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Christmas 2023

We went today, had a good time (well, a 4 year old who loved it, which makes us parents happy).

That said, it was quiet, the only time we had to wait was for the rides to stop so we could get on. Sometimes we walked up got on and were were the only people on the ride.

Speaking to one of the operators, apparently there were only 172 guests there today!
 
It felt like today there was probably more staff on park than guests. Endless staff looking bored or stood around talking.

We actually arrived at Gangsta Granny to find all the audio in the queue turned off and the whole ride also turned off. Then all the staff came out the op cabin looking mildly annoyed they had to start the ride and put the music on.
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I’m not even sure how the hotel bookings are going, as they still seem to be promoting it, and the hotels haven’t seemed that busy when I’ve popped in.

The panto is also on 4 times a day (god knows why). We watched it today with about 20 other people in the massive conference center. However it was actually really good, well put together and funny. Just a shame only hotel guests will see it.
 
I think one of the lessons here is that you either have to put effort and resources into having a proper event, or just don't bother having one. There are so many places that you can go and see Santa now that to get people to drive out into the middle of the countryside and potentially pay a fortune to stay in your hotels, you need to add some good activities on the side. Even a local country park near me was running a new Santa trail thing where after following the clues and finding him, they get a small prezzie. Total cost, £10. Endless country house estates etc manage to do a light trail/show most years. It looks like a lot of people this year have actually looked at the AT offering and thought "Well, if they can't be bothered, then neither can I". Don't blame them.
 
I genuinely don’t wish for the park to fail at anything, as a fan of the place I want it to succeed.

However with this event I am sort of pleased to see them take a bit of a hit. The message is pretty clear - the offering is not good enough to attract people to visit, they need to make more of an effort.

I notice the day tickets for the period after Christmas have been reduced from £23 down to £18, bookings must be low for the New Year period too.
 
AT86 said:
However with this event I am sort of pleased to see them take a bit of a hit. The message is pretty clear - the offering is not good enough to attract people to visit, they need to make more of an effort.
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Although the Santa Sleepover offering is fairly similar to the last ten years, therefore on that package I assume it is more price than what is offered that is the issue.
 
jon81uk said:
Although the Santa Sleepover offering is fairly similar to the last ten years, therefore on that package I assume it is more price than what is offered that is the issue.
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Potentially, the fact many areas of the country don’t finish for Christmas until today or tomorrow could well be limiting numbers this week specifically. Perhaps they should have just stuck to weekends as they had done over the last few weeks.
 
GaryH said:
Why did they stop doing the NYE events? These were always sold out
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Stopped during covid, they never came back.

Same with the corporate Christmas parties that were big business for the conference centre and hotel bookings.

They shifted all the effort into expanding the Christmas event, until this year.
 
jon81uk said:
Although the Santa Sleepover offering is fairly similar to the last ten years, therefore on that package I assume it is more price than what is offered that is the issue.
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I think it would be fair to assume the quality will also have been reduced over that time. This is a big up-hill battle the resort now have - they are no longer known for a quality offering, so people will be reluctant to pay at the same levels they might previously have done.
 
jon81uk said:
At a guess the cost of getting enough staff to host the events on the evening.
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There is no way they would have offered any enhancement over the "21+ national living wage" rate to get staff in. In fairness, Towers are generous in paying all its staff the "21+" rate, but the remote location of the park means transport / car running costs are incurred. Makes working for slightly less in Stoke look appealing.

My current employer still has big staffing problems as their sites are remotely located with not brilliant public transport links & they want to just pay the vast majority of staff the national living wage. We charge our guests eye-watering prices too. But the bubble is beginning to burst - the booking curve for out of school holidays midweek breaks is nowhere near where it should be.
 
jon81uk said:
At a guess the cost of getting enough staff to host the events on the evening.
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I would have thought the sell out NYE parties would have been very profitable for the hotels as the room rates would be the highest than at any point during the year and would well cover the staff wages.

It’s a real shame they stopped doing them as it really was a complete package that appealed to a lot of people, myself included and something which I didn’t mind paying extra for.

Hopefully they might come back again (Bianca are you reading this?)
 
GaryH said:
I would have thought the sell out NYE parties would have been very profitable for the hotels as the room rates would be the highest than at any point during the year and would well cover the staff wages.

It’s a real shame they stopped doing them as it really was a complete package that appealed to a lot of people, myself included and something which I didn’t mind paying extra for.

Hopefully they might come back again (Bianca are you reading this?)
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Never did Alton Towers but did Chessington one time (The entertainment was Robert Pattinson's Sister Lizzie).

Honestly one of the best nights we've had at a theme park and actually felt like a bargain.

The current owners really should look into bringing NYE events back.
 
AT86 said:
I genuinely don’t wish for the park to fail at anything, as a fan of the place I want it to succeed.

However with this event I am sort of pleased to see them take a bit of a hit. The message is pretty clear - the offering is not good enough to attract people to visit, they need to make more of an effort.

I notice the day tickets for the period after Christmas have been reduced from £23 down to £18, bookings must be low for the New Year period too.
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I agree. Lightopia was a huge part of the event last year and actually looked quite good. The ride lineup is poor if I’m honest the lack of stuff to do is evident. If they open Curse and Hex next year that’ll be a huge improvement
 
Went to a few national trust properties this winter to see their garden light trails and the houses all decorated and lit up. I’m sure Alton could something similar for Christmas. I guess the Scarefest props prevent the house being used but wouldn’t it be amazing to see the house lit and decorated inside for Christmas!
 
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