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2019: General Discussion

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It can't be as easy to plan numbers when you now have all those season pass holders who can turn up whenever they like.
This weekend was sunny, after three wet weekends.
No brainer!
 
I think towers would have been very surprised at how many turned up on the weekend. September is usually a quiet month. The B&B I stayed in were saying they have noticed a significant increase in demand this year compared to others. I think the Season Pass has been a huge success for Towers, but could also be a problem in that more people are going to turn up than the park can cope with, and guest satisfaction could take a nose dive.

What was really interesting however was seeing Splash Landings and Enchanted Village on Travelzoo for the weekend, £179 for 2 people for 2 nights B&B. We went to Secret Garden on the Saturday night for food (very good) and both Splash and ATH were dead. Considering the number of people in the park, I think it is safe to assume to majority of guests were either day visitors or staying off site.
 
It sounds like Towers got their fingers burnt crowd-wise on Sunday just gone. Whilst you can never predict what the public will do, Towers do know exactly how many season passed they have sold - and all those passholders had been barred from the park for the school holiday period.

This, along with the favourable weather (which was forecast) should have made it fairly obvious that a good number of passholders may choose to visit over the weekend.

I can't say I am surprised to read GaryH's post above saying the hotels were seemingly empty. The ATH & Splash Landings are nothing special - you'll get a better night's sleep at a Premier Inn for sure - and it'll cost you a lot less.
 
Kraken27 said:
It sounds like Towers got their fingers burnt crowd-wise on Sunday just gone. Whilst you can never predict what the public will do, Towers do know exactly how many season passed they have sold - and all those passholders had been barred from the park for the school holiday period.

This, along with the favourable weather (which was forecast) should have made it fairly obvious that a good number of passholders may choose to visit over the weekend.

I can't say I am surprised to read GaryH's post above saying the hotels were seemingly empty. The ATH & Splash Landings are nothing special - you'll get a better night's sleep at a Premier Inn for sure - and it'll cost you a lot less.
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Probably, though you can’t also discount the fact that they may not have been able to mobilise an increase in staffing (annual leave, summer staff leaving), or they have already used up most of their flexible operating budget for the year.
 
Dave said:
Probably, though you can’t also discount the fact that they may not have been able to mobilise an increase in staffing (annual leave, summer staff leaving), or they have already used up most of their flexible operating budget for the year.
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I fully accept & know they cannot just rustle up extra staff in any significant number on the day if crowds turn out higher than predicted. Sure, there may be the odd person you can call on their day off and ask if they want to work, but that's it. It will also depend on where the staff in question live / if they have their own transport. All Towers can do is cope with the crowds as best they can with the staff they do have in & extend ride close.

Where I was coming from was the poor level of foresight on the part of Towers. They know the exact size of the standard season passholder community. Last weekend was the first one since July when standard passholders could get into the park. It is not inconceivable that a number would choose to visit.
 
Towers have no excuse really unless the vast majority of the tickets were walk up two for one or on the day purchases, they do not operate a flexi ticket system so if I buy a ticket online for Sunday then I'm coming Sunday, not the next Thursday and as others have said, they know exactly how many season passes they e sold.

You could understand it for places like Paultons where you can buy a flexible ticket but not Towers, that is just bad planning, but nothing short of what to expect from Merlin, they make the same mistakes year after year with Chessington and Thorpe.
 
I’m going next Saturday and hope its not too busy. No one can predict I know but judging by the last couple of Saturdays...
 
Forecast good, dry and warm.
Swarms of season passers squeezing the very last dregs out of summer.
And just imagine the wasps...
 
rob666 said:
Forecast good, dry and warm.
Swarms of season passers squeezing the very last dregs out of summer.
And just imagine the wasps...
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Plus people like me there who subscribed to The Times free trial to get a £10 Alton Towers ticket
 
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To be honest I used to go all the time until about ten years ago. Just started loving it again and only managed to go twice this year so far. Seasons nearly over and I wanna enjoy it to the maximum.
 
I visited today for the first time in a while.
Car Park seemed busy, but the park seemed fairly quiet.

Last week i visited Europa Park for the first time as was massively impressed, was fearing it would show Alton Towers up when i came back.

Can i just say how brilliant the operations were today?

Very Europa-like. Many rides walk on and those that weren't, it was more of a Europa Style slow walk rather than a queue.

Great job to all the staff today! Managed at least two rides on all the coasters, and had time to sit down and chill in the sunshine.

I had to wait for Thirteen first thing in the morning as they couldn't operate it until they had enough riders, the ride op held a quiz over the microphone, every correct answer got a free fasttrack!

Was a nice touch
 
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