2024: General Discussion

[BarryZola]

That was good actually. Seems like she's up for the challenge of actually waking Alton Towers up again, for the first time in a long while.

 

[Jb85]

She come across really well. Ultimately she’s going to be limited by the budgets set by the top brass, but she seems to know what needs to be done and what guests want.

Let’s hope she’s backed

 

[jon81uk]

Really good conversation with Bianca Sammut and Lift Hills and Thrills just been released:


From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev9BXITDLvU

Hopefully if her phone is full of pictures of signs, she might spot the spelling and grammar errors in them.

 

[Mick]

Was a good conversation, nothing headline making in there (though even if he asked her the big questions eg Horizon, Ocean, Aramark etc I highly doubt she’d have answered them), but we learnt a lot about the way she operates and there was plenty to be encouraged by.

 

[tayspru]

Interesting that she made the comment regarding if an effect is switched off, why is it off and can it be switched back on? This was directly after a conversation about Rapids waterfalls, could it bode well for Nemesis?

 

[Ash]

Really good conversation with Bianca Sammut and Lift Hills and Thrills just been released:


From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev9BXITDLvU

Interesting to a point, hope there’s a follow up.

As others have said, left the some of the other topics off the table. F&B, Project Horizon, Hex, Skyride, Alton After Dark, Effects/Theming, Infrastructure.

I think there’s a wider discussion to be had about how the UK parks communicate future plans/vision, as at the moment it seems quite disparate.

 

[siralgenon]

I think Bianca is going to wonders for the Resort which are so desperately needed. It's had over 10 years of I suppose you could say neglect, and I had honestly lost my interest in the park and the love I used to have for it. Her positivity, ideas and experiences shine through and I can't wait to see what she implements across the Resort to bring it back to the standards it deserves. The changes were already starting to show at Pirate Takeover and I can't wait for what's to come.

 

[rob666]

It all comes down to funding, she can do little without resources.
She doesn't hold the purse strings sadly.

 

[s_g_k]

It all comes down to funding, she can do little without resources.
She doesn't hold the purse strings sad;y.

Very true, however it’s all about building a business case I guess?

This is purely speculation, but I’m guessing if you asked for additional funds to repair, restore and activate the waterfalls on CRR and the reason you gave was “because I want to / because they’re cool”, then that’s not as compelling as stating it will increase things like ride rating, guest satisfaction and re-ride ability.

If you can demonstrate some sort of ROI then you have a higher chance of getting funding from these big corporates.

I’m not saying having a boring Rapids ride could be the sole reason for poor guest satisfaction, thus people asking for a free fast track or something, but it all adds up.

 

[siralgenon]

She states in the interview that the ride and guest scores went up when she re-instated the effects. If you take that attitude to the rest of the park you're on to a winner.

She doesn't have an unlimited amount of cash no, but when you look what she's done so far with what she's got then she's done a great job.

 

[Ethan]

She states in the interview that the ride and guest scores went up when she re-instated the effects. If you take that attitude to the rest of the park you're on to a winner.

She doesn't have an unlimited amount of cash no, but when you look what she's done so far with what she's got then she's done a great job.

Well in fairness Rapids without the waterfalls is basically a lazy river so it makes sense why more guests started going on it once they were turned back on. That’s like saying guests score for Curse go up when more of the effects are working.

 

[siralgenon]

Well in fairness Rapids without the waterfalls is basically a lazy river so it makes sense why more guests started going on it once they were turned back on. That’s like saying guests score for Curse go up when more of the effects are working.

Exactly, and in the past half of the effects never worked on Duel. Wicker Man had no flames last year which are making a return this year. It's all the little things which add up.

 

[Ethan]

Exactly, and in the past half of the effects never worked on Duel. Wicker Man had no flames last year which are making a return this year. It's all the little things which add up.

Little things that should be working anyway. Towers went below par and Bianca has pulled them up to what is expected of them. We can commend her work once Towers are back to their former glory

 

[Matt.GC]

Passion and a good attitude. That's what she seems to have. I like the way she talked about standing in queues, site lines, lighting, that sort of thing. That's like retail porn to someone like me. Always looking for things that you don't spot day to day, but your customers will.

But the purse strings aren't under her control. That's what concerned me about the waterfall conversion. It's undoubtedly better now that the waterfalls are back on, but the rapids are still crap, just a different shade of crap to what they were before. That takes cash to fix.

 

[Dave]

Regarding budgets we also have a new CEO of Merlin so there could be a top-down change in direction when it comes to the operation of the company.

 

[Jb85]

What’s also a factor is the shareholding of the business. As a plc the businesses whole purpose was to grow the share price and increase the return to shareholders. Now it’s private, we don’t know what level of return is deemed acceptable.

 

[havaska]

Just booked tickets to visit on 30th March for the Alton After Dark event. I only visit once or twice a year so just buy tickets for the days I go.

Just noticed a big improvement; when you get your tickets emailed to you can add them to Apple Wallet or the Google equivalent. This wasn’t the case previously you forced into using their app (which you can still add the tickets to mind).

A small thing but it makes the customer experience that bit better without a lot of effort on their behalf.

 

[Bowser]

Just booked tickets to visit on 30th March for the Alton After Dark event. I only visit once or twice a year so just buy tickets for the days I go.

Just noticed a big improvement; when you get your tickets emailed to you can add them to Apple Wallet or the Google equivalent. This wasn’t the case previously you forced into using their app (which you can still add the tickets to mind).

A small thing but it makes the customer experience that bit better without a lot of effort on their behalf.

That is good, wish you could do that with the MAP site, pretty annoying trying to load the tickets at the often signal free parks (unless you can and i'm an idiot).

 

[Steve74]

That is good, wish you could do that with the MAP site, pretty annoying trying to load the tickets at the often signal free parks (unless you can and i'm an idiot).

You could always take a screenshot of the tickets beforehand and then just show those when needed?

 

[Katy]

You can add annual passes to the Apple wallet, at least my Gold monthly one let me. Don't know if you can add the pre-book tickets but I've never been asked for them.