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2022: General Discussion

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If very few days had 4pm closures, why use "placeholders"?
They scare prospective punters off from booking in advance, which is what the park wants.
5pm daily closure should be the minimum standard anyway, the park is miles from anywhere...anything less is simply a rip off.
 
This has been discussed many times, but yes based on 2021 the 4pm closures really should be marked as "no earlier than 4pm"
They really should be either open to 5pm, or closed completely.
 
SuperMuscleMan said:
June the 21st and the week around it has 5 and 4pm closures. Do you really believe Alton is of value and a great day out when it has such limited hours? Maybe you have not experienced parks other than m£rlin but even paultons park does not close earlier than 5pm!
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I think you've misunderstood me a bit there, I am by no means defending the fact they are advertising such early close times, I was simply highlighting the fact that in practice they tend to close later than that.

I am well travelled having visited lots of other parks in the UK and abroad, so wholeheartedly agree that advertising 4pm is too early.
 
djtruefitt said:
I don’t get why they don’t just put “open” on their opening times pages until much closer then advertise the actual times when they know. It would certainly put me off if I was planning a once a year trip to a theme park and it said 10-4, when other parks elsewhere might have better hours.
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Might the system they've got for ticketing and timetableing make it so they have to put in a time? Or is it one of those weird company policies that make zero sense?
 
JAperson said:
Might the system they've got for ticketing and timetableing make it so they have to put in a time? Or is it one of those weird company policies that make zero sense?
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That could be true and they put 4pm because stating that then increasing it to 5pm or later nearer the time is better than saying 5pm only to reduce it back down to 4pm
 
Steve74 said:
That could be true and they put 4pm because stating that then increasing it to 5pm or later nearer the time is better than saying 5pm only to reduce it back down to 4pm
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Which seems more common at Blackpool of closing earlier than advertised, or at least winding down.

Adventure Island at Southend mark every day as either closing between 4pm and 8pm or between 8pm and 10.30. But they open at 11am.
Alton Towers could at least state open at 10am and close between 4pm and 6pm on these off-peak dates, that way it shows it might get extended but won't be a late closing time.
 
jon81uk said:
Which seems more common at Blackpool of closing earlier than advertised, or at least winding down.

Adventure Island at Southend mark every day as either closing between 4pm and 8pm or between 8pm and 10.30. But they open at 11am.
Alton Towers could at least state open at 10am and close between 4pm and 6pm on these off-peak dates, that way it shows it might get extended but won't be a late closing time.
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Tbh, they probably daren't state times later than they intend to open "just in case" because they'd have the wrath of all the Karens to deal with! Better to state early times then extend than the other way around!
 
Bare in mind, staff would like some kind forewarning of what time they'd be finishing. There was mutiny last year (particularly amongst ride staff and maintenance) over the 8pm closes early on the season that would be decided mid way through the shift, that's why it went back to 7pm in the summer holidays. Staff morale last summer was dire.
 
Burner said:
Bare in mind, staff would like some kind forewarning of what time they'd be finishing. There was mutiny last year (particularly amongst ride staff and maintenance) over the 8pm closes early on the season that would be decided mid way through the shift, that's why it went back to 7pm in the summer holidays. Staff morale last summer was dire.
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I don't think there was ever a time when it was extended to 8pm on the day, the 8pm closes were always updated on the website a week or so before. Still not ideal if anyone's made plans but hey, that's the nature of the job unfortunately.

Maybe they should put out a "staff calender" to employees at the start of the year with expected ride closes. If pre-books are low and it stays as a 4/5pm close then that's a bonus.

Interesting you say it was particularly rides and maintenance staff that were cheesed off about the late closes. I guess retail, f&b, box office, admissions etc were all fine with it ;)
 
Josh said:
I don't think there was ever a time when it was extended to 8pm on the day, the 8pm closes were always updated on the website a week or so before. Still not ideal if anyone's made plans but hey, that's the nature of the job unfortunately.

Maybe they should put out a "staff calender" to employees at the start of the year with expected ride closes. If pre-books are low and it stays as a 4/5pm close then that's a bonus.

Interesting you say it was particularly rides and maintenance staff that were cheesed off about the late closes. I guess retail, f&b, box office, admissions etc were all fine with it ;)
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It happened a number of times, when you'd be waiting until about 2pm to know what time you'd be finishing. Trust me. I mentioned ride staff and maintenance in particular, because there were threats of strikes last summer, and there were rows between department managers and higher ups because of it. But discontent was rife amongst all departments, hence why there was a huge staffing crisis right across the resort.
 
There was a staffing crisis across the whole country, continent, and western world. Not sure the closing times had much to do with it.
 
Burner said:
I'm just talking from an insider perspective, so believe what you want. Staff morale last year was rock bottom, with a staff exodus mid season across the resort. Long hours, awful management, and awful guests.
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Well the good news is there's another season of long hours and awful guests coming I'm sure ;) Am I to assume you won't be continuing to work there?

The staffing crisis is affecting all sectors of the leisure industry worldwide. Lack of decent staff means it puts more pressure on those of you who stay in work. I'm sure if Towers could recruit enough they would have a 4 day working week or split shifts to cover the late closes.

Even Disney and Universal are struggling, a friend of mine sent me a video from the Wizarding World of a member of staff leaning against their butter beer stall on their phone for a good 5 mins in front of guests. Seems unheard of for those parks but I guess they are struggling for staff too :eek:
 
Burner said:
I'm just talking from an insider perspective, so believe what you want. Staff morale last year was rock bottom, with a staff exodus mid season across the resort. Long hours, awful management, and awful guests.
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and this is partly why the food is being outsourced I expect too, makes recruiting those areas someone elses problem.
 
With earlier comments if the number of closing days at 4pm was fee why not pump it up to 5 to encourage more visitors who believe they are getting better value.

With the staffing crisis then I believe having CLOSED days out of seasons is much better than minimal hours.

It gives the park more time to train and prepare for the busy season, staff get time off and maintenance to take place which means less issues in the busy season. It does seem stupid opening the park on days that end at 4pm.

In a radical shake up would it not be far better to open up the gardens in the off peak days only? I am currently working building/updating an attraction with some projection mapping and an experience and I am shocked at the amount of coach trips and how far in advance they book ahead.

October last year for this Summer already had 60 coaches booked in (and it's a small attraction). If Alton got together with all the oldie coach holiday companies that show them around the country gardens on week long breaks (like companies such as" just go") and time it right they could potentially have 1000s of golden oldies in a captive audience on quite days trotting around the gardens. Open it up&to the public and merlin pass holders and you could have a day with minimal staff, but retain a presence for pass holders and a small but steady income. Events like that could grow.

Throw in a few cream teas and possibly a few talks by the head Gardner and you have an event.

Just an idea.
 
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