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Park Hours 2014

Now that shareholder pressure is rife, the stability of setting opening times largely in stone is just what they think they will need. I think they would only extend during a heatwave when soft drink sales explode and it would be more profitable to stay open due to increased consumption.
 
Tom said:
Now that shareholder pressure is rife, the stability of setting opening times largely in stone is just what they think they will need. I think they would only extend during a heatwave when soft drink sales explode and it would be more profitable to stay open due to increased consumption.
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Why would share holders care about opening times? They care about profit and the value of the business.

I strongly doubt the times on that calendar will remain the same throughout the season.
 
AstroDan said:
Alton Towers hours have DROPPED since the recession, not grown. If anything, staff work less hours across the season than they did in 2007. This is due Merlin finances.
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I can't speak about the 2007 season too much as I only worked six weeks of it at Towers, but in 2008 it was 7pm close throughout the summer and on weekends at the start of September, some nights I wouldn't get out of the park until half 8, 9 even, depending on what ride I was working on and would be back in quite early the next day too.

I had no complaints though, and we were fully aware that opening times were always likely to be extended on busier days, we accepted it as a normal thing then.

I am surprised and somewhat disappointed with the closing times at Towers, but then they aren't perfect at other parks in the UK either so I guess it's something we'll just have to get used to over here.
 
Tom said:
Now that shareholder pressure is rife, the stability of setting opening times largely in stone is just what they think they will need. I think they would only extend during a heatwave when soft drink sales explode and it would be more profitable to stay open due to increased consumption.
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If they were truly setting them in stone right now then why do they jump about from 5 to 5:30 on random days?

It's clearly based upon ticket sales.
 
If it was based on shareholders, surely Thorpe and Towers would have the same policies? Thorpe extended ride close by an hour yesterday, and that was just the preview day.
 
Every year we always make a big deal about the calendar opening times and every year it is rarely accurate.

Sure it's never extended by much over the last few seasons but the calendar is never accurate for more than a few weeks ahead.
 
Amy said:
If it was based on shareholders, surely Thorpe and Towers would have the same policies? Thorpe extended ride close by an hour yesterday, and that was just the preview day.
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I would think so, not not sure Alton will for sure have higher running costs than Thorpe but then they should make more money in theory...

Im quite surprised some days in April towers is due to shut at 17:00 whilst thorpe is open till 19:00 the same days, thats quite a difference.
 
Alton Towers is in the middle of nowhere and around a 1 hour minimum drive to most places therefore most people with children will be looking to leave the park by 6pm for the drive home.

Thorpe Park is closer to London and many other places so many people should be able to travel home quicker (depending on traffic!) and they are aiming for an older audience who have a later bedtime so don't need to set off as early.

I think the closing times are more related to overall guest demand than anything else. Also Thorpe are opening summer evenings after 7pm but as a separately ticketed event.
 
There have been occasions though when the rides have closed at 5:30pm and the park is still rammed. This is more noticeable on some weekends of the summer. It's not just families that are on the park and a lot of guests will be staying in the resort hotels or in the local area.

While the vast majority will be day guests you do get times when the park closes when the place is packed. Closing times are usually based on estimations from pre-booked ticket sales. In the past estimations have been wrong (on many occasions) although when this happens Towers lacks any flexibility. They seem to choose times and stick by them strictly, even if the place is rammed and has the potential to create more of a profit and extend guest satisfaction.
 
Towers tend to extend by 30 minutes at best. There doesn't seem to be many occasions where they go further than that... And even on those days it's rarely advertised apart from on the queue time boards.
 
The trouble with using online bookings to predict demand is that a lot of people don't book as they are using 2for1s. But I would expect the park to also use past years gate numbers and hotel bookings to predict it.

But opening late at weekends in the summer would be a good start, even if it is just a ride close of 7:30pm on August Saturdays (so a park close of around 8-8:30pm once queues have gone down).
 
Yep, the park does use gate figures from previous years as well as pre-booked ticket sales to tell the staff how busy they expect each day to be.
 
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