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Park Hours: Updates and Discussion

Rick said:
There's revenue to be had, but some days it will not offset the increased costs associated with staff, utilities, wear and tear etc that are incurred for every operating hour.

I think the decision to reduce the operating hours is based on a number of factors:
  • It doesn't affect your lunch spend
  • People buy merch in the final hour, or just after irrespective of where it is
  • People's spending largely conforms to the hours they have available - last night I needed milk and the local shop shuts at 11 so I went at half 10, if it closed at 10 I'd have gone and picked it up earlier.
Those are assumptions on my part, but the people making the decision have access to the numbers.

Same with operating days, if you close Monday and Tuesday, most people will come on Wednesday. There will be some that don't, but a tiny proportion.

That said, there are sometimes situations whereby you need to demonstrate a low cost base regardless, to offset risk and the like.
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This is also why comparisons with zoos don't work. The zoo needs to feed the animals no matter what, so being open longer only adds a small amount to the operating costs in terms of staffing the exit etc.
Whereas at AT running the coasters longer means extra electricity and staffing costs and if the crowds aren't there then its not worth spending to keep the park running.

I do agree that 4pm is ridiculous in general and it should be a 5pm close every day and at least 6pm weekends and holidays.

I recently went to Phantasialand for the first time and other than the hours (6pm all year, 8pm in summer) it highlighted the other big thing missing at Alton Towers - shows. As many have mentioned at Alton Towers there is very little else to do other than riding coasters (if you don't have Cbeebies age kids). But at Phl we watched a stunt show and Chinese acrobats plus there was 3 other shows we didn't watch. The other rides we did were similar to AT (a mad house, a ghost train etc) but shows felt like the biggest difference in making it a well-rounded park.
The evening ERT at Phantasialand was also amazing, a full hour on Taron and Raik half hour after park close. I really don't understand why AT doesn't do something similar for hotel guests. Offering rides on Nemesis & Air might also encourage people to use the rollercoaster restaurant for dinner and then exit to the hotel is easy too.
 
As I understand it the original plan when the RCR opened was to introduce some kind of after park opening of FV for hotel guests as an extra perk and also to give guests more to do and take the pressure off the bars/restaurants in the hotels.

Seems the idea was dropped.
 
I think Phantasialand know that people will book a stay simply in order to access an hour of Taron to themselves. I'm not sure that's the case with Nemesis and Galactica these days, when you can easily find at least one of them as a complete walk-on during all but the busiest days of the season.
 
Plastic Person said:
I think Phantasialand know that people will book a stay simply in order to access an hour of Taron to themselves. I'm not sure that's the case with Nemesis and Galactica these days, when you can easily find at least one of them as a complete walk-on during all but the busiest days of the season.
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Yes but AT could do half hour exclusive time on Wickerman and then half hour Air/Nemesis to get people over to the side of the park where the hotels are. Could even just be an incentive for day guests to book Rollercoaster restaurant in the evening, that if you make a restaurant booking you get the Nemesis/Galactica time. Its more to get people to stay in the park and use Rollercoaster Restaurant rather than a selling point for the hotel.

At the moment hotel guests get half-hour on Wickerman at the beginning of the day, so if there are people doing the same as you say guests might do for the ERT at Phantasialand then they probably are already booking a stay for the Wickerman time. Personally I would rather have evening ERT as I'm not great at getting up early!
 
jon81uk said:
Yes but AT could do half hour exclusive time on Wickerman and then half hour Air/Nemesis to get people over to the side of the park where the hotels are. Could even just be an incentive for day guests to book Rollercoaster restaurant in the evening, that if you make a restaurant booking you get the Nemesis/Galactica time. Its more to get people to stay in the park and use Rollercoaster Restaurant rather than a selling point for the hotel.

At the moment hotel guests get half-hour on Wickerman at the beginning of the day, so if there are people doing the same as you say guests might do for the ERT at Phantasialand then they probably are already booking a stay for the Wickerman time. Personally I would rather have evening ERT as I'm not great at getting up early!
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A resort guest ERT late night after dark on Wicker Man would sell so many hotel rooms I'm surprised Merlin have not done it. Probably too much effort
 
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Doublethink said:
Sorry I meant to say an after dark resort guest exclusive ride time would print money!
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New here, hi everyone :)

Agree with this, close the park at 5pm if they must but at least offer some sort of exclusive on Wicker, love the idea of tying in a rollercoaster restaurant booking unlocking an after dark ride time, possibly 5pm-6pm on a certain ride before going to the restaurant immediately after, would fill the restaurant and would definitely have more people attending. I know I would, especially considering Wicker get's arguably the longest queue of the day!
 
If you had weekdays at 5pm and no midweek closures, then there's no realistic way they'd have the budget to do any sort of longer opening hours over weekends/holidays. Low-mid single figure thousands on park simply don't make the money to cover costs on the park these days.

It's a massive shame from an enthusiast point of view, but an absolute necessity from a business perspective.
 
It would be nice if they thought 'outside the box' a bit. A Friday opening time of 12pm - 10pm would be an interesting idea. I think it would bring a after work crowd, and also allow peoplethe opportunity of a few extra hours on park if they were coming for the weekend... plus, it may help sell 3 day tickets for weekend resort guests.
 
I haven't been once this season, however I visited about 4/5 times last year purely on off peak days and found that 10am - 4pm was more than enough time to get 15+ rides in.
 
Benjsh said:
I haven't been once this season, however I visited about 4/5 times last year purely on off peak days and found that 10am - 4pm was more than enough time to get 15+ rides in.
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I think that's irrelevant. If I'm going for a day out I want to have time for a relaxed lunch and a couple of pints and to still be able to get on everything I want to. I don't want to have to lurch from ride to ride in order to have a good day.
 
We seriously need to critique the opening hours. Incidentally where is that PeteB guy (I miss him. Come on PeteB, I bet you are watching but not posting... We miss you - there are 18 months of Merlin to justifiably critique) No one did it like him... Well, maybe Diojo42, but it's a big ask for 1 guy) (I'm like him on some days and like Matt N on others). Respect to Logflumes Dennis though... A true original)

My inner cynic only rises from the depths of hell occasionally.
 
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D4n said:
I think that's irrelevant. If I'm going for a day out I want to have time for a relaxed lunch and a couple of pints and to still be able to get on everything I want to. I don't want to have to lurch from ride to ride in order to have a good day.
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That's just off peak days. I think that's enough time personally.

It's the peak days where they don't open long enough. Nowhere near long enough really considering how busy it can get.
 
I think the solution is Slow Shutdown from 4pm on Forbidden Valley, Dark Forest, Jex, X-sector, Cbeebies and duel, push people towards the entrance and leave Canyon, Wickerman, Mutiny Bay and Spinball open till half 4 or 5 if the park is particularly busy. Thus giving people a beter experience and not having to increase the operating costs too much.
 
MattyH said:
I think the solution is Slow Shutdown from 4pm on Forbidden Valley, Dark Forest, Jex, X-sector, Cbeebies and duel, push people towards the entrance and leave Canyon, Wickerman, Mutiny Bay and Spinball open till half 4 or 5 if the park is particularly busy. Thus giving people a beter experience and not having to increase the operating costs too much.
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Nooooooooooooooooooo!..................:eek:

Please don't give them ideas. Staggered opening times didn't work, so staggered closing times would also be a disaster too :rolleyes:
 
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