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Alton Towers: Resort or Not

Alton is a resort and always will be, it simply offers more than one experience.

This definition (kind of) explains it:

"A place that is a popular destination for vacations or recreation, or which is frequented for a particular purpose."

Where as in Alton's case it is to reel in theme park guests but stay over to explore the areas other facilities. BPBPBPBPBPB and Drayton Manor (with it's new hotel and waterpark plans) are resorts, and Lightwater Valley has seen this. Alton will always be a resort, and being first in the game would normally mean having the best to offer.
 
I will accept that Alton Towers is a resort.

My problem is how people always have to adopt the manner of the park by referring to it as 'Alton Towers Resort' or 'the resort'.

It is just sounds so lame.
 
Adz95 said:
pluk said:
Using the dictionary definition it is undoubtedly a resort.
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"A place that is a popular destination for vactions or recreation, or which is frequented for a particular purpose"

99.999% of people go to Alton Towers for a day or two, not for a vacation holiday.
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I actually disagree with you there.

Me and my family go to Alton once a year, for a three day trip. We class this as a holiday as it is treated like one. We leave home for a while, it's planned months in advance, it takes us a good 4/5 hours to get there, a lot of money is spent (it costs us something in the region of £900 for the short break)...

It depends per person really, for some it is a holiday and a treat. For those that stay over night several times through the year then it may not be treated as the same thing. The majority of guests may treat it as a holiday though (or short break).
 
Yes. A hundred percent a resort. It is a multi day destination with several different attractions and two hotels. Whether people choose to spend multiple days is there own agenda.

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It's a resort however that is only its official title, I don't understand what problem everyone has with calling it a resort - you don't have to say it, and you can just ignore it.
 
Of course Alton Towers is a resort, it has a Theme Park, Swimming pool, two hotels and mini golf. If people can take a break there, then it's a resort. :)
 
AstroDan said:
Yes. A hundred percent a resort. It is a multi day destination with several different attractions and two hotels. Whether people choose to spend multiple days is there own agenda.

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I think I'd be struggling to fill 2 full days at Alton Towers. The theme park is entirely doable in a day. The Water Park is a couple of hours, the golf perhaps an hour. The Spa I could also spend a few hours in. But I ceratinly think you'd be struggling to fill two evenings worth of unique entertainment at the hotels unless you've got kids with you.

And I think that's the key issue I would have with it as a resort, there isn't anything like enough entertianment, either in variety or volume (for adults certainly, and their childrens childrens offering is rather limited as well). And then add to that to fill your time you really need to do absolutely everything the complex has to offer... the only choice you have is between having a go on everything or spend periods of your staff being rather bored or entertaining yourself.
 
I kind of have to agree with what seems to be the majority ???
A 'resort' should really include two parks - no, not by definition, I know; but in global comparison, a resort should be somewhere you can spend at least 3 nights at in my opinion. A second park, a zoo, even a big entertainment complex with a multiscreen cinema and something unique* are all simple things that could take a large theme park into a resort.

*Maybe like http://www.xscape.co.uk/ ?
 
I think calling it a resort is just about justifiable as there is enough to do to justify an overnight stay, even for those who wouldn't consider it essential to stay over due to living too far away etc. This is in sharp contrast with several other UK theme parks branding themselves as resorts when they have very little to back up the claim. I would not consider Chessington, Legoland or DMP to be resorts, PBB is in one, but not a resort in its own right.

On the other hand, use of the word resort within Alton Towers theme park (it bugs me that I have to use that disambiguation) has always felt unnatural and forced. You can't help but feel the only reason it's mentioned is for advertising purposes. If they really want to go down the resort route, the theme park logo and resort logo should be properly separated - the word resort should not be used in the theme park context. I would consider Alton Towers to have completed it's transition to being a fully-fledged resort if and when it becomes necessary for visitors to make a distinction between the theme park and the resort as a whole. I don't think the public perception is really there at the moment, and the current offering is probably slightly insufficient to really change that.
 
I would say yes, it is a resort, but to make it a proper resort I would not necessarily ask for more hotels & entertainment (although they, and waterpark additions are essential in the near future), but for an easier resort experience, for example being able to use your room keys for park and waterpark tickets, to charge to your room from any outlet etc.
 
No, not really. I would only consider Alton a resort if it extended its opening hours much later and opened some sort of resort village featuring attractions such as a cinema, restaurants, bars, laser quest ect. Basically, somewhere to go when you're not at the park or in a hotel.

This works really well at Disneyland Paris. Even on winter opening hours, there's still plenty to do once you've left the park and there's no sense of being trapped in your hotel.

For me, a resort is somewhere you can stay for more than a weekend and currently, I don't think Alton has enough to fill more than 2 days.
 
I'd class it as a resort. The name "Alton towers resport" doesn't fit though., and all the people i know just call it alton towers. However, it is a resort, with Waterpark, gold, hotels, and the theme park, its a resort
 
I would say it scrapes the resort title by the skin of its teeth. It does have 2 hotels, water park and golf so there is a few extra things on-top of the theme park. HOWEVER if they really want to be a multi day destination they need more to do after the park closes.
 
In my opinion Alton Towers is definitely a resort (though I never call it Alton Towers Resort). You have a theme park that for families can at times be a 2 day park, 2 hotels, a waterpark, the golf, a spa and the muddy good fun outdoor activities. So if you wanted to there is definitely 2 or even 3 days worth of stuff to do.

Now there is the question of whether it is a good resort. Personally I don't think it's too bad. However, longer park opening hours would be better in the summer. With the park closing between 5 and 6pm there is not a lot to do in the evenings, even if food at some of the restaurants can take seemingly forever. So I suppose some more entertainment in the evenings would also be good. I'm not sure they are in desperate need of building an entertainment complex yet, I think the money could be better spent elsewhere around the resort. But some more shows in the hotels wouldn't go amiss. I'm thinking of when I went to Europa though, and considering they have 5 hotels (4 at the time of staying) I don't remember any evening entertainment at all apart from when eating in the Silver Lake Saloon. I certainly didn't see any entertainment of extra stuff to do after the park closed, however this may have been because we didn't go anywhere near it. They just have the restaurants and bars like Towers, but more of them due to having more hotels. I know it is different in the summer at EP when the park is open late.

:)
 
Europa Park is a resort - one huge theme park with enough to sink your teeth into over three days, six restaurants (that I can think of) in the hotels alone, the Spanish area being open in the evenings, and their cinema showing films until fairly late at night with the option of the monorail to get back to the hotels. Three bars are available nightly for a huge selection of beers, wines, spirits and exotic cocktails. That's without Bell Rock! Not forgetting the two swimming pools (soon to be three) and spa.

Alton Towers have two extortionately priced hotels, two restaurants, two bars, and a park that can be done in a day. However, they have a waterpark and a spa - combined, a family could easily make a full weekend of it up in Staffordshire... I hate to admit it, but I do believe its earned resort status, albeit on a much smaller scale than the like of Disney!

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Sazzle said:
Europa Park is a resort - one huge theme park with enough to sink your teeth into over three days, six restaurants (that I can think of) in the hotels alone, the Spanish area being open in the evenings, and their cinema showing films until fairly late at night with the option of the monorail to get back to the hotels. Three bars are available nightly for a huge selection of beers, wines, spirits and exotic cocktails. That's without Bell Rock! Not forgetting the two swimming pools (soon to be three) and spa.
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I'm not saying Europa isn't a resort, it most certainly is, I think staying there for 4 days proves that. I was just questioning the amount of evening entertainment, from what I saw it did appear limited and a lot of people are saying that this is what Towers needs to become a proper resort. I had forgotten about the cinema though!

:)
 
I think it's something Towers need to desperately improve and EP need to improve a little, EP lack big "non-theme park" attractions such as a water park and other activities, they do however have much more food and bar options and in the summer far better night entertainment.

Towers obviously has then Water park and the golf but only has 2 bars 2 and a half resteraunts and minimal night entertainment. I personally think the likes of Center Parcs prove that people will come and stay if there is enough to do. If Alton Towers offered everything a Centre Parcs does AND add in a theme park and you would be onto a huge winner.

Just a shame they can't have the land behind the hotels that JCB currently own, though there is plenty of space if they wanted to do this available to them.
 
Id say yes it is a resort. But a poor one at present, I dont think its anywhere you could spend more than 2 days without running out of things to do.

Do I ever call it Alton Towers Resort? No. It sounds ridiculous. Alton Towers is an amazingly strong brand, and chucking one word on the end makes it seem cheap and less impressive. Im sure this is why we originally had the Alton Towers Hotel, and now have the Alton Towers Waterpark (as it was seen people didnt see Cariba Creek as its own entity).
So why they seem to insist upon using the word seems silly to me.

Id say you have Alton Towers which is the theme park. Then the resort side which is the hotels, golf, waterpark and spa. Surely that way would make much more sense to other people too?
 
LewisNavex said:
Fig 1: Someone tells me they're visiting Alton Towers and they're staying at the hotels.
Fig 2: Someone tells me they're staying at the Alton Towers Resort.
Fig 3: Someone tells me they're going to Alton Towers to play mini Golf
Fig 4: Someone tells me they're visiting the Alton Towers Spa.
Fig 5: Someone tells me they're visiting Alton Towers and then doing the Waterpark.
Fig 6: Someone tells me they're going to the Alton Towers Waterpark.
Fig 7: Someone tells me they're going to Alton Towers and then doing the Mini golf.

I don't know about you guys but I have never heard someone say they're going to visit the Alton Towers Resort. They have explained they're visiting the Theme Park and staying at the hotels of doing other activities on the site. So to me, Alton Towers may well be a resort I have no problem with that. But I visit the site for the theme park, everything else is another Activity / Attraction which shares the same site.
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People rarely say "I'm visiting the Disneyland Resort Paris", "I'm staying at the Universal Orlando Resort" either.
 
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