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2019: General Discussion

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themeparkfan said:
The point I was making earlier was most of the rides at Cbeebies were on zero minutes if you looked at family ride times they were green 0 minutes apart from octonaugts, postman pat and in the night garden (that's only 3 rides out of cbeebies) and that was with Peter rabbit unavailable. The smiler which has a bigger throughput than any Cbeebies ride was 55 mins, wickerman 60 mins, Rita 45 mins, and thirteen 40 minutes so thriller rides seemed to be very popular but all merlin want to invest in is Cbeebies. Perhaps this cash cow ( like their lego) has reached its limit. If so all I can see is other alternative investment is needed!
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Families spend more money than thrill seekers, one reason why Thorpe is often the weakest performing financially of all the parks.

That’s why they invest in family attractions.
 
What's food & beverage been like this season? I really struggle to understand why they don't get Towers St Bar & Grill back open and launch a campaign such as 'stay after park close, eat at Towers St and get your parking for £1' or something similar. Sorts the congestion issue out when the park closes, but also generates extra revenue.
 
I had a snack at the "rebranded" x-sector chicken restaurant and felt that for such a dingey looking venue they'd done a real poor job at the rebrand. The bag we were given our food in was still fried chicken co, and it wasn't the only remnant of the old branding.

What annoys me is industrial is fairly in-style, black with the exposed pipes and what not. What better style for an x-sector restaurant. However it still has this god awful diner look, which just seems dirty.

The day I went was quiet (longest queue 10 mins), and it was a fairly late lunch (about 2pm) however there was no indoor seating available whatsoever. Fried chicken was certainly popular that day.

I will return to try the chicken donut burger, which sounds fun!
 
kydog1299 said:
What's food & beverage been like this season? I really struggle to understand why they don't get Towers St Bar & Grill back open and launch a campaign such as 'stay after park close, eat at Towers St and get your parking for £1' or something similar. Sorts the congestion issue out when the park closes, but also generates extra revenue.
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Well, the day prior to opening day I ate in RCR. Was ok. They had run out of cold slaw (yes, run out the day before opening!), but didnt knock anything more off the bill. Was slight overkill on chips but the food was ok.

In the park the next day we ate in Woodcutters, was like last year, pretty decent but again, total overkill on the number of chips!

Then that evening we ate in SG in ATH, food wasnt bad, I had fish, chips and mushy peas. The fish was more like breaded fillet rather than battered, and, yep you guessed it, overkill on the chips. but otherwise was ok.
 
Dave said:
Families spend more money than thrill seekers, one reason why Thorpe is often the weakest performing financially of all the parks.

That’s why they invest in family attractions.
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Is this true? I am in a family 2 adults and 2 kids and once I get in with our MAPS we take our own packed food and looking around Cbeebies and other parts of the park most similar families or those with younger kids have food packed in a rucksack etc. Most of the people I see in woodcutters or explorers through the window are teenagers or older groups with families so I don't know where this "families spend more money " comes from or do merlin get data to prove otherwise?
 
Been to the park today.

Had delays on all but two rides (thirteen, nemmy) despite the downtime. I think the park is looking well, running well and most importantly seems to be thriving. Had a great day!
 
@themeparkfan

There will always be exceptions, but most families visit once per season and a lot of them will stay on site. They'll fork out on food, drink, souvenirs etc and just see it as part of the experience.
 
themeparkfan said:
Is this true? I am in a family 2 adults and 2 kids and once I get in with our MAPS we take our own packed food and looking around Cbeebies and other parts of the park most similar families or those with younger kids have food packed in a rucksack etc. Most of the people I see in woodcutters or explorers through the window are teenagers or older groups with families so I don't know where this "families spend more money " comes from or do merlin get data to prove otherwise?
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I would suggest you are an exception rather than a rule.
 
I think times are changing though.

With Season Passes so dirt cheap now, the parks should focus on cheaper things which people will buy regularly. See for example what Thorpe have done with the Coke Freestyle capsules: £6 to use them each visit. Teenagers/young adults will lap that up if they're on a budget and still bring in their own food. Cheap grab n go food places, or food places which are more Instagramable (I guess you could argue Donut Factory for example) are also good shouts.

If parks focus on that, then I reckon the teenage market will end up spending more. Then of course, you still get plenty buying food and merch too.

Families with season/annual passes will be different, because for the whole group it's a huge initial outlay (even if the price pp is still cheap). If they're planning on getting a lot for their money and visiting a lot, they'll want to try and reduce their spend on some visits. Slowly that adds up.

I'm not saying that families will spend less than teenagers / young adults. In general, families will spend much more. But I think the market is changing, and the gap between the two is reducing.
 
Prophecy said:
I think times are changing though.

With Season Passes so dirt cheap now, the parks should focus on cheaper things which people will buy regularly. See for example what Thorpe have done with the Coke Freestyle capsules: £6 to use them each visit. Teenagers/young adults will lap that up if they're on a budget and still bring in their own food. Cheap grab n go food places, or food places which are more Instagramable (I guess you could argue Donut Factory for example) are also good shouts.

If parks focus on that, then I reckon the teenage market will end up spending more. Then of course, you still get plenty buying food and merch too.

Families with season/annual passes will be different, because for the whole group it's a huge initial outlay (even if the price pp is still cheap). If they're planning on getting a lot for their money and visiting a lot, they'll want to try and reduce their spend on some visits. Slowly that adds up.

I'm not saying that families will spend less than teenagers / young adults. In general, families will spend much more. But I think the market is changing, and the gap between the two is reducing.
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I would agree but all parks are pushing the family market, so it must be economically more viable to focus on families. Drayton push Thomas Land, Paultons is Peppa Pig, Towers with Cboobies and a family friendly SW in Wickerman.

Even Blackpool went with a Mack family coaster in Icon! :)
 
It’s nice park is getting busy and guests are returning.
The traffic queues this morning .. took at least 30 mins from the Star caravan park just to get in the entrance.
:eek:
 
OK at park today so can I ask this question. I've got 6 hours on the park with most rides on 40 to 60 mins (apart from nemisis ) where do I find time to get food /drink from kiosk if I want to get on a fair few rides and maybe even dungeons especially as they should close at 5?
 
A new Single rider sign has now been added to the Smiler entrance. I was enjoying the single rider queue being empty while it lasted

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