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Selected rides opening from 11:00am - Reversed

Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

I have no insider knowledge but i would put money on this being the situation...

1) Blackstone at the end of last year would have probably directed Merlin to prepare to float on the stock exchange, it's no secret they wanted Merlin floated in 2009 but the economic situation prevented it. Last year however Merlin did very well in a slowly improving "global" economy (not Europe or UK though)

2) Merlin started making some cuts to boost their value for the flotation in March (Subs and Ents as an example)

3) Unfortunately for Merlin the UK leisure industry took a nose-dive this year and now they are frantically trying to keep on the track of flotation.

For the reason above if i'm right they will see the late opening of Th13teen and Air as a temporary measure in the hope that next year people may have some money and maybe Merlin will have floated. I can however see some of the smaller rides staying permanently on a 11am opening unfortunately.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

One of the things that suddenly hit me the this morning was, Alton Towers keep pushing on the fact that they are more than a '1 Day Park'.

You now have 2 major rides no longer available when the park is quieter(ish) we've also seen free fastrack removed over the years too. Although not intentional, they have made it harder to do the park in a day by cutting things over the years.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Dave said:
For the reason above if i'm right they will see the late opening of Th13teen and Air as a temporary measure in the hope that next year people may have some money and maybe Merlin will have floated. I can however see some of the smaller rides staying permanently on a 11am opening unfortunately.
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As I recall the now long-standing late opening of the rapids and flume came out of the last time the park made these sorts of cuts, so I expect you are right. I certainly think we've likely seen the last time Battle Galleons will open at the start of the day.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

some of the cut backs are already in place, we went today and the rita shop was closed the noodle kiosk was closed wobble world open only 12 till 4 the towers street restaurant closed at dinner time and know sign of the acorn character anywhere. :mad:
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

OK, I am making an attempt to bring together all known cuts, as they stand. Note that there may be additional cuts to these below, and I am not able to state all of this with 100% accuracy:

Rides and Attractions
The following rides and attractions open at 11:00am, 1 hour later than usual:
Th13teen
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride
Driving School
Battle Galleons
The Flume
Congo River Rapids
Duel
Air
Skyride

The following will now open between noon and 4:00pm only:
Wobble World

Food and Beverage
The following outlets are now closed entirely, for the duration of the 2012 season:
Rehydrator Bar
Spinball Noodles

The following outlets are subject to partial or full closures during some or all days:
Towers Family Restaurant (closed from noon)
Kiosks (such as Ice Cream and Donuts)
Trolleys and Karts
Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shop
Coffee Baaaar

Retail
The following outlets are now closed for the rest of 2012:
Rita Shop

Other known cuts for 2012
"Magic 5 minutes" has been removed, so rides now close exactly at the advertised time
Park opening times have been reduced since 2011 on a considerable number of days
Water Park - outdoor slide opening hours cut
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

I did notice today that all the queue line shops were closed - TH13TEEN, Rita, Air, Rapids and Sonic. The top of rehydrator was open, but the bottom was closed.

And I know some people took some photos today, so im sure they will appear online soon, but the Rita shop is completly empty inside, so that certainly wont open again, and all the tables and chairs have been removed from outside of noodles.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Any idea about whether any of the cuts will be reversed for Scarefest or Fireworks? :)
 
Selected rides opening from 11:00am

For a park of this size and status, it's awful. Especially as every food outlet that is closed is advertising the All Day Dining option. I think Spinball is the worst hit area to me, as the tables and chairs have now gone entirely. This means that all the families who sit and wait whilst kids etc go on Spinball now have nowhere to sit and get a cup of tea from. It's terrible.

These cuts don't need to happen. Footfall may bed down, but the figures would not have an immediate effect on their bank account that they are struggling to make ends meet.

As for SW7, yes it's great that they continue to invest. But investment is not the only thing that helps get repeat guests. It's also the upkeep of the place and maintaining overall experience. We are meant to be escaping from the real world, not walking down Farley High Street.

Slap a couple of To Let signs and a 99p Store sign and it's complete
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

I'd rather have the park being fully operational than SW7... Just saying.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

LordOfDarkness said:
I'd rather have the park being fully operational than SW7... Just saying.
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You're probably in the minority... just saying.

Besides, how is "NO NEW RIDES, BUT PARK FULLY OPERATIONAL" going to sound for next year's advertising? :p
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Balhatchet said:
LordOfDarkness said:
I'd rather have the park being fully operational than SW7... Just saying.
Click to expand...

You're probably in the minority... just saying.

Besides, how is "NO NEW RIDES, BUT PARK FULLY OPERATIONAL" going to sound for next year's advertising? :p
Click to expand...

So you'd rather have a park looking like this:
High+Street,+the+deserted+side.jpg


But with a shiny new ride which will boost visitor ratings for a year then die down again?
Then what?

I WANT THE MAGIC BACK.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Also looks rather tatty having outlets closed and the shutters down. Get enough of that walking through many a high street. Not what you expect to see when visiting one of the UK's premier Theme Parks
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Nah, they're just retheming to fit in with austerity Britain ;)
 
Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Also, with rides not opening until 11, it's sending a pretty poor message. Upon entry, unless there are SPECIFIC reasons related to a breakdown, all attractions should be available during the opening times of the park. It's simply not acceptable to charge people through the roof, but not have all attractions open in a bid to reduce costs. It may only be an hour, however these attractions are what the park have sold to the public to visit the place in the first place.

Also, with Air and Thirteen both on late opening, that will drastically affect a guests journey around the park. I imagine the majority of guests do not plan what attractions they will do when, but if they head to FV or DF at the start of the day, they somehow have to work their way back to those areas later in the day to ride the closed attractions. This cannot always be accommodated in a day, and like it or not, the majority of guests ARE day visitors.

As Dan pointed out today. Rapids were open for 5 hours today. The same ride system at Europa Park was open for 11 hours. That's near double the time.

I think it's long past the time when we can continue to wonder when Towers/Merlin will consider guest satisfaction first and business/money second.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Matty said:
Why isn't it an acceptable practice? The cost of everything is going up! Power, food, fuel, etc and like every other company in the UK savings are having to be made! Alton would not be delaying the opening of these two rides if it would affect great numbers of people in a big way. The fact is its an hour! There are plenty of other rides on the park that will be open at 10.
Click to expand...

Oh please.. What the park is doing is funnelling the same amount of people into less available attractions. The same happens at PortAventura except their opening hours are longer, the park easier to go around and the throughputs higher. Yes it is only an hour, but thats what, 3000 people getting less of a ride on just those two attractions because the park deems them late opening. And those 3000 guests aren't going to spread themselves fairly around the parks rubbish looking flat rides, they'll be going for Nemesis, Rita and Oblivion. Oblivion can cope, its fairly out the way but Rita. Not a heck of a chance. And so what will happen (like PortAventura) is you can either queue 2 hours for Rita or wait outside Thirteens entrance for an hour until it opens.

People aren't going to Alton Towers for Ripsaw or Blade or Submission, they are coming for the parks big five. With two of them closed, it creates a really bad taste in the mouth.
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Wobble world is set to open from 12 o'clock from what the display boards said yesterday
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

I rarely see Wobble World get very full at all. Perhaps instead of closing the attraction because it's unpopular, they should address those reasons by improving it all so that children actually want to go and play in it? I'm sure a new indoor playground can be installed along with something else on one year? Perhaps along with a new kiddie coaster to replace the Beastie?
 
Re: Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Three of Merlin's New rides:

Battle Galleons
Thirteen
Wobble World

All so incredible that they're deemed good enough to open at 11am.


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Selected rides opening from 11:00am

Or in Wobble World's case 12-4 (that range of time bring back memories for anyone else?)

What I think is also really sad as a result of these cuts, petty as it sounds, is that ALL the seating from outside Noodles and Rehydrator has been removed, eliminating seating options from these areas and for seemingly no good reason! :(
 
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