Alton Towers: 10 year plan

[Gazza]

^Agreed on the 4D dark ride...I'm not sure how involved John Wardley is with the company these days, but on multiple occasions in interviews etc he has mentioned his liking for that style of ride system, and Alton does seem like the sort of park that would go for this sort of thing....
I hope the Transformers rides going in at Universal renew interest in these types of attractions.

 

[marc]

That will be one of the new attractions then lol.

At least it will be a crowd soaker if done.

 

[gavin]

Furie likes this :thumbleft:

I know it will happen, but please, please please NO NO NO to a **** ing 4D cinema.

People don'tlike them! Yes, they might get large numbers, but that's because people go in them just because they can. Mum, Dad and the kids can all "enjoy" it together, and they all leave saying "that was ****." Listen to them!

Mum, Dad and the kids would LOVE an Indiana Jones/Pharaoh's Fury style dark ride. There's nothing like it in the UK. Nothing even in Europe if I'm thinking right. Families would love it, and wouldn't ride it just because it was there, but because it was a great ride.

Stick your hand in your pocket and your park back on the ****ing map!

 

[Screaming Coasters]

Is it working though? I thought they had to put a project on hold due to numbers?

It is working very well.
Furius Baco brought in more than projected, the year of opening. The decline only after that when people stayed at home because of recession. Nothing to do with it's model.

Where as Alton, Thorpe and Chessington are getting record numbers.

That's because more people are staying at home, UK parks just got lucky. Wait until it all ends and they will have to pull their fingers out and start delivering.

 

[furie]

It is working very well.
Furius Baco brought in more than projected, the year of opening. The decline only after that when people stayed at home because of recession. Nothing to do with it's model.


That's because more people are staying at home, UK parks just got lucky. Wait until it all ends and they will have to pull their fingers out and start delivering.

Careful Erol, you need to back up your arguments with good figures.

Port Aventura pulled in 3.7 million guests in 2007. Alton pulled in about 2.4 Million. Considering PA is open for what? Four months more and is a bigger park, it's not actually a massive difference in numbers.

While Alton have seen improved footfall since 2006, PA had the 2007 "blip", but now numbers are down again. Alton are looking at increasing visitor numbers in the next few years to around 2.9 Million - more than that and they will end up in trouble!

So really, the two are pretty much equal on the number of guests coming. The difference is that Alton have increased figures both before and after the recession kicked in, whereas PA are losing numbers due to the recession.

Alton are adding to their portfolio, while PA are putting spend on hold (and stopping running expensive rides).

So I'd say Alton have the more successful business model of the two.

References:
http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:7n ... clnk&gl=uk

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:au ... clnk&gl=uk

There's a 2008 one somewhere I can't find which shows PA figures down.

 

[marc]

Yes I know what you mean Erol.

Maybe people went when Baco opened, and really can not be bothered going back for it (Joke btw)

The other thing that caused problems for PA is Ryanair, you can not longer get the flight, transport and hotel deal from the park. So people from the UK and other European areas can not get there as easily and its more expensive for this reason.

You used to be able to get a flight and 2 nights on resort for £70, now you can not.

 

[furie]

2008 figures.

PA down from 3.7 million to 3.3 million while AT increased by about 0.5 million
http://www.blooloop.com/PDF/TEAERA2008.pdf

This year is still looking exceptionally good for Alton, while PA still seems to be down on gate numbers (not seen any trip reports from there which show any kind of busy period yet).

 

[Screaming Coasters]

^ Alton have added new attractions, PA hasn't. Hmmm I dunno, maybe PA need to rip their customers off a bit like Alton.

 

[furie]

^ Alton have added new attractions, PA hasn't. Hmmm I dunno, maybe PA need to rip their customers off a bit like Alton.

So you recommend PA use Alton's model then as theirs isn't working very well?

 

[Screaming Coasters]

Put it like that then.... Yes! LOL
Well there goes my argument, I thought I was on to something haha.

 

[marc]

Tbh I was going to say something before but could not think of the words so cheers Furie

 

[Ingested Banjo]

I haven't seen this mentioned much in other topics so without reading the rest of this topic I'll just throw this in here. It's about Thorpe's plans. Basically they say they will be building a wooden coaster in 2012, and then possibly a (up to) 350ft coaster in 2015. I got this from a talk in a school trip there.

And with the 350ft coaster, they already have stealth, so they can't really waste it on another pointless rocket coaster, possibly some major airtime/multilooper development then...

 

[Lain]

I haven't seen this mentioned much in other topics so without reading the rest of this topic I'll just throw this in here. It's about Thorpe's plans. Basically they say they will be building a wooden coaster in 2012, and then possibly a (up to) 350ft coaster in 2015. I got this from a talk in a school trip there.

And with the 350ft coaster, they already have stealth, so they can't really waste it on another pointless rocket coaster, possibly some major airtime/multilooper development then...

I don't think 'a school trip' is a very reliable source...

 

[Swat]

I haven't seen this mentioned much in other topics so without reading the rest of this topic I'll just throw this in here. It's about Thorpe's plans. Basically they say they will be building a wooden coaster in 2012, and then possibly a (up to) 350ft coaster in 2015. I got this from a talk in a school trip there.

And with the 350ft coaster, they already have stealth, so they can't really waste it on another pointless rocket coaster, possibly some major airtime/multilooper development then...

With Thorpe's high limit which had to be raised to built stealth I highly doubt they will get permission for a 350ft ride soon.

 

[Screaming Coasters]

^ Potentially, they could.
They only had to clear it with Heathrow next door, the locals were pretty much for Stealth.
It also helps that Thorpe is on Brown-land which has no real regulations.