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2021: Opening date & Tickets Onsale

Orange Ribena said:
I don't even have a £55 pass but I'd rather an average AT at its current price than paying £90 entry for an "improved" experience. Its a British theme park for a cheap and cheerful day out. It's in no position to go to Disney prices no matter what it offers. The GBP wouldn't pay that for a "day out".
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Sorry to keep circling back on you like this, but nobody suggested "£90 entry for an "improved" experience"? The conversation was about how the expectations of BOGOF vouchers reduce the value of the park in the eyes of consumers, not charging the admission price of Magic Kingdom on Christmas day. Most people in this topic generally seem in agreement that the online price (40 quid or so) is about fair.

Saying that, I'm not sure the GBP wouldn't pay £90 for a premium day out, given that the park have, in the past, regularly sold out of premium Fastrack packages that equal similar value. Across the leisure market, 'premium' experiences are all the rage.

Nonetheless, an operation the size of Alton Towers needs multiple access points for consumers, although they certainly don't think of themselves as a 'cheap and cheerful' attraction, and haven't since the first hotel in 1996. Your perspective on the park is of course valid, but I personally don't think it reflects all of their guests or what the management ultimately want to achieve.
 
Plastic Person said:
Sorry to keep circling back on you like this, but nobody suggested "£90 entry for an "improved" experience"? The conversation was about how the expectations of BOGOF vouchers reduce the value of the park in the eyes of consumers, not charging the admission price of Magic Kingdom on Christmas day. Most people in this topic generally seem in agreement that the online price (40 quid or so) is about fair.

Saying that, I'm not sure the GBP wouldn't pay £90 for a premium day out, given that the park have, in the past, regularly sold out of premium Fastrack packages that equal similar value. Across the leisure market, 'premium' experiences are all the rage.

Nonetheless, an operation the size of Alton Towers needs multiple access points for consumers, although they certainly don't think of themselves as a 'cheap and cheerful' attraction, and haven't since the first hotel in 1996. Your perspective on the park is of course valid, but I personally don't think it reflects all of their guests or what the management ultimately want to achieve.
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I guess I wouldn't pay £40 for a day out at UK park. I don't think many families would want to pay that type of price more than once a year. Sure "premium" experience are popular but not with a large amount of people.

I wouldn't imagine Towers thinks of themselves as "cheap and cheerful" because companies like to big themselves up but its a park in the UK for a day visit not a holiday destination for the vast majority of their visitors, which makes them less lightly to want to pay a higher amount. I think a UK family day out is a different proposition to a trip to Disney where people are willing to pay more.

You are right it does need various price points and I totally get from a self-interested point of view wanting to have less people around, who wouldn't. I also think if they can't provide access to the passholder they promised then yes they should get rid of the passes certainly not put up the price given the current situation.

Also, I just don't believe they would reinvest the money back into making the park better. Its a bog standard product at a bog standard price.
 
Orange Ribena said:
It's in no position to go to Disney prices no matter what it offers
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Oh definitely, Disney offers so many things that Alton Towers has never offered, such as parades, nightly fireworks, meet & greets.

But they used to offer a park that is comparable to Europa, Phantasialand and other major parks that are around £45/50 a day.
 
jon81uk said:
Oh definitely, Disney offers so many things that Alton Towers has never offered, such as parades, nightly fireworks, meet & greets.

But they used to offer a park that is comparable to Europa, Phantasialand and other major parks that are around £45/50 a day.
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Alton Towers does do meet & greets, I would however like to see them do parades and more fireworks nights if they can negotiate them with the council somehow.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Alton Towers does do meet & greets, I would however like to see them do parades and more fireworks nights if they can negotiate them with the council somehow.
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Is that the Telly Tubbies? I find them a bit scary. I would like to meet and greet a giant Big Bob.

I'm not a kid but CBebbie does nothing for me. I could go and meet characters at Disney or even Spongebob Square Pants at Blackpool but CBeebies is very blah to me. I think there are children's brand that stand the test of time and even adults remember fondly, not sure CBeebies is that.
 
Orange Ribena said:
Is that the Telly Tubbies? I find them a bit scary. I would like to meet and greet a giant Big Bob.

I'm not a kid but CBebbie does nothing for me. I could go and meet characters at Disney or even Spongebob Square Pants at Blackpool but CBeebies is very blah to me. I think there are children's brand that stand the test of time and even adults remember fondly, not sure CBeebies is that.
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Whilst Cbeebies itself isn't, Teletubbies and Postman Pat are now old enough that parents who grew up with those shows are taking their children to Alton Towers. In The Night Garden has such a cult following now that there was outrage in the papers when they tried retiring it because many young children will not go to sleep until they see Iggle Piggle
 
One of the benefit of CBeebies as an IP is that the area can constantly evolve with whatever's popular. Postman Pat will probably always be a fixture (unless there's a major scandal).
 
Orange Ribena said:
Many people couldn't afford to go at much higher prices but if they decide as a business to do that. I don't think it will improve the product but if it will make park going better for people here then good for you. I get wishful thinking and hoping I just don't think its realistic. They need more getting rid of those smelly cheapo £55 passholders for sure.

I don't even have a £55 pass but I'd rather an average AT at its current price than paying £90 entry for an "improved" experience. Its a British theme park for a cheap and cheerful day out. It's in no position to go to Disney prices no matter what it offers. The GBP wouldn't pay that for a "day out".

Just have to agree to disagree on this. Its not a place I plan on visiting in the next few years due to covid situation, I've got my Blackpool pass and will happily enjoy a day out there.
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Whoah whoah, steady with the assumptions there. I have not advocated at all that getting rid of passholders would benefit me in any way. It makes no difference to me personally. I have nothing against passholders, I was one myself last year.

You seem to be insinuating, please correct me if I'm wrong, that I want a quieter park at a higher price. On the contrary, I don't at all, I just want a better one. A park filled up with guests who want to be there because it's a great day out for all the family rather than simply because it cost them naff all to get in. To enjoy a larger number of high quality attractions and events. I agree with you it probably is wishful thinking to expect them to adopt a strategy of bringing the park back up to standard.

No one is asking for Disney level though, just back to the modern day equivalent of where the park was 15 to 20 years ago will do. But there's only one direction the park could possibly go with a £55 season pass.


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Matt.GC said:
Whoah whoah, steady with the assumptions there. I have not advocated at all that getting rid of passholders would benefit me in any way. It makes no difference to me personally. I have nothing against passholders, I was one myself last year.

You seem to be insinuating, please correct me if I'm wrong, that I want a quieter park at a higher price. On the contrary, I don't at all, I just want a better one. A park filled up with guests who want to be there because it's a great day out for all the family rather than simply because it cost them naff all to get in. To enjoy a larger number of high quality attractions and events. I agree with you it probably is wishful thinking to expect them to adopt a strategy of bringing the park back up to standard.

No one is asking for Disney level though, just back to the modern day equivalent of where the park was 15 to 20 years ago will do. But there's only one direction the park could possibly go with a £55 season pass.


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We shall have to agree to disagree. What business is it of anyone why a guest wants to be there. If they didn't want to be there they wouldn't be there...its not that cheap.
 
Orange Ribena said:
We shall have to agree to disagree. What business is it of anyone why a guest wants to be there. If they didn't want to be there they wouldn't be there...its not that cheap.
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I completely understand and respect your opinion by the way. We all see different things in what we want from Towers, mine being that it was a world renowned park and I hate to see what it is becoming and that I now have to travel abroad to get the same quality I used to get in the UK. But Towers is different things to us all and we all have had our best experiences there at different times, enjoying different attractions and for different reasons. I suppose it's easy for me to bang on about how great it was in the "good 'ol days" because I either didn't have to pay for it or when I grew up and did, I didn't visit more than once per year until well into my 30's when I could afford to go wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

But just out of interest, would you not consider £55 for a whole season cheap?

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Orange Ribena said:
I guess I wouldn't pay £40 for a day out at UK park.
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£40 for 8 hours plus full of being well entertained has got to be considered quite reasonable. And if people were paying it I'm sure we could have 8 hours of being well entertained rather than 5 hours of not being particularly well entertained.

I'm not saying you should want to pay it, that'll always up to the individual, but I would say if you are not willing to pay around that amount you shouldn't be able to go.
 
pluk said:
£40 for 8 hours plus full of being well entertained has got to be considered quite reasonable. And if people were paying it I'm sure we could have 8 hours of being well entertained rather than 5 hours of not being particularly well entertained.

I'm not saying you should want to pay it, that'll always up to the individual, but I would say if you are not willing to pay around that amount you shouldn't be able to go.
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Thanks for letting me know where I should and shouldn't be able to go.
 
pluk said:
No problem.

(I'm saying it shouldn't be an option, not that if it is an option you shouldn't use it. It's a comment on Merlin/Towers, not on you.)
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Oh well that makes me feel so much better. I'll certainly have to keep your opinion in mind when I am considering if I should be allowed to go somewhere. Next time I go to the cinema I will ask myself "Did I pay enough to see this movie, would random guy on the internet approve". I'll make sure I also share your opinion with people I see around who look like they are being too cheap. I hope you make sure you tell off all those people bringing sandwiches too, I mean if they can't afford food in AT, should they really be there.
 
Orange Ribena said:
Oh well that makes me feel so much better. I'll certainly have to keep your opinion in mind when I am considering if I should be allowed to go somewhere. Next time I go to the cinema I will ask myself "Did I pay enough to see this movie, would random guy on the internet approve". I'll make sure I also share your opinion with people I see around who look like they are being too cheap. I hope you make sure you tell off all those people bringing sandwiches too, I mean if they can't afford food in AT, should they really be there.
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Can you read? Not what I've been saying at all.
 
When BA was still nationalised, they were struggling to make Concorde profitable. A new geezer was brought in to do the job and one of the first things he did to investigate why such a magnificent feat of British engineering was loosing so much money was extensive market research of potential and current passengers.

They found that there was a lot of love and pride for Concorde but that the customer experience caused by cuts to try and turn a profit was poor and not at the standard passengers expected. But most interestingly, potential customers and existing customers where asked how much they thought tickets cost and how much they thought they were worth.

Incredibly, not only did some people not even know how much they paid (some said they're employers paid or they didn't care personally), but most people thought Concorde flights cost many times more than they actually did.

So they refitted the planes, focused on passenger experience and priced the flights inline with what people actually expected.

Now I'm not saying Merlin should spend millions on Towers and hike the prices up three fold. But it does make me wonder if Towers is stuck in a kind of existential/identity crisis. When you have Chessington and Thorpe ticking along like they always have, with major investments like the Swarm only making a dent in finances rather than increasing gate numbers and park perception, what is Towers for? It's clearly a different park to rest of Merlin's UK RTP estate and I would argue, should be managed differently.

What does the brand and it's history mean to the GP? What do people expect from a major UK theme park? Does the UK even need one or do they just want a more northern Thorpe or Chessington? What is its perception with visitors or potential visitors? With the ever thinning lineup, major investments being purely coasters and the current strategy of discounting heavily to get visitors in, I'm not so sure they know the answers.

Perhaps with new events and longer hours this year, with early indications that they are planning to continue this next year, they are heading in a different direction to the last few years?

Edit: I hope this explains what we're trying to debate here @orangeribena. No one is attacking you and your personal choices, neither is anyone telling you what you should think or that they want to somehow ethnically cleanse the park of passholders. We're trying to argue that £55 season passes are further devaluing the brand and limiting the parks future options to maintain even its current market position. Were debating the future of a Theme Park on a forum set up to talk about said park, not criticising anyone's personal choices.

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Orange Ribena said:
Sorry, I upset you. I guess back to school for me to learn to read. Thanks for letting me know I am illiterate.
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I asked a question, didn't make a statement, so maybe you are on to something... Not upset, just frustrating being presumably wilfully misinterpreted which makes any discussion a bit pointless, don't you think?

Anyway...

I think an excellent indication of what is possible is the Blue Light Card Day. It costs around £25, the numbers are limited leaving queues somewhere between minimal and reasonable. Exceptional downtime aside (there was a shocker of a day a couple of years back), they are always really well received.

Car parking is free
There is no fastrack on sale

This isn't a charity day, this is effectively a private hire and Towers (and Thorpe) are making a good profit on it. A fair price, everyone paying it, no hidden upcharge. This is what it could be.
 
Orange Ribena said:
We shall have to agree to disagree. What business is it of anyone why a guest wants to be there. If they didn't want to be there they wouldn't be there...its not that cheap.
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Why do you want a quieter park? It would be open less.

The off peak days where the park has closed are now less and less, a lot of it is passholders enjoying a cheap few hours out, spending their money on merch and food, and sometimes one shot fast track deals.

I'm going to guess these passholders wouldn't come that often with a huge price hike.

For my £70 something premium season pass i got into double figures this year for visits. At £40 a shot i'd get one and hald visits in. At £90 a shot i'd get ONE in tops. That will surely lead to less open park days, less choice about when to come and already busy days even busier - and they're the kind of days that can be so busy they lead to less guest satisfaction.
 
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