• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Park Closing Time

u5ybumyn.jpg

Just been having a look at other parks closing times and came across kings island (America) I know towers wouldn't open till 12 am but 6 o'clock is pretty poor
 
Alton Towers, I would be prepared to bet, probably has the worst opening times of any major theme park in the world.

In my 2011 Holland/Belgium/Germany park tour, all parks except one opened later than Alton Towers - some by up to 6 hours longer in the evening.

In 2012, on my European Park tour, all parks opened later than Alton Towers - some by up to 6 hours longer in the evening.

In 2013, the trip I have just done - here are the opening times:

Coney Island (tiny, seaside park): 11:00am - 11:00pm
Six Flags Great Adventure: 10:30am - 10:00pm
Lake Compounce (small family park): 10:00am - 8:00pm
Six Flags New England: 10:00am - 10:00pm
Busch Gardens Williamsburg: 10:00am - 10:00pm
Kings Dominion: 10:00am - 8:00pm
Cedar Point: 10:00am - 10:00pm
Kennywood: 10:00am - 11:00pm
Hersheypark: 10:00am - 11:30pm
Knoebels: 10:00am - 9:00pm
Dorney Park: 10:00am - 10:00pm

Yeah, Towers sucks.
 
Im guessing they'll over estimate the queue times so people wont complain if they go over that time. Or it could be nobody changes it
 
In other news, legoland windsor is still currently open - closes at 830 tonight after it had an extended ride close of 1hr 30mins!

Will never see towers doing that. Closed at 6pm today.
 
6pm closes today and apparently it was heaving, with people still queuing to get out of the car parks at 8pm.

Seriously ridiculous when Drayton down the road extended park close by 2 hours on Sunday
 
it was the same yesterday and when we left at 6pm, the park was still very busy with very few cars leaving at around 6.15. They could have easily stayed open until 8pm I am sure they would make their money back in food/drink sales!

I would like to see them try a stunt show on the lake again at around 7.30pm like they did in 1999 and 2000 to keep guests in the park into the evening and create a summer long event, giving them something else to market/advertise and shout about the fact open late all summer long. They could run it on Sat and Sundays from end June and then everyday through the summer school hols. Merlin will never give them the budget though.

I bet their are a lot of people who have 1hr+ journeys home that stop for Food on the way home when the park shuts at 6pm, if the park stayed open latter that money could be going into Merlins pockets and not someone else's. Plus even if didn't want to run every ride and attraction they could shut some of the smaller attractions earlier such as some of the kids rides and the water rides etc at 6pm. Plus could shut the queues for the Smiller at say 7.30pm to avoid having to keep it running really late.
 
Good idea Maelstrom. They could close smaller kids attractions at 5:00, family attractions at 6:00 and thrill attractions at 7:00.

They could also do the same with food outlets, keeping outlets closest to the big attractions and the entrance open til later on. This would also help the car parks empty with families with younger kids leaving earlier.

Staff and operations costs will be cut to some extent, which is the biggest expense for the park. Just a thought. :D
 
The only thing I can say on this matter, is the travel difficulty for staff.

So use your nouse Towers and actually get organised!

Towers busy in summer holiday warm weather shock!
Click to expand...

Still not been bothered to respond to my complaint either in slightly off topic news, just another example of incompetence/lack of care by certain factions within Towers hierarchy.
 
I was quite surprised on Monday, we left park after ride close, took the woodland walk then had a drink and spent quite a bit of time in the hotels, we left about 7.30 and there was a massive queue to get out of the car parks and the hotel car parks. I imagine there was still plenty of people around TowersStreet as well.
 
If Chessington can extend ride close, so can Alton Towers. No excuses.

If there are still a load of people in the park, sense would say to keep it open another hour at least. It's not only better for them (people still spending money in the shops and at stalls, etc...) and better for guests (woo, more rides) but it also means that everyone isn't leaving all at once which is what creates the stupid queues to get out.

If they aren't going to put money towards a relief road or improving the park's own infrastructure, they need to take other actions to ensure that the traffic isn't as bad. Making everyone have to leave early on a busier day is just asking for trouble.
 
BigAl said:
If Chessington can extend ride close, so can Alton Towers. No excuses.
Click to expand...

I think you're forgetting that Merlin don't appear to care for Alton Towers any more this season. They've invested in the X-Sector refurbishments and The Smiler, and that's it. Any budget they have remaining will go into Thorpe and Chessington.
 
Opening one hour extra when there's enough people would pay for itself though as people are still in and out of shops, buying ride photos, getting something to eat and drink, etc...

Surely they must know this? :S
 
This is why I am starting to prefer thorpey to AT now... They seem to be starting to care about customers with the 9pm dome thing and also summer nights and the DR pepper sun scream thing... But closing at 6pm and a 2 hour queue to get out. No thanks... they should keep towers street and the surrounding area open at least to let the car park exiting flow better, not too many people all leaving at once.
 
BigAl said:
Opening one hour extra when there's enough people would pay for itself though as people are still in and out of shops, buying ride photos, getting something to eat and drink, etc...

Surely they must know this? :S
Click to expand...

Obviously not otherwise it would have been done. It's clear that the remainder of this season will be a complete washout, I'm even willing to bet that fireworks will either be given less funding than last year and therefore will be noticeably worse, or it will be the carbon copy of last year's. Customer satisfaction clearly isn't a concern for them in regards to Alton Towers, whereas it seems to now be top of the list for Thorpe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top