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Scarefest 2024

I haven’t done Scarefest in years but didn’t it used to close earlier mid-week except for half term?

Not justifying it just thought that was the case previously.
 
Looking on the Wayback machine at last years hours. https://web.archive.org/web/2023082...an-your-visit/before-you-visit/opening-times/
Scarefest 2023 was 7th, 8th and 13th to 31st October = 21 days of 10am to 9pm
Scarefest 2024 is currently planned as 11th October to 3rd October continuously = 16 days of 10am to 9pm and 8 days of 10am to 8pm.

So three extra (week)days overall, but with all the quieter weekdays an hour shorter.

Depends if you look it as there are more 8pm closes overall in 2024 whereas 2023 had non-scarefest weekdays with a 4pm close, or that four dates are now an hour shorter. Overall its still more days with later closing than last year.

Also last year Oktoberfest finished the weekend before Scarefest, but this year there is a weekend inbetween and the season runs slightly longer with fireworks on the second weekend of November.

Oh to add, I agree that it is rubbish to offer less time for rides in the dark. But it seems they want to test whether its better to have more overall Scarefest days.
 
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jon81uk said:
Looking on the Wayback machine at last years hours. https://web.archive.org/web/2023082...an-your-visit/before-you-visit/opening-times/
Scarefest 2023 was 7th, 8th and 13th to 31st October = 21 days of 10am to 9pm
Scarefest 2024 is currently planned as 11th October to 3rd October continuously = 16 days of 10am to 9pm and 8 days of 10am to 8pm.

So three extra (week)days overall, but with all the quieter weekdays an hour shorter.

Depends if you look it as there are more 8pm closes overall in 2024 whereas 2023 had non-scarefest weekdays with a 4pm close, or that four dates are now an hour shorter. Overall its still more days with later closing than last year.

Also last year Oktoberfest finished the weekend before Scarefest, but this year there is a weekend inbetween and the season runs slightly longer with fireworks on the second weekend of November.

Oh to add, I agree that it is rubbish to offer less time for rides in the dark. But it seems they want to test whether its better to have more overall Scarefest days.
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Conflicting then, overall there is more “scarefest” and more later openings days overall but fewer 9pm’s

Intriguing.
 
If they had expanded the number of event days and set the midweek closure time of 8pm from when the hours were originally released I expect it would have gone down much better than originally advertising 9pm and then scaling back.

Especially as folks will have made plans, booked time off work, made hotel reservations etc etc who may have done something different if they had all the facts at the time they made those decisions.
 
Undoubtedly, this is a decision that has been made by looking at the bottom line and maximising the operational spend on ‘off-peak’ Scarefest days.

However if I were play Devil’s Advocate, this will alleviate some burnout amongst the staff within the park. Departments such as Rides work from 9am until they stand down after ride close, 5 days a week. Whereas the Entertainments staff (largely actors) will work almost everyday of Scarefest with only 1 or 2 days off, working from about 12pm until stand down after the last guests go through the attraction. There is almost a sense of zombification by the end of Scarefest, and this decision will mitigate at least part of it.

I did see an interesting comment however on TowersTimes Facebook, saying how it would have been better to have 11am - 9pm close, so more night rides could be achieved by guests (classically, the primary reason for the event). This is definitely an interesting point, but would raise some potential issues with the hotel guests.
 
Bert2theSpark said:
Undoubtedly, this is a decision that has been made by looking at the bottom line and maximising the operational spend on ‘off-peak’ Scarefest days.

However if I were play Devil’s Advocate, this will alleviate some burnout amongst the staff within the park. Departments such as Rides work from 9am until they stand down after ride close, 5 days a week. Whereas the Entertainments staff (largely actors) will work almost everyday of Scarefest with only 1 or 2 days off, working from about 12pm until stand down after the last guests go through the attraction. There is almost a sense of zombification by the end of Scarefest, and this decision will mitigate at least part of it.

I did see an interesting comment however on TowersTimes Facebook, saying how it would have been better to have 11am - 9pm close, so more night rides could be achieved by guests (classically, the primary reason for the event). This is definitely an interesting point, but would raise some potential issues with the hotel guests.
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They will get the time back on all the 4pm closes, and it’s mostly from March to the beginning of November so I’m not exactly buying the tired or burnt out staff excuses. It’s not like they are working oil rigs or fighting fires either. It’s not a manual job but you are on your feet most of the day.

You know what you sign up for.
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
They will get the time back on all the 4pm closes, and it’s mostly from March to the beginning of November so I’m not exactly buying the tired or burnt out staff excuses. It’s not like they are working oil rigs or fighting fires either. It’s not a manual job but you are on your feet most of the day.

You know what you sign up for.
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Plus the majority that work there are younger and fit enough to be standing all day. It's nothing to do with anything other than saving money regardless of what they say. They may have cost themselves some maze tickets by doing this anyway as people will think they have one hour less ride time than normal we will skip a maze or two.
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
I’m not exactly buying the tired or burnt out staff excuses. It’s not like they are working oil rigs or fighting fires either. It’s not a manual job but you are on your feet most of the day.

You know what you sign up for.
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The argument was not about the difficulty or value of employment, burnout can happen at any job. Taking out the emotive side of the argument, there will still be benefit in reducing burnout as it would potentially decrease turnover of the workforce within the park, which reduces the cost of training.
 
RIPCorky said:
Plus the majority that work there are younger and fit enough to be standing all day. It's nothing to do with anything other than saving money regardless of what they say. They may have cost themselves some maze tickets by doing this anyway as people will think they have one hour less ride time than normal we will skip a maze or two.
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Again they have more Scarefest hours this season than last season.

I’m not sure I agree with the decision but how is it cost saving if over an event period you are operating more hours. Doesn’t seem to add up.
 
Dave said:
Again they have more Scarefest hours this season than last season.

I’m not sure I agree with the decision but how is it cost saving if over an event period you are operating more hours. Doesn’t seem to add up.
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I get the point, but having scarefest on every day will not make a blind bit of difference to anyone other than those intending to visit on the days which were shorter last year.

So for those who visit once within scarefest on a day that has now been shortened, it appears like cost cutting to me. It’s certainly not going to encourage me to visit multiple times because the hours are now spread more evenly over a longer period. Especially as it was originally advertised at 9pm close.

With all the other hours cut short over the season that’s certainly cost cutting surely?
 
Big money grabbing mistake by Alton Towers really hope they loose a massive amount of visits because of this. Not everyone lives local and a once a year event being culled in hours is disgraceful. I will be putting in a refund request for false adverting of my tickets purchase.
 
If you can't offer a decent full day out on an off-peak day and have to resort to closing at 4pm, then I question why they devalue the product so much by even opening on those days in the first place. Similarly, if they can't offer a full Scarefest event on every single day it operates, then should they be extending it in the first place?

If they can't make enough money from flogging high margin food to captive audiences without contracting it out, are they even capable of operating a leisure business?

You never know where you stand with this place. If I book a day out, will it be open until 4 or 6, or will I have to guess before I make the journey? Will I be able to ride Hex? Will I be able to get on the monorail in time or will I have to walk? Will most of the rides open on time, if at all, or will I have to guess? If I spend a fortune on food, will it actually be fit for human consumption?

I don't like the direction this is going in. The scale of the rot appears to remain, it's just been moved around a bit. The deck chairs are being moved around the Titanic.

Those 8pm Scarefest days will likely see moderate crowd levels. With how hollowed out the ride lineup is, we're seeing 2 hour queues on moderate main season days, and even 1 hour + queues off-peak. Imagine wanting to do get a decent amount of rides in and do 3, maybe 4 scare attractions and a scarezone. Plus watch some entertainment. Plus wait for food in Woodcutters or Rollercoaster Restaurant because most of the edible fast food options are now severely depleted quality wise. Plus get some night rides in? 9pm wouldn't have been enough in the current climate, let alone 8.

This isn't the lowest of low points we've ever seen, but another noteworthy step towards the long-term decline of the resort.
 
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Blackhole_Sun said:
I get the point, but having scarefest on every day will not make a blind bit of difference to anyone other than those intending to visit on the days which were shorter last year.

So for those who visit once within scarefest on a day that has now been shortened, it appears like cost cutting to me. It’s certainly not going to encourage me to visit multiple times because the hours are now spread more evenly over a longer period. Especially as it was originally advertised at 9pm close.

With all the other hours cut short over the season that’s certainly cost cutting surely?
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Matt.GC said:
If you can't offer a decent full day out on an off-peak day and have to resort to closing at 4pm, then I question why they devalue the product so much by even opening on those days in the first place. Similarly, if they can't offer a full Scarefest event on every single day it operates, then should they be extending it in the first place?

If they can't make enough money from flogging high margin food to captive audiences without contracting it out, are they even capable of operating a leisure business?

You never know where you stand with this place. If I book a day out, will it be open until 4 or 6, or will I have to guess before I make the journey? Will I be able to ride Hex? Will I be able to get on the monorail in time or will I have to walk? Will most of the rides open on time, if at all, or will I have to guess? If I spend a fortune on food, will it actually be fit for human consumption?

I don't like the direction this is going in. The scale of the rot appears to remain, it's just been moved around a bit. The deck chairs are being moved around the Titanic.

Those 8pm Scarefest days will likely see moderate crowd levels. With how hollowed out the ride lineup is, we're seeing 2 hour queues on moderate main season days, and even 1 hour + queues off-peak. Imagine wanting to do get a decent amount of rides in and do 3, maybe 4 scare attractions and a scarezone. Plus watch some entertainment. Plus wait for food in Woodcutters or Rollercoaster Restaurant because most of the edible fast food options are now severely depleted quality wise. Plus get some night rides in? 9pm wouldn't have been enough in the current climate, let alone 8.

This isn't the lowest of low points we've ever seen, but another noteworthy step towards the long-term decline of the resort.
Click to expand...

I will start with I’m not sold on this so I am to some extent playing devils advocate but….

1) Most guests don’t look at the opening times finishing at 9pm, they look at the extra event potential. It might sway a few people who want night rides but night rides are an attraction to a relatively small audience.

2) I suspect as those days that are shortened are not really school holidays they won’t be moderate days. In the early days of scarefest they used to do 2 weeks of 9pm finishes and week one the park was dead by 6pm. I loved it but it was a colossal waste of money. It’s unlikely they will get 2+ hour queues.

3) I fully agree with the messing around with hours, if you advertise a park close time you should stick to it, this is something new that I really really hate. If you are not sure when you will close say nothing.

As I say I’m not sold on this yet but I am not a fan of hyperbole (unless I am doing it) so the whole “ohh cost saving” argument just doesn’t add up to me unless they actually use fewer hours than previous…. Which they are not.

Still bad customer service to advertise a close time then change it though.
 
Dave said:
I will start with I’m not sold on this so I am to some extent playing devils advocate but….

1) Most guests don’t look at the opening times finishing at 9pm, they look at the extra event potential. It might sway a few people who want night rides but night rides are an attraction to a relatively small audience.

2) I suspect as those days that are shortened are not really school holidays they won’t be moderate days. In the early days of scarefest they used to do 2 weeks of 9pm finishes and week one the park was dead by 6pm. I loved it but it was a colossal waste of money. It’s unlikely they will get 2+ hour queues.

3) I fully agree with the messing around with hours, if you advertise a park close time you should stick to it, this is something new that I really really hate. If you are not sure when you will close say nothing.

As I say I’m not sold on this yet but I am not a fan of hyperbole (unless I am doing it) so the whole “ohh cost saving” argument just doesn’t add up to me unless they actually use fewer hours than previous…. Which they are not.

Still bad customer service to advertise a close time then change it though.
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Are they using more hours outside of the 9-5 day though? I don't know how the pay works at Alton Towers but I assume they put in for over time if the ride doesn't stop operating a certain amount after the queue closes?
 
Dave said:
Still bad customer service to advertise a close time then change it though.
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They aren’t bothered about that at all. The whole park is being run with people who are completely out of touch with what their customers actually want. Their biggest complaint is ride availability and queue lengths and nothing has been done in about 4 years or more. With the former being worse than it ever has been.

This is just the latest in a long line of annoying obstacles which deter people from having an easy fun day out. Visiting a theme park shouldn’t require meticulous planning and good fortune. The whole place has gone absolutely stale. Giving nemesis a new coat only masks over how bad this season has really been.
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
They aren’t bothered about that at all. The whole park is being run with people who are completely out of touch with what their customers actually want. Their biggest complaint is ride availability and queue lengths and nothing has been done in about 4 years or more. With the former being worse than it ever has been.

This is just the latest in a long line of annoying obstacles which deter people from having an easy fun day out. Visiting a theme park shouldn’t require meticulous planning and good fortune. The whole place has gone absolutely stale. Giving nemesis a new coat only masks over how bad this season has really been.
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I assume the general public that don't follow the park as closely as enthusiasts turn up non the wiser to the parks shortcomings (of which there are many)
 
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