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2020: General Discussion

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I have to say my main niggle about today is not even about the park (well it is further down the line) and that is that with the amount of fan-sites and pages that have been there today, I haven't seen one that has shown what food and drink outlets are available and what they're selling?

Obviously Danny has answered my question on here but surely that'd be more helpful to people wanting to go than telling us they've added some new benches.

My only problem with the park itself is that one kiosk that only sells chocolate, ice creams and drinks is a bit poor. My local park was selling takeaway sandwiches, pizza slices and pasties yesterday so I think they could have at least opened Towers St. Hotdogs or Corner Coffee for take-outs.
 
Toilets are toilets. Most toilet blocks look similar, the issue with queuing near to others will be the same in John Lewis in the Trafford Centre, Debenhams..... anywhere where both male and female entrances are next to each other.

John Lewis toilets are a joke, two small entrances, left or right with a bit in the middle with seats. On a bad day you need to queue to get into the ladies, having men queuing as well and then most of the toilets are either a) right by the entrance to the lifts or b) lead straight into the shop. Great times.

Ooh, and the Trafford Centre food court toilets will be fun. Same principle as John Lewis but with the added bonus of rechargeable phone points where people love to gather and charge their phones while using them.

I think not having their own branded marquee suggests to me anyway that it's a serious facility. Having the AT logo on something that is for serious public health would seem crass and no appropriate. Also they're losing money left right and centre, I wouldn't expect them to spend a penny more on something that isn't going to directly improve the park. The money they've lost and the money it will cost them to set stuff up - like the refill dispensers which I hope will continue when we are past all this - not having a brand marquee is inconsequential in the scheme of things.

I don't buy because they're a big company they should somehow have the answer to everything and everything is going to be 100% from the word go. Look at Chester Zoo, all prepared but told they can't open. The money they've spend getting ready. Things are changing all the time. AT is doing the best they can.

There is no "one size fits all" for this. Every venue, every attraction will be different even if the companies own multiple locations. Unless it's a chain store where they are all the same size and layout. Maybe they did have months to prepare, but until people start coming and they can see what's working and what isn't preparation is only part of the solution.
 
What I wonder is after the 2015 incident what was the average daily attendance over the rest of that years season after June? Was it more or less than the planned reduced capacity? I'm wondering that if its similar or less what is Merlin planning on doing? Take the hit? Surely further cuts can't be possible there won't be any attractions left!
 
Spookle15 said:
Toilets are toilets. Most toilet blocks look similar, the issue with queuing near to others will be the same in John Lewis in the Trafford Centre, Debenhams..... anywhere where both male and female entrances are next to each other.

John Lewis toilets are a joke, two small entrances, left or right with a bit in the middle with seats. On a bad day you need to queue to get into the ladies, having men queuing as well and then most of the toilets are either a) right by the entrance to the lifts or b) lead straight into the shop. Great times.

Ooh, and the Trafford Centre food court toilets will be fun. Same principle as John Lewis but with the added bonus of rechargeable phone points where people love to gather and charge their phones while using them.

I think not having their own branded marquee suggests to me anyway that it's a serious facility. Having the AT logo on something that is for serious public health would seem crass and no appropriate. Also they're losing money left right and centre, I wouldn't expect them to spend a penny more on something that isn't going to directly improve the park. The money they've lost and the money it will cost them to set stuff up - like the refill dispensers which I hope will continue when we are past all this - not having a brand marquee is inconsequential in the scheme of things.

I don't buy because they're a big company they should somehow have the answer to everything and everything is going to be 100% from the word go. Look at Chester Zoo, all prepared but told they can't open. The money they've spend getting ready. Things are changing all the time. AT is doing the best they can.

There is no "one size fits all" for this. Every venue, every attraction will be different even if the companies own multiple locations. Unless it's a chain store where they are all the same size and layout. Maybe they did have months to prepare, but until people start coming and they can see what's working and what isn't preparation is only part of the solution.
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Agreed, it's a bit hard to swallow the berating over the toilet situation. I mean, what could they do?

As you say, the first few months of not being open will hit them hard.

Everywhere you go you see inadequate social distancing measures. Whether it be on the bud, train, shop of workplace. We're just not cut out for it with the way infrastructure is designed.

So, what could they do? Building new toilet blocks would require planning permission and new plumbing.

I think they're doing as well as anybody else is
 
Mikw said:
Agreed, it's a bit hard to swallow the berating over the toilet situation. I mean, what could they do?

As you say, the first few months of not being open will hit them hard.

Everywhere you go you see inadequate social distancing measures. Whether it be on the bud, train, shop of workplace. We're just not cut out for it with the way infrastructure is designed.

So, what could they do? Building new toilet blocks would require planning permission and new plumbing.

I think they're doing as well as anybody else is
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They don't need to do anything to the toilet blocks, they just need to man them and only allow a certain amount of people in at a time, and use a one way system where possible with the toilets that have two entrances.
 
themeparkfan said:
What I wonder is after the 2015 incident what was the average daily attendance over the rest of that years season after June? Was it more or less than the planned reduced capacity? I'm wondering that if its similar or less what is Merlin planning on doing? Take the hit? Surely further cuts can't be possible there won't be any attractions left!
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For about a month after the park was a ghost town.
 
Jaysus the 2015/6 cuts was bad but I feel this will have a bigger impact. Unlike the incident where only towers lost income. It’s the whole of merlins portfolio has been affected. So in my personal opinion they will cut everything they possible can. But no one will know how bad the cuts will be until the start of next season.
 
From memory, Towers was deserted for the entirety of 2015 post-Smiler. Far, far lower guest figures than the sort being touted as capacity limits now. They must have made tremendous losses that summer.
 
Matt N said:
From memory, Towers was deserted for the entirety of 2015 post-Smiler. Far, far lower guest figures than the sort being touted as capacity limits now. They must have made tremendous losses that summer.
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I remember 2015 after the crash very well. It was so quiet i doubt they lost tons of money but they lost enough. But the money they lost in 2015 is nothing compared to this year. In my opinion we can’t compare 2015 to this situation.
 
Mr Pearse said:
I remember 2015 after the crash very well. It was so quiet i doubt they lost tons of money but they lost enough. But the money they lost in 2015 is nothing compared to this year. In my opinion we can’t compare 2015 to this situation.
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It's not accurate regardless of how many parks it affected as one was Merlin's fault and one was completely not their fault.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
 
Mr Pearse said:
I remember 2015 after the crash very well. It was so quiet i doubt they lost tons of money but they lost enough. But the money they lost in 2015 is nothing compared to this year. In my opinion we can’t compare 2015 to this situation.
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Of course they will have lost far more this time, as the park will have spent over 3 months closed, but if you exclude the closed period and do a like-for-like comparison between operating days, I’d say that the park’s profits in 2015 would probably have been quite a bit smaller than what they will be this summer.
 
Manning the toilets... Hahaha. I can see it now, little Tyrone is desperate for the loo and a staff member has to tell the parent he has to wait until there's less people inside. That will go down well. Or trying to tell a parent to keep his kid away from other people..... My mum has said cattle prods should be used, not sure that's legal but needs must when the devil drives.

I remember Scarefest the year of the Smiler crash, so quiet, which in a way was good for us but the atmosphere was different. Only time they had the Molly Crow maze as well, sadly. Loved that one. Didn't deserve only one year.
 
Matt N said:
From memory, Towers was deserted for the entirety of 2015 post-Smiler. Far, far lower guest figures than the sort being touted as capacity limits now. They must have made tremendous losses that summer.
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Yup, my one and only Merlin pass, purchased because it was going to be a very quiet year.
And it was.
 
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