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2025: General Discussion

GaryH said:
Imagine if you owned the field next to Alton towers and turned it into a car park at £5 a day, stick a takeaway cafe on there too, you’d be a millionaire in no time!
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I’m surprised this doesn’t happen to be fair, and I know through a friend’s friend who owns some of them.

Perhaps they simply aren’t allowed due to planning restrictions
 
owenstreet7 said:
I'd agree that there may be a longer journey but it would make the park so much more accessible to people who either may not drive or are from different parts of the country.
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I am curious how much of an effect it would have, for most places it would be train to hub(such as bham new street) then hub to Stoke, then Stoke to uttoxetter, for most people that will be multiple hours and probably £80+ per person, it would cost far less than hiring a car to drive there, problem is alton isn't well located, Uttoxeter station is relatively close, but is still like a 20+ min drive, and required driving through alton Town.
 
The difference between Thorpe Park and Alton Towers in this sense is that Staines railway station is only around 2-3 miles away from Thorpe Park and has trains turn up pretty frequently (at least 6tph in each direction as per Wikipedia). It’s also connected to two major stations at either end of its line in London Waterloo and Reading.

With Alton Towers, on the other hand, Uttoxeter station is the better part of 10 miles away. It also has only 1 train turn up each hour in each direction, and on a Sunday, it has no trains turn up before 14:00 (as per Wikipedia).

Yes, you could go to Stoke or Derby instead of Uttoxeter for more frequent services, but the distance increases again; Stoke is 15 miles and 35 minutes from Alton, and Derby is 40 minutes and 25 miles from Alton. It would cost a ridiculous amount for the park to offer any modicum of flexibility, and the amount of travellers taking this route probably wouldn’t cancel this cost out given that realistically, most of Alton’s target demographic either drive or know someone that does.

The best you’re probably going to get from Alton is those coach services that they recently started offering from a number of Northern cities as well as London. The rail network is too sparse and lowly attended in the immediate surroundings of Alton Towers for a Thorpe-style shuttle to work.
 
Matt N said:
The difference between Thorpe Park and Alton Towers in this sense is that Staines railway station is only around 2-3 miles away from Thorpe Park and has trains turn up pretty frequently (at least 6tph in each direction as per Wikipedia). It’s also connected to two major stations at either end of its line in London Waterloo and Reading.

With Alton Towers, on the other hand, Uttoxeter station is the better part of 10 miles away. It also has only 1 train turn up each hour in each direction, and on a Sunday, it has no trains turn up before 14:00 (as per Wikipedia).

Yes, you could go to Stoke or Derby instead of Uttoxeter for more frequent services, but the distance increases again; Stoke is 15 miles and 35 minutes from Alton, and Derby is 40 minutes and 25 miles from Alton. It would cost a ridiculous amount for the park to offer any modicum of flexibility, and the amount of travellers taking this route probably wouldn’t cancel this cost out given that realistically, most of Alton’s target demographic either drive or know someone that does.

The best you’re probably going to get from Alton is those coach services that they recently started offering from a number of Northern cities as well as London. The rail network is too sparse and lowly attended in the immediate surroundings of Alton Towers for a Thorpe-style shuttle to work.
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Very good points - Thorpe Park is very well connected and the distance is very short.

I'd say part of the reason most of Alton's demographic drive or catch lifts is because they have to.

I think the most reasonable way for something like that to work would be Stoke with the connections but the journey time will be a while. I believe once an hour or so (with varying frequency) might work best.

I don't think there's an easy win as the choices are drive, taxi, get to the bus on time or decide to go elsewhere such as Blackpool.

Something that the bus company should consider doing is offer Sunday and Bank Holiday services as well as a service slightly later so people can get there on time.

I'd also say that if there's staff buses, there should be public buses too.
 
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Many years ago I used to use the buses from Stoke. They were reliable enough but it was about an hour from the station which is a tough sell for most people. Couple that with the very poor frequency and it's only something the most dedicated guests are ever going to attempt.

Uttox is about the only station close enough to the park to run a frequent service to, but unless it also had a train frequency to rival Staines you're not going to push many people into using public transport via that route.
 
John said:
Many years ago I used to use the buses from Stoke. They were reliable enough but it was about an hour from the station which is a tough sell for most people. Couple that with the very poor frequency and it's only something the most dedicated guests are ever going to attempt.

Uttox is about the only station close enough to the park to run a frequent service to, but unless it also had a train frequency to rival Staines you're not going to push many people into using public transport via that route.
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One an hour each way I believe
 
Trying to connect to the Wi-Fi/use mobile data in Woodcutters last year for mobile orders was a right pain, so these tablets are welcome. I like the name/rebrand.

RCR also seems to have had a menu shakeup. Looks like there has been an attempt to improve food offerings which is great to see.
 
James said:
Trying to connect to the Wi-Fi/use mobile data in Woodcutters last year for mobile orders was a right pain, so these tablets are welcome. I like the name/rebrand.

RCR also seems to have had a menu shakeup. Looks like there has been an attempt to improve food offerings which is great to see.
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I’ve heard they’ve got some tapas stuff now?
 
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