It goes without saying that those who consider themselves "influencers" should use their platform to promote and encourage. I hate the term "influencer", but I'm proud that CF plays a part in this as a "reporter" with park visits, Lives and attending events and press invites. There's a also a duty on every goon to do their bit and spread positivity about parks amongst family, friends and colleagues.
But oddly enough, I don't think the onus should solely be on park guests. It should mainly be on the parks. I know parks promote through advertising, events and offers but they need to make sure that guest experience comes out on top. Let's not be too rose-tinted about Oakwood - the operations and investments in recent years were not inspiring. I don't think I can recall any exceptional positive feedback in the past decade. How many of us have whinged about a trip to Thorpe with ride break downs and tatty queue lines, the atmosphere during the travellers days at Alton, the throughput at Flamingoland, or the lack of ride availability at Blackpool? I get that **** happens, but some of these things are avoidable, and seems a world away from the slick customer service I've typically experienced at some USA and European parks. They are not without fault either (look at Spanish operations for example!), but I feel there's a more of a "meh" intendency with some UK parks.
Here comes the predicable "Ian loves Paultons" part. I once asked them why they don't do offers and why their entry costs are high. Their answer was to maintain a high level of positive customer experience. By not cheapening the entry price, the queues inside are likely to be minimal. This means more people will ride more rides and fewer people are impatiently waiting in line. If a guest feels like they have got value for money , they will walk away feeling great about the park, and will get highly rated on Tripadvisor, social media and the like. Pay a bit more for a quality day out and you won't feel ripped off. I'm not saying increased entry costs is the answer, but feeling value certainly is. Additionally, Paultons are running another Super Fans Day this May which is geared around goons. Last year was great - backstage tours, ERTs, food, a Q&A sesh. Another example of respecting a section of their customer base.
Sorry, my longest ramble for a while, and I love the idea of rallying around to support UK parks, specifically the "smaller" ones, but the parks need to play their part foremost. CF has organised events with other groups - the Alton Corkscrew send off, a RCCGB/CF day at Paultons, a joint Blackpool trip with PBE (as it as was back then) to name a few - so anything is possible and I'm happy to chat to other group leaders or park managers if they read this...
This is such an important thing to point out. And part of the problem. But I don't think that it is just down to the parks, public expectations on pricing is skewed now.
All I'm seeing in the comment sections, of these articles and videos on UK theme parks, is people saying they're too expensive. Think about that for a minute, articles covering the fact parks are losing millions, and the public response is, "they're too expensive." I've seen Alton Towers and Thorpe Park singled out in these comments numerous times, and yet, they're cheaper than Paulton's. I love Paulton's, I really do, it's very well run, and I do feel I get very good value for money. But I do not feel like I get more value for money there than I do at Towers or Thorpe, as a thrill seeker. So why are these big parks still chasing the visitor numbers instead of pricing themselves at a sustainable price? Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity. The bigger parks are not charging enough. This leaves the smaller parks having to compete on prices too. Drayton Manor can't suddenly charge £40 per person, when that puts them in direct competition with Alton Towers up the road. Drayton Manor is just £27.50 per person in the main season. It's £14 to go watch a bloody movie for 2 hours these days. (And then you need a mortgage for popcorn, ffs.)
They've dug themselves into a hole though. If they suddenly increased prices significantly now, there would be no instant improvement to the experience, as those things would take time. So guests, quite rightly, would feel like they're getting less value for money. Meanwhile, there isn't the money floating around to vastly improve guest experience first and then increase prices. It's a bit of a catch 22.
Paulton's is absolutely the model, you're right to point that out. (I did, in a previous post on the Merlin thread, I think it was.) But I just don't see how the more established parks can get there now, I don't know what the answer is, without the money to invest.
The only hope I see, is that this potential global war thing never materialises, economies stabilise, energy prices come down, and the parks that have survived the next year or two can push on. Good news on that front is that we just redid our own business energy contracts. Gas came down, but electricity prices have dropped significantly! From 32ish pence per kWh, down to 20 pence per kWh, less at night. That is huge for us, a saving of over £1000 a month in the summer, £1500 in the winter, and we're just a pub, imagine how much a park spends. If contracts are up for some of these parks in the next year too, there's a much needed glimmer of hope.
Hence, let's just do our little bit to try and help UK parks this year, we can't really have much impact, but anything will help. Especially if influencers really get onboard and start pushing positivity around UK parks, and avoid the negativity and moaning as much as possible.
EDITED TO ADD: By the way, go on to Paulton's tripadvisor and look through the 1 stars and 2 stars, most are about pricing or access policies. So even they're not immune to the ridiculous public expectation on pricing.
metro.co.uk
