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Christmas 2023

Ethan said:
Doesn't mean that Towers shouldn't charge based on the lineup available on the day. Yes families are getting cbeebies for cheaper than in the main season but I think the pricing for the main season is all wrong. How can a 3 year old be the same price as an adult who can ride everything. The prices should be height related like they do with wristbands at Fantasy island. So for example under 1m £20, 1m-1.2m £30 and above 1.2m £40 I think that would make more sense
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You're entirely misunderstanding Alton Towers business strategy. It's not an amusement park, you're not paying to get on the rides, you're paying for access to the resort. Based on this principle, of course you should charge the same amount for an adult and a child, they both get equal access to the park. The rides aren't essential to Alton Towers' business model, but they are the main draw. They're the things that get you in the gate, that make you want to come, but it's not what you're actually paying for.

Towers don't charge based on the lineup available all day. Alton Towers charge for access to a park on specific days of the year, with no guarantee on a ride offering or lineup. There's an expectation in the main season that everything will be open, but it isn't often the case. Towers charge based on when you're visiting. Their pricing strategy revolves mostly around when families are likely to be off together and are looking for things to do. This is why weekends and school holidays are considered peak times. They know that most people are going to visit on those days, or can only visit on those days, so they can charge a premium for the privilege.

You charge the most for access when you're going to be busy. You charge the least when you're going to be quiet. The former are going to come anyway, so they're price blind. The latter, you use lower prices to encourage extra visitors you weren't expecting to get.
 
Ethan said:
Doesn't mean that Towers shouldn't charge based on the lineup available on the day. Yes families are getting cbeebies for cheaper than in the main season but I think the pricing for the main season is all wrong. How can a 3 year old be the same price as an adult who can ride everything. The prices should be height related like they do with wristbands at Fantasy island. So for example under 1m £20, 1m-1.2m £30 and above 1.2m £40 I think that would make more sense
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Why should an adult without children pay the same price when they won’t want to ride everything?
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
You're entirely misunderstanding Alton Towers business strategy. It's not an amusement park, you're not paying to get on the rides, you're paying for access to the resort. Based on this principle, of course you should charge the same amount for an adult and a child, they both get equal access to the park. The rides aren't essential to Alton Towers' business model, but they are the main draw. They're the things that get you in the gate, that make you want to come, but it's not what you're actually paying for.

Towers don't charge based on the lineup available all day. Alton Towers charge for access to a park on specific days of the year, with no guarantee on a ride offering or lineup. There's an expectation in the main season that everything will be open, but it isn't often the case. Towers charge based on when you're visiting. Their pricing strategy revolves mostly around when families are likely to be off together and are looking for things to do. This is why weekends and school holidays are considered peak times. They know that most people are going to visit on those days, or can only visit on those days, so they can charge a premium for the privilege.

You charge the most for access when you're going to be busy. You charge the least when you're going to be quiet. The former are going to come anyway, so they're price blind. The latter, you use lower prices to encourage extra visitors you weren't expecting to get.
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How are you paying to access the resort? You're paying for access to the theme park nothing else. The theme park has no relation to the rest of the resort its basically seperate
 
It gets messy the minute you start splitting into different ticket options, and you end up with something very confusing and unnecessary.

The current model works well for Towers (and many large theme parks worldwide). It's up to individuals to judge whether it's value for money.

This year is a non-event for day guests unless you're local and have children who will enjoy CBeebies Land.
 
James said:
This year is a non-event for day guests unless you're local and have children who will enjoy CBeebies Land.
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Most interesting year we've had since Wicker man in my opinion. Curse and Sub-terra have really improved the lineup
 
Ethan said:
How are you paying to access the resort? You're paying for access to the theme park nothing else. The theme park has no relation to the rest of the resort its basically seperate
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Alton Towers Resort is the whole complex. The theme park is in the resort. I used the word 'resort' in the sentence "It's not an amusement park, you're not paying to get on the rides, you're paying for access to the resort." to avoid repetition of the word "park" which could have caused confusion. I see that I failed in that last part. The rest of my message still stands, howeever.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Alton Towers Resort is the whole complex. The theme park is in the resort. I used the word 'resort' in the sentence "It's not an amusement park, you're not paying to get on the rides, you're paying for access to the resort." to avoid repetition of the word "park" which could have caused confusion. I see that I failed in that last part. The rest of my message still stands, howeever.
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Ye I agree with that part you're paying to access the park not to go on the rides. Fantasy island and Adventure island you can walk around at your own leisure without paying anything. I quite like that tbh because you can just have a look around without having to pay. Sometimes I just want to have a walk around Towers and take it all in rather than going ride to ride
 
There's plenty of rides under 1.2 for that range of person in the park in cbbies,David Williams and munity bay for the Christmas event or in the normal season it's a pointless argument. The price I think is fair for all age ranges
 
Ethan said:
Yes because if they're not 1.2 or 1.4 they can't ride a lot of attractions
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But there are many people who don’t have kids and therefore don’t ride the CBeebies rides and similar. Why shouldn’t they get a discount too?

The current system of same price for everyone over age 3 makes sense as broadly they will all enjoy a similar number of attractions, just of different types.
 
jon81uk said:
But there are many people who don’t have kids and therefore don’t ride the CBeebies rides and similar. Why shouldn’t they get a discount too?
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Because they're at a height where they can ride anything in the park if they wanted to. You're not limited by any height restrictions
 
Ethan said:
Because they're at a height where they can ride anything in the park if they wanted to. You're not limited by any height restrictions
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But just because someone can ride all the attractions it doesn’t mean they will. You will find very very few guests would go riding the CBeebies attractions once they are no longer in the target audience.

Therefore roughly speaking every guest over the age of 3 is going to be able to get similar value out of a day at Alton Towers because there is something for all, so the price point being the same makes sense.
 
One price for all seems fair - providing there is a range of attractions suitable for all.

If you're going to charge less for children below the minimum height restrictions for some rides, then by the same logic you should charge less for those that are above the maximum height restriction as well. Or those that are too large to ride, or have health conditions that mean they are unable to ride. Where does it end?

Arguably, there is a lot more in the park for a four-year-old to enjoy than for my elderly parents - why should they have to pay more?
 
NuttySquirrel said:
If you're going to charge less for children below the minimum height restrictions for some rides, then by the same logic you should charge less for those that are above the maximum height restriction as well. Or those that are too large to ride, or have health conditions that mean they are unable to ride. Where does it end?
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No I'm not getting this adults should be given reduced rate because they're too old for Cbeebies. They're not missing out on anything it's a kids area
 
Ethan said:
No I'm not getting this adults should be given reduced rate because they're too old for Cbeebies. They're not missing out on anything it's a kids area
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But by the same token, couldn’t you argue that the kids aren’t missing out on anything by not being able to ride The Smiler and such because they’re “adult rides” that the kids are too young for?

I know it’s less simplistic than that, but I’d argue that the logic is similar.

I am surprised that Alton Towers, and the other Merlin parks for that matter, don’t offer concessionary tickets for older people like some other places do. I’d argue that older people are often less likely to ride the big rides, so may get less from the experience. I’d also wager that older adults don’t make up a huge amount of the parks’ visitor numbers.
 
Matt N said:
But by the same token, couldn’t you argue that the kids aren’t missing out on anything by not being able to ride The Smiler and such because they’re “adult rides” that the kids are too young for?

I know it’s less simplistic than that, but I’d argue that the logic is similar.
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Are we comparing cbeebies to the smiler here? The coasters cost millions of pounds and are the most advanced attractions in the park. Hypothetically, if all the rides were paid for separately like at fairs then are we saying that Octonauts would cost the same as Smiler?
 
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