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Wicker Man - General Discussion - Part Two

They clearly want the first full day of operations for Wicker Man to be on Saturday when it officially opens. I am confident that it will soft open on Thursday and Friday afternoons assuming there are no technical problems.

Of course it could open all day Thursday and Friday if it wanted to. It's just bad luck that they have had to push the official opening back by a week. Is it wrong that they're refusing to open it all day on Thursday and Friday? Not really, you don't get many parks opening new attractions for full days before the official opening, they just soft open them as and when for a few hours.

:)
 
Plastic Person said:
I have no idea why they wouldn't open it tomorrow and Friday if they can. I know it's frustrating that they're being so vague, but they're also just watching their backs.
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"We plan on opening the wicker man on Thursday and Friday as long as we are technically able to"

There.
 
Saying they don't value their customers is ridiculous.

When this very weekend, they clearly didn't need to operate the park and could have completely closed the park due to the inclement weather, They instead opened all that they could, offered hotel guests the option of driving to the park and parking closer so they didn't have to walk through the cold, as well as offering all guests a return ticket before the 30th June and hotel guests the option of either revising their stay or the option of a 50% discount on a future stay.

I'd say their Customer Service is pretty damn good recently, they're doing a lot to make a bad situation a good one.

They've completely re-arranged the opening ceremony for Wickerman so that it gets the opening that it clearly deserves and they're doing "Unannounced" soft openings for those that are at the parks.

I personally feel that they shouldn't have mentioned any soft openings whatsoever on any social media, but they done goofed up on that one on the social media side of things.
 
It was due to officially open last saturday and a bad day of weather prevented it.

So just open it.
Tuggerz said:
Saying they don't value their customers is ridiculous.

When this very weekend, they clearly didn't need to operate the park and could have completely closed the park due to the inclement weather, They instead opened all that they could, offered hotel guests the option of driving to the park and parking closer so they didn't have to walk through the cold, as well as offering all guests a return ticket before the 30th June and hotel guests the option of either revising their stay or the option of a 50% discount on a future stay.

I'd say their Customer Service is pretty damn good recently, they're doing a lot to make a bad situation a good one.

They've completely re-arranged the opening ceremony for Wickerman so that it gets the opening that it clearly deserves and they're doing "Unannounced" soft openings for those that are at the parks.

I personally feel that they shouldn't have mentioned any soft openings whatsoever on any social media, but they done goofed up on that one on the social media side of things.
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Offered the guests a car parking space close to the park and the option to come back another day and spend more money.

They DIDN'T mention soft openings on social media initially. When I called them they apparently knew nothing of these!!!!

As for rescheduling the opening, they've just annoyed their weekday guests even more.

Yeah....GREAT customer service. Should've just opened it when they could've and had the official opening ceremony this Saturday coming. Have it open when they can up until that Saturday.

Plastic Person said:
Europa Park refused to confirm or deny whether Voletarium would soft-open last year. It's standard industry practice, in order to keep numbers down and expectations in check.
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Difference being, they didn't advertise an opening date and then change it to a week after on a very minor technicality.

"OH NO, WE HAVEN'T HAD AN OFFICIAL OPENING CEREMONY, COULDN'T POSSIBLY OPEN IT FOR WEEKDAY GUESTS TO ENJOY"

Don't Towers need the visitors on weekdays anyway? That makes the decision even more ridiculous!
 
Graeme said:
It was due to officially open last saturday and a bad day of weather prevented it.

So just open it.


Offered the guests a car parking space close to the park and the option to come back another day and spend more money.

They DIDN'T mention soft openings on social media initially. When I called them they apparently knew nothing of these!!!!

As for rescheduling the opening, they've just annoyed their weekday guests even more.

Yeah....GREAT customer service. Should've just opened it when they could've and had the official opening ceremony this Saturday coming. Have it open when they can up until that Saturday.
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It opened on the first day it possibly could - yesterday. It will almost certainly soft open again tomorrow and Friday. It will officially open on Saturday and be open all day every day from then on. What is the problem?

No theme park has ever formally announced a soft opening, it just does not happen. They decided to push the full opening back a week, it's really not a big deal, especially when the park was always likely to be dead during the week.

:)
 
I've got to agree @Tuggerz that while customer service hasn't always been great at Alton Towers, in the past week or so, then lengths they've gone to make sure their guests have a great time is really very good. I'm certainly impressed.

I also think that with Altons social media, it's always been a bit... bad... for lack of a better word. Just everything from the robotic, clueless responses to inaccurate or misleading information! And to be honest, I don't really have much hope it'll improve. :(
 
The problem is, that people had booked to go on a weekday. Then opening is delayed on a technicality of weather,

So people turn up, expecting Wicker man only to find it closed because they "haven't had an official opening".

If it's technically sound in engineering terms to open, then they should be opening it for all guests to enjoy throughout the day.
 
Graeme said:
The problem is, that people had booked to go on a weekday. Then opening is delayed on a technicality of weather,

So people turn up, expecting Wicker man only to find it closed because they "haven't had an official opening".

If it's technically sound in engineering terms to open, then they should be opening it for all guests to enjoy throughout the day.
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But it did open yesterday once all of the ice had been cleared from the tracks and inspections had taken place. It was impossible for it to open on Monday.

It will open at some point on Thursday and Friday too; those who visit will get to ride.

:)
 
Graeme said:
Offered the guests a car parking space close to the park and the option to come back another day and spend more money.
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The average guest actually only tends to buy food and sweets on park, most don't usually bother with merchandise, so the return spend will be quite low. I'm not sure why you bother to twist every positive into a negative, but if that's your outlook then fair enough.

Graeme said:
They DIDN'T mention soft openings on social media initially. When I called them they apparently knew nothing of these!!!!
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I distinctly remember a post from Towers replying to someone on twitter on the Sunday that it may be Soft Opening from Monday*, it may have been deleted, hence why I mention it being a mistake.

Graeme said:
As for rescheduling the opening, they've just annoyed their weekday guests even more.
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From speaking to guests around the resort and in the hotels on opening day, many of them didn't even know that Wickerman existed, so I can't imagine many of the weekday guests really even knowing about it at all. The only people it will annoy is people that visited specifically for it. Most guests just want to rock up to a park and go on what's running.

Graeme said:
Have it open when they can up until that Saturday.
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This is exactly what they're doing?

*Edit: Got the day wrong ;P
 
"It will open at some point on Thursday and Friday"

Just open it with park opening. Why not?

Oh and Towers are saying on social media that it won't open on Friday. Do you see where my issue might come from in terms of their customer services?

If this had have happened at Thorpe, I could just imagine the uproar on this forum!!!!

Anyway, I've made my point and I know you don't all agree. I got my refund on my hotel that I had booked from last Sunday to yesterday.

That's now the 3rd year in a row I won't be visiting Towers. Gone from 3-4 visits a year to none. each visit with 2 nights in the hotel.
 
Graeme said:
"It will open at some point on Thursday and Friday"

Just open it with park opening. Why not?

Oh and Towers are saying on social media that it won't open on Friday. Do you see where my issue might come from in terms of their customer services?
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No, I don't see your issue.

In their eyes of the social media team, saying that the ride that isn't "Officially" open yet will be open is asking for trouble, if it doesn't open then the queue for guest services is a bigger problem than them saying it won't open and then the opposite happens.
 
Graeme said:
"It will open at some point on Thursday and Friday"

Just open it with park opening. Why not?

Oh and Towers are saying on social media that it won't open on Friday. Do you see where my issue might come from in terms of their customer services?
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Because is does not officially open until Saturday. Is that concept hard to understand? That is a decision that they have taken. They could just keep it shut full stop until them but they have also decided to do some soft openings. So surely everybody wins? You don't get to ride it solidly from 9.30am to 4pm - boo hoo.

I agree that communication has been poor. Communication has been poor at Towers for as long as I can remember, both internally and to the public.

:)
 
Graeme said:
The problem is, that people had booked to go on a weekday. Then opening is delayed on a technicality of weather,
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The last thing Alton Towers would want, is to run a ride which they're still learning the condition for it to run in, for it to valley. That's the last thing that Towers need, when they're just regaining peoples trust.


I don't really see the big issue, it'll probably have two soft openings tomorrow and Friday. With the grand opening on Saturday. They're probably just reluctant to opening it because they have something in place for the grand opening.

It's one of these It'll be in the park for the next 15 years, its not going anywhere anytime soon. It opens Saturday. just deal with it... :)
 
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Not officially opening because of snow on one day, so they couldn't have an opening ceremony.

Brilliant. Just won't be giving them any of my cash!
 
Graeme said:
The problem is, that people had booked to go on a weekday. Then opening is delayed on a technicality of weather,

So people turn up, expecting Wicker man only to find it closed because they "haven't had an official opening".

If it's technically sound in engineering terms to open, then they should be opening it for all guests to enjoy throughout the day.
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Seems to me like they are, they opened yesterday once they could. I suspect the thing will open tomorrow and Friday too. As Dan said they will be simply trying to limit people deciding to come on a spur of the moment decision thereby hyper inflating guest numbers. Plus anyone who had bookings to come this week can rebook for another date.

Fact is we don’t know everything that is going on, there is no reason to not open the ride if it can open but there are plenty of reasons to not want to hyperinflate the guest numbers this week (they won’t have the staff in for a busy day because it should never have been one and budgets are that tight they won’t be allowed to change the operational plan).

I suspect the worst you can say for the situation is it’s a symptom of the Merlin budget cuts and the inflexibility of merlins budget setting to allow for adaptation to unexpected events.

Or the cold has genuinely caused some technical issues, new rides or more susceptible to tech issues and the cold could have exacerbated this.

Point is there is no operational benefit to closing wickerman without reason and we don’t really know what is going on.
 
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