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Major Operational Changes for 2018

Towerslover said:
If there was new management who would people have their money on? I'm feeling gutted about everything to be honest. I expected 2018 to be one of the best seasons in recent years but it's not looking that way :(
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Due to the complex ownership structure (the land is leased, Merlin own the rides) I cannot see a buy out. I would love one but I can’t see it.

I said the other day I wonder if the Mack family would want it or afford it. Failing that the only two bigger park operators are Disney and universal neither of whom would touch this.

I can’t see the owner of a smaller chain step up either. Hopefully some Chinese investment company will buy it.
 
Altonadvocate1 said:
Is AT actually losing money?

I'm starting to think that AT as a theme park may not exist in a few years :(
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I think this is another topic for another thread in 'Future Discussion', but I'm beginning to wonder if Alton Towers does have a viable future as a resort theme park? It feels too deep to turn back now, but clearly, something is very wrong.
 
I don't care for Treetop although that's yet another Merlin creation now closed/SBNO.

These cuts are very unfortunate although I think Towers have done the best they can with the severe cuts. The park tends to not pick up guest wise until 11am-12pm so it's easier to keep rides closed in the morning as this won't be noticed that much by the majority of guests that travel far and arrive lunch time. As mentioned also Wicker Man will be the main draw in the morning.

The issues with these staggered openings will be queue times (which I think will be hit hard) and the fact it pretty much relies on the rides running without fault in the morning... which we know does not happen. If Wicker Man breaks down, or The Smiler breaks down early on, this will cause a mass of angry guests with no where else to go (apart from the Box Office to complain of course).

The main cuts that p*ss me off the most is The Skyride opening far later and The Rapids being a seasonal attraction. Out of the two water rides on park, The Rapids is one you want to go on all year round, not to at least open it for Scarefest/Fireworks too is ludicrous. The fact it can be seen from multiple angles around the park (and the fact Wicker Man's lift will look right over it), I hope guests go complaining about that one a lot.
 
JB1985 said:
Due to the complex ownership structure (the land is leased, Merlin own the rides) I cannot see a buy out. I would love one but I can’t see it.
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If Merlin want to get rid of it, they will. Unfortunately for us, and every other guest, I'm not sure they do. They have chosen to run it as a skeleton reliant on overpriced accomodation and new investments and IPs, while letting the overall product suffer severely. This is clearly their ultimate strategy going forward. And yes, unless Roland has a lot of time on his hands, or a new joint investment is agreed, I think it's what we can look forward to for years to come.

However, if the right investor came along, they could of course return to the park to it's former glory, and invest towards a bright future. But it would be difficult. Alton Towers is sprawling, historical and in many cases, dilapidated. It hasn't exisited outside of a typical corporate structure for nearly thirty years. It has an enormous level of brand recognition, but as we have seen, it is far from infallible. I would not want to take the risk. I must say, I can't help but acknowledge the wry irony in Varney's history with the park. When Merlin purchased Tussauds, Alton Towers was meant to be the prize stallion. Instead, it's turned into a lumbering carthorse.
 
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MakoMania said:
At least their rides open.

Also....

Long live our saviour!
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Speaking of which, I'm sure many of those park owners are having a good giggle while drinking red wine at Merlin's problems and will probably hope to use the chance to appeal to the public which would be a sneaky yet winning PR stunt to help themselves in the long term.

With the family parks around the country, it is like the corner shops taking on the supermarket (e.g. Merlin) and how wonderful would it be to see a David vs. Goliath situation take place? :D
 
QTXAdsy said:
Speaking of which, I'm sure many of those park owners are having a good giggle while drinking red wine at Merlin's problems and will probably hope to use the chance to appeal to the public which would be a sneaky yet winning PR stunt to help themselves in the long term.

With the family parks around the country, it is like the corner shops taking on the supermarket (e.g. Merlin) and how wonderful would it be to see a David vs. Goliath situation take place? :D
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Live scenes from up north.....

Amanda+Thompson+Investitures+Buckingham+Palace+CyZAH1912P_l.jpg

"Bring it on M£rlin".

This is the only park that can really hope to take on Merlin in the forseeable future.
 
Funcone said:
Very sad to hear about this. It will be tough for the minimum wage, zero-hour staff. There aren’t a lot of British parks where you can make being a ride operator (or any other frontline role) a fulltime job. These days even the big parks aren’t offering fulltime hours outside of school holidays. I know a few enthusiasts who have risen through the ranks at different parks and made a career out of it. These days it would be very difficult to do a frontline position without either living in real poverty for some years, living with your parents, or doing a second job (which can be very tiring and give you little work life balance).

Not only do these staff have their hours cut, but the cherry on top will be getting grief from customers about changes that they themselves are likely to resent. And not just resent, but actually get hurt by (in a financial sense).
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^^^ Couldn't agree more! ^^^
I would urge all towers staff to join a workers union because the crap they will be expected to deal with this year is not acceptable. Also join the same union (makes things easier)

yoursilentface said:
I renewed our MAP's yesterday at a cost of £517 for the 4 of us and i regret this now....i was in two minds anyway

The days of hot footing around the park getting on most rides int he first couple of hours are gone

And only opening the rapids from may is a disgrace the queue for RMT will be horrific and one of my kids is under 1.4 so them 2 rides played a big part in our day

Not happy
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I would seriously consider contacting them to get your money back, this is unacceptable. Under distance selling rules you can change your mind within 7 days and get a full refund. I assume this will apply in this case also. Please make a stand. Save the money and take your family on a trip to Europe!

My thoughts in general.
I'm shocked... It's a new low... etc etc etc. I feel sorry for the staff, the hard up families trying to treat the kids and the poor soles who have just splashed out on shiny new passes and come back every day tickets- you were royally done over... but we'd expect nothing less after all these years of taking shaftings. Most people will happily pull down their trousers and pants for another year of beatings. It's a real shame.

There was a post noting the PA staggered openings. These staggered opening are nothing like the PA ones where the park is open until 7,8,11,12, and 3am on some dates..

Back to Towers, one thing to consider is ride reliability. At least with rides open all day then if they break down there is opportunity to check them out later to see if they are running again. Rides open for 4 hours (particularly looking at Galactica (or should it be Air again now?) here) need to be rock solid in operations or it will just add to the bad trip adviser ratings. Towers might even question the point of reopening a ride if it only has an hour or two of the day left.

It's a farce. I fully expect them to climb down on either the reduced ERT or the reduced operations. it's how they roll. They haggle their way out of it and everyone loves them again for another year. Maybe this year those people with actually get a backbone and broaden their horizons park wise.

On related matter - Is there any sign of Twirling Toadstool/Sub-Terra opening as i see they are STILL listed as attractions and as such is misleading to customers if there is no real chance of them opening.

I'm really not that bothered though. I won't be visiting :) :)

:) :)
 
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I'm really quite disappointed to be honest. Alton has been our "big" trip for the past few years as it's around 350 miles away so we like to make the most of it.

Now I don't feel that these staggered opening times and other cuts are worth my time and money. I'm not going to spend a couple of days travelling and paying for accomodation just to spend my time on park queuing, with the possibility of not actually getting on all of the rides we want. Did that once during the summer holidays when staggered opening wasn't even a thing and it's still my worst park experience to date.

I'm sure the park will have good footfall initially, but I wouldn't be surprised to see returning visitor numbers taking a bit of a dive if the staggered opening continues. Looks I'll have to give Wicker Man a miss. ️

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 
Bert2theSpark said:
I've heard that Merlin have little influence on the budget cuts and it is Towers management who is in charge and these cutbacks because apperently Towers are making little profit/no profit, So I can see why these cutbacks are happening.

If the case that Towers just isn't profitable I'm certain that Towers are thinking on how they could be reducing budgets short term until they find a way to be profitable again.

(Yeah I'm expecting some backlash at this post but try and think of the park from a management prospective and not an enthusiast prosective).
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Merlin definitely control the budget. It’s not even an enthusiast perspective that informs this. Alton Towers are not a company in their own right, they don’t offer financial report. Why would the company that is responsible to its share holders allow a small part of their business to have full autonomy of budget setting?

Merlin don’t say “close rapids and open valley at 12” that is a decision made in the park. But that decision is based on Merlin saying “this year your operating budget is £££££££, each year that figure gets smaller.
 
I used to think that bean counter was a euphemism, but at Merlin they probably do actually count out a handful of beans and that's what the parks have to run off.
 
Perhaps this is the next step in making AT a ‘multi-day resort destination’.

It’s ingenious - make ride opening times so short that it’s actually IMPOSSIBLE to do everything in one day, even though they’ve closed half the rides for ‘TLC’.

You therefore have to stay overnight in a ‘fantastical’ resort hotel (provided it’s not mothballed) just to have enough time to do the major rides once over the two days you’ve been forced to visit for.

Then you have to come back later in the year anyway if you want to go on the Rapids.

#business
 
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