ScottPBE said:
So what you're suggesting is that PortAventura have their shows on the same calendar they do in the middle of August, on a quiet weekday in April or May let's say? For me it'd be a complete waste of time, what's the use of running a show when half of your seats are empty, it'd be a waste of time and money.
We watched the Love for Vampires show on our first day in October, it was a Thursday and as we've both pointed out it was on a limited timetable. It wasn't hard to see why, we walked into the Saloon five minutes before the show started and had a choice of seat it was no where near full, if it hadn't of been for the French school trip that turned up just as it started we'd have been one of the few people in there.
Would it be financially viable to run a show hourly throughout the day when there is next to nobody watching it?
Not at all, and you've completely missed my point, as John has already pointed out. I wouldn't expect on the quietest days all the shows to run every hour, but I'd at least expect them all the run
once to give the visitors on that day the choice to experience one of the things they've paid money to get into the park for. That's what a professional, top-end theme park would do who had respect for their visitors, who are forking out a fair amount of cash to get in. If I'm paying full rate to get in during the main season, I want all the shows to be on and all the rides to be running. That's the least I should be able to expect from a top-end park, and at PA I got neither.
ScottPBE said:
Templo del Fuego is a loss when it's closed, but the others? I did everything I wanted to do, so they were hardly a loss especially if they were flats.
I am also happy to point out at this stage if you did your research, you'd see that Pleasure Beach have in the past including this year closed selected rides including Big Dipper during quieter days, a decision I could understand considering all but one of the selected rides were kids rides, closed when the kids were in school.
You can stop chopping and changing here and there. It's hardly a loss if some of the flats were closed. Does it matter if all the shows weren't on? Well it doesn't
really matter that one of the coasters is shut, there's quite a few others... where does it end Scott? I paid my money to get into the park, and I expect to have the choice to go on any damn ride I please, whether that be a teacups or a B&M hyper.
Again, I already pointed out that I would expect those kind of operations at Pleasure Beach because it is like PA, a second-tier park. No first-tier park in Europe would shut rides mid-week to save money, it is just not the done thing. Let's be honest, neither park look likely to join DLP, Efteling and a few others at the high table. Does it matter if you "did everything you wanted to do?" Why does that presume that I did, and what about the other thousands of guests who visited those days who didn't have the choice to ride those rides?
ScottPBE said:
There is very little point in me replying to this if you fail to believe what I am saying, the very fact we clocked up large ride counts on Khan and Shambhala was made very easy by the two train operation on the quieter days, they both ran on three trains on the Saturday and Sunday we were there.
I've been there and I know what I saw, I have no issues waiting for either of those rides when they are on 2 or 3 trains the queues move quickly enough.
Maybe they did run two trains on quieter days, I can't disprove your testimony. What I can say though is that myself and multiple other people in this thread have witnessed them running one train on those coasters with queues of over an hour. That simply isn't acceptable - while both rides are superb, the operations are disgraceful - the worst I've ever seen at any major park in Europe.
ScottPBE said:
The opinions of Europa I've heard from somebody I am good friends with and a few people at the PBE events, great park in terms of their operations and theme but the rides just aren't thrilling enough, that is what holds me back.
Considering those people who went have done over 100 coasters throughout the world with the ECC and RCCGB, I think they have a respectable opinion.
Wow, 100. A colossal figure. Instead of listening to your good fried "and a few people at the PBE events", why not listen to the people in this very thread who have described the park as "really, truly brilliant"? Why not listen to Tripadvisor, where ordinary members of the public have voted it as the best theme park in the world? Why not listen to the dozens of awards from the likes of IAAPA, THEA and just this week, the lauded Michelin star?
But most importantly, instead of going to the same place on holiday in Spain time after time after time, year in, year out, why not actually go and experience EP (or Efteling! or Phantasialand!) for yourself? Surely, even if it's just a "great park in terms of their operations and theme" then that's worth a first-time visit, rather than a 97th trip to PA?
By the way, the argument about Europa having no thrills is a load of rubbish. They do not have anything that's the absolute height of intensity (though PA only have Khan in that area - Baco is too horrifically traumatising to be described as 'intense'). But Wodan is one of the most intense, thrilling wooden coasters I've ever been on. Blue Fire, while gentle, is still a very thrilling ride.
Silvia is not as good as Shambhala, but a 219ft coaster can hardly be described as mild. Sat and Mir are both very intense, thrilling rides as well, as you'd know if you actually visited the park. Scott, I dare you. Hell, even have two or three other trips to PA next year. But why not make one of them a trip to EP and actually experience something new, a park that both the public and the theme park industry unanimously name as one of the best in the world?
ScottPBE said:
Sam said:
If not airtime, why exactly do you go on Stampida then? The lack of theming? The dreadful operations? The uncomfortable trains? The back-breaking roughness? The second half that almost stalls to a stop?
Back breaking roughness? I give up. :X
It's amusing the way that you try to paint my comment as some sort of lunatic fringe opinion, yet every other person in this thread agrees that Stampida is a dreadful ride (though nearly all of them have actually been on other modern woodies). A well-respected enthusiast who has a vastly higher coaster count than either you or I even described it as an "absolute abomination of a ride"
Scott, to be blunt and to risk repeating myself, if you'd actually been on some other modern woodies then you'd know how appalling Stampida is, and why it's ranked 127th on Mitch Hawker. But you haven't, so you don't.
