Project LC

They would never answer it. Thorpe like to ignore all negative feedback.

You shouldn't have to upgrade your pass because the company that runs the park wants to squeeze every penny out of you. You've already paid £169 why on earth should you pay more. No other theme park in the world treats their loyal guests like this so why should anyone put up with it. They are absolutely disgraceful to charge for it and have damaged an already pretty bad reputation. Colossus is unlikely to be in the line up because of its difficulty running in cold weather. It already uses the heaters in the station on some summer nights so I don't imagine it would do too well in feb.

Brainiac is in no way an excuse to call this an event. It was free during Easter why should it now be a charge of £5 to people who normally get in for free. There is no justification on Thorpe's side other than they want more money. They didn't need to do anything to stop me from renewing my pass but now they have successfully made others do it as well. They really have no concept on how to run a business. Never annoy your best customer, I thought they would have learnt that from fright night £10 but clearly they haven't. At least it reveals how little they care for returning customers. Personally I would have thought £169 was enough but clearly they need every penny they can get their hands on.

Its the way they are classing feb half term as a special event. In no way, shape or form can this be considered a special event. It is a reduced ride offering with a show that was free earlier this year. They keep saying limited capacity when I'm quite sure that means we are letting in as many as health and safety will allow. Their solution to reducing the number of people through the doors is to charge people who have already paid £169 for a standard pass. I know of no other parks that charge their loyal customers more for half a park 3 weeks early. It shows they care only for the money and have no concept that if people have a good time they return. The idea is to maximise sales not put people off. I'm sure a pass holder is more willing to spend on food which is where the money is and Thorpe have decided to charge those people even more and put them off from attending. Its a disgrace to charge pass holders for entry to this so called event and I'm going to inform as many people at the company as I can that people are in no way happy with their decision. I accept that they will ignore 1 person complaining at them but if I can provide evidence that lots of people are annoyed then something may be done.

No standard pass holder should go to feb half term. And others should be informed on what there doing.

Good luck getting a complaint to them before tickets go on sale. I sent a reply in an ongoing matter 17 days ago and still waiting a reply. It has only been 13 working days but its still a very long time. I cant express my anger with them over this as I still care for the park in an odd way. However as many suggested I've given up with merlin, if they see another penny from me again I will be amazed. Europa park is by far the way forward and the more people who know that the better.

Any company is able to change something because of negative complaints. As a certain lord sugar said (paraphrasing) to ignore negative feedback is to set up for failure. You also never annoy your best customer. 2 key rules of business and they have broken both of them. Make enough noise and eventually they will listen. Ive been checking laws in what I can and cant do in getting my voice heard, if there going to block me on twitter then ill take my voice else where like my 1500 subscribers. They cant just keep ignoring complaints from people. There is plenty of evidence to show people are not happy with this charge but yet they just ignore it.

The park has limited capacity so to put people off they annoy the people who are some of the most loyal. They seem to have no concept of guest satisfaction. There is no other way to describe what they have done other than idiotic. There is clearly pleanty of people who are very against the idea and in typical thorpe style they have ignored the comments. Does anyone have merlins complaint email rather than thorpes.

It may only be a £5 but its the principle. How much of my money do they want. Every oportunity they can find to charge standard pass holder they use. £10 for fright night was a joke but £5 for reduced ride offerings is just taking... They can do the hell the want with standard annaul passes as I'm done with all of merlin. £5 for loyal customers to half a park which will have queues when its normally free. There is something wrong if you pay £5 for that.

I was going to avoid leaving posts and just read the forums but £5 for standard MAP holders is just... I dont have any words which can sum up my outrage. £100+ and they want more on top of that for something alton offers for free. It will be discount entry for everyone except the pass holders who suffer an infinite price rise. I am point blank disgusted with them. Why on earth should any pass holder have to pay to get into this "event". Its just a week of operation with reduced capacity and they want to charge there loyal customers for that. Ill go back to the shadows now of just reading. I just need to get that off my chest.

Also I would appreciate it if you did make me out to be a mental guy with a board preaching about pizza pasta. Just because you lot think its good doesn't mean everyone else does. To take the piss of people with opposing opinions isn't funny or clever its just inconsiderate. You have no idea how much I do or don't want something, yeah I'm not in favour of pizza pasta instead of pizza hut but I'm not going to stand outside it warning people away.

But I was going to spend that money anyway. So its an added bonus, effectivly making it free.

I dont pay for the MAP, I get them free with nectar points. The only money they get off me is if I buy food. The only problem with Europe is getting there. Its a bit far to go if I want some thrills for the weekend.

I seriously find it hard to believe that I am the only one which goes to thorpe for the rides despite not liking the rest. Seeing as everyone is picking out each individual word I type and being ultra pedantic I'm just going to stop. If you honestly think I am or anyone is going to buy something they dont want then there is something wrong with your logic.

I think you will find I said merlin. No where near the levels of investment compared to tussauds.

The first bit wasn't aimed at you. Believe it or not it takes time to type. Merlin are playing it safe. Relative to every other theme park they are playing it very safe. They don't invest the money, new ride for this year nothing. New ride for the season just gone, cheap dodgems and a short animation. Season before that, changed some rows around on a coaster. Not exactly a bold investment. I honestly cant tell you a positive about Thorpe other than its near by. If I compare it to the rest of the UK then there are more positives but I'm not. I'm comparing it to the rest of the world which do theme parks to a far better standard.

So are you saying that Thorpe is perfect. There must be others that go to Thorpe park because of the rides despite not liking a few other things. I think Thorpe has potential to be good but merlin are playing it so safe that its damaging the park. The fact they want to build a dark ride seems like a step in the right direction but then they go and do other stupid things like RnR. One step forward and two steps back. I'm not just going to sit back and let people fool themselves into thinking that the park has no faults. I like thrill rides, I like the adrenaline. Thats why I go. Pizza Pasta is cheaper for MAP but what about all those that don't have one. More expensive and worse quality.

I have messaged thorpe itself. As always it will take 7 days to respond and will be a generic response that answers nothing. I visit thorpe for the rides, the rest is just bad. If I could I would go else where but there isnt anywhere which is near by that offers thrills. So when you suggest stop visiting the answer is I would if there was an alternative. So until there is a valid alternative I'm going to keep going and try to convince the public that thorpe isnt as amazing as they think it is. In the hope that thorpe step up their game to be the disney competitors they want to be.

Online shopping is far easier, except for when everyone does it. Tesco, asda and currys websites seem to be down at the moment due to high demand. Even the virtual world can have long queues.

I refuse to eat at burger kitchen. The difference between large and normal is nonexistant, only the price. The buns were stale, the chips where cold, got half of our order wrong, tatsed of cardboard, crowded and overpriced. Burger king is far superior. Home brands are fine, but only when done properly. Unfortuantly I dont think merlin will do them properly and I expect to see all the same mistakes at the other parks appear at Thorpe.

Pizza pasta will be £10.99 while this year pizza hut was £9.99 so £1.30. Originally I thought pizza hut was £8.99 hence why I said 30p.Also I am fine with home brand food in the parks but merlins is just awful. Burger kitchen is just the worst. No good points about it at all. Chicken co uses about 9 tonnes of pepper on each piece of chicken. Pizza pasta just isn't very nice, would pick pizza hut over it, regardless of price. Calypso BBQ always has a wait, no indoor seating. Bar 360 nice food, but the system it has is annoying. Having a waiter to take your order would be far better and set it aside from the calypso BBQ, because the only difference between those 2 at the moment is that one has heating. A balance between home brands and chains would be better. It works for cedar fair and six flags. Don't see why it cant work for merlin.

To avoid the chains becuase of the lack of discounts seems stupid. The discounts save you nothing, for example pizza pasta compared to pizzahut saves you 30p. The difference in qaulity for that 30p is well worth the price. Its a bad move to change to all home brand. They are trying to improve guest experince and yet anyone who eats at burger kitchen will feel riped off.

All merlin equivelents are far worse quality and even with the MAP discount its still more expensive or saves you very little. To see pizza hut go is a massive shame and I'm sure the majority of their current market still being teenages will agree. £11 for lunch is pretty steep espeically if your a student. If given the choice I'm sure many of those would opt for KFC or burger king, until merlin come along and ruin that to. I find food is the biggest problem at alton due to all the places servering horrible quality food (burger kitchen possibly being the worst meal I have ever had in my life) which unfortuantly leaves our group with just the woodcutters which isnt ideal as its expenisve. I really hope that the other firms dont get taken over as I feel it will negatively impact the park even more.

I hope the announcement wasn't the VIP sale. If it was then they found a new way to disappoint me and I didn't think that was possible after the RnR trails.

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