Benin

From Towerstimes...I fully expect the other parks to follow suit... The number of passes is getting more and more silly by the day at this rate... Will they be releasing London Midway ones soon?

I'm gonna go cry in a corner...What an awful week regarding theme park news

D'awwwwwww... Cute trains are cute...

2010 AP Price = £1502011 Premium Pass Price = £175That's where Mark got the 25 quid from... As to get the same basic thing as last year (bar the London August restriction) you have to pay that as a 'difference'... Decrease or no decrease in the actual cost, there's still an increase...In addition, renewal of a standard pass has gone UP by 8 quid... Where did they pull that from?

I never knew ANY of that was happening before... If it wasn't for "Yo Chessington" I'd have never had known... Many thanks...

STOP EATING MY SESAME CAKE!

It won't... Because people are easily swayed by marketing... But they'll still lose some APers who will probs be replaced by new ones and so on...I got mine in October so I don't have much choice or worry... But it's still the principle of the thing...

Of course the Premium wasn't worth it... Hence why no-one got one...But doing it this way hasn't worked for them... Simple as... Not everyone can afford to give out the extra money at the current time... People's reactions say it all... In this economic climate, we don't want to over-spend too much on needless entertainment things... Playing around with the perks in this manner will lose Merlin custom... No more short staying customers will mean quite likely a loss of income somewhere along the line, be it for food or merch...I keep saying disillusion right now because that's how the majority of people feel... And of course for enthusiasts why stay with Merlin when there's a vast number of cheaper, newer and more awesome European parks?If it was obvious that the money from the parking charge was going into the parks, it would be more easy to deal with... But what are we getting this year? A 2nd hand 'water' ride, a 4D cinema, a Sea-Life and new barriers... You go to places like America and Europe where both charged and non-charged car parks exist it is obvious that for the most part they do care, repainting and repairing things nicely, even if it takes longer to do... That doesn't happen here...You go to Europa Park and know EXACTLY that the money you paid for parking and entry is going straight into the park in some way shape or form due to the quality all around...And if it ends up with the standard one being phased out, what's the point of all this? We'll just end up in the same situation...

I never said it wasn't bad value, the AP has ALWAYS been good value, regardless of the price increases that have occurred...HOWEVER, what I have a problem is that in order to get the full amount of perks now I have to part with even more money to Merlin... That's just not on... Especially when they're bombarding normal pass holders with restrictions in order to make the more expensive one more attractive... A simple ruse that I just don't approve of because of how poorly those tickets sold last year...

But Mark also said... So I don't get your point about that... Yes it might be worth me getting the Premium Pass, but why should I just so I can get rid of restrictions? Merlin have handled this really badly by leaving it a day before coming out with something, as due to the nature of Facebook, the reputation was tarnished within minutes of the discovery...As I said, it didn't sell last year, Merlin are trying to make up the numbers but the way they have done so has disillusioned many of their AP holders both enthusiast and non-enthusiast alike... What with holidays abroad being relatively cheap now (especially to Europe), annoying your more loyal customers is not a great business plan...

This is the point...Make something that wasn't selling more marketable... Simple business plan...Best way to do it? No...

So basically..."Last year our Premium Pass thing wasn't selling well, so we're gonna make it seem a better option by putting down the price and taking away perks on the standard..."

But... You can't even drive? Damn right Mark... As I said earlier, having the restrictions on the London attractions isn't AS bad, it's not great, but a lot more understandable considering the nature of them... Same goes for the Blackpool attractions at October Half Term (and the various other restrictive dates)...What's annoying me is people saying "If you have a pass from this year why are you moaning?", that's just a stupid thing to say because of the principles... Why should we continue losing perks in place of restrictions? It's getting sillier and sillier and it's possible that as the Premium Pass was an absolute failure (If I recall correctly I saw less than 10 in one summer at the Eye) sales wise they're wanting people to buy it instead, but doing it this way is completely the wrong way about it... If the Premium Pass was 150 quid I think many would consider it value for money... But they won't lower the price of it that much... Can't see it at all...

In case anyone wants to know where people discovered the issue... Same can be said of Chessie's Grass Car Park... Where I've only had the misfortune of parking once... You thought Thorpe's was confusing...

So therefore you cannot comment, though Dan has already gone through why the car parking charge is stupid... It would've costed me over 30 quid just for this season if each car park was at a fiver... That's shocking considering I've already parted with a fair chunk of cash to the company (and have done for... god... nearly 10 years now)...Charging for parking can easily prevent extra guests who are doing a 'quick stop' at the park as well... Indeed, it is entirely likely that I, whilst travelling down from Stafford going around the M25 may be tempted by an hour or two at Thorpe or Chessie on a rather empty Friday... But would I want to do this if I was charged a fiver to leave? Unlikely as I'd prefer to make a day out of it (or get home and seek alternative transport)... Hardly anyone is commenting on Blackpool restrictions because they aren't are stupid as the car park ones and are essentially the same as current restrictions already existing... Currently all I use are food and merch discounts... Nothing else... This is because like many others I haven't the time or money required to go off to foreign parks... Especially when I have ones here where I can get in for free... So what do these international discounts do for me? Not that much...Passholder days... They got mixed reactions this year... But again, I might not be able (or wanting) to go to these...And the attractions are not available ALL the time... There are several pre-existing restrictions (London Summer anyone), which was poorly advertised and resulted in many unhappy customers... Same for Fright Nights... Yes, because I so want my Travis Parkins discount kept on there instead of free parking... I swear those non-Merlin offers are stupid as hell... I read through a leaflet of them at the Eye in the summer... They were so uninteresting and pointless... I don't know anyone who uses their AP for anything but Merlin related times...Why the days of unlimited entry at all attractions cannot come back I don't know...

If they did that, I would definitely not bother with it anymore...Not being able to do a birthday trip to Chessie? Sod off Merlin...

The week you can't do Blackpool is half term week... So it kinda follows patterns that are pre-existing... Lego... Is a silly idea, because of the nature of it being a theme park... It gets uber busy during summer, and only allowing AP holders in after 2 is incredibly random... It's like they're trying to do the whole London attraction 3pm thing they used to have (which worked better due to the nature of London and the fact the places were usually a lot deader after this time till closing), but not realising that it could easily make people not even bother...At least Chessie is easy for me to get to... Thorpe is however expensive to travel to via public transport and Alton is just bloody annoying to travel via public transport...About 30 quid it would've cost me this year with car related times, glad I make Chessie my most visited park...They will lose stuff over this unless they can sweeten the deal excessively...

Maintenance nightmare... Apparently...Expect a new fountain to be announced soon...

Dunno where exactly to put this, but this needs a topic due to how important this is to some on here (I.e. Marc )...LINK Outrage has followed on the MAP Facebook page, but they have retorted that free parking will last until you get your 2011 Pass (Which for me is October, SWISH!)...But regardless, silly Merlin is SILLY...

Bullet were FAB!I was just happy with Your Betrayal opening, but also confused as to the lack of new album title track and tour name of Fever... As well as the fan-girl bait of either Hearts Burst Into Fire (Which I wanted) or Forever and Always (Which I didn't want)...Oh well, I have a sore throat and neck, that must mean it was epic... Tears Don't Fall <3<3

Big ride is Space Invader 2 or Magic Mountain?They are getting a disko of some form I'm sure... And a few other new family rides as well as repainting the two woodies in that area... Blackpool people reckon it's a total retheme/removal of theming... And will just be the Big One... Or BO for short...

As per Mark, putting a smile as my voice...Top marks...

OH NOES! BUCCANEER HAS BEEN TAKEN DOWNS!!! IT MUST BE LEAVING AND IT'LL BE LIKE RODEO ALL OVER AGAIN!!!!!111It's sitting elsewhere in the park atm... Major maintenance times obviously...And Toytown got cancelled a while back... Hence why no-one's been continuing on that front...

Bullet for my Valentine tonight <3<3<3<3<3<3Gonna be awesome...

Try again, Tripsdrill has the original bathtime themed log flume attraction... Including animatronic half naked ladies... And personally I'm not bored with pirate themes... Towers were clever with it as an addition as it didn't require too much work (with the pre-existing buildings already being piratey), pirates regaining popularity due to the films, and it actually looking pretty decent and revamping a rather dull area by giving it a much more obvious identity...Pirate themes are also very simple for guests to understand, as they are very general knowledge... That's why lots of parks have them... Nice, simple and can be very effective if done well...Replacing Flume does provide an interesting choice for Towers, removal could involve a good old arguement with the council, whilst revamping would be the cheapest idea, but not provide anything truly exciting and new... Plus they will need to consider throughputs as Peter said, it's one of the highest in the park...A conundrum...