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2022: General Discussion

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DavidRock said:
I agree with what your saying. I get that some times like a special pin badge ( which I also collect) is good to have as park specific.

What grumbles me is the new clothing range. We finally have embroidered hoodies which are far better quality and what the park has been needing for years and yet you can't get them online?

I can order the thorpe stuff straight away. Just seems that its one marketing rule for one park and another rule for another.

If Merlin kept it all the same then I wouldn't be so hacked off.

Its a bit hard to get to park when either I or my partner work 15 hour NHS shifts also with a 9 month old. So our down days are rest days after you've done 4 in a row all you wanna do is sleep.

Sorry for this post being a bit ranty is all. Just that the new merch is of way better quality after years of the bad transfer style clothing.
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But 10 years ago or so the online store didn't exist, you just bought merchandise as a souvineer of a ride you enjoyed after a day at the park. Also I'm not sure there are that many people who really want something without having been and ridden the ride.

If you hadn't seen the blogs/vlogs/forums then you wouldn't know the items existed, it would be a fun discovery on your next day out. I do think social media "ruins" the fun of a visit to a park sometimes.

Also a lot of the time "Merlin" as a company is overestimated, the resort theme parks are still companies in their own right and often many decisions are made by the parks management team, what AT think is best for their business is different to what Thorpe think.

NuttySquirrel said:
I kind of agree, if you're having a day at the park with your family/friends do you really want to spend a large portion of your day shopping? No, you might have a quick look around, see some stuff you like and then do a more in-depth look online. The AT online shop is a bit of an embarrassment really.
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Not sure most people on-park would even know the online shop exists, you are reall over-estimating peoples desire for it.
Most people would spot something they want and either buy it now, or pop by Towers Trading on the way out at the end of the day, so you don't spend part of the day shopping, just do it on the way out as Towers Trading is open much longer.
 
@jon81uk @NuttySquirrel @Craig

Thanks for the reply guys. I didn't mean to stir the hornets nest so to speak. I was just a bit miffed at the time thats all. I'm all chilled now though.

So once again thanks for the replies guys and i totally can see it from your points of view.

Either way Towers will be getting my money at some point anyway.
 
DavidRock said:
@jon81uk @NuttySquirrel @Craig

Thanks for the reply guys. I didn't mean to stir the hornets nest so to speak. I was just a bit miffed at the time thats all. I'm all chilled now though.

So once again thanks for the replies guys and i totally can see it from your points of view.

Either way Towers will be getting my money at some point anyway.
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Don't sweat it, we all get frustated sometimes! And you're right about the Retrosquad, it was fine for one year after Covid but now it's just a sticking plaster for a bigger issue - lack of decent flat rides - that they seem to be putting off addressing.

Ride availability and reliability was extremely poor at the end of last season - hopefully we will see this improve in the coming weeks.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
Don't sweat it, we all get frustated sometimes! And you're right about the Retrosquad, it was fine for one year after Covid but now it's just a sticking plaster for a bigger issue - lack of decent flat rides - that they seem to be putting off addressing.

Ride availability and reliability was extremely poor at the end of last season - hopefully we will see this improve in the coming weeks.
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Yeah they really must get permanent replacements in for next season. Surely two years with temporary flats is enough evidence that they are urgently needed!?
Plus it'd be great to have a few new rides in place by the time Nemmy shuts for her re-track.
 
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Pretty decent start to the year. Got on all the big 7 and queues were , on the most part, fairly short. I queued:
Wicker man 50
Smiler 40
Galactica 30
Rita 10
Th13teen 5
Oblivion 0
Nemesis 0
The park was very quiet, certainly the quietest I've seen for a while, so most queues as you can see were minimal. In terms of operations, pretty decent and the amount of trains the rides were on was:
Oblivion 4
Smiler 2
Th13teen 2
Rita 2
Nemesis 2
Wicker man 1
Galactica 1
So mostly what I expected tbf, except for smiler thought that'd be on 3. Nonetheless good day and excited for the season ahead
 
There is absolutely no need to close every weekend at 8pm. If the guest and weather forecast permits for it, sure. There were plenty of occasions last year however where there was virtually nobody on the park at 8pm, other than a few stragglers on Towers Street. I suspect that's the reason it has been canned this year.
 
Although at the same time I feel some of the current opening hours are inadequate, especially Sunday's 5pm close (and the Wicker Man farce). Alton Towers really need to find the middleground between not opening long enough for people to get on enough rides and staying open when most people have left the park.
Personally I think at this stage of the season, 6pm is sufficient with the ability to extend to 7pm if busy.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Although at the same time I feel some of the current opening hours are inadequate, especially Sunday's 5pm close (and the Wicker Man farce). Alton Towers really need to find the middleground between not opening long enough for people to get on enough rides and staying open when most people have left the park.
Personally I think at this stage of the season, 6pm is sufficient with the ability to extend to 7pm if busy.
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I agree - 6pm closures as standard at the weekend with the option to extend until 7 or 8pm for super peak days.

4pm mid week closures are OK, but it kind of defeats the object if rides like Galactica and Wickerman are on 1 train and you end up waiting 60 minutes on a day where the park is only open for 6 hours.
 
s_g_k said:
I agree - 6pm closures as standard at the weekend with the option to extend until 7 or 8pm for super peak days.

4pm mid week closures are OK, but it kind of defeats the object if rides like Galactica and Wickerman are on 1 train and you end up waiting 60 minutes on a day where the park is only open for 6 hours.
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Yep they are okay and you can get a very respectable ride count if operations are good and you're a fast walker, I always feel like the day comes to an end so fast and I don't stop for hot food and a meal on a 6 hour day.

By 4pm you do wish the park was open for an hour or so more however it's still great going when there's low crowd levels so I prefer 4pm close over not opening at all.
 
George W said:
Yep they are okay and you can get a very respectable ride count if operations are good and you're a fast walker, I always feel like the day comes to an end so fast and I don't stop for hot food and a meal on a 6 hour day.

By 4pm you do wish the park was open for an hour or so more however it's still great going when there's low crowd levels so I prefer 4pm close over not opening at all.
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I got on 9 rides in 5 hours today and that was me going at a chill pace so don't think 4pm is that bad tbh
 
4pm feels like too early to close on a busy day for me, Drayton likes to close fairly early, it always ends up feeling rushed trying to fit the things we want to do in, an extra hour or two makes a huge difference to the experience. When it’s quiet fair enough but from a guest perspective, on a busy day a 4pm close doesn’t feel like value for money at all.
 
Surely it would be better for towers to word minimum ride close times, similar to Europa with a final time announcement on the day/ day prior.

Obviously there is staffing to think about, but that could simply be a finish time window of say 4-6pm 6-8pm ride close on the shift plan.
 
I don't like the idea of 8pm closes. 24 hour opening should be introduced instead! Just fence off around the far end of the lake, Mutiny bay etc and let people camp on the lawn if they want to. 10 quid for anyone staying after 7pm. People to leave the park by 9am the next morning if they don't have a ticket for the next day. Bring your own tent (and booze). Just have a couple of the security guards to watch over things and make sure the Towers Street toilets are open etc. Yes, I'm talking c**p.
 
Hopefully once these very quiet early season days pass, we'll see fewer 4pm closes. Looking at queue times, although Wicker Man was bad - queues in most cases were 0-5 minutes.

I don't like 4pm closes. but one thing's for sure - having short hours with 2 or 3,000 people on park when they barely break even allows them to open till 6 or 7pm with 15,000 people on park.

Sadly, the way Merlin operate.
 
BarryZola said:
I don't like the idea of 8pm closes. 24 hour opening should be introduced instead! Just fence off around the far end of the lake, Mutiny bay etc and let people camp on the lawn if they want to. 10 quid for anyone staying after 7pm. People to leave the park by 9am the next morning if they don't have a ticket for the next day. Bring your own tent (and booze). Just have a couple of the security guards to watch over things and make sure the Towers Street toilets are open etc. Yes, I'm talking c**p.
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I do that anyway down at King Ina's free campsite!
 
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