have a video and it came with the new remix of ITHOTMK a couple of years back.
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They *don't* have a video. The past couple of years they've had marketing videos which advertise stuff very much for that year and they cannot use this now as pricing/new attractions are very out of date. They also used to use the old yourday video which they also cannot use for it is 75% submission, farm and bouncing bugs.

Hence not having one. Hopefully they'll get something soon.
 
thefatone said:
Scott said:
The monorail stations *do* have a video and it came with the new remix of ITHOTMK a couple of years back.
Click to expand...
They *don't* have a video. The past couple of years they've had marketing videos which advertise stuff very much for that year and they cannot use this now as pricing/new attractions are very out of date. They also used to use the old yourday video which they also cannot use for it is 75% submission, farm and bouncing bugs.

Hence not having one. Hopefully they'll get something soon.
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Thats entirely what I was saying. They do have a video just it's outdated and can't be used and presumably this years one features CBeebies and so cannot be used yet.

Can't see why they can't use the old one with the better music and just turn the screens off though!
 
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