The Alton Towers Dungeon

General discussion regarding the UK's No.1 Theme Park. Talk about anything and everything Alton Towers here.
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Justin
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The Warwick one takes about 45 mins to 1 hour. I can see something similar. There may be 4 shows, a labyrinth maze and boat ride experience.
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Tom170499
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The Resort currently can’t afford to run all its non-theme park attractions (I.e. Tree Top Quest) so making this a non-theme Park attraction would be the wrong thing to do in my opinion. It would be like the whole ‘building new hotels despite not having enough demand to fill the current ones’ situation. 
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Robert.W
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Tom170499 wrote:The Resort currently can’t afford to run all its non-theme park attractions (I.e. Tree Top Quest) so making this a non-theme Park attraction would be the wrong thing to do in my opinion. It would be like the whole ‘building new hotels despite not having enough demand to fill the current ones’ situation. 
To be honest, I completely agree with this. It wouldn't make sense at all for it to be an extra resort attraction when people aren't actually using the existing resort attractions. If they want another resort attraction, then Tree Top Quest should really be reopened before they go building anything else. 
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Justin
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It may reopen next year, so it is a little hard to argue this.  For whatever reasons Merlin had for cutting the budgets this year, there is nothing to say that 'normal' service couldn't resume in 2019.

At the end of the day, The Dungeons adds another dimension to the park. Also, going back to points made about having this as a free attraction, then surely this is even more reason for having it as an upcharge attraction?
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Dom
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Where do we think the budget will come from for this. Will it come from the Dungeons budget or will it be the AT budget?
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Dan
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Robert.W wrote: To be honest, I completely agree with this. It wouldn't make sense at all for it to be an extra resort attraction when people aren't actually using the existing resort attractions. If they want another resort attraction, then Tree Top Quest should really be reopened before they go building anything else. 
It won’t be a resort attraction.

It’ll be on the theme park, likely following a similar operational method as the Dungeons at Warwick Castle. VIP and Premium Pass holders will go through it for free but will have to reserve a time slot, whereas Standard Pass holders and day ticket guests will have to pay a small upcharge.
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Justin
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Good question, Dom!
If a chargeable attraction, then I expect it will be a joint venture with Dungeons and AT.  
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Robert.W
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I know that The Alton Towers Dungeon won't be a resort attraction. The points I raised in my last post were to further emphasise this. Plus, the only way that it would work as a resort attraction would be to have it as an upcharge, which is one of the things I have been against right from the very beginning.

To answer your question Justin – no, I think the fact that Merlin haven't had the success they'd hoped for with their previous upcharge attractions (Tree Top Quest... maybe even more that I can't think of off the top of my head) is enough to justify why The Dungeons shouldn't have any additional charges.

As for what budget The Alton Towers Dungeon will come out of, I'd say Alton's because it will likely be their attraction to maintain etc. after construction (Does anyone have any info on who paid for Sharkbait Reef..? That might answer that question). But after all, it's a new attraction within the theme park and will likely operate very differently to the other dungeons for that reason. There won't be an upcharge, because as a permanent theme park attraction where queueing is normal and expected of guests, they don't have any reason other than greed to implement an upcharge.  I don't have a problem if they want to trial a free virtual queuing or time slot system.

To be honest, I feel as though I'm continuously repeating the same thing over and over again now..
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Dan
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Robert.W wrote:There won't be an upcharge, because as a permanent theme park attraction where queueing is normal and expected of guests, they don't have any reason other than greed to implement an upcharge, even if they do want to trial a free virtual queuing or time slot system. To be honest, I feel as though I'm continuously repeating the same thing over and over again.. 
Shouldn’t that be “I don’t think there’ll be an upcharge”?

At this stage, no-one outside those working on the project knows what format/queuing/ticketing arrangement the AT Dungeon will have, so for any of us to say they know for sure is incorrect.

You don’t think there’ll be an upcharge, but others do, primarily due to how Merlin operate their other Dungeon attractions across the country.
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Justin
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The conversation is going around and around, yes :) Part of this is because many people are basing their opinions on what has gone before, Merlin's track record with actor led attractions and opening times etc. We will have to see what happens, but it is a good debate :)
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Tom170499
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Dan wrote:
Robert.W wrote:There won't be an upcharge, because as a permanent theme park attraction where queueing is normal and expected of guests, they don't have any reason other than greed to implement an upcharge, even if they do want to trial a free virtual queuing or time slot system. To be honest, I feel as though I'm continuously repeating the same thing over and over again.. 
Shouldn’t that be “I don’t think there’ll be an upcharge”?

At this stage, no-one outside those working on the probject knows what format/queuing/ticketing arrangement the AT Dungeon will have, so for any of us to say they know for sure is incorrect.

You don’t think there’ll be an upcharge, but others do, primarily due to how Merlin operate their other Dungeon attractions across the country.
You’ve said yourself in your previous posts that “It won’t be a resort attraction” and that the queueing/ticketing will follow the same pattern as other Dungeons
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Dan
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Tom170499 wrote:You’ve said yourself in your previous posts that “It won’t be a resort attraction” and that the queueing/ticketing will follow the same pattern as other Dungeons
I said it’ll likely follow a similar pattern to the other Dungeons, which is my opinion.

Granted, I don’t know for sure that it won’t be a resort attraction. It’s an educated prediction, given the number of buildings not currently being used on the theme park and the amount of space required to house such an attraction. It’s highly unlikely Merlin will install such an attraction outside of the theme park.

The one thing Robert & I can agree on is that this discussion is going backwards and forwards, but with this being a new direction for Merlin to take (installing an existing, non theme park “brand” within one of their parks), there’s bound to be a difference of opinion.

:)
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Robert.W
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For once, I'm actually trying not to base my opinions on Merlin's track record – I am trying to imagine what would be best for this Alton Towers development specifically – and hope that Merlin will use similar logic. If I was to base my opinion on Merlin's track record, I'd say that it'll be an upcharge attraction that they won't be able to maintain and will close not long after opening due to staffing cuts, or face continuous technical problems until Merlin give up and close it. So not particulary optimistic, to say the least. 

But yes, it is all just opinions and speculation, nobody knows for sure what will happen. Should be an interesting discussion, but not when it's going round in circles like this – that's just a little bit boring :P
Last edited by Robert.W on Mon Jul 02, 2018 10:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Tom170499
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Dan wrote:
It won’t be a resort attraction.

It’ll be on the theme park, likely following a similar operational method as the Dungeons at Warwick Castle. VIP and Premium Pass holders will go through it for free but will have to reserve a time slot, whereas Standard Pass holders and day ticket guests will have to pay a small upcharge.
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Dan
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Tom170499 wrote:
Dan wrote:
It won’t be a resort attraction.

It’ll be on the theme park, likely following a similar operational method as the Dungeons at Warwick Castle. VIP and Premium Pass holders will go through it for free but will have to reserve a time slot, whereas Standard Pass holders and day ticket guests will have to pay a small upcharge.
Thank you for confirming my point from my previous post.

As you can see, I said it’s likely it’ll operate in a similar fashion to other Dungeons, not that it definitely will ;)
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Robert.W
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Dan wrote:
Tom170499 wrote:
Dan wrote:
It won’t be a resort attraction.

It’ll be on the theme park, likely following a similar operational method as the Dungeons at Warwick Castle. VIP and Premium Pass holders will go through it for free but will have to reserve a time slot, whereas Standard Pass holders and day ticket guests will have to pay a small upcharge.
Thank you for confirming my point from my previous post.

As you can see, I said it’s likely it’ll operate in a similar fashion to other Dungeons, not that it definitely will ;)
I don't think Tom was referring to the operation of the dungeon, more so it's location. You seem very sure that it will definitely be located inside of the theme park despite telling me that I'm not correct in saying that it definitely won't be an upcharge attraction. ;)
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Tom170499
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It clearly says it won’t be a resort attraction and that it will be on the theme park but never mind.

Either way, my original point still stands. If Merlin go down the up charge resort attraction, then it will be a couple of years max before it either becomes seasonal, has staff cut, or is closed.
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Dan
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Robert.W wrote: I don't think Tom was referring to the operation of the dungeon, more so it's location. You seem very sure that it will be inside the theme park despite telling me that I'm not correct in saying that it won't be an upcharge attraction. ;)
This is what I said:
Granted, I don’t know for sure that it won’t be a resort attraction. It’s an educated prediction, given the number of buildings not currently being used on the theme park and the amount of space required to house such an attraction. It’s highly unlikely Merlin will install such an attraction outside of the theme park.
So, no, I don’t know for sure it will be in the theme park.

Anyway, this has gone backwards and forwards enough for one evening. If anyone wishes these discussions to continue, please do so via PM.
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Robert.W
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Yes, you said that after you said that the dungeon would definitely be inside the theme park. It doesn't really matter though.. you just didn't really have to bring up the way I was wording my opinions when you were doing exactly the same thing yourself. Like I say, it doesn't really matter, it's gone backward and forwards enough now, so I'll happily get back to talking about the Dungeon itself :)
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Dan
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Robert.W wrote:Yes, you said that after you said that the dungeon would definitely be inside the theme park. It doesn't really matter though.. you just didn't really have to bring up the way I was wording my opinions when you were doing exactly the same thing yourself. Like I say, it doesn't really matter, it's gone backward and forwards enough now, so I'll happily get back to talking about the Dungeon itself :)
Looking back, yes, I could have worded my initial statement differently.

Sometimes when different opinions are being thrown around, things may not always come across in the way that is intended, but we all need to be mindful to stay respectful of each other.

Anyway, back to the Dungeons :)
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