Liseberg could very well do this but they don't. Weekdays out of season the park is a ghost town but they still always fully staff it and have everything open. It might make sense for them to look at opening the park more but have less staff, less trains and less outlets open on slow days.
Honestly, I think businesses, all of them, should do whatever they need to do to survive at the moment. I'm just on a one man mission to defend and educate as to why Alton Towers (and other parks) open for short hours, or have a limited offer, on some days.... I'm not doing very well, haha.
Anyway, Liseberg make a great comparison, as they highlight the alternative to this, in that they just don't open. So it's a good example of how other parks deal with low demand.
Truthfully I like some of the ways Liseberg deal with it. Opening much later and closing much later, for example, is an idea I'd love some UK parks to try on off peak days. Especially parks like Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Thorpe Park and Alton Towers, that rely more on local trade during their off peak days. It would be interesting if they opened and closed much later on some off peak days, to see if that lead to more after work / school visits.
I think it might do, given how many people I know will happily pop over to Towers or Thorpe in the afternoon, after work, during the Oktoberfest and Halloween events. There always seems to be an influx of local kids between 3pm and 4pm at BPB during the week too, and that's when they only get a couple of hours! Imagine Towers opens at 1pm, on some off peak days, like Liseberg, but then closes at 8pm. Would people be as mad?
Another thing that's always baffled me, and to keep it on topic, this is where Liseberg and other European parks really excel, is the peak opening times. 6pm on busy summer days, is just crazy!!! Yet nobody seems to be as annoyed at those times as they are the 4pm off peak times. I can clear the whole park by 2pm on off peak days, easily, with multiple rides on the things I like. On peak days there's no way I'm clearing the park by 6pm.
It's so bad in Summer I just don't visit Towers in July and August, at all, an 8 hour day to do 5 or 6 rides is not my idea of fun, not when I can do 15 - 20 easily in 6 hours at other times. Why are people not annoyed at that? They're mad at the wrong thing. These parks should be open until at least 8pm on peak days, if not later. And that's exactly what Liseberg and other European parks do.
Anyway, excuse my ranting, same to you
@cookie. Like I said, one man mission, haha.
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