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Park Hours: Updates and Discussion

I find it absolutely facinating. Last week I visited PortAventura for the first time. We waltzed into the park at 5pm every single night and still had as long as a weekday 4pm park close day at Alton Towers.

However the biggest problem, and perhaps the key difference is that Towers simply doesn't have enough stuff. I'm not talking strictly rides here, just after walking around PA you notice how much stuff there is. Little Shops, Theming elements, proper A La Carte Restaurants. The park makes you want to stay, simply to enjoy the atmosphere.

If Towers moved closing to 7pm people would complaing about not being able to fill the day. Which is frankly appaling for a "Top-Tier Park".

After going to all these new parks for the first time over the last year not only have I apprecitated what we do have, but also what we severly lack. Merlin need to spend a year and just add more... stuff? Of course they won't do that though.
 
Yalnix said:
I find it absolutely facinating. Last week I visited PortAventura for the first time. We waltzed into the park at 5pm every single night and still had as long as a weekday 4pm park close day at Alton Towers.

However the biggest problem, and perhaps the key difference is that Towers simply doesn't have enough stuff. I'm not talking strictly rides here, just after walking around PA you notice how much stuff there is. Little Shops, Theming elements, proper A La Carte Restaurants. The park makes you want to stay, simply to enjoy the atmosphere.

If Towers moved closing to 7pm people would complaing about not being able to fill the day. Which is frankly appaling for a "Top-Tier Park".

After going to all these new parks for the first time over the last year not only have I apprecitated what we do have, but also what we severly lack. Merlin need to spend a year and just add more... stuff? Of course they won't do that though.
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Having just done the orlando circuit I fully fully agree with you there. A lack of non rolercoaster content makes the park feel shallow. We spent a good 12 hours at Disney's Animal Kingdom during our day's there just doing the wilderness explorer badges there for example. My partner spent similar amounts of time doing the saucerers of the magic kingdom card game whilst I went off to Busch Gardens
 
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It may have been an event, but...

Photo is mine.
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I think the most surprising thing here is that we've somehow reached a point where the old queue boards were actually more useful at providing queue times and other info than the screens they were replaced by. That's despite the old system being limited to about 12 rides, with 2 out of the 4 on every page being Air and whatever the new ride was that year (which was Battle Galleons = 0 for the entire 2008 season)

Looking at old maps it looks like the old system was still around when Smiler opened (based on the location of Q boards marked on the map), so not all that long ago really.
 
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Ahhh, those days where you had to stand for a minute or so by a queue time board to get all of the queue times rather than just whip out your phone and check on a website. One could argue that was a better time! I do miss those old boards actually, they were quite novel.
 
Another busy Saturday at the park today - the last few weekends ride close has been extended to 6pm, no such luck today - 5pm ride close.

Towers St at ride close (not my photo).

 
AT86 said:
Another busy Saturday at the park today - the last few weekends ride close has been extended to 6pm, no such luck today - 5pm ride close.

Towers St at ride close (not my photo).

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Am I right in thinking that the park closes early due to the fact that Merlin's research shows that a majority of guest leave the park before 4pm? :confused:
 
For comparison, today's opening times from across the division and some from LLP:

Gardaland - 10:00 - 23:00
Heide - 10:00 - 18:00
Thorpe - 10:00 - 18:00
Chessington - 10:00 - 17:00
Warwick - 10:00 - 17:00
Lego California - 09:00 - 21:00
Lego Deutschland - 10:00 - 20:00
Lego Windsor - 10:00 - 18:00
Lego Dubai - 10:00 - 18:00
Lego Florida - 10:00 - 19:00

Merlin aren't ideologically opposed to long(er) hours, but only where they see adequate performance. Plus... culture, climate, costs yada yada yada.
 
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