'Special' Meets

[James]

I can see your point smudge but surely those who are on low income, such as myself, visiting Alton Towers is a treat. I can certainly choose not to visit theme parks and save money as my income isn't a lot, yes that is true, but then if I did that then I would miss the social side of the meets, which in my honest opinion outweighs all the 'paid extras' that can certainly be offered/provided. The meets to me is all about socialising with other members and having a great time. Not to say that I don't like the idea of special extras such as BTS tours etc. but I'd much rather have free meets where I don't have to worry about forking out an extra £10/20 for a special extra where I can use that towards petrol or for food on park.

You could easily argue back though that you do not have to go to paid meets. They are voluntary, not mandatory. If paid meets ever did happen I would assume the team would not let meets like that get in the way of 'normal'/free meets.

So there would be the usual meets all year with one 'special event' meet that is paid for, say, in the middle of the summer (speaking hypothetically here of course). If the team went for something like that then it wouldn't affect those like yourself that may visit meets for different reasons.

 

[Lottie.]

Just as an FYI, I would still go to these 'paid' meets as it were as I would ensure I had the money to go.

Just saying that I wouldn't ideally like the idea of them, not in any way saying they would be replacing the 'free' meets.

That is all.

 

[Tom]

The problem is, once they sense a large number of people are willing to PAY for regular things, they may begin to see TS as an outlet for business.

Much in the same way that Pleasure Beach Experience are. I ask you to look objectively at what is being offered and how much they are being exploited.

 

[Dave]

Towers don't tend to "tout" business in our direction, if we ask for something they quote a price (whether that is free or a fee). But despite having been a customer for corporate events before (when we organised TT@10) they don't push a product at us.

The big headache genuinely is what we can offer, At the moment BtS is out of the question, ERT is of limited interest as many members ride regularly anyway. But we will certainly not dismiss anything in the future.

 

[Rob]

I was having a chat with Ian about this topic last week and we got onto an interesting point that was actually his idea, but I thought it was worth posting here. A potential perk that would be of benefit to both us as an enthusiast community and Alton Towers is some form of preview or exclusive access to CBeebies land when it opens.

Naturally when it does open, we are all going to want to take a look at it even though the area is not aimed at us. No doubt many of us will want to take lots of photos of the new area for personal use and for the site; many have big SLR cameras. Now are Towers really going to want a big group of us, who are all classed as adults at Alton Towers, taking over their new kids area. Probably not, but it will almost certainly happen. At the same time people taking photos may feel a little uncomfortable if the area is swarming with young children. It isn't an ideal situation really.

So even if it's just for an hour before the park opens one day, some exclusive time in the new area would be fantastic for all parties. I'd be interested to see what others think of this idea.