Alton Towers

Jeff_Bridges_hair

pompeyrich wrote: »

Thorpe Park, Chessington, Legoland, Paultons Park, Drayton Manor, Lightwater Valley and no doubt many more UK theme parks offer FREE parking to visitors who are probably going to spend at least £100 on passes food and drink etc. Given the lack of alternatives to driving to AT I, too, think the charge is a bit much.

It is common to pay to park abroad, they even charge to use the loo in Germany and Belgium parks, would that be ok too?

Alton Towers and most of the big theme parks and attractions are all owned by the same company anyway.

And they do ask you to pay to park at most of them.

Mr_Oink

{}Shakes head and wakes up{}

Are we saying that Thorpe Park, Chessington and Alton Towers are now *CHARGING* to use the car parks? I know the Tussauds Group tend to get a bit 'in yer face' shaking you down for loose change, but this would be utterly outrageous!

My family used to be frequent visitors to Thorpe and Chessington and would buy annual passes up until the point they changed to 'Merlin' and became unattractive in cost. This occurred about the same time they bumped MacDonalds out of Chessington and replaced it with the much more expensive 'Burger King'. They also dropped the Cadbury chocolate, and dumped a shop/kiosk in the queue for the Vampire. This coupled with the large hike in like-4-like season ticket price pretty much ended our visits. We were thinking about going back next year, but if they are now charging for parking they can get stuffed!

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Mr_Oink wrote: »

{}Shakes head and wakes up{}

Are we saying that Thorpe Park, Chessington and Alton Towers are now *CHARGING* to use the car parks? I know the Tussauds Group tend to get a bit 'in yer face' shaking you down for loose change, but this would be utterly outrageous!

My family used to be frequent visitors to Thorpe and Chessington and would buy annual passes up until the point they changed to 'Merlin' and became unattractive in cost. This occurred about the same time they bumped MacDonalds out of Chessington and replaced it with the much more expensive 'Burger King'. They also dropped the Cadbury chocolate, and dumped a shop/kiosk in the queue for the Vampire. This coupled with the large hike in like-4-like season ticket price pretty much ended our visits. We were thinking about going back next year, but if they are now charging for parking they can get stuffed!

You do get parking for free with the annual pass though.. And i still think that pass is good value for money - especially if you have a family. Me and the missus always renew ours every year.. Nothing better then visiting a theme park on a wednesday day off!

The_One_Who

If you are going to visit more than three times in a year then an annual pass is much better value, especially considering the benefits you get with it such as free parking and on-park discounts.

Not going to a park purely because they now charge for parking is a bit of a silly reason, to be honest.

Mr_Oink

Jeff_Bridges_hair wrote: »

You do get parking for free with the annual pass though.. And i still think that pass is good value for money - especially if you have a family.

Disagree. They are mostly really PP value for money given the quality of the visit. Family of 3 kids over 12 {which given the height restriction on 1.2 metres on many rides > 12 years}, 2 adults runs to about £150. If you don't want to spend 95% of your 8 or so hour visit queueing, you may buy a few fastrack tickets (stick another £20+ on). The onsite food is very poor value and generally low quality. On top of this they now want you to pay to park? Are you having a bl**dy laugh????!!!:mad:



A few seasons ago you used to be able to use a season ticket across the whole Tussauds estate (Thorpe/Chessington/Alton Towers/Madam Tussauds & Warwick Castle). They did away with this with the introduction of 'Merlin' - much more expensive than the preceeding season tickets. Whilst Merlin adds a couple of extra 'attractions' (The 'hole' that is Legoland being one of them) they cost between 2 and 2.5 times more. You can get a single site Season ticket for a little more than the 'old skool' version, but it really is bad value compared like-4-like with what was on offer just a few years ago. The selling point of a season ticket is 'You get free parking'? Err, HELLOOOOOOOOOO!!!

The charge may currently be £2 per car for the day, but once people accept this as 'ok', it opens the door for year on year increases. Jesus, in my opinion these middle eastern tyrants must really be feeling the pinch of the recession if they have got to start picking pockets for parking!

I guess we have a very different idea as to what 'good value for money' is.

Mr_Oink

The_One_Who wrote: »

Not going to a park purely because they now charge for parking is a bit of a silly reason, to be honest.

Err, that is not the entire picture. The parks don't represent good value for money and, to be honest, once you've been there and done the rides - that's pretty much it. The rides get a little boring after a couple of visits rendering a season ticket for a single site poor value.

Is this a good sales angle:
"Buy our season tickets so you don't feel so ripped off at our normal day rates and parking charges".

I'll pass on that, thanks.....

pulliptears

marleyboy wrote: »

I must confess I have NEVER been to any of the Theme parks in England, however I got spoilt when I was living in Florida, and visited all of them over there, I cannot imagine anything in England even remotely as spectacular.

I am confused about this Queue jumping thing, would this not eventually form another queue for all the queue jumpers? , before you know it, it would be quicker to join the original queue.

I live up the road from Alton Towers and rarely go there. What spoiled me were a couple of visits to Disneyland California, where your entry fee gives you entertainment until midnight on a massive scale, unlike Alton Towers who want you out by 6pm.

Of course, living near to it I realise that a lot of the restrictions on the park come from a couple of locals who bought a home next to a theme park and then expect peace and quiet. Their constant complaining has probably stopped the park growing and bringing more economy into the local area.

Mr_Oink

pulliptears wrote: »

Their constant complaining has probably stopped the park growing and bringing more economy into the local area.

NIMBY's moving to an area should be be told to get stuffed.

As far as bringing money into a local area don't overlook that these parks run their own micro economy. If there were any signs that visitors were spending significant money in the local economy off campus, I'm sure Tussads would either forbid, penalise or terminate those responsible.

it's more likely all you get from having a place like this near you is noise, pollution, litter and damage to your roads.

Jo_Mc_2

pulliptears wrote: »

I live up the road from Alton Towers and rarely go there. What spoiled me were a couple of visits to Disneyland California, where your entry fee gives you entertainment until midnight on a massive scale, unlike Alton Towers who want you out by 6pm.

I used to go to Alton Towers quite often until I had kids, I'm not too far away so it was a brilliant day out with friends. I didn't then go again until two years ago, a month after returning from Disneyland California, and was far from impressed.
Incidentally, on the way it took half an hour to get to Uttoxeter from home and then two and a half hours to get from Uttoxeter to Alton Towers that day - if it hadn't been for the kids wanting to go we'd have turned around and gone home.

pulliptears

Mr_Oink wrote: »

NIMBY's moving to an area should be be told to get stuffed.

As far as bringing money into a local area don't overlook that these parks run their own micro economy. If there were any signs that visitors were spending significant money in the local economy off campus, I'm sure Tussads would either forbid, penalise or terminate those responsible.

it's more likely all you get from having a place like this near you is noise, pollution, litter and damage to your roads.

Irony being that these NIMBY's happen to own a very large, noisy, polluting factory some miles away that is the bane of the neighbours lives...

As for local economy, we have plenty of B&B's running in the area catering for visitors, add to that the local tourism industry in Stoke that probably ticks over in part due to AT visitors deciding to call into our factory shops and museums.

Jo_Mc wrote: »

I used to go to Alton Towers quite often until I had kids, I'm not too far away so it was a brilliant day out with friends. I didn't then go again until two years ago, a month after returning from Disneyland California, and was far from impressed.
Incidentally, on the way it took half an hour to get to Uttoxeter from home and then two and a half hours to get from Uttoxeter to Alton Towers that day - if it hadn't been for the kids wanting to go we'd have turned around and gone home.

The roads issue has been there for years. I recall way back in my childhood visiting Alton Towers when it was just ruins and gardens with a small paddling pool and the odd fairground ride. Unfortunately it grew to proportions that the local roads found very hard to cope with. Alton is a small village and the roads were just not designed for that amount of traffic.

There is talk of a bypass, who knows if and when it will happen.