2019: General Discussion

[Danny]

Yet another season where I’d rather book a flight and visit theme parks abroad.

It's not exactly a bad season to do so either

 

[Austin Towers]

Seems to be less midweek closed days this season doesn't there? If so, that's a positive. Could be wrong though. Other than that, can't say I'm too shocked by anything revealed here.

I'm not shocked either. Just hacked off with their mediocre offering. I'll go this year as I've purchased premium passes which I admit are good value (3 day visit in August so they will pay for themselves). I was hoping to sneak a wee trip in early April too but 10 am to 4 pm isn't worth it. I'd spend more time traveling than the time I would get in the park.

 

[AstroDan]

Once again, whilst Towers is the perennial poor-hours relative to major European theme parks, there's hardly a surprise here.

The park is:

• Closing for less days in 2019 than it did in 2018
• Extending hours more than it did in the few years up to and including 2017
• Not reducing anything year-on-year for the first time in several years.

I don't really know what people were expecting from Alton. Hours have been pretty poor for almost ten years now, and even before that, were hardly great (the best it's been this century was 7pm in summer in 2010/11). Get used to it. If it had really irritated those declaring they'll 'never visit again' then I am surprised you lasted this long.

 

[ringo]

• Extending hours more than it did in the few years up to and including 2017

On many of those days last year they only extended hours due to rides not opening on time / poor reliability along with the pressure of complaints across social media.

 

[Rob]

On many of those days last year they only extended hours due to rides not opening on time / poor reliability along with the pressure of complaints across social media.

The point is they did. In the two or three years previously they did not do this despite similar problems.

 

[AstroDan]

On many of those days last year they only extended hours due to rides not opening on time / poor reliability along with the pressure of complaints across social media.

Well, yes? And? They did extend, so they should have. But you would have been moaning even more had they not, right?

They also extended it a lot through the summer period (we had a few 6.30pm extensions in August, we also had quite a few 4pm closes go to 4.30pm and 5pms go to 5.30pm or 6pm).

I am not trying to defend the park blindly here, but I think you can surely accept that the park extended ride close on a considerable number of occasions purely based on the fact that numbers were high.

It did not happen in 2016 or 2017 and frankly extending ride close on the day seemed to almost vanish prior to the Smiler incident.

 

[Prophecy]

Could this mean that the park perhaps wasn't as successful as we thought in 2018?

In fairness, there's less closed days this year, so there's improvement, and hence some success. If you visited the park last year and in 2016/2017, you can tell the obvious difference in busyness. So it's clear that things have gotten better - just a case of whether it is better enough.

If you ask me, 10am-4pm is still reasonably adequate time to do everything major in the park on a weekday.

With the Dungeons now a thing, which will eat about an hour of your day, that leaves you 5 hours to get everything done and eat. If you don't know how best to tackle the park, you'll have a lot of faff. If you want to do all the major coasters, you'll be rushing about a lot and if you get caught in one queue longer than 30 minutes, you're screwed.

 

[Burbs]

The thing with later openings is that many British people simply don't want to stay at the park late, so Merlin probably can't justify opening later than 4-6pm.

Have you seen the park at closing time before? Especially in the summer, there’s always loads of people on the lawns/around Towers Street way after the park is officially closed. If the park was open later then people would categorically stay later.

 

[GaryH]

The 30 min ERT is a joke though. Hardly a perk. It takes more than 30 mins to walk to wicker Man, ride it, walk to oblivion and get on that. It needs to be an hour to be seen as a decent exclusive perk to pass holders.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Have you seen the park at closing time before?

4pm is way past his bed time.

 

[MiserableMonkey]

If it had really irritated those declaring they'll 'never visit again' then I am surprised you lasted this long.

I do wonder just how many people haven’t lasted this long.

I personally have gone from someone who visited monthly pre-2013 to someone who musters up a visit once every couple of seasons - and even then, my last two visits have been on a family friends Magic Pass. I’d struggle to part with cash these days; I really would rather take it abroad.

Which is strange. Because I obviously still like the place, or I wouldn’t be sat here writing this.

 

[Matt.GC]

Who remembers all the "if we support the park then maybe they'll open up more closed rides and have better opening hours" posts? Well......

 

[speedy]

For someone coming from Scotland, or abroad, 6 hours on park is disappointing. Sure, it may be enough time to do everything once, but I'd prefer to sit down for lunch rather than eat it in the queue, and I'd prefer to not run between attractions!

Theme parks are so much better when you're not rushing to get everything done

 

[bluesonichd]

For someone coming from Scotland, or abroad, 6 hours on park is disappointing. Sure, it may be enough time to do everything once, but I'd prefer to sit down for lunch rather than eat it in the queue, and I'd prefer to not run between attractions!

Theme parks are so much better when you're not rushing to get everything done

That’s why they offer amazing value accommodation so you can stay over and have two or three days on resort no need to rush.

 

[Dave]

It’s still pathetic opening hours and still an illogical system. Why commit to a 6pm close on a weekend when it might be dreadful weather and only 5000 on park?

If it was me I would get rid of ERT make all non event days 10am to 5pm as standard and have enough budget in my pocket to extend on the day by anything up to 2 hours......

 

[Poopoohead]

That’s why they offer amazing value accommodation so you can stay over and have two or three days on resort no need to rush.

But have nothing to do after ride close at 4

 

[Matt N]

Have you seen the park at closing time before? Especially in the summer, there’s always loads of people on the lawns/around Towers Street way after the park is officially closed. If the park was open later then people would categorically stay later.

4pm is way past his bed time.

My parents always tend to leave at about 4-5pm on the first day and about 1-2pm on the second day whenever we go to Alton, so I'll admit that I have never seen Alton at closing time.

 

[Prophecy]

Have you seen the park at closing time before? Especially in the summer, there’s always loads of people on the lawns/around Towers Street way after the park is officially closed. If the park was open later then people would categorically stay later.

I think Matt has a point. Yes, people would stay later, but the British public don't like staying late for days out.

Family outings in particular revolve around leaving the house early, arriving early and then leaving early, so they can get home, put their feet up with a cuppa and watch whatever rubbish is on tele in the evening. That's the culture that is ingrained within British people. Obviously not that clear cut, but that's how most families would operate if you asked them honestly.

How many people are milling around on the lawns / Towers Street because "they want to let the traffic die down"? Especially given a 4-5pm closing times, people stay to miss the double-whammy of everyone leaving and rush hour traffic. They don't necessarily mill around because they want to stay, they mill around because they know it's better than sitting in traffic.

For a 6pm close, there wouldn't be a significant number of people staying if the park was open until 7pm, in my opinion. By significant, I mean the park would very much die down and have a completely different feel. Of course, for those who do stay, it will be significant, as it will improve their experience. But it won't improve the experience of the significant masses, as they'll have already left.


Unless there's something majorly special (IE Halloween or Fireworks) to encourage people to stay, most won't stay significantly late. And just keeping the park open late won't change that - it's a culture thing.

 

[Matt.GC]

Are we seriously defending a major theme park closing at a pathic 4pm by pretending that people actually WANT to get in their cars at half 4 and sit in rush hour traffic? I thought I'd heard all the crazy fanboy defenses of the park, how wrong I was.

Come on guys, we're cleverer than this, everyone knows the real reason behind 4pm closes and it's not anything to do with guest experience or demand.

 

[Rob]

The 4pm closures are still a joke but is anyone really surprised by them? I can't see them going anywhere anytime soon.

I'd much rather see ERT scrapped on the 4pm off peak days and the park stay open until 5pm. But that's never going to happen for a variety of reasons.