Attraction Count vs Attendance over the years at Alton Towers

[Squiggs]

In case it's of any interest to anyone, here's a tracker of attraction count vs attendance over the years at Alton Towers.

The 'Weighted Running Total' line is probably a better reflection of the value of the attractions being added, as during the John Broome era they were adding lots of 'bits and bobs', whereas Tussauds (and to a degree Merlin) went with less attractions, but focused on greater quality.

Broadly speaking, what you can see from the data here is that during the 'golden eras' of the Theme Park years the two blue lines track very close to one another, ideally with the light blue 'Weighted Running Total' line tracking slightly higher than the dark blue 'Attendance' line - this represents the park adding a good mix of headline and 'filler' attractions, responding to demand from the consumer.

And you can clearly see the tumultuous few years that have just passed, certainly in the park's attraction portfolio. TEA haven't released the 2024 figures yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see attendance line continue to rise in 2024, despite the dip in attraction count, which would track with the general perception that there are not currently enough rides (and other infrastructure) in the park to cope with the consumer demand.

For reference, attraction count here includes major shows (i.e. not walkabout or incidental/event entertainment) and no heritage assets.

The yellow line is tracking the Running Total with all attractions weighted as equals (e.g. a coaster is worth the same as a kiddie carousel). Whereas the 'Weighted running total' takes into account the prominence of attractions, so a headline attraction is worth more than a more minor or temporary additions, etc.

The scale on the attendance line is based on whichever source seems most 'official' in the Alton Towers visitor figures through the years thread. And note that the scale on this line is offset, mainly to allow for easier comparison with the other datasets.

 

[Matt N]

This is really interesting; thanks for compiling @Squiggs!

If you don’t mind me asking, how does the “Weighted Attraction Total” work? Which attractions are given the greatest weight? Is it something like major coasters getting the highest weight, followed by major dark and water rides, followed by minor dark and water rides and major flat rides, followed by smaller flat rides, followed by shows (just as an example)? Or is it different?

I find it interesting how 2024’s empirical attraction total is actually not that low at all by post-1992 standards, beating or matching that during much of the 1990s and 2000s, yet its weighted attraction total is down there with 2006 and the post-Smiler doldrums by post-1992 standards.

I also find it very interesting how the weighted total is by far the highest during the Broome years on average, despite Broome arguably going for quantity over quality with lots of “bits and bobs”, as you say.

And in terms of the weighted total, the early 2010s up to about 2015 seem to be quite strong for weighted total by post-1992 standards, which I find interesting given that we’re already into the Merlin years by that point. Does this suggest that the attraction removals didn’t really begin to notably outpace additions until after the Smiler crash?

 

[Squiggs]

If you don’t mind me asking, how does the “Weighted Attraction Total” work? Which attractions are given the greatest weight? Is it something like major coasters getting the highest weight, followed by major dark and water rides, followed by minor dark and water rides and major flat rides, followed by smaller flat rides, followed by shows (just as an example)? Or is it different?

You're along the right sort of lines, but it's a little more simple. There are three levels here: Headliners, 'normal' attractions and kiddie/temporary.

Headliners include attractions from across all different ride types - mainly coasters, transport, water rides and dark rides. It's not an exact science, but these rides are likely to either represent significant budget investment, and/or were important within the context of Alton Towers at the time they were added.

So, for example, all coasters larger in scale than Spinball Whizzer are included, as well as significant dark rides like The Haunted House and Hex. I believe (it's been a few months since I did the categorisation), but I also included two flat rides in this group, Ripsaw and 1001 Nights, as these were particularly notable for the park during their tenures.

Kids' ride fall into the third category with less weighting, as generally their installation represents small investment for the park. One thing these ride often have in common are that they are advertised in groups - very few kids rides have their own marketing campaign, but are usually lumped in with their area - e.g. most CBeebies Land rides were advertised as 'CBeebies Land', rather than individually - the same is true for most kids rides, from Adventureland 4-11, right through to The World of David Walliams.

Notably, I also included 'temporary' rides, such as the Retro Squad at this level, as again these were never individually advertised, but were always referred to as the Retro Squad and were relatively low cost, short-term additions by the park.

Everything else falls into the middle category, including most flat rides and almost all shows - I tended to rate the type of show that occurred in a venue, rather than each show individually - so there are a few sitting in the 'kids' category, as they tended to be more low-key (e.g. Mr Blooms Allotment)

I also find it very interesting how the weighted total is by far the highest during the Broome years on average, despite Broome arguably going for quantity over quality with lots of “bits and bobs”, as you say.

That was probably mis categorisation on my part, when I said John Broome added 'bits and bobs'. He absolutely went for quantity in his additions and added lots of random stuff, but he also invested huge amounts of money in quality park infrastructure. He does well in the weighting because he was adding 'headliners' most years he was in charge, including three major coasters, the Monorail, Skyride, Log Flume and Rapids, which all represent significant investments.

Does this suggest that the attraction removals didn’t really begin to notably outpace additions until after the Smiler crash?

Yes, I think that is probably a fair assessment. The park has had several periods where it had a large exodus of attractions, but what tended to happen is the park removed a chunk of rides and then over the next decade those rides are all replaced, before the next exodus occurs.

Arguably, the Smiler crash occurred in the middle of that cycle, so the additional removals threw things out of balance, and Merlin have not yet managed to correct that cycle.