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2019: General Discussion

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Ocean Park Hong Kong was busy until 8pm close, it really improved the day as we left the park during the busiest period to walk up a hill (another reason why Hong Kong is awesome, you can get off the MTR and go for a hike) then returned during the quieter evening. Also winter in Hong Kong is colder than the UK summer yet the park was still busy.

I'm not even asking for 8pm, just a guaranteed 6pm close every day would be perfect and I reckon people will stick around.
 
Matt.GC said:
What about the people who don't bother visiting in the first place BECAUSE the park closes at 4?

Hey, by some of the logic I'm hearing on here - since many guests don't reach the park until gone 11 why don't they just go the whole hog open 11:30 - 16:00 every day? "British people" don't like getting up too early after all......

Opening times are a self fulling prophecy.
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I leave my house at 4 am in Belfast, flight and hire car and I'm at the park for around 10am lol.
 
Stuie said:
They clearly haven’t been doing anything to make people want to stay. As an example, Dreamland, are packed out until 11pm close with riders because of their programming and events.

Anyway, based on what you say, 17:30 got quiet. That would be more acceptable than 16:00 wouldn’t it?
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Regarding Dreamland, this is the problem BPB is having, as the park is not an all day thing but more a place to visit for a few hours in morning or evening... Dreamland know that they need events to keep people in the park/area and spending...

It is a very different market to Towers though... Just because one park does this that and the other doesn't mean it works for another...
 
BPB is and can be a whole day out, but they fail to cater for the people who don't want a whole day.

There is plenty at PB to fill an entire day, Dreamland on the other hand has a much smaller ride selection.
 
Coaster said:
BPB is and can be a whole day out, but they fail to cater for the people who don't want a whole day.

There is plenty at PB to fill an entire day, Dreamland on the other hand has a much smaller ride selection.
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My wording on reflection is awful, but BPB aren't catering for the market (which is somewhat similar) to Dreamland in a similar fashion... When they should be...

See also Adventure Island and other assorted Seaside parks...
 
Couldn't agree more.
The Beach need to do half price wristbands from four, and open until at least eight through the main season.
Open a bit later to minimise cost.
Individual ticket prices need cutting by at least half to be a realistic alternative to the punter who just wants to do one or two rides.
Wrong topic (again)...sorry Diogo.
 
Back on topic. When I was working at the park over Scarefest a few years back it was like this:

8am Arrive at park
9am Morning Briefing
10am ride opens to the public
9pm queue shuts
9:30pm Last guests leave ride
10pm Bus departs park back to Stoke

Fireworks was different as the ride had to close during the display for saftey reasons.
 
MattyH said:
Back on topic. When I was working at the park over Scarefest a few years back it was like this:

8am Arrive at park
9am Morning Briefing
10am ride opens to the public
9pm queue shuts
9:30pm Last guests leave ride
10pm Bus departs park back to Stoke

Fireworks was different as the ride had to close during the display for saftey reasons.
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Wow is that all one shift? I'm shattered after a 9-5... on the other hand am just thinking of all that money :D
 
It would generally be at least one hour after ride close before you could go due to cleaning, emptying bins, looking for lost property etc.

Back when Air opened it would get ridiculously long queues. After ride close the Nemesis team would do their cleaning duties then go and do Air's as well, as the Air team were still busy dispatching trains full of guests.

speedy said:
on the other hand am just thinking of all that money :D
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Ha, good one!
 
Stuie said:
As a customer, I don't care about that. Why should I?

10am to 4pm is abysmal.

All other theme parks in Europe do tidying up too. They don't close at 4pm because Susan has to empty the bins after the ride closes.
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Stuie said:
They clearly haven’t been doing anything to make people want to stay. As an example, Dreamland, are packed out until 11pm close with riders because of their programming and events.

Anyway, based on what you say, 17:30 got quiet. That would be more acceptable than 16:00 wouldn’t it?
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Legend.

I like this guy.
 
I thought the video was quite good actually and would probably appeal to anyone who was interested in working as a ride operator. It also had a big emphasis on the safety aspects of the role and the checks that are undertaken every day, which I'm sure wasn't an accident.

No mention of emptying bins, sweeping up fag butts and cleaning vomit though which would've made it more realistic...
 
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AT86 said:
There is a new blog post from Ian (Crabbe?), it reads more like a GCSE business studies case study than anything else, but anyway here it is.

https://www.altontowers.com/useful-info/blog/the-power-of-the-towers-our-campaign-for-2019/

Yay, Brexit.
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Mmmmmmmm..... interesting nowhere does he quote a big financial institution assessment of Merlins customers satisfaction analysis on January 10th saying in a nutshell that poor customer satisfaction at Merlins attractions due to reduced operations and cost cutting (which no one on here has ever noted but a multi billion pound organisation has ) Has resulted in them advising shareholders to invest or sell. How do the big wigs respond? Oh we'll pay an overpriced survey company to do market research which says people will be spending billions to escape the worry of brexit what rubbish! ! Listen to the advisors invest and improve operations DONT CUT!
 
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