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2019: General Discussion
djtruefitt
TS Team
I think 7pm was quite normal in 2010 when TH13TEEN opened. We certainly never had 4pm closes at all until a couple of years back.
D4n
TS Member
Blanket evening closes in the summer were standard up until I'm guessing around 2011? Then they reappeared more infrequently during Smiler's opening year.
They were popular. If the park (and its food outlets) remain open guests stay later and plan their visits around that. It always confuses me that people use the "it empties out towards the end" excuse for keeping the 5pm closes; people try to get away earlier in order to get food elsewhere and avoid the inevitable car park queues that result from everyone leaving at the same time.
If you stay open later people plan around that.
They were popular. If the park (and its food outlets) remain open guests stay later and plan their visits around that. It always confuses me that people use the "it empties out towards the end" excuse for keeping the 5pm closes; people try to get away earlier in order to get food elsewhere and avoid the inevitable car park queues that result from everyone leaving at the same time.
If you stay open later people plan around that.
Austin Towers
TS Member
Would people be more willing to travel longer distances if the park was open later?
I know if I was in Orlando and the likes of Busch Gardens had similar hours to Alton I wouldn't go.
I know if I was in Orlando and the likes of Busch Gardens had similar hours to Alton I wouldn't go.
I agree my wife just starts thinking about where the kids are going to eat by 4 so is more focused on getting them to a restaurant than making the most of the time , when LEGOLAND extends to 7pm like they did quite often a couple of years ago that worked well as we could grab some food around 5-5.30 ish then the boys could enjoy the last hour in the park ( just to update we have avoided legoland so far this year due to advice)
Yes, it's a three and a half hour journey for us, we would visit more place was open late in the Summer.
bluesonichd
TS Member
9 am 
when they dont open the turn styles till gone 9
was there anyone there to ride
when they dont open the turn styles till gone 9 was there anyone there to ride
Interesting you say that. When we're in Orlando we make the hour's drive to Busch Gardens to be there for opening - normally 10am. We hear the national anthem play before the turnstiles open. More often than not by 3pm at the latest we're heading back to Orlando, having done all the rides we wanted to multiple times. We do visit off-peak, but in our 4-5 hours on-park we'll have done well over 20 rides and possibly had lunch - but sometimes we stop on the way back to Orlando at somewhere like McD's / Burger King off I-4 to grab some lunch at half the price we'd have paid in Busch Gardens.
For me, the close time at Busch Gardens is not an issue as we can get a very good fill of rides and still be back in Orlando late afternoon. The issue at Towers is that the park does not deal well with crowds - if it's busier than expected on a 4pm close day you'll be lucky to get 5 or 6 rides in during the day.
I remember a manager at Europa Park telling me that their guests "expect value". He said they accept they have to queue, but expect to get on a decent number of rides in a day (which Europa Park consider to be a minimum of 10 rides). If they don't get this, they'll be at Guest Services demanding a refund - and they'll get one. So Europa Park have lots of rides, with excellent park operations to ensure their guests leave happy. This is before you get onto the food & beverage / hotel offerings / theming standards at Europa Park. Merlin could learn a lot there, but won't. The Merlin Mantra is just money, money, money, at the lowest cost.
9 am
was there anyone there to ride
By all accounts of Facebook it was back to the disorganised chaos at the turnstyles this morning too with no staff about causing people to stand around like lemons and those who knew the procedure and walked up to the annual pass gates being shouted at and accused of queue jumping, and annual passholders that didn't know about the annual pass gates standing at the back complaining about the lack of an dedicated annual pass queue.
bluesonichd
TS Member
Gotta love Towers and their disorganised queue shambles. Theres something to be said for turning up at 11am and just walking straight in
Matt.GC
TS Member
Absolutely right. If you're just there for coasters, then just about. Same story for cbeebies. But try taking a whole family of varying ages and see how much fun those measly 6 hours gets you.
You shouldn't expect to do everything in a Towers in a day, but since the family market is so lucrative for both spending and overnight stays, there is a case there for longer hours.
Regardless whether it's "possible" to get every ride you personally want to get done out the way, if you're there with the whole family you should expect to get a good 8 hours plus of fun for your money.
I'd be willing to bet that if the park increased its whole family targeted entertainment and ride offering, and had opening hours of 8 ~ 10 hours between the times of 10am and 8pm, they'd see a significant increase in catering and retail sales and would be able to charge a higher gate and season pass price.
bluesonichd
TS Member
Can’t do it all in a day .. say over and have a second day
Can’t do it all in a day. Buy fastrack
... short hours = extra money.
Can’t do it all in a day. Buy fastrack
... short hours = extra money.
speedy
TS Member
Even Lightwater Valley was 10-5 today, and everything was open (except Twister)