The magic has disappeared!

[Sku]

If I'd driven an hour or more and found it shut I certainly wouldn't feel silly I would be breaking the doors down shouting blue murder to have someones head on a spike!

Why? You turned up when the park was advertised as being closed. You would feel silly for not checking and drive home with your tail between your legs. Alton Towers have nothing to answer for they never advertised being open on that day.

 

[rob666]

When the Towers has opened every weekday through the season for at least two decades,
they could, and should,advertise the fact that they are going to be closing on some weekdays this year.
They haven't done this,
I bet there will be trouble,
and as they haven't publicised the closure,
they deserve the backlash.

 

[Burbs]

This. ^

The public expect the park to be open. It's always been open for the whole season, why wouldn't it be! Not many people will go online to find out if it is open or not, and it's not as though Towers have made it widely known that the park is closed on these days, you will only find out if you go searching through for opening times, of which most people will assume is 5pm/6pm and won't look.

I'll be interested to see how many people actually turn up, and the response on Towers social media channels.

 

[BarryZola]

To be honest, I'm expecting to turn up myself on one of the midweek days without checking, and find it closed. No trouble, I'll just have a nice drive to Ashbourne and see if there's any bargains in the charity shops. All is not lost

 

[RoyJess]

Many people travel a long distance to visit the park and I'm sure that there will be someone that will travel afar expecting the park to be open without checking first. Not everyone checks the web and there is still people that don't have access to the internet.

I'm sure if I've travelled all the way from Devon or Scotland to find the park closed, I would be very well peeved, especially if I've also booked a B&B for the night.

Even if you did check the dates on the webpage, unless you actually click on the date, you will have no idea that the park is actually closed on certain day's. That's the Magic of Alton Towers, you have to find your away around their website and click on the appropriate links to find what is no longer available

 

[delta79]

I am waiting for adverts on staffordshire ILB radio, promoting Drayton Manor being open 7 days a week. To be played on tuesday and Wednesday mornings

Sent from my SM-T210 using Tapatalk

 

[Leah]

With how quiet it's been this week (with the exception of air), I'm not expecting too many people to turn up next week. Of course people will, and I'm sure towers will get complaints about it, but that will be the small minority that

1. Can visit (off school)
2. Didn't check the website
3. Didn't advance buy tickets

Also, legoland last year reminded people on facebook that the park would be closed, so you may even be able to add that to the list.

 

[themeparkfan]

At the end of the day I guess I'll just take the kids elsewhere if AT is closed on days while they are on school holidays. Its their loss!!. Just hope they don't go crying to media about being down on takings again, and have good excuses to present to share holders at Merlin HO why their takings where down. Its a service industry and you have to give the customers what they want, and if you don't they will go elsewhere. Whats that we always get taught when customer service training? THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!!

 

[Dave]

The customer is barely ever right but that's aside.

Closing mid week won't lose them money, they need about 3500 to 4000 people on park to break even and these days will have been picked as they wont be expecting huge numbers.

I am of the opinion it's better to close the park than start messing around with late opening of rides. Most theme parks around the world have closed days and they survive.

I will say it's not easy to see the park is closed and that is bad.

 

[rob666]

I think the park will be quite a lot busier on the remaining weekdays,
the Sun readers start kicking in next week I think,
and they will be spread over three weekdays instead of five.
I just hope the park make sure the rides run to a reasonable capacity if it gets busier on weekdays compared to other years.
I've already suffered a 20 minute Nemesis queue this year due to single train operation all afternoon.
Curse the loss of the single rider queue...
long gone are a dozen rides on the beast in a few hours.

 

[kris3012]

If I'd driven an hour or more and found it shut I certainly wouldn't feel silly I would be breaking the doors down shouting blue murder to have someones head on a spike!

If I plan to travel somewhere of any distance id at least check availability before I go.
Common sense tells me that no place is guaranteed to be open.

 

[bluesonichd]

apart from Towers has always been guaranteed to be open, at least for the past 30 odd years I've been going anyway.
That is why the magic has disappeared.

 

[kris3012]

apart from Towers has always been guaranteed to be open, at least for the past 30 odd years I've been going anyway.
That is why the magic has disappeared.

Yes I get that but things change nothing is guaranteed.
"Magic" is subjective and will be different for everyone
To me I still feel the magic everytime I go and get excited when I have planned a visit and know it's soon.

 

[Dave]

apart from Towers has always been guaranteed to be open, at least for the past 30 odd years I've been going anyway.
That is why the magic has disappeared.

The park is struggling with low guest numbers due to the crash, it has had to make hard decisions just to keep as a going concern.

The "magic" to me went years ago anyway, if anything considering the circumstances this year has more magic than the last few seasons have had. At least the park looks a bit better.

Hex was the last truely fully thought out magical ride installation. Mutiny Bay looked like things where on the up and sharkbait reef was a great well rounded addition but from a traditional ride perspective Hex was the last shuddering gasp of a park still playing in the big league.

They can turn it around and they have the talent in the management to do it, just have to see if they get given the funding to try.

 

[k10]

Why? You turned up when the park was advertised as being closed. You would feel silly for not checking and drive home with your tail between your legs. Alton Towers have nothing to answer for they never advertised being open on that day.

I disagree with this. This is all about managing expectations. Towers has been open throughout the season for as long as I have been going - well over 20 years. Yes call me silly, I am taking a trip to Chessington this weekend and booked a hotel in Stoke to break the return journey on the Tuesday - Yes Towers is closed and I had planned to visit that day. It's school holidays! The thought that they would be shut simply did not occur to me and it is very very naive to think that people will not turn up and be disappointed. You underestimate the great British public's ability to do things on a whim and based on expectations set previously, they will be disappointed. This information is buried too deep so anyone turning up has right to be very annoyed.

Fortunately I read this forum and it has highlighted that Drayton is open on that day - that's where my money will go

 

[Benzin]

Surely a lot of these assumptions of "people used to just turn up" is ignoring that pretty much anyone has the information for anything freely available to them in their pocket?

Like, it's not like anyone going on a whim can't check beforehand... And anyone planning a longer trip you'd expect would look it up beforehand... I've been stung on trips where the parks are closed so had to make some weird organising...

 

[Error]

If you went to a supermarket at a normal trading time to get your groceries and found the store was shut, you would be annoyed. Would you have checked in the first place that store was gonna be open before visiting?

No.....why?

Because you would expect that store to be open.....

 

[Sku]

If you went to a supermarket at a normal trading time to get your groceries and found the store was shut, you would be annoyed. Would you have checked in the first place that store was gonna be open before visiting?

No.....why?

Because you would expect that store to be open.....

Not really the same thing in my view. Most stores are open year round, and are not seasonal. Alton Towers is a seasonal attraction, and is only open according to an opening schedule which is published each year. The opening dates for the season are not known until the opening times are published.

It makes business sense to shut on quiet days, and it certainly doesn't affect their business during busier times of the year. Additionally, most of Merlin's southern theme parks have successfully operated midweek closures without any major backlash in the past.

I am glad to see Alton Towers saving money on these wasteful days, where they make a large loss on operating the park. At a time when things at the park are difficult, this is a good and sensible decision. When the park was prosperous is was OK to open on quiet days, as the cost of doing so was easily absorbed. I would much rather see midweek closures than further cuts at the park.

I am not denying that a few people might turn up and be disappointed, but Alton Towers are well within their rights to set their own opening schedule, and to not open on days which do not economically make sense. I don't understand why some here are so desperate to get behind Alton Towers opening on days which are going to lose the park money, which is desperately needed elsewhere.

 

[kris3012]

Not really the same thing in my view. Most stores are open year round, and are not seasonal. Alton Towers is a seasonal attraction, and is only open according to an opening schedule which is published each year. The opening dates for the season are not known until the opening times are published.

It makes business sense to shut on quiet days, and it certainly doesn't affect their business during busier times of the year. Additionally, most of Merlin's southern theme parks have successfully operated midweek closures without any major backlash in the past.

I am glad see see Alton Towers saving money on these wasteful days, where they make a large loss on operating the park. At a time when things at the park are difficult, this is a good and sensible decision. When the park was prosperous is was OK to open on quiet days, as the cost of doing so was easily absorbed. I would much rather see midweek closures than further cuts at the park.

I am not denying that a few people might turn up and be disappointed, but Alton Towers are well within their rights to set their own opening schedule, and to not open on days which do not economically make sense. I don't understand why some here are so desperate to get behind Alton Towers opening on days which are going to lose the park money, which is desperately needed elsewhere.

Couldn't agree more with this

 

[Ted]

I'm not sure if that many people who intend to visit are ones that just turn up to the park on the day. Surely there must be people who check when the park is open, but for the hours a day rather than a is it open, yes or no? What I'm saying is is that people who presume Towers would be open everyday would probably check to see what the opening hours for said day are, so they'll probably (abliet accidentally) know which days are closed?