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2024: General Discussion

Dave said:
Yes that’s my point, I would argue those are not “closed days” in the comparative sense because the park has never opened those days and the weekends they are opening were previously buy out days that the park liked as it acted as a test weekend.

Clearly this year they have either had no one interested in the buyout days or they didn’t want them as a park but still wanted the test weekends.
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The 2024 season opened March 16th with all 7 days open.

2025 is opening March 15th with the first two weeks having midweek closures Monday-Thursday.

Not really sure where you are thinking they opened later this year. It’s the matter of a days difference.
 
Easter next year is 20 April.

In 2011 it was 24 April. Park opened on 26 March (which I guess is the most similar scenario to 2025's plans).

2014 it was 20 April. Park opened on 22 March.

2019 it was 21 April. Park opened on 23 March.

I've only been following fairly closely since 2010, but my memory is that once the park is open, it has not been closed Monday-Friday (apart from some part weeks), no matter how later Easter was. Yes there have been some late/last weekend of March openings, but you had the buy-out/preview weekends before. It will be most interesting next year if they don't have the park open to some people 1/2 or 8/9 March.

I do see this as a step change or sorts, one possible mandated by the accountants. If they have the numbers to support it, why not.
 
AltonLover123 said:
The 2024 season opened March 16th with all 7 days open.

2025 is opening March 15th with the first two weeks having midweek closures Monday-Thursday.

Not really sure where you are thinking they opened later this year. It’s the matter of a days difference.
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As outlined well by Tom opening day tracks Easter. The park only ever opened mid March when Easter is early.

So the point stands these days would never normally be open, and the buy out days would have been on the weekends that they are now opening.
 
Dave said:
As outlined well by Tom opening day tracks Easter. The park only ever opened mid March when Easter is early.

So the point stands these days would never normally be open, and the buy out days would have been on the weekends that they are now opening.
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Totally.

I was responding to the comment of “the park has never been open those days” which is false. The 2024 season started one day later than next year, but those days after the park was open 7 days a week from March 16th.
 
Bianca has now released her final update for the season: https://www.towerstimes.co.uk/news/...Lpn938kSiydknwWYuE_aem_Gp5zi1JHEE0LiRqXuAuy2A

As you’d expect, it is a roundly positive message focusing on the positives of the season. However, there are some interesting tidbits in there, including that the Skyride refurbishment is “in its final stages” and that surprisingly, the park actually saw increased year-on-year guest figures in 2024, despite how poor the season supposedly was and how high 2023’s figures were…
 
I can't say Bianca's review of 2024 instills a lot of confidence really. Most of us know on here that many areas of the park have been neglected over the years and are in a right state. They are clearly trying to play catch-up on with things what will get them some "bang for their buck", i.e. cBeebies. Maintaining things like Grade 1 listed gardens get them no return, so they are ignored.

I appreciate that on the budget front Bianca's hands are tied - she can only spend the money that Merlin HQ allocate to Towers.

Looking at the 1983 park map on (it's on TowersTimes), it proudly boasts that you pay once for "over 50 major rides and shows". So come on Bianca - how many rides and shows does Alton Towers offer now (or will it offer in 2025)? I would further point out that in 1983 Alton Towers was independently owned & run - nowadays it is run by a huge company that claims to be "second only to Disney" - so a somewhat different financial backing to 1983.

I also love the way Bianca gushes praise on the partners they work with - especially Aramark. Yes, there are a couple of good examples of Aramark at work at Towers, but general consensus is the majority of Aramark food within the theme park & at the hotels is rubbish. (Just read TripAdvisor Bianca).

I could go on, but won't. I'll just summarise by saying that an awful lot needs to be done to return Alton Towers to anything like it's glory-days of the mid-late 1990's when one could argue the magic actually did exist.
 
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Kraken27 said:
I can't say Bianca's review of 2024 instills a lot of confidence really. Most of us know on here that many areas of the park have been neglected over the years and are in a right state. They are clearly trying to play catch-up on with things what will get them some "bang for their buck", i.e. cBeebies. Maintaining things like Grade 1 listed gardens get them no return, so they are ignored.

I appreciate that on the budget front Bianca's hands are tied - she can only spend the money that Merlin HQ allocate to Towers.

Looking at the 1983 park map on (it's on TowersTimes), it proudly boasts that you pay once for "over 50 major rides and shows". So come on Bianca - how many rides and shows does Alton Towers offer now (or will it offer in 2025)? I would further point out that in 1983 Alton Towers was independently owned & run - nowadays it is run by a huge company that claims to be "second only to Disney" - so a somewhat different financial backing to 1983.

I also love the way Bianca gushes praise on the partners they work with - especially Aramark. Yes, there are a couple of good examples of Aramark at work at Towers, but general consensus is the majority of Aramark food within the theme park & at the hotels is rubbish. (Just read TripAdvisor Bianca).

I could go on, but won't. I'll just summarise by saying that an awful lot needs to be done to return Alton Towers to anything like it's glory-days of the mid-late 1990's when one could argue the magic actually did exist.
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I don’t pay much heed to these sort of updates, they will be written by the marketing team.

Bianca will know what the scores are for Aramark food, Merlin KPI everything.
 
People may criticise her rose-tinted approach, but my take is that she was never going to take any other approach. Her job is to be a hype woman for Alton Towers who says positive things and encourages people to come, and as much as some would probably like her to be contrite about the season’s shortcomings, that’s not really encouraging people to visit in 2025.

If she talks about how mediocre things have been, that is not a park people will want to visit. To fulfil her role and encourage people to come, Bianca has to put a positive spin on the situation.
 
The updates are an exercise in marketing and should be viewed as such. No manager worth their salt would air their dirty linen in public, and also even if she admitted some areas had been poor but she was committed to improving them, would anyone feel any more confident that it would actually happen?

Every winter I wipe the slate clean, I keep up with the updates of course but ultimately it’s what happens next March and onwards that matters.
 
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