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2021: General Discussion

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I guess with last closed season we didn't know that it would be extended until a few days before the park was scheduled to open whereas there was uncertainty for quite a lot of this closed season about when the park would reopen.
 
Benzin said:
Clearly never parked in a town centre.
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Alton Towers is not in a town centre though, is it?

Charged parking to control demand and use is necessary and has a place.

Charged parking where demand cannot outstrip supply and alternative travel for the attraction is practically non existent is a stealthy way to strip money from your guests rather than just charging a fair and honest ticket price.
 
Uh oh...

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Does this happen for anyone else?
 
siralgenon said:
if you travel overseas you're looking at anything from 25-50 €/$ a day to park.
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Don't know which theme parks you've been to in Europe (can't speak for America), but I've never had to pay more than €10 to park. I imagine DLP will be slightly more but €6-10 for parking, if not free, is my experience.
 
Burbs said:
Don't know which theme parks you've been to in Europe (can't speak for America), but I've never had to pay more than €10 to park. I imagine DLP will be slightly more but €6-10 for parking, if not free, is my experience.
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Parking at Disneyland Paris is €30 per day.
 
AT86 said:
Parking at Disneyland Paris is €30 per day.
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Ok, but Disney is in a world of its own and not really comparable to other parks purely because of the institution that it is. Anyway, my point was that the vast vast majority of European theme parks don't charge more than €10 a day to park (often quite a bit less), although IIRC Efteling went up to circa €12 the other year. But even so, the point is that Alton Towers' parking is still in the same ball park of most European theme parks. :)
 
Nope, got all the early season weekends in, knowing what was coming.
Called the Harbinger of Doom by the Crevettes staff.
Edit...sorry, quote failed, reply to Ethan re longest closed sason.
 
Rick said:
The parking charge is not 'for parking', it's a proportion of the total cost of your day at the park.
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Which is a crappy way to treat your customers. There can be no reason to do this other than to effectively hide some if the cost from the headline ticket price rather than being upfront about what the day costs and just charging that.

It's like the practices of Ryanair Vs Emirates. But this is a theme park purely for entertainment and pleasure, not functional travel.

It leaves a bitter taste in the mouth at the end of your day, surely not the feeling you want to leave your guests with. Just stick £1.50 on the ticket price and be done with it, or give the parking charge some validity by using the funds to invest in alternative transport options and explain that to guests.
 
Is anyone on park tomorrow? It feels like everyone’s going to Paultons tomorrow for Tornado Springs, so I’d merely be intrigued to know!

My first visit is on Friday...
 
I’ll be there Wednesday, however there are a few people I follow on Instagram who’ve said they are going, so I’m looking forward to hearing their judgments and to see any changes we haven’t seen yet. Also looking forward to seeing more about the TLC of the Th13teen building, as this was spoken about in the towers article but have yet to see anything about this.
 
pluk said:
Which is a crappy way to treat your customers. There can be no reason to do this other than to effectively hide some if the cost from the headline ticket price rather than being upfront about what the day costs and just charging that.

It's like the practices of Ryanair Vs Emirates. But this is a theme park purely for entertainment and pleasure, not functional travel.
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I'm on the fence with this one. Parking charges aren’t great, but most parks do it. It may have a small effect on how people get to the park and encourage car sharing. But for Alton Towers there isn’t a viable alternative, it’s not like Chessington, Thorpe and Legoland where there is sensible regular bus & train options.

But if I take the bus from Staines to Thorpe is it still a couple of quid per person, should that be part of the admission price too? I think at £6 the car park fee is a similar cost to a bus fare if a couple of people share a car.
 
Connor98 said:
Also looking forward to seeing more about the TLC of the Th13teen building, as this was spoken about in the towers article but have yet to see anything about this.
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I expect the sackcloth that covered the scaffold will be replaced, nothing more. Just what has needed doing.
That’s why there was no photo as it’s something that needed doing, not a big upgrade like the LED lights in the frog fountains.
 
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