Closed Outlets

[Balb0wa]

They must have clearly had a review of each outlet, what it costs to staff, what it costs to get the produce in, how much they sell, don't sell,waste and its not making a big enough profit.

They will also know that other outlets in the park that are open, are doing more trade.

Like people say its a business. it doesn't make sense to paint oblivion once a year or to sell 1 or 2 pankcakes an hr.

 

[CGM]

I don't buy the 'Alton is a business' argument at all. You cannot justify decisions that compromise the quality of the experience simply by the fact it saves the park money, especially not when that experience is valued at £45 a ticket.

In some ways it's reasonable for a few outlets to be closed on non-peak days but when the park looks like a ghost town and people are having to walk for 20 minutes to find food, there's a serious problem.

The whole cost cutting, ruthlessly financially efficient approach is completely incompatible with what makes a good theme park. Alton is supposed to be a premium day out, it isn't Ryanair.

I think of theme parks as a form of entertainment. They should be held by the same standards that stage productions or films are, not compared to the average high street.

I'm genuinely worried that not only has the quality of UK parks dropped off significantly over the last decade, the enthusiast community has learned to be satisfied with far too little.

 

[BigAl]

I don't buy the 'Alton is a business' argument at all. You cannot justify decisions that compromise the quality of the experience simply by the fact it saves the park money, especially not when that experience is valued at £45 a ticket.

In some ways it's reasonable for a few outlets to be closed on non-peak days but when the park looks like a ghost town and people are having to walk for 20 minutes to find food, there's a serious problem.

The whole cost cutting, ruthlessly financially efficient approach is completely incompatible with what makes a good theme park. Alton is supposed to be a premium day out, it isn't Ryanair.

I think of theme parks as a form of entertainment. They should be held by the same standards that stage productions or films are, not compared to the average high street.

I'm genuinely worried that not only has the quality of UK parks dropped off significantly over the last decade, the enthusiast community has learned to be satisfied with far too little.

Where's the 'thanks' button when you need it? Completely agree with this post. But usually you get shot down for suggesting things like this. I think UK theme parks are forgetting what they are, and many of their fans are too.

 

[Dave]

They must have clearly had a review of each outlet, what it costs to staff, what it costs to get the produce in, how much they sell, don't sell,waste and its not making a big enough profit.

They will also know that other outlets in the park that are open, are doing more trade.

Like people say its a business. it doesn't make sense to paint oblivion once a year or to sell 1 or 2 pankcakes an hr.

But so many other theme parks manage it so why can't Towers, when it is priced not far off some of the premium European theme parks yet it doesn't act like one you have to wonder what is going wrong.

 

[TheMan]

Agree totally with the above comments about falling standards.

Merlin are playing a clever game at gradually reducing quality year on year to lower the public's expectations.

I can't agree with this, strategic closing/staggered times - yes I get that, it's natural in service industry to do this, but the quality and standards have seen a VERY sharp fall this year.

Anyone who would like to seriously debate me on this kindly please read the "What hasn't The Man Done?" thread to prepare yourself for information onslaught. ;D

In short: This is a service industry, customer focused business, who's core business model is based upon visitor experience. It's really not hard to grasp

 

[Rob]

I maintain that the most important thing for theme parks is guest experience and satisfaction. It is what drives those all important return visits and recommendations to friends. Having half your outlets on park closed does not help this in the slightest. I can assure anyone who doubts this that none of the group of a dozen or so of us felt at all satisfied when we experienced what we did on a bank holiday season. And hey guess what, my visits to the park this year have dramatically reduced on previous years!

 

[Dave]

As said sensible use of phased closing is not always a terrible thing, this time round with the late opening of some rides nearly all enthusiasts where fine with that, with the exception of Skyride. Same with food outlets, closing a few small outlets on off peak days is not unreasonable. As already pointed out many very good parks do this to some degree.

The issue here is the types of outlets closing and the fact that a lot of outlets are closed on fairly busy days. This looks bad and provides bad customer service.

 

[djtruefitt]

Well I didn't expect this much debate over some closed outlets, but i'm glad it has got people talking!

Personally I have no problem with towers closing some outlets or late opening. For example on a cold day there is no point in opening a slush stand, however in the past I remember seeing them open during Scarefest, along with the ice cream van! The day I visited it was fairly quiet, however all of these outlets (as far as i'm aware) have been closed the whole of the 2014 season, including weekends and bank holidays, so its not just quite days.

It just looks a bit naff from a customer point of view, for example walking past Battle Galleons towards Sea Life at 12pm every single outlet in that area was closed (slush stand, battle galleons photos, games stalls, ben & Jerry's and the hotdog/pancake counters).

Fair point - My entire post was mainly to do with games and photos units rather than food units, to which I can agree. We should all move on and talk about how awful this entire situation is

To be fair I didn't intend to go to towers and take photos of closed outlets, it was just something I did as I was going around the park going on rides (I certainly didn't go out of my way to find them!). And for all I care towers could close all photo and HB Leisure outlets as I have no interest in them what so ever. I just took photos of them as they were outlets closed while I was visiting the park.

But anyway i'm glad it has got people talking. I look forward to visiting over the next few weeks once the park gets busier to see if anything changes.

 

[TheMan]

I do find it a little strange though, that the guy that does the media stuff for this site @djtruefitt would get questioned for posts with media in them on a topic that's actually very relevant on an ALTON TOWERS discussion forum ;D

I thought the pictures told a story, one or two pictures would be like... and? However the volume of them I can imagine made it look and feel like the place was shut almost.

It's not good enough. Merlin are tearing the soul from the F&B part of towers, whoever is in charge of these decisions I am sorry but they're an idiot. I'm not talking about a manager being forced by budgetary requirements to close more outlets, I am on about whichever blinkered clueless bean counter up the chain decided to place these restrictions.

Sort it out Varney! With the kind of profitzzz you are making there is no excuse for this nonsense!!

I'd love to meet the guy, if by chance he ever reads this post and fancies it, message me and I'll be there the next day.

 

[smudge]

Today was much better, but still not fully open. Ben & jerrys still shut, pancakes & pasties still shut in mutiny bay, refresh at ripsaw still shut, but all the smaller stalls and trollies open. From what I saw anyway.

An improvement anyway. Still not great mind.

 

[Burbs]

From @djtruefitt and TowersStreet's Twitter today, Wobble World café seemed to be shut all day (or certainly in the afternoon), despite there apparently being a queue of people outside trying to get in.

 

[Harv]

Dunno if anyone has pointed this out but shops are generally around to make money? I refuse to believe it costs more than £15 an hour to keep the Ben and Jerry's outlet open, if you're telling me less than 5 ice creams are sold an hour then it's marketing that need to pull their fingers out, now F&B.

 

[smudge]

My other half said exactly the same today, we were sitting outside at the tavern and we must have heard a dozen people saying how they wish b&j's was open. It was 26 degrees, Jesus, if people don't want an ice cream then, when will they.

 

[TheMan]

Keep the ice cream stands shut in a heatwave

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Seriously, Towers..... STAAAAAAAHP

 

[AstroDan]

Hilarious today.

Wobble World Cafe closing at 3pm... with a queue of people wanting ice cream!

Who is in charge of this madness?

Ben & Jerry's was shut too!

Hilarious. The park really is inexplicable at times.

 

[Burbs]

The conversation between Mike and Towers today on Twitter was quite frankly hilarious. Their excuses are awful!

 

[DiogoJ42]

The conversation between Mike and Towers today on Twitter was quite frankly hilarious. Their excuses are awful!

Any chance of a screengrab for those of us who don't do twitter?

 

[James]

An outlet like Ben and Jerry's would have made tons of money today. There seems to be no business sense with this one... boiling hot day, people wanting ice cream, easy profit to make, oh sorry we're closed.

F&B needs a kick up the arse. Or perhaps managers that know what they are doing.

 

[Burbs]

The conversation between Mike and Towers today on Twitter was quite frankly hilarious. Their excuses are awful!

Any chance of a screengrab for those of us who don't do twitter?

I'll try and find one for you. Maybe 'hilarious' is an exaggeration, but whatever.

Edit: Here's one of the conversations, I'm sure there were more, but I'll look for them later.

 

[Burbs]

Here's another one. (Sorry for the double post.)