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2025: General Discussion

Anyone on LinkedIn currently can see the cuts at Alton are having a devastating effect already

Prop makers
Costume makers
Entertainers
Behind the scenes entertainment staff
AV staff

All let go

How this will ensure a “better” theme park experience is beyond me.

Again, don’t get mad, vote with your wallet, reviews and feedback.

I’m sure the content creator program will be holding them to account…

As I’ve said previous, it may not be visible in some areas straight away, but in 2/3 years time it will be. Much like the negligence over the gardens and towers. It’s clear it’s now done permanent damage.
 
Ash said:
Anyone on LinkedIn currently can see the cuts at Alton are having a devastating effect already

Prop makers
Costume makers
Entertainers
Behind the scenes entertainment staff
AV staff

All let go

How this will ensure a “better” theme park experience is beyond me.

Again, don’t get mad, vote with your wallet, reviews and feedback.

I’m sure the content creator program will be holding them to account…

As I’ve said previous, it may not be visible in some areas straight away, but in 2/3 years time it will be. Much like the negligence over the gardens and towers. It’s clear it’s now done permanent damage.
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If they outsource some of these roles rather than eliminate them entirely, as is rumoured, the impact may not be as bad as expected. It may have no impact at all to the guest experience; heck, it may even improve if the right supplier is picked.

Admittedly, there’s no guarantee that a good supplier who improves things would be picked (I think Aramark is arguably fine evidence of that), but I don’t think outsourcing is an immediate guarantee of declining quality either. Some outsourcing have can little to no impact on front end experience, or even an improvement.
 
Ash said:
Anyone on LinkedIn currently can see the cuts at Alton are having a devastating effect already

Prop makers
Costume makers
Entertainers
Behind the scenes entertainment staff
AV staff

All let go

How this will ensure a “better” theme park experience is beyond me.

Again, don’t get mad, vote with your wallet, reviews and feedback.

I’m sure the content creator program will be holding them to account…

As I’ve said previous, it may not be visible in some areas straight away, but in 2/3 years time it will be. Much like the negligence over the gardens and towers. It’s clear it’s now done permanent damage.
Click to expand...
i'm guessing that's all the events in the bin then, Audio Visual staff is a concern, considering towers is pretty much built on special effects these days

i suppose wickerman was destined to become nothing but damp kindling at some point anyway
 
Archie said:
i'm guessing that's all the events in the bin then, Audio Visual staff is a concern, considering towers is pretty much built on special effects these days

i suppose wickerman was destined to become nothing but damp kindling at some point anyway
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At other parks this role sits within the tech services team, so you'd hope that these responsibilities would move over. But who knows.
 
Archie said:
i'm guessing that's all the events in the bin then, Audio Visual staff is a concern, considering towers is pretty much built on special effects these days

i suppose wickerman was destined to become nothing but damp kindling at some point anyway
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Little alarmist.

Outsourcing will be the way forward with events, contracting in events companies specifically for the span of the event. We may see a marked improvement, considering the present offering has been fairly lackluster. Any new company will likely want to please and impress their corporate overlords.

As @Islander has already mentioned, moving AV / FX into tech services for ride maintenance makes more sense than it being a separate department. No confirmation if this will happen, but it's likely.

It's clear that Merlin want to operate a leaner ship, but that doesn't mean that there'll be a drop in quality. It could stay the same or improve. Ultimately this is about responsibility and immediate overheads, things which most companies want to bring down as much as possible.

Merlin will still want to have events, they'll still want to have AV and FX around the park, they'll still want entertainment. They just don't want to be directly responsible for it. They don't want to have to bother with the fuss of directly employing people and running departments, when there are specialist outfits out there who will provide for the same cost, or cheaper.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
As @Islander has already mentioned, moving AV / FX into tech services for ride maintenance makes more sense than it being a separate department. No confirmation if this will happen, but it's likely.
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Yes. A lot of the rides that utilise the ents AV tech require them to be signed off by that department before opening to guests.

IIRC this used to be a tech job before it was ents tech so they’ve either gone back to that model or they’ve already got the outsourcing in place.

Either way, we don’t know and won’t know for a while.

That said, it’s clear the tech department was struggling before this so I can’t see the benefit of adding more work to thier load.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Outsourcing will be the way forward with events, contracting in events companies specifically for the span of the event. We may see a marked improvement, considering the present offering has been fairly lackluster. Any new company will likely want to please and impress their corporate overlords.

As @Islander has already mentioned, moving AV / FX into tech services for ride maintenance makes more sense than it being a separate department. No confirmation if this will happen, but it's likely.

It's clear that Merlin want to operate a leaner ship, but that doesn't mean that there'll be a drop in quality. It could stay the same or improve. Ultimately this is about responsibility and immediate overheads, things which most companies want to bring down as much as possible.

Merlin will still want to have events, they'll still want to have AV and FX around the park, they'll still want entertainment. They just don't want to be directly responsible for it. They don't want to have to bother with the fuss of directly employing people and running departments, when there are specialist outfits out there who will provide for the same cost, or cheaper.
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ok thanks for putting my mind at ease, i was really worried genuinely
 
I don’t think there’s any guarantee that outsourcing will be a universally bad development by any stretch. If good suppliers are chosen, the guest experience may be maintained or even improved while resultantly lowering costs for Merlin.

It is definitely not without risk, but I feel that some of the alarmist rhetoric is a tad premature at present.
 
Matt N said:
I don’t think there’s any guarantee that outsourcing will be a universally bad development by any stretch. If good suppliers are chosen, the guest experience may be maintained or even improved while resultantly lowering costs for Merlin.

It is definitely not without risk, but I feel that some of the alarmist rhetoric is a tad premature at present.
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It's done wonders for catering, I read...
 
I think the key to all these cuts/changes is to see what impact it has on the guest experience at the park. I completely understand why everyone is quick to fear the worst, as Merlin has disappointed many times previously.

However, if it is indeed that entertainments is just being outsourced, then I will certainly wait and see what that looks like before voicing an opinion. In my experience, most shows that take place on the main stage have not been attended in high numbers often, so a shake up might be a good thing.

I'm probably one of the few with this opinion, but I've not really experienced any negativity with Aramark taking over catering, other than the continued price increases. I think the unit in GW does some really nice treats, and I always have a nice meal in Woddcutters (and with MAP discount, reasonably priced).

I am going to remain positive, until they give me a reason not to be.
 
WillPS said:
It's done wonders for catering, I read...
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Other than the prices I don’t think the food and drink was any worse than pre-Aramark. All the issues like poor bartenders and limited breakfast selection were in place before Aramark took over. The only things that got worse I think are prices and the fact Burger Kitchen only has meal deals. I went to AT last November for the first time in five years and the actual food quality seemed about the same as my previous trip.
 
I feel there's inconsistencies with food since Aramark. Outlets such as Coach House, great themed food! Then the opposite end, Woodcutters with small portions and a cheap frozen piece of fried chicken for a burger. I actually preferred breakfast in ATH in 2024 compared to my 2019 stay. It almost feels like going from one outlet to another that food is being provided by completely different suppliers, even though that's not the case. It would be nice if Merlin/Towers could ensure there is more consistency.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Many people argue that the park's food and beverage offerings were at their best when provided by the fast food franchises of McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut. Outlets which weren't managed-in house and were outsourced.
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This is The Thing. Because the franchises had their own KPIs they had to achieve for the brand, they were generally consistent. The Maccies in particular was close to high street prices and of the quality you'd expect for a Maccies - never going to set the world alight, but you knew what you were getting and you weren't getting hammered on the prices.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Many people argue that the park's food and beverage offerings were at their best when provided by the fast food franchises of McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut. Outlets which weren't managed-in house and were outsourced.
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This is one of the main reasons I'd say Thorpe Park's food options are better compared to Towers. It's because they've kept Burger King and KFC on.

The KFC at Thorpe Park, according to Thorpe Park themselves on the Passholders Facebook Group they had until last year, is one of the busiest KFC outlets in Europe which factors into why the menu is slightly limited compared to regular KFC branches.
 
ShadowTD said:
This is The Thing. Because the franchises had their own KPIs they had to achieve for the brand, they were generally consistent. The Maccies in particular was close to high street prices and of the quality you'd expect for a Maccies - never going to set the world alight, but you knew what you were getting and you weren't getting hammered on the prices.
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I think the prices were identical to high street prices at one point....

Kind of off topic but when working for McDonald's back in my collage days in Tamworth, many times on peak summer days we would go into work to be asked if we would be willing to take a minibus to supply support for the McDonald's branches on site at Alton Towers. It used to be very regularly done.

But these do prove that outsourcing, if don't correctly, is not always a bad thing.
 
blackholes crow said:
At times I wish the hotel restaurants and bars were open to the GP not just guests
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Would have thought that Towers' hotel restaurants don't have enough capacity to cater for day guests. Europa on the other hand have six hotels plus a camp resort, each with multiple restaurants, so they have sufficient capacity.

Edit: I stand corrected!
 
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