Is 4pm Too Early To Close A Theme Park??? - Alton Towers Vlog - May 2024

Alton Towers closes at 4pm during off peak midweek days. Many people complain that this is too early, but is it really? Or can you actually get more done on these days than on weekends and peak days? Join us at Alton Towers on Thursday 9th May 2024 as we set out to find out.

[@simoncottam8707]

Just been to Alton Towers today. 13 of us, had a great day, but all commented how 4pm was a silly time to close the park. If they left it open until 6pm, they’d make more money from people buying food

[@coasterfest]

100% agree on the food. They're missing out on that 'second meal' trade, no doubt about it. On that subject, I also think they're missing out on the breakfast trade too, now that they're opening turnstiles earlier than rides again, with very few decent breakfast offerings. Just look at Europa Park, and other European parks, where many, many people head for the boulangeries as soon as the parks open.

[@simoncottam8707]

@@coasterfest 100% More could be done, but I’m liking the direction that Bianca is taking the park. Restoring everything to former glories didn’t go unnoticed by us today (rapids rode best they have in a long time, air cannons in Thirteen, all ride ops were great, nemesis and forbidden valley were incredible, street actors) so I’m looking forward to what more she can bring. Maybe a few suggestions sent her way about the park times might make her look into it. We also commented today about EU parks and their times for parades etc, would be great if they had evening performances etc on the stage…too much to ask? I know noise and traffic for surrounding areas have a huge impact….

[@coasterfest]

@@simoncottam8707 I did some quick cigarette packet maths when researching this video (I did intend to include them, but decided against it.) Alton Towers employs 2500 people. If even 750 of them are required to keep the park open longer, then their wage bill alone could run into £10,000 per hour. Add that to the insane energy prices businesses have faced since a couple of years ago, and I can start to understand why it isn't as easy as I'd like for them to just decide to stay open, especially when the park is as quiet as it was on Thursday. That being said, I hope that she will at least explore the possibility of extending hours, and consider ways to increase turnover during the later hours to cover it. Maybe by looking at things like the food offering, ensuring the bars are open, etc. Because I agree, the park is the best it's been in well over a decade, she's done a fantastic job so far. She's clearly dialled in to what the park's fans want. Petitioning Merlin for more money to put towards Nemesis was a master stroke! Also, we actually got wet on the rapids!!! I haven't gotten wet on those rapids for years!!!

[@Ryancooper13]

4pm is a joke!! Roll on Universal arriving. Merlin has had their monopoly in the UK too long. 10am to 6pm is a minimum opening time. Ride downtime is at an all time high as well

[@coasterfest]

Ride downtime is getting silly to be honest. It's total potluck, one day all rides seem to run flawlessly, next day, same weather, and nothing works. Maybe it's down to the age of many of the attractions, whatever the reason, it needs to be fixed. If Universal push ahead, it will definitely be a good thing for the uk enthusiast. Competition breeds innovation and all that. Thanks for watching, and for commenting. :)

[@slopesgameroom]

Great video mate. Way too early to closr the park. We went a couple of weeks back and the rides closed down a stupid amount of times

[@coasterfest]

It makes it much worse when ride reliability is poor too, and then they still close early. Thanks for watching, and for your nice comment. :)

[@dep7229]

Yes it is. 10-6 like theme parks in Germany would be fantastic please. And the waterpark operating the same hours is a joke. Should be open for a couple hours afterwards so you can do both in one day!

[@coasterfest]

Agree 100%, even though I live fairly local I’d consider the hotel if the waterpark was open later. But as it is now, there’s no point… What do hotel guests actually do in the evening? It must be pretty boring once the park closes.

[@tinseltits9855]

YES!!! 6 OR 8 MORE REALISTIC!!!

[@michaelrussell3890]

Should be 6pm at least. Maybe 8pm, or even 10pm in summer for some night rides

[@SamuelLounds]

Don’t think 10pm probably 9:15pm and plus you’ve got scare fest

[@SamuelLounds]

Because the staff might live a bit far and get up early

[@All_sorts8819]

Went yesterday closed at 6pm much better! Thank you Alton 😊

[@coasterfest]

The team at Towers are doing a great job at improving things. Hopefully they'll be working to improve opening times and improve the value prospect of an off peak, mid week, visit in the future. :) Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts. :)

[@GaijinGamerGirl]

Some queues can be an hour long, that's paying for £30-£60 or more if you get hotel, for 6 rides.

[@joeeeee256]

4pm is a laughably early time to close a theme park, look at Europa Park they extend opening from the usual 9am-6pm to as far as 8:30pm when they notice the crowds increasing. They even have a couple rides open from 8:30am! Amongst other things, 4pm is the reason I still don't take the UK theme park industry seriously. Perhaps when Merlin don't have such a monopoly anymore it might change though! :)

[@coasterfest]

Yes, 4pm is too early for most. Unless you live nearby and can waltz in and out as you please, it's just not worth visiting mid week is it? To be fair though, not sure if you're aware, but they do extend those hours if the park's busy, or has a silly amount of availability issues. Only usually to 5pm or 6pm, but they do have that option available to them. It happened to me a couple of times, earlier in the season, when rides were breaking down a lot and queues were longer than usual.

[@joeeeee256]

@@coasterfest That's decent at least, though I can't say I've ever experienced that haha. Must have to get pretttty busy for them to pull that one out. I think there's a very different culture around days out at parks in the UK compared to mainland Europe, sort of like how being a restaurant server/waiting staff is taken as a more serious profession in mainland Europe. I think in the UK Merlin can get away with us putting up with it. If you look at Merlin's parks outside the UK though they try harder.

[@coasterfest]

@@joeeeee256 It’s definitely rare, and something they seem more likely to fall back on when they know ops / availability has been poor, rather than a tool they use to sprinkle a little added magic onto the day like Europa Park. We seem to have to rush our parks, rather than take our time with regular breaks for drinks and snack etc, like you can in Europe. I’m not sure that is even in the best interest of our parks, sure they’d sell more food and beverages with longer hours, but here we are. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@SNORKYMEDIA]

Yep that's why we are off the Europa Park next week....rarely go to our own parks now the European ones are much better. And cheaper

[@coasterfest]

@@SNORKYMEDIA Hope you have a great time. We really enjoyed Voltron on opening day / week. We were lucky to only get one of the rougher experimental trains once throughout all of our rides.

[@Helz-os7fj]

Should be 6 off peak and 8 peak especially with the sky ride down.

[@pleasurebeachthrills2693]

4pm is very logically for an off peak day during this time of the year. Same as bpb opening and closing hours. Only difference is we open an hour later. I sometimes wish parks remain closed 3 days a week during off peak but obviously can’t happen due to staff needing wages and others who can only visits on those times. We gotta hope summer can get our uk parks the profit I needs to cover the May - June off peak days 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@coasterfest]

Love this comment!!! There's 2 very different angles to look at this from, and I'm so glad you touch on the 'other' angle. As customers and enthusiasts, we obviously want to stay in the parks as long as possible. From a business pov however, just one hour longer can cost 10s of thousands of pounds more in expenses, with wages and utilities. As much as we may want longer in the parks, we also need these parks to be profitable, viable, entities, or we lose them. There is a flip side to that coin though. Could more be done to make later hours more viable during off peak times? Could staying open later be covered by offering better food, leading to additional evening food sales? If you stayed open until 8pm, could you offer a post 3pm £10 entry, allowing people to visit after work / school for a couple of hours, and hopefully spend some money on park? Would it make more sense during term time to open later and close later, again, catching more after school / work visitors by making it worthwhile? Honestly I do think opening at midday, and closing much later would see off peak numbers spike at Towers. Not only would it attract local after school / work guests. But it would make a midweek visit easier for others around the country too. AT is not that easy to get to. If you're a good drive away, do you really want to set off during rush hour and drive 2 or 3 hours for a 4pm close? It would also ease demand on local roads, with people arriving and leaving outside of morning and evening 'rush hours.' There's so many ideas to explore, but I'm so glad it's not me making the decisions. They're very tough decisions to make, we see parks lose money, and their very existence under threat, all of the time, I don't think I'd like that responsibility. I will support the park whatever they do, I love the place. Same goes for PBR (BPB) too :)

[@lauramitchell5462]

You did well to get on all that you did and I’m pleased that you enjoyed your day.

[@coasterfest]

Thank you :) I could have ridden much much more. I was filming off ride shots a lot, and also really not rushing. Living close enough, I often visit on quiet off peak days and get the whole park done, with multiple rides on my favourites, by 2pm. :) But that doesn't help those who don't live close, or those who are staying in the hotel. Not every mid week day turns out to be so good, and if you've travelled for your one big Alton Towers trip, and there are queues on a 4pm day, you're going to be annoyed, I would be. Hopefully they sort it soon. Thanks for watching and for commenting. :)

[@lauramitchell5462]

@@coasterfest Thank you for your reply. If I had my way off peak days would close at 7 pm and peak days 10 pm. This may not be good for the staff who have to work long hours for guests it would be perfect. Or 6 pm on off peak days rather than 4 pm. What do you think of this?

[@coasterfest]

@@lauramitchell5462 I think Europa Park have it right, 5/6pm off peak and 8pm peak. But always with the understanding, for both guests and staff, that if crowds are more than expected, then they will, and very often do, extend times on the day. I like getting an extension, always makes the day feel a bit more special. Even when you know there's a good chance of it at Europa, it's great when it happens.

[@stephenHolloway88]

What happened to the 9pm closing? I haven't been to Alton towers in years but I'm sure that they used to do really late closes. Now it's 10am - 5pm which isn't long enough.

[@coasterfest]

The late closing still happens at Scarefest and Fireworks. The main issue people have is that it used to be 5pm or 6pm even on off peak days, but now in low season (April, May, Sept) it’s often 4pm!!!

[@altonalex1235]

Weekdays should be 5 latest. Weekends especially summer should AT LEAST BE 7/8 close bwing as its light till aboit 9/9:30 maybe even abit later. But 4 is abit early if tou want do everything

[@coasterfest]

My biggest concern with it is for hotel guests, there’s not exactly a lot to do after park close. I’d feel a bit short changed personally. Luckily I live close enough not to need the hotel, and visit regularly enough to find 4pm closes ok. But I can definitely see why some people hate them.

[@Zoomiethecat]

Sooo true I went on Friday and didn’t get to go on very much and the burgers at Alton towers are horrible lol

[@coasterfest]

I love Alton Towers, I genuinely do, and the work they’ve done this year is incredible, a great start. But since Aramark took over catering the food has been shocking!

[@Geogadddi]

Whiist I've had some good days & ridden a lot at Towers on 4pm close it is too early for a top park. One thing that grinds on those days is if you get the bus it still comes at the same time as 6pm close. So after you get turfed out have to hang around for 2 hours.

[@coasterfest]

Oh wow, had no idea about the bus situation!!! What on earth are you expected to do for 2 hours? I think I’d have an extra long browse around Towers Trading 🙈😂 Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts.

[@Geogadddi]

@coasterfest You can eat at the rollercoaster restaurant & have the longest shop in TT to waste time. Have had some nice walks around the empty park after 4pm as they usually let you stay in until security are emptying the park. It does get old waiting about but to be fair staff are there and are great making sure everyone is going to be able to get home. Have had some nice chats with them.

[@joking8189]

Yes

[@joemayo3650]

4pm is stupid i weng on a day with queues no longer than 30 minutes got the ride all big rides and river rapids once and didnt have time to do anything else... ridiculous

[@Merlinlover4521]

No It's not that's for winter I've stayed to 6 pm

[@coasterfest]

The park closes at 4pm during off peak midweek days in April, May, September and October. It does stay open later at other times. During Scarefest and Fireworks it’s even later at 9pm. Thanks for watching and commenting. :)

[@petermc7098]

Hi There, great Video and as you say depends on your perspective etc. I do think it should be open until at least 5PM, as 4PM is a bit early in my opinion. Kind regards Peter

[@The3DPrintingGuy842]

Correct 😃

[@coasterfest]

Thank you Peter. I would definitely feel short changed if I were only able to visit a couple of times a year, or if I was staying in the hotel. Thank you for watching, and for your kind comment. :)

[@Liamm_a]

i’m going on the 24th may hopefully it won’t be busy lol!

[@coasterfest]

Don't worry, 24th is a 5pm close. Also, if it's busier than they expected, they sometimes extend closing time too. Hope you have a great time

[@Liamm_a]

@@coasterfest Thank you mate!

[@stephenelliott7071]

Yes!! Far too early. To be fair the new management seem to be addressing this graduarly with putting in permanent lighting around the park. So maybe they're thinking the same.

[@coasterfest]

They're doing a great job, fingers crossed.

[@solarflare457]

5-6 pm minimum

[@arranmelaugh5606]

I went on Friday it shut at 5

[@coasterfest]

Hope you had a great time. We're out of the low low season now, so closing times are later. I think the next time we'll see 4pm closes is September. :)

[@arranmelaugh5606]

@@coasterfest brilliant time as always! Just goes too quick! 😂

[@MarkGathercole]

could not agree more 4pm is a joke, with the massive queues etc

[@coasterfest]

Hopefully with all of the other improvements they've been making around park lately, opening times is something they'll look at. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@jamesmiller9805]

What day in May did you go

[@coasterfest]

Hi, It was Thursday 9th May. Was a great day to go. Weather was lovely. Park was quiet enough to get on plenty, but no so quiet as to feel 'dead.' Thanks for watching.

[@jamesmiller9805]

Thanks for that mate

[@similarart1074]

I went on monday and iy was 5pm line close.

[@coasterfest]

Yes, it’s at least 4pm for most of the year now, apart from a couple of weeks of 4pm finishes in September and October. Hope you had an awesome time?

[@jellywolf9322]

Ummm you do realise they close at 4 only on school days on holidays or weekends its open till 6

[@coasterfest]

Yes, I live close, so often visit multiple times a week :) Even during some school days it’s 5pm, (such as next week) just the really quiet off peak days that it’s 4pm.

[@jellywolf9322]

@@coasterfest its my local park towers us

[@blackbearish]

open half an hour after sunrise, close half an hour after sunset.

[@coasterfest]

That would be something like 5:30am to 9:30pm during mid summer. But I’m up for it. 🙈😂

[@blackbearish]

@@coasterfest a breakfast, dinner tea and late night package for one day? just imagine that.

[@coasterfest]

@@blackbearish That would be awesome!!! 🙌 Sign me up. In all seriousness though, I wish there was a park, any park, in the UK that did an all nighter one night of the year for enthusiasts, like some parks in the US do.

[@blackbearish]

@@coasterfest sort of thing i'm thinking. into the park at 5:30, breakfast restaurants open at six. early ride access at eight thirty, park normally opens at ten, fast track ride access pass for 3 E Ticket rides. the day finishes with late night running for those who pay for it, park closes at 7 pm for ordenary guests, but those who pay for super day at AT get to stay until sunset, they clear out of the park by 10:30 pm, or back to their hotels. cost for full day on the online , £80 PP ££100 pp on the gate, ticket inc hot breakfast with drinks. and soft drinks throughout the day. lunch and tea paid for by guest out of pocket. If Hotel stay at park, that would be built into package with room rate. just me brainstorming.

[@flaw3dgenius222]

Theme Parks should open 10am to 7pm or 8pm apart from late nights which should open until 11pm.

[@coasterfest]

11pm rides on Nemesis Reborn would be insanely good!!! Sadly, I don’t think they’d ever be allowed, by the local authorities, to stay open that late.

[@Tylers_BMX]

Hello so close to 100 subs ima sub bc ur one off :)

[@coasterfest]

Awesome, thank you!!! I hadn't realise I was only one off... Big, proud, moment for a new channel like mine. Thanks again :)

[@Tylers_BMX]

@@coasterfest Yh no probs you deserve it!