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CBeebies Land
Ted
TS Member
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land
Theme Park Guide has posted this image on their facebook page stated Ceebeebies land will open on the 24th of May
Link to their article
Not sure if I believe it to be honest.
Theme Park Guide has posted this image on their facebook page stated Ceebeebies land will open on the 24th of May
Link to their article
Not sure if I believe it to be honest.
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land
It's on this page of the website:
http://www.altontowers.com/short-breaks/short-breaks-offer/
Doesn't seem too ambitious but I'm sure another late opening wouldn't go down well!
It's on this page of the website:
http://www.altontowers.com/short-breaks/short-breaks-offer/
Doesn't seem too ambitious but I'm sure another late opening wouldn't go down well!
Dave
TS Founding Member
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land
Thing is the Smiler wasn't really badly affected by the May opening and most of how it was effected was due to the constant pushing back of the opening day rather than it opening mid season.
Personally i reckon The Smiler proved that mid-season openings are beneficial (people visit more than once) in America most parks open there new rides mid-season. The other benefit is you have a longer period post winter to catch up on any delays caused by bad weather.
It really wouldn't surprise me if all new rides started opening in May from now on.
Cakey said:
Thing is the Smiler wasn't really badly affected by the May opening and most of how it was effected was due to the constant pushing back of the opening day rather than it opening mid season.
Personally i reckon The Smiler proved that mid-season openings are beneficial (people visit more than once) in America most parks open there new rides mid-season. The other benefit is you have a longer period post winter to catch up on any delays caused by bad weather.
It really wouldn't surprise me if all new rides started opening in May from now on.
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land
Clearly the focus until May will be on The Smiler/thrillseekers (TV adverts etc), followed by CBeebies and families once the area opens.
Both demographics can then be targeted and The Smiler will still have enough hype to give the park a strong start to the season.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
Clearly the focus until May will be on The Smiler/thrillseekers (TV adverts etc), followed by CBeebies and families once the area opens.
Both demographics can then be targeted and The Smiler will still have enough hype to give the park a strong start to the season.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
Cakey
TS Member
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land
There's no denying that The Smiler's May opening worked more in its favour than against it. The only concern is that the May opening occurred as a result of poor planning and an intended March opening, if the poor planning and last minute building works persist who's to say a May opening won't become June or July instead.
This is all, of course, result of me being a speculative pessimist; but American parks quite often are cycling, testing and soft opening in March/April. I hope Alton gets it right because, unlike the Thrill Seeker market, young families (who have to fork out a small fortune per visit) are far less forgiving.
There's no denying that The Smiler's May opening worked more in its favour than against it. The only concern is that the May opening occurred as a result of poor planning and an intended March opening, if the poor planning and last minute building works persist who's to say a May opening won't become June or July instead.
This is all, of course, result of me being a speculative pessimist; but American parks quite often are cycling, testing and soft opening in March/April. I hope Alton gets it right because, unlike the Thrill Seeker market, young families (who have to fork out a small fortune per visit) are far less forgiving.
Dave
TS Founding Member
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land
True, in Towers favour though they did start site clearence in September and the only significant construction is the stage area and toilets. On top of that the winter so far has been quite mild (though at times windy) so hopefully they are on the ball.
personally you would think the fact Th13teen was rushed to get open, 2011 they ran out of time to plan anything, Sub-terra was in a dire state opening and The Smiler opened 3 months late and suffered because of the rush MAY have taught Towers to plan a little bit more in advance...
... but we have said this before and they haven't so who knows
True, in Towers favour though they did start site clearence in September and the only significant construction is the stage area and toilets. On top of that the winter so far has been quite mild (though at times windy) so hopefully they are on the ball.
personally you would think the fact Th13teen was rushed to get open, 2011 they ran out of time to plan anything, Sub-terra was in a dire state opening and The Smiler opened 3 months late and suffered because of the rush MAY have taught Towers to plan a little bit more in advance...
... but we have said this before and they haven't so who knows
Burbs
TS Team
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land
I think The Smiler's late opening pushed all future plans back a couple of months. Because of that, they have less time in the year to plan for their next big projects from now on. Say all previous projects opened in March, this will mean that they will all open in May/June from now on, logically. (Don't quote me
).
And lets be honest, The Smiler pretty much opened in June. They were very lucky that they could open it on the 31st.
I think The Smiler's late opening pushed all future plans back a couple of months. Because of that, they have less time in the year to plan for their next big projects from now on. Say all previous projects opened in March, this will mean that they will all open in May/June from now on, logically. (Don't quote me
).And lets be honest, The Smiler pretty much opened in June. They were very lucky that they could open it on the 31st.
TheMan
TS Member
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land
It would suggest that they are planning quite an overhaul of the area, I was a little shocked to see the opening so late. I thought with them starting on other areas, they might actually be aiming for a Feb half term soft opening of some area. If they aim that at families, and their biggest family area is closed?
In fact I have just checked the offering, my goodness that really is a poor, poor line up!
It would suggest that they are planning quite an overhaul of the area, I was a little shocked to see the opening so late. I thought with them starting on other areas, they might actually be aiming for a Feb half term soft opening of some area. If they aim that at families, and their biggest family area is closed?
In fact I have just checked the offering, my goodness that really is a poor, poor line up!
Rob
TS Team
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land
Guess what, I have a construction update! Admittedly this isn't quite as exciting as my updates for The Smiler but still, here you go:
Some new roofing:
I'm not too sure what this is:
Looks like this is the roof of the Berry Bish Bash building:
Goodbye old theming:
Not too sure where abouts in the area this is, it's on the side of where the ice tend used to be:
And I believe that back through there is part of the old ice tent site where not much seems to have happened:
I should stress that all of these photos were taken from areas fully accessible to the public. Please do not use them without my permission.
Guess what, I have a construction update! Admittedly this isn't quite as exciting as my updates for The Smiler but still, here you go:
Some new roofing:
I'm not too sure what this is:
Looks like this is the roof of the Berry Bish Bash building:
Goodbye old theming:
Not too sure where abouts in the area this is, it's on the side of where the ice tend used to be:
And I believe that back through there is part of the old ice tent site where not much seems to have happened:
I should stress that all of these photos were taken from areas fully accessible to the public. Please do not use them without my permission.
Ian
TS Team
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land
Well like others, I'm not going to be getting majorly hyped up over this. However, from what little bits can be seen in those new photos I have a little more hope than I did initially. I'm particularly liking the tower on that new building, with the varied roof tiles.
All the re-roofing, and repainting at least seems to be being done properly for a change.
As for the mysterious red dome, could the be completely recovering Doodle Doo Derby? Looking at where the Christmas trees are it would seem to be in that vicinity to me. On the last day of the season Doodle Doo was in a right state, with most of the thatching missing or rotten, and the whole thing looked in need of a damn good cleanup. Maybe this new tower is the base for a new cover for the ride?
With regards to the May opening date, well it would seem Towers are finally learning that getting everything ready for the start of the season isn't always the best approach. Many other parks around the world, be it Europe, America, or Asia, open new additions part-way through the season. As has been said, it allows greater potential for guests to re-visit the park, which considering Alton's BounceBack ticket prices, and the number of families you seem to see with MAPs and ATAPs, should be very realistic for a lot of visitors.
Personally, from what we can see here, I'd say they're well ahead of the game for a May opening. At least this gives them a decent timeframe to work at making sure everything is perfect, and that we don't get some last minute, halfarsed rush job that'll just need patching up again come November because it's already falling apart.
With the BBC breathing down Towers' necks they're going to be as keen as possible to keep the project running on time, and to a high standard. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we don't see some form of soft launch around April time, just to gain a bit of early feedback, and see how it all works. It'd give them time to resolve any issues before the big day, and hopefully ensure they can deliver a top class product.
So those are my thoughts on the matter so far. Whilst the product itself is far from thrilling and enthralling for us, the actual management and execution of the project is looking really quite promising and interesting. After all these years I think we're finally making progress and seeing Towers and Merlin learning a lesson!
Well like others, I'm not going to be getting majorly hyped up over this. However, from what little bits can be seen in those new photos I have a little more hope than I did initially. I'm particularly liking the tower on that new building, with the varied roof tiles.
All the re-roofing, and repainting at least seems to be being done properly for a change.
As for the mysterious red dome, could the be completely recovering Doodle Doo Derby? Looking at where the Christmas trees are it would seem to be in that vicinity to me. On the last day of the season Doodle Doo was in a right state, with most of the thatching missing or rotten, and the whole thing looked in need of a damn good cleanup. Maybe this new tower is the base for a new cover for the ride?
With regards to the May opening date, well it would seem Towers are finally learning that getting everything ready for the start of the season isn't always the best approach. Many other parks around the world, be it Europe, America, or Asia, open new additions part-way through the season. As has been said, it allows greater potential for guests to re-visit the park, which considering Alton's BounceBack ticket prices, and the number of families you seem to see with MAPs and ATAPs, should be very realistic for a lot of visitors.
Personally, from what we can see here, I'd say they're well ahead of the game for a May opening. At least this gives them a decent timeframe to work at making sure everything is perfect, and that we don't get some last minute, halfarsed rush job that'll just need patching up again come November because it's already falling apart.
With the BBC breathing down Towers' necks they're going to be as keen as possible to keep the project running on time, and to a high standard. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we don't see some form of soft launch around April time, just to gain a bit of early feedback, and see how it all works. It'd give them time to resolve any issues before the big day, and hopefully ensure they can deliver a top class product.
So those are my thoughts on the matter so far. Whilst the product itself is far from thrilling and enthralling for us, the actual management and execution of the project is looking really quite promising and interesting. After all these years I think we're finally making progress and seeing Towers and Merlin learning a lesson!
Harv
TS Member
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land
At the end of the day, it's 2014 (well, in less than eight hours, it is) and all we've seen so far is a bit of dirt and a couple of patches of roofing. I'm not saying they're behind, and I fully believe they'll meet their May deadline, but there's nothing here to me that screams change within Merlin's project management methodology. Or am I missing something? I mean, it's hardly like they've built it already.
Ian said:
At the end of the day, it's 2014 (well, in less than eight hours, it is) and all we've seen so far is a bit of dirt and a couple of patches of roofing. I'm not saying they're behind, and I fully believe they'll meet their May deadline, but there's nothing here to me that screams change within Merlin's project management methodology. Or am I missing something? I mean, it's hardly like they've built it already.
Ian
TS Team
Re: 2014: CBeebies Land
The fact that they're finally realising that opening on the first day of the season isn't everything? Instead of doing what they've done with the last 3 major projects, they're now factoring time in to address any issues, and provide a decent fallback period if they should have any delays.
Granted, it is just common sense, and should be how they've always done it, but that's just the way they operate. Whereas now, we've actually seen them take onboard what should have been happening from the very start. It is a step forward for them, no mater how depressingly obvious it may be
The fact that they're finally realising that opening on the first day of the season isn't everything? Instead of doing what they've done with the last 3 major projects, they're now factoring time in to address any issues, and provide a decent fallback period if they should have any delays.
Granted, it is just common sense, and should be how they've always done it, but that's just the way they operate. Whereas now, we've actually seen them take onboard what should have been happening from the very start. It is a step forward for them, no mater how depressingly obvious it may be