• 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.

Quick Questions

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
RoyJess said:
Come on, hands up all of us that are honest enough to admit to having to jump the first lap of the Oblivion queue line by using the single rider/fast track and then ducking under the railing :p

Would I ever do a thing like that :p
Click to expand...
I do that more to fit out the ridiculous long walk for a 2 minute queue


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Anyone else want to confess the Thirteen exit/ single rider queue shortcut over the fence?
Knocks a good five minute walk off repeat riding.
 
I walk that 2 mins extra tbh, re rode 13 a few times yesterday and felt no effort walking slightly.
 
When I'm in the ride queues, my wife is spending money in the tat shops and drinking beer.
When she falls over I have to take her home.
It pays...in many ways, to keep the queues to a minimum!
 
rob666 said:
When I'm in the ride queues, my wife is spending money in the tat shops and drinking beer.
When she falls over I have to take her home.
It pays...in many ways, to keep the queues to a minimum!
Click to expand...
Now AT have seen that. They will extended the wait so your wife can spend more as she waits for you :D

Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk
 
What time do the park restaurants stop serving? I always thought that it was just before ride close. I was told at explorers that it was at 5.30pm (half an hour before ride close! ) where's the logic in that? As a MAP holder I hadn't spent anything on park all day and was going there for tea. If they don't want the money I'm sure pizza hut, hungry horse or harvester won't refuse it. I guess takings must be well up? They turned away at least 5 families this evening (must be about £40 a cover so £200 just turned away with hoards of other people passing by Merlin are really missing a trick at ride close sending people elsewhere to eat!

Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk
 
Did Woodcutters cut(!) their hours since RCR opened? Plus there are the resort eateries, there's no point trying to compete with yourself on too many fronts.

I can't speak for Alton but in other parks where I have been closer to the numbers, opening restaurants after ride close is hit and miss in terms of return. Culturally, the bulk of guests seem to want to call it a day at ride close. With the experiments that I've seen, some days you made a modest profit and others you lost double that amount of money.

Plus, you have guests wandering around deep into the park one hour or 90 minutes after ride close which means you have to maintain various staff levels from security to first aid, etc.

It's especially difficult to maintain something like Explorers, you need a reasonable number or guests for that concept to be workable.
 
That's OK I will go to pizza hut in Stoke on way home. No need to spend any money I've got my MAP just visit 8 or 10 times a year with a packed lunch with some bottles of water no need to spend money there! so just £120÷10=£12 a visit (and that doesn't include my visits to Blackpool tower, legoland, Thorpe Park, London Eye, madame tussauds and chessington) and I will go to a harvester or pizza hut on way home and not spend any money at attractions how does this pay or work for merlin?

Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk
 
Rick said:
@themeparkfan Because you are statistically insignificant. I don't understand your complaint?
Click to expand...
Is he though? As a retailer, I've always thought it odd that Towers throw hungry guests out at tea time as quickly as possible.

The guests won't mind as they'll just pop in to a pub or takeaway on the way home. But food and merch is the bread and butter revenue stream from day visitors, why would Merlin not want to sell you high margin nosh before you leave?

You don't have to have PP or Woodcutters open, just a refurbished Towers Street grill. If park guests migrated to Towers Street at the end of the day and felt relaxed and unpressurised to leave with the smell of steak in the air, surely many would be getting the bank cards out and splashing out on future bookings in the box office, souvenirs of their great day in Towers Trading and an evening meal in the Grill?
 
@matthewgcole If they thought they could make Towers Street Grill work, it would be open. But again, it's not as simple as that. It's the middle of August and today the park is still fairly quiet. The longest queue I saw was 30 minutes, therefore the percentage of people in the park that you need to convince to use the facility to make it work increases.

You automatically lose anyone who has travelled by coach or public transport, is staying in one of the hotels or wants/needs to use the monorail.

Plus, if they were eating in there - they're not eating in the hotels and in RCR. There are fewer rides available because there are fewer people - the same logic works for food outlets too. If you can generate the same revenue over a fewer number of facilities, your margin quickly escalates.

I agree that it needs refurbishing (££) and that makes it an even less desirable proposition when you have a brand new restaurant doing a good trade late into the evening on the other side of the park.
 
No, Towers Trading stays open for the punter rush on the way out.
The issue with food outlets closing early, it ain't just Merlin.
Been an issue at Blackpool for years, most food outlets close before ride close, all those shutters down at the Casino building on your way out, crazy!
 
Another thought scarefeast you open till 9 food available till late the place is heaving and coining it in. Why don't they do this fojr two or three weeks over summer holidays? Perhaps more people would show for a more worthwhile day out rather than in at 10 out at six rush rush

Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk
 
If Merlin don't need advice on anything it's how to wrangle pennies from people's pocket. I'm sure they've done the risk and costing analysis and maybe the figures don't add up.

One thing for sure is they could add a bigger pic n mix section. The amount of people leaving with their bodyweight in fudge and jazzles in a bucket, gives me diabetes just looking at them. Amateurs! Everyone knows you go for UFO's and cola bottles to get more.
 
Anyway, this is the Quick Questions thread so let's keep it to that rather than discussion on a particular subject.

Thanks!

:)
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top