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2021: General Discussion

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Wait hang on a minute. How can a bank holiday be 6pm but weekends 8pm? I'm pretty sure bank holidays are some of the busiest days of the year
 
Ethan said:
Wait hang on a minute. How can a bank holiday be 6pm but weekends 8pm? I'm pretty sure bank holidays are some of the busiest days of the year
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A lot of people do assume bank holidays will be busy and I also assume the Sunday will be busier as people don't need to worry about work the next day.
 
Today looked like one of the quietest times I've ever seen towers. Wasn't there unfortunately but looking at how light the crowds were, I wish I had been. 5 minutes for wicker man for most the day, that's insane! Think I just would've stayed there all day given it was one of the quietest rides. I reckon I could've done it 10+ times today in the time it took me to do it once on Sunday, that just proves that weekends are the time when most people will go
 
Ethan said:
Today looked like one of the quietest times I've ever seen towers. Wasn't there unfortunately but looking at how light the crowds were, I wish I had been. 5 minutes for wicker man for most the day, that's insane! Think I just would've stayed there all day given it was one of the quietest rides. I reckon I could've done it 10+ times today in the time it took me to do it once on Sunday, that just proves that weekends are the time when most people will go
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I'm very much hoping that tomorrow is similar as I'm on park for the first time this season! It'd be great to have plenty of re-rides in a quiet park.
 
D4n said:
Bank holidays tend to be quite quiet because of this assumption.
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Spot on. Bank Holidays are not quiet, but nor are they stupidly busy. The day to avoid is the Tuesday after a Bank Holiday Monday - all the punters think they are clever visiting then as it will be quiet - WRONG!
 
When considering park closing times this season in particular, I think it's wise to consider a few things:

- There are just 2 weekend days when a larger proportion of the population are off, there's 5 when a smaller proportion are off. If the park was only open for 2 weekdays per week, the park would be much busier.

- Many people who have week days off possibly won't go as their kids go to school Mon-Fri.

- As someone who has worked weekends for 22 years, and now being joined in doing so by an increasing amount of the working population, I'm tired of the outdated stereotypes that everyone works 9-5 Mon-Friday in an office in the accounts department. I don't see why I should have a significantly downgraded experience at a Theme Park because I have time off during the week.

- Not long ago the situation was the other way round where you got one pathetic extra hour on weekend days despite the park being significantly busier than week days. We seem to have gone from one extreme to the other.

- I make no apologies for repeating the point that the amount of rides you can cram in does not always equal a good 'Day Out'. I don't consider 6 hours a good day out at a Theme park for many even if you do get 100 rides in, especially if you have to travel a significant distance to the park.

- Many people will make their decision not to go on a weekday when they log on to the website and see a 4pm close Vs an 8pm close on weekends. They'll likely expect weekdays to be quieter but won't have a clue to what extent and certainly won't be sitting on ridetimes or enthusiast forums all day studying how long the Smiler queue is, downtime on Nemesis or how many trains Wickerman is running.

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I went today for the first time this year, lovely and quiet and ride availibilty was top notch too.

I only stayed for 3 hours (i get exhausted easily due to health issues and was worried about the drive home) but managed 9 rides, and an hour to sit down and chill. I like both busy event days and quiet off peak days for differing reasons.
 
Looks like it is set to be a busy bank holiday weekend at the park. As it stands now park tickets for Saturday and Sunday appear to be sold out and the Enchanted Village and Stargazing Pods are fully booked on Saturday and Sunday nights.

Good to see guest numbers continue to be high.
 
AT86 said:
Looks like it is set to be a busy bank holiday weekend at the park. As it stands now park tickets for Saturday and Sunday appear to be sold out and the Enchanted Village and Stargazing Pods are fully booked on Saturday and Sunday nights.

Good to see guest numbers continue to be high.
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Cue 2 hour queues and absolute social distancing mayhem
 
Interesting news that could potentially change the course of Alton’s 2021 season slightly; Boris Johnson is apparently going to be told that social distancing is not needed at large events from 21st June, after tests of events without social distancing went well. There was no spike in COVID cases among attendees: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politic...ing-not-needed-big-events-boris-johnson-told/

I know this focused on events, but does this mean that the park could possibly scrap the distancing rules from 21st June? It certainly bodes well for things like Fireworks later in the year, if nothing else!
EDIT: Apologies, I couldn’t read the whole article as it’s behind a paywall.
 
Matt N said:
Interesting news that could potentially change the course of Alton’s 2021 season slightly; Boris Johnson is apparently going to be told that social distancing is not needed at large events from 21st June, after tests of events without social distancing went well. There was no spike in COVID cases among attendees: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politic...ing-not-needed-big-events-boris-johnson-told/

I know this focused on events, but does this mean that the park could possibly scrap the distancing rules from 21st June? It certainly bodes well for things like Fireworks later in the year, if nothing else!
EDIT: Apologies, I couldn’t read the whole article as it’s behind a paywall.
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I think Alton Towers could be going into the summer with their highest ride capacity in years! The park just need to make sure that the rest of the park is ready, lack of car parking, food and drink establishments and short opening hours could limit what the park is capable of this summer. If I was in charge of Alton Towers and I was told that social distancing was definitely off for the summer then I would massively beef up marketing, get as many SBNO food outlets open as possible, get opening hours up to 10-8 and find some way round the car parking space conundrum. (Are there any more fields near the park that could be used for car parking or a park and ride scheme?). This is an opportunity for the park to get back as much money as possible from the months they were shut and reassert themselves as the UK's number one park.
 
Anybody vaguely familiar with the powers at be know if there are intentions to return to an ERT offering when the bulk of the accommodation reopens? I would suspect this is a good marketing tool to sell such accommodation.
 
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