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Scarefest 2013: Discussion

I read the letter and fully appreciate the effort gone into that Gary, and agree with you entirely, but if I'm brutally honest, you'll lose them in the first few words.

GaryH said:
Dear ----- (who's the manager again?)

I write to you as a concerned customer and enthusiast of Alton Towers
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*Management screw up the letter and throw into waste paper bin*.

You see, management don't care about this;

GaryH said:
a customer who has been visiting the park each year without fail since 1993 and who visits at least eight times during the year.
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They care about this;

money.jpeg


And anybody who comes between them and their absolute maximum profit is likely to be ignored or fobbed off with Fastrack.



I know you said that you realize it may not change anything, but realistically, we all want to see things change. Another "Honest Truth" letter needs to come now, before 2014 leaves the park more deprived of atmosphere.

It baffles me how Merlin are capable of £20 million investments yet still feel that closing two hours earlier will boost their profit margin so much it is worth compromising the experience of a customer.
 
Great letter Gary! I would drop the last paragraph or as Harvey says it will quickly be filed into the bin. :p

I've seen Towers advertising for actors quite a bit on Facebook so maybe the roaming ones will return this year, unless they just require them for the mazes?

:) :)
 
Right, without wading through this topic too much...

7PM CLOSE???!!

Towers?

Hello?

Anyone??

Alton Towers??

No.

Lights are on, no ones home.
 
TheMan said:
Right, without wading through this topic too much...

7PM CLOSE???!!

Towers?

Hello?

Anyone??

Alton Towers??

No.

Lights are on, no ones home.
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It's a 6 o'clock ride close today for a standard Wednesday, it should be lowest 8 o'clock at scarefeast
 
We slated Chessington for their 7pm from 8.

Alton from 9 till 7 is absolutely outrageous.

Now Thorpe, when it came to summer nights, listened to their feedback and bought the prices down almost instantly.

Alton, 7pm is an absolute travesty, you should be thinking of ways to drive custom IN, and keep people IN the park spending - not push them out earlier!

MANUEL, MANUEL... SYBIL SYBIL?????
 
What's the logic behind cutting the hours? They need to create a reason for people to attend and attend for a greater length of time on those days, not give them a reason not to!

I get that they have to make money, so reacting to the days where there are fewer guests attending is expected, but why would this really help (especially in the long run)? If those days are already too quite, why will giving people a reason not to visit on those days help them?

If there are fewer people staying as long, and fewer people on park in total, create an event that's exclusive to those days, or make an offer or two (hotels, tickets, merchandise, maze entry, etc...). Do something to entice people, not put them off further.
 
It's annoying for people like myself travelling long distance. I used to love the fact they stayed open later around Halloween as it meant that I could get more value for money in my trips (around 3hrs in a good run). It won't stop me visiting, but it is a damned pain!
 
I think this pretty much confirms that I won't be attending the event this year. Not that I wanted to anyway, but now there is no point at all.
 
Gosh Alton Towers what an absolute mess. An event like this should have hours of 9am-9pm at the least, 10pm if it were me.

I honestly have absolutely no idea what the park are thinking; it's the biggest event of the year for the 'resort' and they're cutting hours down.

I feel for those who visit on those dates, the park is going to absolutely heaving and they've now got even less time to get in the rides. Dread to think what queues for The Smiler will be like, if that even opens.
 
Well, it's certainly going to stop me going as much as I did last year, which is a shame as I really enjoyed Scarefest albeit it being the first time I visited during the event.

I don't understand cutting 2 hours off the original time though :S
 
To be fair on Alton Towers. They've made a 2 hour cut on 5 nights on the quietest week of the event. During school term time too! The following Monday to Friday closes at 9pm, when the school holidays are on and when the park is most likely going to be the busiest.

They have approached the right days to make operating cuts on.

I think the reason a lot on here are annoyed is just because the majority of people on here have annual passes and would probably visit during the quieter week over the busy one. When in Alton's eyes they have done something that will not affect the majority of guests, just a small amount. A small amount that will not make any big negative impact on the park at all.

Obviously having no cuts would be lovely! But we've all got to be realistic here. I know the managers at Alton really do try to avoid operating hours when cutting money. It's probably the worst case scenario for them. So it would be no easy job doing this. But it's only for 5 nights on a very quiet week.

People on here need to stop moaning and living in a dream world. This is Alton Towers in 2013 owned by Merlin. It's a hard time for businesses, cuts are being made everywhere - every industry is being affected. We should be grateful that Alton Towers have any power in their hands at all to keep Scarefest as an event each year! They could just scrap Scarefest all together and save a load of money.

I really think Alton Towers has done the best they can.
 
That is all very true James, however it has been said earlier in this thread that the way to ride out the bumps at a time like this would be to actually invest MORE to make these events more spectacular and unmissable. Unfortunately Merlin want to run the business in what is a more business-y way and go down the cuts route.

Ideally though, the company should be investing more to see a larger return rather than cutting back in order to maximise the current (and presumably dwindling) return.
 
Here's an idea why not 12 till 9? They've still cut two hours from the day but as a lot of guests don't arrive until midday anyway and the after dark time is what the events all about this would make much more logical sense.

Honestly though I don't get why Alton feel cutting opening times is a good idea anyway. Most other parks (including Merlin ones) jump at the opportunity to open a bit latter if it means a bit more revenue. For example Legoland added an hour to the end of every day for the two weeks before the summer holidays because of the great weather.
 
James said:
I really think Alton Towers has done the best they can.
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It's not the best they can, it's more the easier and less risky way of lowering costs. Nobody wants them to loose money for the sake of entertaining a few selfish enthusiasts that have a MAP (though it would be nice to feel special after forking out so much for them for a change), but it's the fact that it's always what other parks would do as a last resort that annoys people. They'll never be able to get anywhere if they never try anything new.
 
I'm going on day one of Scarefest this year, my plans are made (as they have to be for a trek to Towers from where I am) and too advanced to be undone. For me this is a huge issue and will greatly affect my trip, one that I would not have planned if I had known about this. I go to Scarefest primarily for the dark aspect, it will barely be dusky at 19.00.

Many people plan these trips long in advance and Alton know it. It is totally unacceptable to keep messing around with times like this, it's a con. I do not give a crap about the budgets and whys for how this comes about, that is not my problem it is theirs. If they really don't know what the hell they are doing from one day to the next they need to advertise worst case times and make things better if they can, not the other way around.

If it stays like this it is a simple choice for me; it'll be the last scarefest I go to. I need to plan in advance and if I can't trust the park to make those plans then I won't. People don't just brush off things like this, they don't return if they think they're getting a raw deal. I feel like I've said it a thousand times but these short term short sighted money saving things they come up with will be sooo expensive to them in the future. It is like they are trying to destroy themselves.
 
James said:
People on here need to stop moaning and living in a dream world. This is Alton Towers in 2013 owned by Merlin. It's a hard time for businesses, cuts are being made everywhere - every industry is being affected. We should be grateful that Alton Towers have any power in their hands at all to keep Scarefest as an event each year! They could just scrap Scarefest all together and save a load of money.

I really think Alton Towers has done the best they can.
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The point is though, it's not a hard time for Merlin. They are quite happy trundling along opening new fish shows and lego shops. They are just squeezing Alton to the brink, it's being shown in a bad light all over social networks and the media, even the rags that rely on their advertising are churping up. If Merlin was against the wall, maybe I would have some sympathy but they seem to be relying on the excuse of 'tough times' to cut budgets here whilst growing business abroad.

If they are not interested in Towers then sell it to somebody that is!

:) :)
 
True. Although they are trying to float right now so that's probably why such cuts are happening.

Still, I think this is being blown way out of proportion. They've cut 5 days on the quietest days of Scarefest. Not the busy days, not everyday - the way this topic has gone I would have sworn that the event had been cut to 5pm closures every night!

The blame lies with Merlin - and the only way to go against that is to write formal complaints to Towers and Merlin. Only then may something be done. I'm just glad personally that the event still exists!
 
James, I hear what your saying, BUT, its Scarefest. The highlight of Scarefest is being able to go on the rides in the dark and the scare mazes at night. If it closes early, then it isnt Scarefest.

I would rather Alton run Scarefest for 2 weeks rather than cut the hours, or as someone else mentioned, open the park at 12pm but keep the 9pm close.

Halloween is a night time event, Scarefest is too, closing at 7pm is just crazy for such an event and the worry is, if they are so financially pushed that they have to do this, then I shudder to imagine just how little effort will go into Scarefest this year.....
 
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