Alton Towers - Drop Off?

*manda*

Yes, it was £5 whenever we've been although we now don't pay as we have annual passes.

Alias_Omega

Went not so long ago, did not pay for parking.

Parked in the hotel car park, and on the way out drove up to the little man at the barrier and asked him how i go out.

I was going to refuse to pay to get out, and hold the traffic up behind me in protest. I hate this place for parking, we paid top dollar to get in and they want to fleece me with a car park charge that was to pay for a by-pass for the village.

He let me out..

deano19690

YES.... Why Do They Charge For Parking ???????? :mad:

They must be the only theme park i`ve ever been too that charges for parking
and its not like its near anywhere else, so you could go off shopping and park for free
It`s in the middle of nowhere !!!

Chessington... Free Parking
Legoland.... Free parking
Thorpe Park.....Free parking

.....and they are all owned by the same company, MERLIN

SO....Why do they Charge for the Car Park

WHY ????? WHY ???? WHY??? :rolleyes:

We always head for the hotel and park up for free, :cool:
we are annual pass holders
and we have stayed in the hotel(sometimes- it`s bloody expensive you know)

But even if we weren`t.... i`d still do it


We haven`t been there for a couple of years now, as we are southeners and lazy...lol
Back then the parking was only £4

Alias_Omega

The parking charge was introduced to pay for a proposed by-pass to avoid the village. But that got cancelled years ago. Since then the charge has remainded, you have to pay. There is no other option to park, it would be nice to find some local parking.

Imagine the complaints that would bring..

Annual pass holders get free parking, i cant really moan as we went for less than £6 a head inc fuel last time due to the sun's token offers.

Shelldean

deano19690 wrote: »

YES.... Why Do They Charge For Parking ???????? :mad:

They must be the only theme park i`ve ever been too that charges for parking
and its not like its near anywhere else, so you could go off shopping and park for free
It`s in the middle of nowhere !!!

Chessington... Free Parking
Legoland.... Free parking
Thorpe Park.....Free parking

.....and they are all owned by the same company, MERLIN

SO....Why do they Charge for the Car Park

WHY ????? WHY ???? WHY??? :rolleyes:

We always head for the hotel and park up for free, :cool:
we are annual pass holders
and we have stayed in the hotel(sometimes- it`s bloody expensive you know)

But even if we weren`t.... i`d still do it


We haven`t been there for a couple of years now, as we are southeners and lazy...lol
Back then the parking was only £4

When we went to Thorpe Park a couple of weeks ago they had big signs up saying that next yr there maybe charges ( can't recall the exact wording on the notices) But do recall them as I pointed them out to OH

Bunnie1982

Shelldean wrote: »

When we went to Thorpe Park a couple of weeks ago they had big signs up saying that next yr there maybe charges ( can't recall the exact wording on the notices) But do recall them as I pointed them out to OH

"This car park is currently free, please be advised there may be a charge in 2010"

Shelldean

Bunnie1982 wrote: »

"This car park is currently free, please be advised there may be a charge in 2010"

Thank you :T that sounds about right LOL

deano19690

I bet they do too...

First time we went to alton towers and stayed in the hotel...

We got free entry to the waterpark for both days, or longer if you stay longer
They stopped that now..... £14 EACH !!!!!
(it`s good, but it ain`t that good)

We got free express passes for 4 rides,
(oblivion, runaway train, log flume, forget the other)
They stopped that too !!!!!!

And at Thorpe Park....
Merlin annual pass holders used to get free entry to `Fright Night` :eek:
Now we have to pay a fiver on top
and it`s advanced (48hrs) bookings only, no vouchers no discounts
So you book it for 2 days time and it pours down with rain :rolleyes:

They take your money quick enough but the value ain`t there anymore

Shelldean

deano19690 wrote: »

I bet they do too...

First time we went to alton towers and stayed in the hotel...

We got free entry to the waterpark for both days, or longer if you stay longer
They stopped that now..... £14 EACH !!!!!
(it`s good, but it ain`t that good)

We got free express passes for 4 rides,
(oblivion, runaway train, log flume, forget the other)
They stopped that too !!!!!!

And at Thorpe Park....
Merlin annual pass holders used to get free entry to `Fright Night` :eek:
Now we have to pay a fiver on top
and it`s advanced (48hrs) bookings only, no vouchers no discounts
So you book it for 2 days time and it pours down with rain :rolleyes:

They take your money quick enough but the value ain`t there anymore

It was only £2 if you booked far enough in advance but I agree with your comment about the weather, tho if the weather is slightly dodgy then teh queues tend to be shorter

And yes they take your money quick enough we had issue with this back in Feb when Thorpe did a special deal for Feb Half term. I get the email from Merlin as we're merlin pass holders, telling us about this. At no point on the email nor the merlin site did it mention rides would only be open dependant on temp. So off we trot, and lo and behold out of the advertised rides only couple are open. Colosuss never opened despite going round several time with weights. Was told it had to be a certain temp to be safe.... this was a week after heavy snow. We was lucky we had annual passes, so only costs us petrol. But lots of people were paying to go in, think it was about £16. I'd ahve been SO angry if that ahd been me. I did write and complain but despite saying where I'd got my info from they simply pointed out it did say it on their website.