Attraction Source Forum

I hate to be the ghost at the feast. I agree with Chris that everything has been so negative lately and that this is a good move by Alton Towers. But it's only an improvement to something that exists to up-sell stuff. I'm just saying, most of the genuine improvements recently seem to be suspiciously weighed towards improving the places that sell crap, rather than improving the park.

[quote=""Sam""]I hate to be the ghost at the feast. I agree with Chris that everything has been so negative lately and that this is a good move by Alton Towers. But it's only an improvement to something that exists to up-sell stuff. I'm just saying, most of the genuine improvements recently seem to be suspiciously weighed towards improving the places that sell crap, rather than improving the park.[/quote]

To be honest, you can't criticise Alton Towers for actually trying to sell something, they are a business after all! This is a much better way of selling things than the 'market traders', for example, and I'm sure if the building was just left closed, people would soon be complaining on here that it's a waste of a building etc. It seems to be the ideal use of the space, tbh.

[quote=""Jordan""]To be honest, you can't criticise Alton Towers for actually trying to sell something, they are a business after all! This is a much better way of selling things than the 'market traders', for example, and I'm sure if the building was just left closed, people would soon be complaining on here that it's a waste of a building etc. It seems to be the ideal use of the space, tbh.[/quote]
I totally agree with you, not blaming them for selling stuff. I'm sure this is a better way of doing it. I'm just saying that I don't really think these sorts of changes should be counted as park improvements or as widely celebrated on here as they are. It's not like Merlin have changed their ways and suddenly decided to give Duel a retheme or Rita a station. The actual park (apart from the places where you can give Merlin more money) is still decaying this season.

Although I partly agree with Sam, I think this is a better "one stop shop" for guests.

Money completely wasted on the AP Office refit though...!

Good move that one. Looks nice. Yes it doesn't fit, but it looks good.

I am very much happy with the new outlet and have often thought it would be a great place for this sort of venture.

I do have to agree with Sam though that it seems only money making parts of the park recieve investment, they seem to forget people come to AT for the rides.

However i imagine this was a very cheap investment as signage is a minimal cost

I like it!

But I'm not going to celebrate the opening of a new shop. I am however, going to celebrate the demise of those annoying people hounding you to take wristbands at every gate, doorway, and path between the car park and Towers Street!

Im there tommorow so i'll see then but from what iv'e heard im not happy, they have replaces a great personalised souvenire and replaced it with a second Guest Services litteraly down the street from the original one! #-o

[quote=""siralgenon""]they have replaces a great personalised souvenire [/quote]
I hope thats sarcasm in your post Sir Algenon. Alton Towers DVD wasn't even a mediocre product to begin with, customers odviously saw through how much of a scam it was and didn't buy it,who can blame them. The product was dead in the water from the first day it was available.

Personalised? Apart from the 20 seconds of video footage, all the rest is stock footage. Everyone knows how I felt about Yourday. Hated it ever since I heard about it. So glad AT have got rid of it. Very wise move in my opinion.

in all honesty, i like the way this is going, although as said, it is only so the company can make more money, it gives people more space to move about in, and possibly a better throughput also.

Great move AT

TBH, i love the idea of another Guest Services on the street, becuase you know at the start and end of the day, that room is always jam packed with people. So with a second service it would definately ease the congestion.

[quote=""siralgenon""]Im there tommorow so i'll see then but from what iv'e heard im not happy, they have replaces a great personalised souvenire and replaced it with a second Guest Services litteraly down the street from the original one! #-o [/quote]
How wrong can you be? Alton Towers Resort DVD was clearly not selling, it's unfortunately been a failure since day 1. I feel sorry for the people that set up the original YourDay as their intentions were fantastic; it's just a shame the product on offer didn't quite live up to these intentions. It is in no way surprising that it's gone, there is no point keeping it if is is making no money.

And I would not call the Box Office a second guest services. For starters it is not guest services, it is what the name says it is, a box office. It sells tickets for various things and so on, from what we've heard so far it is not a place where you go to make a complaint or leave your bags at during the day. It is offering essential services in one convenient place for guests.

[quote=""starbugger1303""]TBH, i love the idea of another Guest Services on the street, becuase you know at the start and end of the day, that room is always jam packed with people. So with a second service it would definately ease the congestion. [/quote]

Although I think that really they serve two different functions. Box Office is clearly a way of flogging extra things such as fast tracks, second day entrance, events, hotel stays etc whereas Guest Services is for more practical things such as locker rentals and general park information and enquiries.

It's not really a "second" Guest Services as such...

As pessimistic as it might be, i'm sure the thinking was that utilizing this outlet would be a cheaper option than building a new, smarter Annual Pass Office in the Entrance Plaza.

Well, I'm pretty disappointed. Also, the relatives of the original visitor who we bought the DVD for that was linked in the OP are here at the moment and were really looking forward to getting *their* DVD this weekend. When we were buying ours there were at least six other people waiting for their DVD's although the place wasn't what you'd call busy.

I dunno - it seems strange to pull it this far into the season. And I know a few people who've seen my video and been quite impressed with it.

5 seconds of personal footage per ride just isn't good enough, though. You'll watch it once when you get back and never again. But you can look at a photo whever and put it on display.

It's great to put everything under one roof and to allow guests to book short breaks there. It's a really fantastic move. It's not really money-grabbing, as all the services are available already elsewhere, this just puts everything together in an organised way in a prime location. It's a magnet for start and end of day touting, but on the whole, it's a really great move.

I suppose it makes sense to sell everything all in one place and it makes it easior for guests to know where they can buy things, rather from all different offices and shops, plus the old annual pass office was pretty hiden away and easy to miss and very very tiny.

I wonder if this will mean they will start to remove the other sales and information offices around the park, such as the one in Mutiny bay or the one near Oblivion? It would be cheaper for them to run everything from one shop rather than different shops around the park, but then again guests might not want to walk all the way across the park to buy fast track or something, like at Thorpe there are only two places that sell fast track, one at the enterance and one at the other end of the park.

Thinking about it, would they actually get rid of the Annual Pass Office? Surely the point of it is to be outside the park, so you don't have to pay to enter if your renewing?

[quote=""CoasterCrazyChris""]Thinking about it, would they actually get rid of the Annual Pass Office? Surely the point of it is to be outside the park, so you don't have to pay to enter if your renewing? [/quote]
The AP Office is inside of the park anyway so this would make no difference.

[quote=""Rob""][quote=""CoasterCrazyChris""]Thinking about it, would they actually get rid of the Annual Pass Office? Surely the point of it is to be outside the park, so you don't have to pay to enter if your renewing? [/quote]
The AP Office is inside of the park anyway so this would make no difference.

[/quote]

So what's the portakabin the the entrance plaza used for then..?