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Park Hours: Updates and Discussion

Tommy85 said:
I know people don’t like 4pm closures but on days like today, 6 hours is more than enough. Everything was either walk on or an absolute max wait of 15 mins (pretty much just smiler as it was on 2 trains and for galactica as it was on just 1). You get on way more in those 6 hours than you do in 9 at the weekend. One of the longest waits of the day was in 13’s station where there were only 12 of us and the guy came on the speaker to say they needed at least 18 to send it. Took about 5 mins for enough people to turn up! Crazy.
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What a stupid rule that is. A terrible design flaw to have. Gives you no advantage it being quiet for Th13teen
 
The two coasters that were causing the biggest downtime at the end of last season actually seem to have had the strongest first week of all the coasters.
 
Let’s try and keep conversation to park operating hours in this thread please. You’ll find other threads regarding specific ride discussion and general attraction availability.

Ta 🙂
 
I booked my sun tickets for Sunday 25th September as Scarefest wasn’t available anyway. Anyway checked the opening times for that date and it says 10am to 5pm and it’s the Oktoberfest event have they shortened the opening times for this season or will the times change nearer the event?
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
I booked my sun tickets for Sunday 25th September as Scarefest wasn’t available anyway. Anyway checked the opening times for that date and it says 10am to 5pm and it’s the Oktoberfest event have they shortened the opening times for this season or will the times change nearer the event?
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Theyll change.

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Still no signs of increased opening hours for Mardi gras this year am slightly disappointed because I'll be going mid June just before my birthday on a Wednesday.
However it has been pretty quiet this season and college and uni's break up soon so I'm sure we'll see less 4pm closings soon.
 
Danscott22 said:
I can't believe we don't have updated hours yet and it's tomorrow. Really leaving it late.
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They won't change. The attendance has been concerning this season. This time last year all coasters were 30-50 mins on weekdays. This year they're mainly walk on-10 mins
 
Thameslink Rail said:
You can't compare this year with last year as the park was running on reduced capacity which meant the same crowds on quiet days had longer queues.
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Look at 2019 then. Weekdays then in May busier than now. It's not good at all that rides have been 0-20 mins throughout nearly all weekdays this season. Do the park really gain anything from opening with such small numbers on park
 
If they don't change then I'm sorry that literally is not good enough. I'm visiting on exactly the same day as last year and currently am down 3 hours worth of time. I don't care how much busier it was last year, losing 3 hours is literally just not acceptable - ESPECIALLY for an event like Mardi Gras. I'll happily step down if they change, but it's not good at all.
 
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Do the park even break even with 5k guests or less on park? Unless they get higher visitor numbers during mardi gras weekdays than they have so far, I imagine the hours will stay the same. Weekends are also understandable given that most queues have been between 30-70 mins on 6pm closes. I think with those sort waits they can justify 5pm close.
 
But Mardi Gras is supposed to be an event where you can enjoy whatever else is on - not rush around trying to get on what you can and then hope you get a spare 15 minutes to visit food street watch the entertainment krewes and sit at the bar. If chessington can do until 6 and Thorpe can do until 5, why do Alton think it’s good to stay at 4.
 
Look attendance is probably down, we don't know by how much and we will never know, however I think we can safely bet it will be doing better than most tourist attractions, likely because for those who can't afford a full family holiday a day out at Alton Towers is what they can get. Towers is expensive yes however it is still significantly cheaper than going on a family holiday in the UK or abroad.
 
I would be interested to know what the hotel occupancy has been like with this year's rip off pricing strategy. Entrance for a day at Towers is still cheap as chips, but the accommodation prices have been eye watering. Fewer people staying would mean fewer people on park for a second day.
 
This weekend appears to show Splash sold out both nights, CBeebies sold out Saturday and close to selling out Friday and Stargazing pods close to selling out Saturday - so they do still appear to be shifting rooms even at the crazy prices.
 
I am disappointed that hours seem to have steadily regressed back to their pre-pandemic shortcomings as of now. 5pm this weekend for Mardi Gras is really disappointing. It removes the ability to chill/relax for most guests as they will be anxious to get on all the rides.

Let us not forget, whilst it was perhaps a little over the top at times, we had 8pm on the opening weekend of Mardi Gras last year... this year is currently scheduled as three hours less.
 
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