WTF Merlin?
- Thread starter nadroJ
- Start date
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
I think people underestimate how expensive the parks are to run and how little money they make from extending hours.
The obvious solution is to come up with ways to make money from guests staying later... Ya know, with appealing dinner? And they sort of did that. Sort of. I feel like thats kinda what Roller Coaster Restaurant was about. I think that's what Chessington's Aztec Restaurant was about.
Problem is, I've been to Roller Coaster Restaurant, and I won't go ever again. And... It's a miracle if Aztec buffet whatever it's called is even open. I want to eat there because I know it's pretty good, but they make so little effort communicating to guests that it exists and they can use it that they close it off peak due to low numbers. There's no reason why that place shouldn't be fully booked, constantly.
The thing that BAFFLES me is that if you go to, just, for example, Hansa Park... You have decent food, affordably priced. Down the bloody road at Merlin's Heide Park, how's the offering? Well, I had no desire to eat there.
What we need is a culture of guests behaving as they do at Phantasialand or Tivoli/Bakken, where they just come and hang out and eat and be merry. But the experience, the price and the quality HAS to meet that, and they just ain't even close.
The obvious solution is to come up with ways to make money from guests staying later... Ya know, with appealing dinner? And they sort of did that. Sort of. I feel like thats kinda what Roller Coaster Restaurant was about. I think that's what Chessington's Aztec Restaurant was about.
Problem is, I've been to Roller Coaster Restaurant, and I won't go ever again. And... It's a miracle if Aztec buffet whatever it's called is even open. I want to eat there because I know it's pretty good, but they make so little effort communicating to guests that it exists and they can use it that they close it off peak due to low numbers. There's no reason why that place shouldn't be fully booked, constantly.
The thing that BAFFLES me is that if you go to, just, for example, Hansa Park... You have decent food, affordably priced. Down the bloody road at Merlin's Heide Park, how's the offering? Well, I had no desire to eat there.
What we need is a culture of guests behaving as they do at Phantasialand or Tivoli/Bakken, where they just come and hang out and eat and be merry. But the experience, the price and the quality HAS to meet that, and they just ain't even close.
Thekingin64
Strata Poster
Browsing old photos on my computer last night and I found this:
Still just as relevant I think...
(Seem to remember photo was confirmed to be fake but still worth posting, cannot remember original source)
Still just as relevant I think...
(Seem to remember photo was confirmed to be fake but still worth posting, cannot remember original source)
jj23w
Hyper Poster
New information on Alton Towers website shows that there will be major changes in park operations for the 2018 season. The theme park will open for half an hour of ERT at 9.30am with other rides opening between 10am and 12pm. The schedule is as follows:
9am: Monorail
9.30am (ERT): Wicker Man, Spinball Whizzer, most of CBeebies Land
10am: X-Sector, Marauder's Mayhem, Heave Ho, rest of CBeebies Land
11am: Dark Forest, Cloud Cuckoo Land, Sharkbait Reef, Battle Galleons, Runaway Mine Train, Hex
11.30am: Skyride
12pm: Forbidden Valley, Duel, Congo River Rapids
In addition to this, the Congo River Rapids will only open between 6th May – 4th September 2018.
What do you make of these drastic changes? Credit to towers street for info.
12.00 pm for nemesis i think this is going to cause problems for the rest of the park as most will be going the same route what does everyone
9am: Monorail
9.30am (ERT): Wicker Man, Spinball Whizzer, most of CBeebies Land
10am: X-Sector, Marauder's Mayhem, Heave Ho, rest of CBeebies Land
11am: Dark Forest, Cloud Cuckoo Land, Sharkbait Reef, Battle Galleons, Runaway Mine Train, Hex
11.30am: Skyride
12pm: Forbidden Valley, Duel, Congo River Rapids
In addition to this, the Congo River Rapids will only open between 6th May – 4th September 2018.
What do you make of these drastic changes? Credit to towers street for info.
12.00 pm for nemesis i think this is going to cause problems for the rest of the park as most will be going the same route what does everyone
CrashCoaster
CF Legend
WTF Merlin?
It's clearly a move to try and force the crowds in a particular direction. Not the worst idea from a park operations perspective, but irritating as a park goer who 'knows what they're doing'.
Have they announced closing times (have I missed this somewhere yet)? Assuming they close at 5pm, that's not much time that Forbidden Valley is open at all. If they were open until 7-8pm, I probably wouldn't care, but it's not much time considering everyone is going to be headed there at lunchtime!
Have they announced closing times (have I missed this somewhere yet)? Assuming they close at 5pm, that's not much time that Forbidden Valley is open at all. If they were open until 7-8pm, I probably wouldn't care, but it's not much time considering everyone is going to be headed there at lunchtime!
DelPiero
Strata Poster
So Nemesis will only run for 4 and a half hours a day during off peak. Obvious further cost cutting. May as well just open at weekends during off peak and be done with it.
I'll be visiting this year due to the obvious cred, but more because the boy is over the 1.2m restrictions this year. Won't bother next year though.
I'll be visiting this year due to the obvious cred, but more because the boy is over the 1.2m restrictions this year. Won't bother next year though.
CSLKennyNI
Giga Poster
Staggered openings so crowds won't be able to spread out, leading to increased queue times, meaning less time for guests to do everything in the park. Wonderful given the sometimes ridiculously long queues and short opening hours they already have.
Having a popular ride like the rapids shut during the busy easter holidays? Brilliant...
And they seriously have raised the entry price for this year?
Given Merlin is a massive entertainment company do they not realise the importance of guest satisfaction?
Could Towers please be sold to someone who cares?
Having a popular ride like the rapids shut during the busy easter holidays? Brilliant...
And they seriously have raised the entry price for this year?
Given Merlin is a massive entertainment company do they not realise the importance of guest satisfaction?
Could Towers please be sold to someone who cares?
Sandman
Giga Poster
Seen a LOT of social media posts lamenting this decision, and rightly so. How much further can they minimize the customer experience. Perhaps they've forgotten that customers are involved in this business at all. I can't see myself visiting this season unless it's part of a CF Live. I think many others are considering alternative parks and days out now too. There are better ways to cut costs where it isn't so blatant to customers and their experience. It's going to have a knock on effect for sure.
Mysterious Sue
Strata Poster
I'd rather they just close on week days during the off-season tbh and open with a full line-up all day on the weekend. This just smells of desperation. Nemesis is never going to warm up enough in 4-5 hours to reach its proper experience.
Will
Strata Poster
Are these changes to apply to every day or just off-peak days?
If it's just on quiet days, as painful as it is and as enthusiast-unfriendly as it is, I can see the logic - but if it's every day then this is just ridiculous.
Either way, I've scrapped my plan to get the season pass this year - and the Autumn rapids closure just adds insult to injury.
Wickerman's going to have BRUTAL queues at the start of the season as there'll be literally **** all else to do.
No.
If it's just on quiet days, as painful as it is and as enthusiast-unfriendly as it is, I can see the logic - but if it's every day then this is just ridiculous.
Either way, I've scrapped my plan to get the season pass this year - and the Autumn rapids closure just adds insult to injury.
Wickerman's going to have BRUTAL queues at the start of the season as there'll be literally **** all else to do.
No.
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CoasterCrazy
Giga Poster
Disgusting. I wonder if this has anything to do with it?
Honestly, if you asked me for two reasons for why I haven't gone back since 2013, I'd probably say long queues and short opening hours. If profits are declining, you can either come out fighting and make decent investments and sensible cuts, or enforce austerity measures and watch the whole place go to ****. The place has been going downhill for too long - but it's fine because we can all go and stay in Nick Varney's fabulous expensive hotels, right?
The question I really want to know is - are Merlin going under? Just like Six Flags in 2009, perhaps they've just bought too many properties for them to sustain? To be perfectly honest, I'd love it to happen - if it'd break their virtually UK-Wide monopoly. I don't mind them clinging onto Thorpe - but we badly need competition in the UK market.
Also, just a random thought on the subject of money - apparently Mystic Timbers (same manufacturer, probably a similar amount of theming and landscaping costs if you exclude the actual Wicker Man stautue) cost around £11 million. So despite being over 1,000 feet shorter (and almost certainly worse), Wicker Man somehow cost £5 million more?
Hell, is Wicker Man the most expensive GCI ever? Despite having the shortest track length?
Honestly, if you asked me for two reasons for why I haven't gone back since 2013, I'd probably say long queues and short opening hours. If profits are declining, you can either come out fighting and make decent investments and sensible cuts, or enforce austerity measures and watch the whole place go to ****. The place has been going downhill for too long - but it's fine because we can all go and stay in Nick Varney's fabulous expensive hotels, right?
The question I really want to know is - are Merlin going under? Just like Six Flags in 2009, perhaps they've just bought too many properties for them to sustain? To be perfectly honest, I'd love it to happen - if it'd break their virtually UK-Wide monopoly. I don't mind them clinging onto Thorpe - but we badly need competition in the UK market.
Also, just a random thought on the subject of money - apparently Mystic Timbers (same manufacturer, probably a similar amount of theming and landscaping costs if you exclude the actual Wicker Man stautue) cost around £11 million. So despite being over 1,000 feet shorter (and almost certainly worse), Wicker Man somehow cost £5 million more?
Hell, is Wicker Man the most expensive GCI ever? Despite having the shortest track length?
Matt N
CF Legend
I hope Merlin gives us a u-turn like they have in the past! And to those of you saying about the short amount of time that Nemesis will be open, a member on another forum has said that opening hours will be even shorter in 2018. I personally don't think that will happen, partially because I'm an optimist, but mainly because they aren't stupid enough to do that.
Bert2theSpark
Mega Poster
"This season will be no different..."
I don't recall there ever being 12am openings for rides in the past...
Also am I the only person who found that response rude?
Whoa. What caused that massive instantaneous drop in mid-late 2017? You can see the Smiler crash having an impact in 2015, but the stock rebounded after that. True, an 11-year-old girl died at a UK theme park in May 2017, but it was at Drayton, which isn't owned by Merlin, and the stock kept falling throughout all of 2017. What caused the crash? Was it the day visitor numbers were announced?
Robbie
Hyper Poster
This is 2018. You mean next year?