Posted March 3, 20196 yr comment_263260 Parking now £15.00 unless pre booked online and then its £8.00. Only Premium Merlin Passes get free parking. https://www.thorpepark.com/tickets-passes/parking
March 3, 20196 yr comment_263261 They really are keen to discourage people buying at the barriers, last year you could buy on the day on your phone for £8 too, I guess it will be the same this year.
March 4, 20196 yr comment_263263 Wait so £15 if you pay on the day or £15 if you pay at the barriers?
March 4, 20196 yr comment_263274 I imagine you can still buy tickets at the admissions area for less than £15 (looking at those prices, I'd expect £10). Clearly the idea is to discourage people from paying at the barrier (causes delays), and to use the website/app.
March 6, 20196 yr comment_263339 Long story, but I've not been to a park for years...yes, I know. Anyway, I think it's an utter p1ss take that parks think it's acceptable to charge for parking, it's not as if the car parks are close enough to town centres to be used by randomers going to town shopping. Blackpool is different because it's part of the town and parking is limited anyway, but why should you have to pay to park your car in the middle of a forest, especially when they're asking £56 to get into the place. Tom.
March 6, 20196 yr comment_263340 Still better than some of the USA parks that can charge up to $30 to park not that I'm jutistifying the hike but still
March 7, 20196 yr comment_263344 £15 for a gravel pit to park that has barely changed since they introduced park is frankly embarrassing. I know it’s £8 in advance but it has honestly got to be one of the worst parks to park in currently. Surw the American parks charge a lot too to park, but at least they probably maintain their parking areas properly.
March 7, 20196 yr comment_263347 How long before they remove the perk of free parking for the premium MAPs?
March 7, 20196 yr comment_263348 48 minutes ago, Loggers Creek said: £15 for a gravel pit to park that has barely changed since they introduced park is frankly embarrassing. I know it’s £8 in advance but it has honestly got to be one of the worst parks to park in currently. Surw the American parks charge a lot too to park, but at least they probably maintain their parking areas properly. Chessington says hello
March 7, 20196 yr comment_263350 People assume that this is a cash grab - but in reality it has more to do with discouraging driving to the park because the local roads are already stretched... Future developments such as rollercoasters will always have an increase in traffic accounted for within the planning application and at some point Runnymead Council will have a tipping point to saying "no" because the local infrastructure can't cope with an increase. So, how do you curb that and keep it below that tipping point....? Discourage driving and promote free transport from public transport hubs...
March 7, 20196 yr comment_263351 28 minutes ago, EpicSmatty said: Chessington says hello Chesington at £3 is a bargain especially since they claim at least 10% goes to the Chessington Conservation Fund, I’d have no issue paying that £3. The Thorpe money brings us the ultra successful additions like Love Island, Walking Dead, and for 2019 jungle maze and an inflatable.
March 7, 20196 yr comment_263353 @Ringo, you are wrong - last year the money raised from the car parking WAS reinvested into the car park as when I went, they had spray painted bays onto the gravel. You know, gravel that moves around and isn't fixed to the ground. Genius. #betterthannothing
March 7, 20196 yr comment_263356 The gravel car park is to help with drainage. Sustainable urban drainage systems will often use gravel to slow down the rate water enters the ground and sewage systems as well as lakes and rivers. If the car park were to be tarmac then it would need significant drainage systems put in place which would cost a fortune for very little reward. The price hike seems to be money grabbing in the name of sustainable travel. If they want to encourage sustainable transport then they should use the car park money to improve public transport to the park.
March 7, 20196 yr comment_263357 5 hours ago, Loggers Creek said: £15 for a gravel pit to park that has barely changed since they introduced park is frankly embarrassing. I know it’s £8 in advance but it has honestly got to be one of the worst parks to park in currently. Surw the American parks charge a lot too to park, but at least they probably maintain their parking areas properly. There are much much worse car parks around than at Thorpe! 4 hours ago, Coaster said: How long before they remove the perk of free parking for the premium MAPs? Probably a long time - expect it’s one of the major attractions of the premium upgrade to many!
March 7, 20196 yr comment_263358 4 minutes ago, Marc said: There are much much worse car parks around than at Thorpe! Probably a long time - expect it’s one of the major attractions of the premium upgrade to many! Yes, but its. Still a valid point! That gravel end of the car park has remained the same for a few decades, bar taking out the wooden dividers! Actually they did refurbish the tarmaced section last year!
March 7, 20196 yr comment_263359 If they tarmaced a section then there’s no way it would be for general use, Express parking at £30 a space.
March 7, 20196 yr comment_263360 I remember at the end of a rainy Fright Nights day last year, the car park being waterlogged and having to retrieve my car from a huge puddle (meaning wet shoes were the only option). Horrendous that they charge £15 for a car park that can't even drain properly.
March 7, 20196 yr comment_263362 1 minute ago, Coaster said: I remember at the end of a rainy Fright Nights day last year, the car park being waterlogged and having to retrieve my car from a huge puddle (meaning wet shoes were the only option). Horrendous that they charge £15 for a car park that can't even drain properly. The whole park does that to be fair I’m not sure what they can really do - you only need to dig a few foot down till you hit water (I remember the holes for the TVs were full of water!) it’s just the land the park isn’t on I guess.
March 8, 20196 yr comment_263369 Quote Save time when you book your Car Parking online. £10 when you pay at the exit barriers £8 when you buy from The Island Ticket Centre £7 when you buy online in advance or on the day It's changed already. I enjoyed the outrage though.
March 8, 20196 yr comment_263370 3 minutes ago, Mark9 said: It's changed already. I enjoyed the outrage though. Strange - the £15/£8 was the actual prices during Fright Nights!
March 8, 20196 yr comment_263372 Maybe they realised it was perhaps a bit too much? That or they just hadn't updated since Fright Nights properly. I guess the thing to always keep in mind is that it is now technically £7 to park. Any higher prices are there to deter people from taking more time from staff, who could be doing other things, or taking more time at the barrier, which makes it longer for everyone to get out. £7 is still a lot to pay, given the quality of the car park. And I don't believe Thorpe can really change the gravel car park - it has to remain gravel due to the location near the lake and act as flood relief effectively (or something like that I think?). So they need to strike a balance of charging the right amount for the quality of it.
March 9, 20196 yr comment_263417 I still think they should put the barriers at the entrance to stop the 1hr+ gridlock to get out on busy days.
March 10, 20196 yr comment_263418 On 3/7/2019 at 5:01 PM, Project LC said: The price hike seems to be money grabbing in the name of sustainable travel. If they want to encourage sustainable transport then they should use the car park money to improve public transport to the park. The thing is: Thorpe Park has some of the best public transport links of any UK parks. Only Blackpool (City Centre park with trams and buses) and Chessington (Train station and multiple bus routes) are better. Having a park a 10 minute bus shuttle from a train station on one of the mainlines near one of the worlds biggest cities is something many parks would kill for. I think it's acceptable to charge decent money for parking to discourage it. As others have mentioned: most US parks charge way more and have little/no public transportation. £15 is maybe too much but that's really an idiot tax for paying at the barriers and not online/ticket machines.
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