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Cost of visiting theme parks soar

...except that, given that around 95% of guests to Alton Towers use BOGOFs, each price increase is effectively only half that. So prices at Alton Towers have really only increased 28.5% since 2009 - though still quite a hefty above-inflation rise.

Merlin need to sort out the BOGOF situation before they're left with no way out, because the walk-up price they have to advertise at the moment is embarrassing. :)
 
Whilst it's an interesting discussion to have that is a statistic in the Daily Fail, so at best we can assume it's been manipulated for increased shock value, and at worst (and more likely imo,) it's been pulled out of thin air entirely. :p
 
Yes, I'd imagine that there are more BOGOFs, special offers and Merlin/Alton Annual passes. Yes I see the need for Merlin to make money. Yes I understand the idea of inflation, but a walk up family price of £198 is beyond a joke.

Looking locally to me, Twinlakes Family Theme Park is better suited to young children than Alton Towers. Yes it is on a much much smaller scale, and there aren't world class leading attractions, but a family ticket for a day out at Twinlakes is £61. Yes, that's £61. I don't think that's too unreasonable as a comparison, because yes it is a smaller park with less attractions, and 'worse' attractions, but I think personally it's a more rounded day out for young families. I'd argue that it was a far better value day out than Alton Towers.

Okay, you'd say that's not a fair comparison, a Theme Park and a Farm Park isn't fair. Okay, let's go down the road to Drayton Manor, where a family day out will cost £108. Still £90 less than Alton Towers. Drayton Manor, I would argue is better suited to families with younger children, because of big IPs such as Thomas the Tank Engine and Ben 10. Car Parking is also a lot cheaper. I understand that there aren't as many big rides at Drayton Manor (2) and that the park is a tad rough around the edges, but for a family quite simply Drayton Manor is better value. There's a zoo, there's big thrill rides and ones for kids as well. There is something for everyone, even those who don't like rides, and because of the size of the park as well you don't feel as segregated.

Alton Towers has the best mix for people with 13 year old's in their party. They need the thrills of Nemesis, but they're still able to enjoy Ice Age or Blade. I'd argue that what makes Alton Towers a good value day out is the unique ride hardware, such as the UK's only flying coaster, the UK's only £18 million pound white elephant, the UK's only freefall drop rollercoaster. I'd argue that if done properly, with BOGOF's (£99) a family day out at Alton Towers can be good value for money. It all depends on the people in your party, the day you choose to go on and how you choose to spend whilst you're on your day out.

Would I argue that Alton Towers is good money for me personally? Yes, because I have an annual pass, and 'abuse' it as members do on this site. I get my money's worth out of it! If you buy during the January sale you get even better value for money.

One of the things that always irks me about people who say 'THEME PARKS ARE A RIP OFF', is that they never look at other comparative leisure activities. Alton Towers is a whole day affair: to do all the rides and attractions you need at least a day (Before anyone argues that you can do it in half a day, sure, you can if it's dead. But to me where's the rush.. other than 108 miles down the M1/M25? ;)). With over 50 rides and attractions to enjoy, why not take a stay in the Alton Towers Resort Hotel?

I thought I'd have a quick glance at some other leisure activities to see what's what, all of these figures were generated quickly using Google and a hypothetical 2 adults and 2 'children'.

Despicable Me 2, at the Odeon Cinema: £28.40 for 2 hours entertainment
Nottingham Ice Arena, family skating ticket: £25 for 2 hours entertainment
Legoland Discovery Centre, family ticket: £48 for 2 hours entertainment
Twycross Zoo, family ticket: £49 for 6ish hours entertainment
Drayton Manor, family ticket: £108 for 8 hours entertainment
Twinlakes Family Theme Park, family ticket: £61 for 7 hours entertainment
Alton Towers Resort, family ticket: £108 for 8 hours entertainment

And so on and so on. What I'm trying to say here, is that leisure attractions such as Alton Towers, Twycross Zoo and Drayton Manor offer the best value per person, per hour compared to other activities. Theme Parks are not cheap, but they can be. Worth baring in mind all of these prices are without discounts and coupons, which will alter the balance towards places which frequently use these as marketing for the park.

The Mail article fails to consider this, and for me that's what makes it flawed. It'd be like me saying Ford Ka's have gone up in price. Yes, they have, but once you apply special offers and plan and consider like you would a day out, the price falls.

I apologise if this post seems messy, but I get ever so slightly annoyed with all the negativity. Theme Parks are meant to be places to escape, what companies like Alton Towers need to realise is that for the price they're charging they are a premium product. Run down rides, mess, litter, dirt, broken effects really matter for a £198 day out.

Mind you it could be worse, it could be Legoland WaterPark ;)
 
and the moral of the story is theme park visit smarter not harder on the wallet. :D

I am going with the free sun deal tickets, due to my in law buying the paper and i cut the bits out when they when on the recycling pile. cost less than a pound (2 stamps)

Then I will be getting a Any Day return (£15 each) for me and my daughter to go back for the traditional year trip to Alton with my mate and his son.

So lets work out the cost of two day (excluding fuel, food, etc) for me this year.
Any day return x2 = £30
parking x2 days = £12

that comes out at £42 for two people for two different days.

My mate will be using 2 for 1 offer making his trip £46.20 for two people for one day. and that is still cheaper than the £69.30 for two, buying the tickets online.

Its a shame i cant get a 2 ltrs for 1 ltr on fuel, then i would be quids in :D
 
For me, to be honest, its more the cost of fuel thesedays to get to the park as opposed to the price of things when you are in there.
 
It's £32.50 to get the train to Uttoxeter for me, then either bus/taxi fare from there and back. Then there's the fact I have to get a taxi to my local station anyway.

Staying on resort is pretty much out of the question anyway, due to cost, but that would make it more expensive for the bus back to Uttoxeter (lack of day ticket).

Doing that multiple times per year is not possible for me.

It's not a great deal different for Pleasure Beach for me, although typically, that would be as part of a holiday, and therefore saving using 2-day tickets.

I accept that Towers is expensive because of the whole offer situation, but what if you were a family of 3 for example? The offer isn't compensating for the ridiculous gate price.
 
Alton Towers in effect penalise people in an odd numbered group. Unless you book ages in advance on the website you get stung.
 
The one thing the report does take into account and mention is the high price of fuel thesedays to actually get to these places, or as b2311e pointed out, the cost and inaccessibility of public transport. And then to top it off Alton add the crazy £6 parking charge knowing dam well there is no where else to park in the area. Thats what really gets my goat up.
 
The cost of getting there is what does it for me. To get to Thorpe Park it's about £6 return on the train, then a little extra for the bus. It's even cheaper for Chessington, as all I need to do is get the train to Chessington South and then walk to the park. Granted I live in London, so I'm close, but both of these places have amazing public transportation and other transport options.

Towers doesn't have that. Granted, it's not their fault it can cost me up to £45 on the train, but as public transport to the park itself is so scarce it can be a real headache and can cost loads to get to a from the park. Driving isn't much better as you can get stung for the parking and petrol costs to get there.

So with the price of going there in mind, if I didn't have a Merlin pass, or was the odd numbered person in the group (which has happened in the past), I'm then looking at paying the same amount to get in as its cost to get there. Then you have the ludicrous cost of food (£6.50 at Burger Kitchen for what amounts to a medium quarter pounder meal??) and you can see exactly why Towers gets a bad rap for being so damn pricey. If they aren't careful, it'll come back and bite them hard.
 
Alton Towers can be done for £10 including the cost of buying food from the shop the day before. Let us use my last trip (Excluding the £83 on MAP and £16 on drink container):

£5 on fuel (4 of us went so split £20 by 4)
£10-15 on buying food from the park as we felt like eating there instead of buying stuff.

Still got a day out to Towers for a £20 note. It just requires smart thinking to get this :)
 
I don't mean to argue, but is it a £10 day out? Surely your cost of your day out would be £83/the amount of times you'd been to Alton Towers or any other Merlin attraction? That's how I work mine out.

So I paid £83, I've been to 5 Merlin attractions so far this year: £16.60 per visit, which is still cheaper than any other method of visiting.

But yes, by sharing petrol and food costs in your group the cost can shrink massively.
 
Merlin have been getting progressively too expensive for a while now.

I did notice that digital photos were an ADDITIONAL cost for example at the start of the season, but my last visit when The Smiler opened I didn't notice them.

That is the other thing that Towers drastically fail with right now, consistency. They seem to be constantly tweaking prices/benefits/up sells etc. That to me suggests they are performing some kind of balancing act, and whilst that is happening the general quality of the park will suffer.

I would imagine this is another top down situation (Merlin) as they have gotten progressively worse in the last couple of seasons to the point the public are now starting to shout about it.

Merlin have gone through the glass ceiling as far as the public are concerned. MAP just about still makes sense, JUST, if you are not visiting every week. Other than that notable exception though, the prices are getting stupid.

I pointed this out at the end of the last season, to much derision, I think the price/quality of their in house food seems to have tipped a few more scales.

In general though, it is a direction that you pay attention to, NOT where you presently are. That is what concerned me, and still does.
 
Re: Re: Cost of visiting theme parks soar

Thomas said:
I don't mean to argue, but is it a £10 day out? Surely your cost of your day out would be £83/the amount of times you'd been to Alton Towers or any other Merlin attraction? That's how I work mine out.

So I paid £83, I've been to 5 Merlin attractions so far this year: £16.60 per visit, which is still cheaper than any other method of visiting.

But yes, by sharing petrol and food costs in your group the cost can shrink massively.
Click to expand...

I usually write it off as a one off spend. But using your method I've done 4 visits this year so £20 a pop so far.

My posts have that many mistakes in them?! Damn this Tapatalk milarky :)
 
Yeah I do exactly the same, I just find the pass/visits gives me an easier justification for an £8 mug for instance ;)
 
Does anyone have any more statistics on the MAP? For example how many are sold annually?

Also how much is the price of an on-ride photo now?
 
Poison Tom 96 said:
£5 on fuel (4 of us went so split £20 by 4)
Click to expand...

Try asking your kids to stump up money to chip in for petrol, they don't look happy.

Point is the report is focusing on a Family (Alton Towers Market) It's easy for a single person to save money by rocking up with an annual pass and a bottle of evian for the days spend, try doing it as a family of 4 or more who have to buy lunch, petrol, parking, snacks for a long trip, park tickets, Tat in the gift shop.

Even with bog offs you can expect to spend £200 which is around 15% of a monthly wage, it's not economically viable.

Remember Family's are probably the main income generators for Towers, people getting in free with Sun tickets and taking a box of bread sticks for lunch isn't going to pay for an £18 million coaster.
 
My problem with the two for one excuse is that it means that you have to plan your visit well in advance to pay anything resembling a reasonable price. You can no longer spontaneously have a "Hey kids, let's go to Alton Towers!" situation unless you're willing to pay extortionate amounts.

Also, not everyone knows about the two for one offers. It's easy for us to notice them on products as the logos jump out at us and they're widely discussed across various forums. However, many people either won't notice these or just won't consider looking at offers before visiting an attraction. Some people have been quite damming of guests who don't take advantage of the two for one but it shouldn't take a promotional offer to make a day out financially viable. An offer should be enticing but not necessary. They also don't work for odd numbered groups as others have mentioned.

The fundamental issue is that a day at Alton Towers is simply not worth £46.20. It's just not a good enough theme park to warrant that kind of price at the moment. Plus that's before taking into account the price of parking, food, on ride photos etc. and the fact that it's open for as little time as they can get away with.

The only reason they can charge that price is the reputation Alton earned itself in the eighties and nineties and the fact that the UK market is so uncompetitive and cut off from the rest of Europe.

Port Aventura is one of Europe's premier resorts. In my opinion, it's currently a better family theme park than Alton and in the summer months, it's open until midnight. A day out there has a gate price of only £38.50.

Europa Park is often talked about as one of the world's best theme parks and an adult ticket there is just £33.

The idea that a day at Alton is worth over £10 more than Europa is ridiculous.
 
CGM said:
You can no longer spontaneously have a "Hey kids, let's go to Alton Towers!" situation unless you're willing to pay extortionate amounts.

Also, not everyone knows about the two for one offers. It's easy for us to notice them on products as the logos jump out at us.....
Click to expand...

Weirdly (as it usually happens) my daughters mate, was around earlier today. she was saying that they are going to Alton tomorrow. so I gave her two of the 2 for 1 tokens I have kicking around. ( i always cut them off packs)

10 mins after she went home, her mum rang to thank me for them saying they were going to pay on the gate. and did not know there was 2 for 1 tokens around.
 
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