On Friday last week we closed our office for the day. This was a first – and an opportunity to thank the staff for their hard work over the last two years – when trading conditions have been tough. We headed off to Alton Towers on a Corporate ticket.
Queue nicely - and give me your money!
So this was my second trip to Alton Towers. The first time was when I was three.
We had a corporate treasure hunt and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. But I had another self-imposed task. As a keen observer of world class attractions this was a golden opportunity! The work I have done with the Sheriff’s Commission has taken me to the USA and to other parts of the UK. I think I have developed a sense of what works and what doesn’t – I gave a presentation to the Commission after our USA trip.
I used 17 words to describe out USA trip, but for Alton Towers I need just two.
“Queue” and “Money”.
We did have some distractions in the day (a treasure hunt), but I managed two rides. The queue on “Rita” took an hour. Some of the queue boards for other rides showed 90 minutes. This is ridiculous. You can of course beat them, but that involves….money.
It’s £38 to get in on an adult ticket and £29 for kids. This is the on the gate price – and you can do deals for booking online in advance. But once you are inside it’s all about money. To skip the queues you can buy a pass for £9. Ice creams and Lager were £2.85 and £3.50 respectively – I know… I had both! Photographs from the rides were £8 each. And then you pay £5 to park!
Rides exit through shops – meaning the kids get tempted to part with their parents cash.
Realistically, if you are a family of four, budget to be spending £200+ That’s a lot for a ‘day out’?
They get 2.8 million visitors a year – the second biggest draw in the UK. 2010 is their 30th year of operation.
I have to say I came away slightly disappointed. I don’t like queuing at the best of times, and I dislike the feeling of being ripped off. Both featured highly, so I suspect this will be my last trip to Alton Towers…
Tim
good article. I wonder how many people actually pay the full price these days in the world of Vouchers available online. Did you notice that one of the tricks they employ is to NEVER give change from a £20 or £10 note in smaller denomination notes – they just give you back coins as they are far more likely to be re-spent.
They also operate on a ‘point of pain’ – pushing you as far as to feel it’s uncomfortable in terms of price, service and satisfaction. If this starts to get above 80% satisfaction, then they are not pushing you hard enough and raise prices, take off staff etc to make queues longer.
Have a look at BeWILDerwood in Norfolk, who publish their feedback using the Feefo system. They currently operate on a 99% satisfaction rate!
Which do you think people are more likely to revisit?
John, I guess that a lot of people do pre-book and pay a discounted price, but there was still a queue at the ‘give us yer money booth’ on the way in. That is, another queue!
My point of pain threshold must be quite low…
BeWilderwood sounds much better!
days out!!! closed office!!!!! why didn’t this happen when I worked there?
Well Tiner, what happened was that we have always had days out for the staff, but when you ‘worked’ (loose definition) we used to send you to Scotland to measure big sheds. The office kept it secret, but we used to go out on a training day…sorry we never told you!
Good to hear from you though – are you still a ‘week of Sundays’ girl?
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