2011: The Honest Truth
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Anthony
This needed to be said.
I saw this thread and assumed that it would be people arguing. I love that it is almost every regular poster agreeing with what was said by Dan.
We are enthusiasts, but we don't have to be enthusiastic about everything. I think that if it were a park designed from scratch (think: IOA or PortAventura) we wouldn't be so bothered. We've (some more than others, oldies :P) have seen this park develop from something not-so-special into easily the best park in the UK. I don't think we're out of line to not want to see it deteriorate.
It would be such a shame to see it go so badly because this isn't something that can be put right instantly. These installments cost a lot of money and whether a new management likes them or not, or even recognises they were bad decisions at the time, they can't be put right or removed without massive consumption of both time and finances.
Don't make the mistakes in the first place.
I saw this thread and assumed that it would be people arguing. I love that it is almost every regular poster agreeing with what was said by Dan.
We are enthusiasts, but we don't have to be enthusiastic about everything. I think that if it were a park designed from scratch (think: IOA or PortAventura) we wouldn't be so bothered. We've (some more than others, oldies :P) have seen this park develop from something not-so-special into easily the best park in the UK. I don't think we're out of line to not want to see it deteriorate.
It would be such a shame to see it go so badly because this isn't something that can be put right instantly. These installments cost a lot of money and whether a new management likes them or not, or even recognises they were bad decisions at the time, they can't be put right or removed without massive consumption of both time and finances.
Don't make the mistakes in the first place.
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Nightfall
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Very good post Dan, but before we go adding to much more were going to have to be very careful if we want to be taken seriously.
For starters don't include any comments about not liking Th13teen or Worlds Firsts elements. The park has evidence that these things bring them money and popularity. Using these points will make us seem like we’re whining. There's a lot of crucial issues in Dan’s original post that need to be taken seriously and we shouldn't let points like these undermine them, especially as John Wardley has already shown support to Merlin for building Worlds Firsts.
Remember that the key issue is the corporate way the park is being run and how it is damaging the potential for growth. As I said Dans first post managed this excellently but any additions we make need to be concise.
Add me to the list.
For starters don't include any comments about not liking Th13teen or Worlds Firsts elements. The park has evidence that these things bring them money and popularity. Using these points will make us seem like we’re whining. There's a lot of crucial issues in Dan’s original post that need to be taken seriously and we shouldn't let points like these undermine them, especially as John Wardley has already shown support to Merlin for building Worlds Firsts.
Remember that the key issue is the corporate way the park is being run and how it is damaging the potential for growth. As I said Dans first post managed this excellently but any additions we make need to be concise.
Add me to the list.
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Sam
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[quote=""Nightfall""]Very good post Dan, but before we go adding to much more were going to have to be very careful if we want to be taken seriously.
For starters don't include any comments about not liking Th13teen or Worlds Firsts elements. The park has evidence that these things bring them money and popularity.[/quote]
I disagree. I think yes, they did have a record 2010 because they had a new rollercoaster and it was heavily marketed. But I think if it had been a good rollercoaster too, they would have got many more repeat visits this year. It's like a movie sequels. If a crap sequel is made, everyone will go see it because they liked the first one so much. But they won't go and see the next one. The fact that Th13teen is a very poor effort will lose the park money in the long term.
By contrast, I bet Black Mamba and Blue Fire made similar or less of an impact on opening year figures than Th13teen did. But the public keep coming back as both are high-quality, high-investment fantastic experiences. If Towers had installed something like Blue Fire, they could have gotten away with adding nothing this year.
For starters don't include any comments about not liking Th13teen or Worlds Firsts elements. The park has evidence that these things bring them money and popularity.[/quote]
I disagree. I think yes, they did have a record 2010 because they had a new rollercoaster and it was heavily marketed. But I think if it had been a good rollercoaster too, they would have got many more repeat visits this year. It's like a movie sequels. If a crap sequel is made, everyone will go see it because they liked the first one so much. But they won't go and see the next one. The fact that Th13teen is a very poor effort will lose the park money in the long term.
By contrast, I bet Black Mamba and Blue Fire made similar or less of an impact on opening year figures than Th13teen did. But the public keep coming back as both are high-quality, high-investment fantastic experiences. If Towers had installed something like Blue Fire, they could have gotten away with adding nothing this year.
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Wes
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It does appear that the park has stopped caring for their customers and that quality is being lost somewhere along the line.
Considering that Alton Towers is meant to be one of the best Resorts in the world, it does appear that they're not living up to their title this year.
Considering that Alton Towers is meant to be one of the best Resorts in the world, it does appear that they're not living up to their title this year.
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Dylan
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Great original post Dan, which has made lots of valid points, all of which can be looked at individually and should be addressed by the management team. I wonder wether this should be sent as a letter from you as an individual rather than as a group thing though.
I do agree with the post above that the thread should not descend into another Merlin bash. I think lots of people have also added valid points, all of which I agree with but there is a danger of great points being lost in numerous posts effectively repeating the same thing. Think carefully about your posts in this thread.
My only concern really is how much management will take these kinds of things seriously when browsing the rest of the forum reading tens of trip reports about everyone having a great time (almost weekly), and having record attendance at the official Alton Towers meet ups. This, to me, does not show a group of enthusiasts who are fed up with the park. We are still feeding their profits, which is their main focus. Its win win for them until we stop returning (which won't happen).
I do agree with the post above that the thread should not descend into another Merlin bash. I think lots of people have also added valid points, all of which I agree with but there is a danger of great points being lost in numerous posts effectively repeating the same thing. Think carefully about your posts in this thread.
My only concern really is how much management will take these kinds of things seriously when browsing the rest of the forum reading tens of trip reports about everyone having a great time (almost weekly), and having record attendance at the official Alton Towers meet ups. This, to me, does not show a group of enthusiasts who are fed up with the park. We are still feeding their profits, which is their main focus. Its win win for them until we stop returning (which won't happen).
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QTXAdsy
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Add me to the list please!
To me, with Merlin still being in charge and all the fools who run the place, I do fear that Alton is now 'beyond repair'. Wouldn't say that as a permanent thing, just as long as Merlin keeps acting like this then...yeah.
What's worse that Alton is not the only one maybe to have such poor choices made to it in the chain of Merlin owned parks. I'm not too sure exactly what parks, but it would be a terrible thing to note that Alton is not alone in this field.
Personally, I think the management are people who have never been to a theme park before, let alone run a park.
Remember that phase? The bigger they are, the harder they fall? It should be 'The bigger they are, the harder they fail. :no:
To me, with Merlin still being in charge and all the fools who run the place, I do fear that Alton is now 'beyond repair'. Wouldn't say that as a permanent thing, just as long as Merlin keeps acting like this then...yeah.
What's worse that Alton is not the only one maybe to have such poor choices made to it in the chain of Merlin owned parks. I'm not too sure exactly what parks, but it would be a terrible thing to note that Alton is not alone in this field.
Personally, I think the management are people who have never been to a theme park before, let alone run a park.
Remember that phase? The bigger they are, the harder they fall? It should be 'The bigger they are, the harder they fail. :no:
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Colossus
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Please count me in and add my name onto any petition.
I completely agree with Dan's original post and all subsequent posts both for and against. We all obviously have a passion for the park and simply care about it. Maybe we care about Alton too much?
We all know Merlin brandish the comment "We are second to Disney" freely within all the marketing blurb and we all know that they are a million miles away from that. However I really wish that the Merlin parks were better than the Universals, Busch, Europas etc.
People have been commenting on the money grabbing attempts by Alton and I too loathe the market traders in the entrance and Towers Street. I also dont like the attempts at selling Your Day at the monorail station. However other parks that I have been too have these money making schemes, and I dont moan. Why? Because for every Disney park that has photographers everywhere or Universal selling fastrack or every Six Flags park charging for car parking, I can SEE where my money is going. Who can argue that a Disney park doesnt spend vast amounts of money on refurbishments, entertainment and new attractions. Hence the high ticket prices. But would I moan about that? No, because I can see where my money goes.
The core problem that I have always seen, but more so in the past few years, is the amount of buy one get one free offers for all Merlin parks. The gate prices are so high, that its probably only through bogofs that they get people into the park and therefore its a continual money grabbing in your face to make up the £20 they have lost from the admissions. How often do Disney have BOGOF's in Burger King? Then of course you fill the parks up with cheap admission and even free tickets from the Sun and then your customers have a queue filled day because the number of attractions at the park has stayed static for the last xx years ! Having the Black Hole tent lying dormant is a travesty, same with Beastie and the Ice tent.
Sorry for the long post. I know I dont post on here all that often, but I really do care too much about Alton to see it like it is...
Here is a quote I made from a review of Alton I did in September 2009 on another forum where I had been having a rant about the state of the park.
I completely agree with Dan's original post and all subsequent posts both for and against. We all obviously have a passion for the park and simply care about it. Maybe we care about Alton too much?
We all know Merlin brandish the comment "We are second to Disney" freely within all the marketing blurb and we all know that they are a million miles away from that. However I really wish that the Merlin parks were better than the Universals, Busch, Europas etc.
People have been commenting on the money grabbing attempts by Alton and I too loathe the market traders in the entrance and Towers Street. I also dont like the attempts at selling Your Day at the monorail station. However other parks that I have been too have these money making schemes, and I dont moan. Why? Because for every Disney park that has photographers everywhere or Universal selling fastrack or every Six Flags park charging for car parking, I can SEE where my money is going. Who can argue that a Disney park doesnt spend vast amounts of money on refurbishments, entertainment and new attractions. Hence the high ticket prices. But would I moan about that? No, because I can see where my money goes.
The core problem that I have always seen, but more so in the past few years, is the amount of buy one get one free offers for all Merlin parks. The gate prices are so high, that its probably only through bogofs that they get people into the park and therefore its a continual money grabbing in your face to make up the £20 they have lost from the admissions. How often do Disney have BOGOF's in Burger King? Then of course you fill the parks up with cheap admission and even free tickets from the Sun and then your customers have a queue filled day because the number of attractions at the park has stayed static for the last xx years ! Having the Black Hole tent lying dormant is a travesty, same with Beastie and the Ice tent.
Sorry for the long post. I know I dont post on here all that often, but I really do care too much about Alton to see it like it is...
Here is a quote I made from a review of Alton I did in September 2009 on another forum where I had been having a rant about the state of the park.
Sadly it looks as though my fears are slowly being realised.Come on Merlin, stop being greedy and put some money back into the park. I hate making these kind of statements about parks, I really do and I try and be positive at all parks, but I can see the start of a demise at Alton and I care about it too much to see it go down the pan.
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Nightfall
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[quote=""Sam""][quote=""Nightfall""]Very good post Dan, but before we go adding to much more were going to have to be very careful if we want to be taken seriously.
For starters don't include any comments about not liking Th13teen or Worlds Firsts elements. The park has evidence that these things bring them money and popularity.[/quote]
I disagree. I think yes, they did have a record 2010 because they had a new rollercoaster and it was heavily marketed. But I think if it had been a good rollercoaster too, they would have got many more repeat visits this year. It's like a movie sequels. If a crap sequel is made, everyone will go see it because they liked the first one so much. But they won't go and see the next one. The fact that Th13teen is a very poor effort will lose the park money in the long term.
By contrast, I bet Black Mamba and Blue Fire made similar or less of an impact on opening year figures than Th13teen did. But the public keep coming back as both are high-quality, high-investment fantastic experiences. If Towers had installed something like Blue Fire, they could have gotten away with adding nothing this year.[/quote] Good reply, this reasoning is more likely to be taken seriously. Unfortunately it's still vitally flawed in that we can't possibly know this until Th13teen has been around for a few more years. However I have found something that might get the same point across.
To Merlin in general: Stop using polls to determine new attraction. While polls have their uses in improving an existing product they will often produce negative results to discontinues, innovative products that later become successful. In an industry lead by innovation they encourage stagnation and have been proven numerous times to be a bad business solution. Products such as the Dyson bag less vacuum and the Apple iphone both produced negative results when shown in poll situations but ended up becoming top sellers on launch.
Especially avoid conducting these polls on social networking sites such as Facebook. Most users of such sites are using them as a leisure activity which will not produce the serious results you desire.
For starters don't include any comments about not liking Th13teen or Worlds Firsts elements. The park has evidence that these things bring them money and popularity.[/quote]
I disagree. I think yes, they did have a record 2010 because they had a new rollercoaster and it was heavily marketed. But I think if it had been a good rollercoaster too, they would have got many more repeat visits this year. It's like a movie sequels. If a crap sequel is made, everyone will go see it because they liked the first one so much. But they won't go and see the next one. The fact that Th13teen is a very poor effort will lose the park money in the long term.
By contrast, I bet Black Mamba and Blue Fire made similar or less of an impact on opening year figures than Th13teen did. But the public keep coming back as both are high-quality, high-investment fantastic experiences. If Towers had installed something like Blue Fire, they could have gotten away with adding nothing this year.[/quote] Good reply, this reasoning is more likely to be taken seriously. Unfortunately it's still vitally flawed in that we can't possibly know this until Th13teen has been around for a few more years. However I have found something that might get the same point across.
To Merlin in general: Stop using polls to determine new attraction. While polls have their uses in improving an existing product they will often produce negative results to discontinues, innovative products that later become successful. In an industry lead by innovation they encourage stagnation and have been proven numerous times to be a bad business solution. Products such as the Dyson bag less vacuum and the Apple iphone both produced negative results when shown in poll situations but ended up becoming top sellers on launch.
Especially avoid conducting these polls on social networking sites such as Facebook. Most users of such sites are using them as a leisure activity which will not produce the serious results you desire.
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Mankey
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Put my name down! 
It's crazy, thinking about it, I hadn't even thought about how bad it had got, that was until I read dans post. It all seems blindingly obvious now... Granted I've not been since opening but ya know.
I hate to bring EP in this, but...
Europa Park has a magic to it, the similar sort of magic I used to get at towers when i was 5-6 years old. I'm currently 20. I thought maybe it was age that made me feel that way, but Europa is such an incredible park in the way it's run and the way it is managed that i'm beginning to think its that.
It's crazy, thinking about it, I hadn't even thought about how bad it had got, that was until I read dans post. It all seems blindingly obvious now... Granted I've not been since opening but ya know.
I hate to bring EP in this, but...
Europa Park has a magic to it, the similar sort of magic I used to get at towers when i was 5-6 years old. I'm currently 20. I thought maybe it was age that made me feel that way, but Europa is such an incredible park in the way it's run and the way it is managed that i'm beginning to think its that.
Back from hibernation!
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Colossus
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[quote=""Nightfall""]To Merlin in general: Stop using polls to determine new attraction. While polls have their uses in improving an existing product they will often produce negative results to discontinues, innovative products that later become successful.[/quote]
Exactly. Its ok Merlin saying "People dont want a wooden coaster", but if they are asking people in the South parks (who are not Coaster or Park enthusiats) then the chances are very low that they would have ever been on a Wooden coaster. The closest operating woodie to the South Parks is Great Yarmouth.
The UK industry as a whole seems to be all about gimmicks. Its going to take a park with a lot of guts to forget about gimmicks and give us a good ride. Oakwood did it with Megafobia and it prepelled them into the limelight. Even Flamingo went for a gimmick with Mumbo Jumbo. Drayton seem to be all about IP's now... Come on Lightwater !
Exactly. Its ok Merlin saying "People dont want a wooden coaster", but if they are asking people in the South parks (who are not Coaster or Park enthusiats) then the chances are very low that they would have ever been on a Wooden coaster. The closest operating woodie to the South Parks is Great Yarmouth.
The UK industry as a whole seems to be all about gimmicks. Its going to take a park with a lot of guts to forget about gimmicks and give us a good ride. Oakwood did it with Megafobia and it prepelled them into the limelight. Even Flamingo went for a gimmick with Mumbo Jumbo. Drayton seem to be all about IP's now... Come on Lightwater !
Last edited by Colossus on Thu May 05, 2011 10:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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QTXAdsy
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Never before possibly in the history of TTF has Scottish enthusiasts, English enthusiasts and Welsh enthusiasts come together as one for one purpose only...
...to give Merlin a kick up the backside and restore the magic we once knew. Even if we do fail at this, this great attempt will be one hell of a show to watch.
...to give Merlin a kick up the backside and restore the magic we once knew. Even if we do fail at this, this great attempt will be one hell of a show to watch.
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Colossus
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Quite spooky that this topic was started yesterday and a new Merlin survey is being sent out via email... Be careful what you enter
If we introduced a separate 12 month Parking Pass for £30 that could be used to receive complimentary regular parking at the relevant UK attractions, how likely would you purchase this INSTEAD of upgrading your Standard Merlin Annual Pass into a Premium Merlin Annual Pass?
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Jakob
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I rarely post, but would like to say I totally agree with you, AstroDan.
It echoes the thoughts of plenty of people I know that only ever go to Alton maybe once or twice a year, and are wondering why they should spend over the top prices (that they never really had to pay) to go there this year. It's not even the "no new rides" mentality, it's the "no new prospects" problem that puts them off completely.
A friend of mine who goes to Scarefest each year asked me how much better it would be this time round, and I honestly couldn't give him a positive answer. This year, when compared to the investments as a whole, I struggle to convince myself that Scarefest/the park will deliver an experience promised by the prices.
I hope, of course, that it is merely a dull year before a string of brilliant ones.
It echoes the thoughts of plenty of people I know that only ever go to Alton maybe once or twice a year, and are wondering why they should spend over the top prices (that they never really had to pay) to go there this year. It's not even the "no new rides" mentality, it's the "no new prospects" problem that puts them off completely.
A friend of mine who goes to Scarefest each year asked me how much better it would be this time round, and I honestly couldn't give him a positive answer. This year, when compared to the investments as a whole, I struggle to convince myself that Scarefest/the park will deliver an experience promised by the prices.
I hope, of course, that it is merely a dull year before a string of brilliant ones.
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Crofty
For once I am literally lost for words. Dan, along with many others have basically written exactly what I’ve been thinking for a long time.
Too many companies have lost sight of customer service and satisfaction and we can see them failing day after day. Money for the vast majority is very tight and many people have to think hard about what they are willing to spend their cash on. Good Value Products and Customer Service are surely the two things that sway peoples decisions when buying a product. Alton Towers offers none of these.
Colossus makes an excellent point about the money people are prepared to spend at Disney. Disney is a premium product, not just the parks but the brand, people are willing to pay a premium for this because people know they are getting a quality product, be it the extremely well put together parks or the latest Blu-ray technology. Even the clothing is of a great quality! You can see where your money is being spent!
Alton Towers or the Merlin brand seem to be heading towards the other end of the spectrum taking the attitude that if they gobble up all the competition then people will be forced to go to them whether it’s a good service or not, at the moment it certainly isn’t. They are like a double glazing company pestering you to try and achieve ever increasing sales targets, around every corner you are being bombarded with pay for extras that you never expected. 50p to get an item sent for collection later, £10 to get on the rides sooner, confusing price illustrations. They are tainting a brand while the brand is the only thing attracting customers. As someone said on Alton Facebook last night. “Alton/Merlin are the Ryan Air of the Theme Park industry.” that is so true!
There’s no quick fix, Towers have had years now of neglect, I would just like some acknowledgement from the directors that there is a problem.
Ideally the park should be run by the park and not from some central location where they just look at figures and make decisions on them. The park needs a fair budget allocated to the many talented people they have working for them who can make decisions that are good for the park and offer results in the long term, not instant results on a spreadsheet in Dorset. They need to tackle the up selling. If a product is so good then it will sell itself, it shouldn’t need to be pushed down everyone’s throat.
Sad times at the moment.
Too many companies have lost sight of customer service and satisfaction and we can see them failing day after day. Money for the vast majority is very tight and many people have to think hard about what they are willing to spend their cash on. Good Value Products and Customer Service are surely the two things that sway peoples decisions when buying a product. Alton Towers offers none of these.
Colossus makes an excellent point about the money people are prepared to spend at Disney. Disney is a premium product, not just the parks but the brand, people are willing to pay a premium for this because people know they are getting a quality product, be it the extremely well put together parks or the latest Blu-ray technology. Even the clothing is of a great quality! You can see where your money is being spent!
Alton Towers or the Merlin brand seem to be heading towards the other end of the spectrum taking the attitude that if they gobble up all the competition then people will be forced to go to them whether it’s a good service or not, at the moment it certainly isn’t. They are like a double glazing company pestering you to try and achieve ever increasing sales targets, around every corner you are being bombarded with pay for extras that you never expected. 50p to get an item sent for collection later, £10 to get on the rides sooner, confusing price illustrations. They are tainting a brand while the brand is the only thing attracting customers. As someone said on Alton Facebook last night. “Alton/Merlin are the Ryan Air of the Theme Park industry.” that is so true!
There’s no quick fix, Towers have had years now of neglect, I would just like some acknowledgement from the directors that there is a problem.
Ideally the park should be run by the park and not from some central location where they just look at figures and make decisions on them. The park needs a fair budget allocated to the many talented people they have working for them who can make decisions that are good for the park and offer results in the long term, not instant results on a spreadsheet in Dorset. They need to tackle the up selling. If a product is so good then it will sell itself, it shouldn’t need to be pushed down everyone’s throat.
Sad times at the moment.
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ShadowTD
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Wow. This thread covers just about everything I've been thinking about Towers of late. Stick my name on the email as well.
Now I don't want to get into a 'my friend heard Ian Crabbe's third-cousin removed' type rumour, but another friend of mine (bootcamper, passholder & general enthusiast) had a conversation with someone in the middle management at Chessington when they did the AP preview day. *Apparently* Merlin group is extremely happy with gate figures and ARPU at AT and as such have put the place on a 'business as usual' footing. This means minimal funding for anything other than d2d operations. By contrast, Chessington, Legoland and to a lesser degree Thorpe are on Merlin's 'invest' radar, hence Wild Asia & Hotel, Atlantis & Hotel and Ugly Surge & LC12. I know we've had Thirteen in that time period but we all know what a damp squip that turned out to be. Apparently, this situation will continue for the next 3+ years.
Take it with a pinch of salt. But it seems to fit the facts.
Now I don't want to get into a 'my friend heard Ian Crabbe's third-cousin removed' type rumour, but another friend of mine (bootcamper, passholder & general enthusiast) had a conversation with someone in the middle management at Chessington when they did the AP preview day. *Apparently* Merlin group is extremely happy with gate figures and ARPU at AT and as such have put the place on a 'business as usual' footing. This means minimal funding for anything other than d2d operations. By contrast, Chessington, Legoland and to a lesser degree Thorpe are on Merlin's 'invest' radar, hence Wild Asia & Hotel, Atlantis & Hotel and Ugly Surge & LC12. I know we've had Thirteen in that time period but we all know what a damp squip that turned out to be. Apparently, this situation will continue for the next 3+ years.
Take it with a pinch of salt. But it seems to fit the facts.
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PeteB
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Absolutely amazing post there AstroDan! It pretty much echos everything that I think and feel about the park (and Merlin), and have thought about making similar posts in the past but feared being ridiculed on here for more Merlin bashing!
So, kudos to you for having the big cojones!
The park is nothing to what it once was, and I blame Pearsons for selling out Tussauds! If they'd kept the park it wouldn't be in the mess it is now. They were definately the best owners.
I can't really add anything more to what you and others have said, but you can definately count me in for any petitions, campaigns, t-shirts or whatever. I'm onboard, no questions asked!
So, kudos to you for having the big cojones!
The park is nothing to what it once was, and I blame Pearsons for selling out Tussauds! If they'd kept the park it wouldn't be in the mess it is now. They were definately the best owners.
I can't really add anything more to what you and others have said, but you can definately count me in for any petitions, campaigns, t-shirts or whatever. I'm onboard, no questions asked!
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chrisc_84
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I haven't visited Alton Towers in around 6 years, mostly due to things going on in my life more than anything else.
However I am returning for my first visit since 2005, next week. Now this time I am travelling up from Wales and I considered Drayton, Thorpe etc. which are all closer, but went for Alton as to me it's always had that element of magic, the themes and the escapism which made it special - Alton is my first love and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see her again. However, having read through this entire topic, a common complaint among you seasoned regulars is that 'the magic' may be on the road out which is concerning. For someone who visited Alton Towers annually from the late 90s through to 2005, I will certainly throw in my two cents following my visit next week, for what it's worth.
I will point out that I am very disappointed to hear that the Fasttrack passes are now paid-for only, that the car parking is now a ridiculous £6, and that you have to spend 50p to send your ride photos to the exit for collection. The ride photos were already expensive back then, but the whole curteousy of collecting your photos and handing them to you on exit added to the overall customer experience. It's a shame to see so many services which were once handed to you for free now at a cost.
However I am returning for my first visit since 2005, next week. Now this time I am travelling up from Wales and I considered Drayton, Thorpe etc. which are all closer, but went for Alton as to me it's always had that element of magic, the themes and the escapism which made it special - Alton is my first love and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see her again. However, having read through this entire topic, a common complaint among you seasoned regulars is that 'the magic' may be on the road out which is concerning. For someone who visited Alton Towers annually from the late 90s through to 2005, I will certainly throw in my two cents following my visit next week, for what it's worth.
I will point out that I am very disappointed to hear that the Fasttrack passes are now paid-for only, that the car parking is now a ridiculous £6, and that you have to spend 50p to send your ride photos to the exit for collection. The ride photos were already expensive back then, but the whole curteousy of collecting your photos and handing them to you on exit added to the overall customer experience. It's a shame to see so many services which were once handed to you for free now at a cost.
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Sam
- Member
- Posts: 4869
- Joined: Mon May 05, 2008 7:18 pm
- Location: People's Socialist Republic of Sheffield
- Contact:
[quote=""Crofty""]As someone said on Alton Facebook last night. “Alton/Merlin are the Ryan Air of the Theme Park industry.” that is so true![/quote]
Crofty, that's totally unfair!
RyanAir are relatively cheap!
Crofty, that's totally unfair!
RyanAir are relatively cheap!
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.Will
I think it shows how strongly people agree with Dan by the fact he has 60 rep for it. Record is it?
