Is Alton Still Going To Be No.1 In 5 Years Time?

[JoshC.]

If the theming of The Swarm and attention to detail is the new Merlin standard for rides, then SW7 will be amazing and should boost AT to the top.

The way that you say that, it sounds like you think AT aren't Number 1 at the moment - is that what you feel? Or have I just misunderstood what you said?

Personally, I think the whole 'question' if you will of 'Which park is number 1?' depends entirely on what criteria you use to judge how good a park is.

If you use the simple facts of attendance figures, then Alton will be number 1 and will be number 1 for the foreseeable future. AT get around 3 million guest a year don't they? Thorpe and Legoland are each getting around the 2 million mark, and neither can expand much more to cater an extra million guests a year. Thorpe specifically mentioned in their MTDP that they only expect a slight increase in attendance figures, to around 2.3-2.4 million guests a season (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, plucking these figures from memory), so there's no way Thorpe will catch Alton up.

If you're judging it on the rides the park have, it becomes much more difficult. For someone who has a bias towards hardcore thrill rides, the rides at Thorpe on the whole are generally going to be rated higher than Alton's rides on the whole. For someone who feels a number one park should cater for everyone, Thorpe may well not even fit in the top 5 parks in the country on that criteria, and AT win pretty much hands down. So yeah, there's no real 'safe' way of objectively saying which park is number 1 if you base it solely on the rides; it just comes down to which park has your favourite rides pretty much.

Maybe it should be about how well a park is received by it's target market. Here, Thorpe would do extremely well - their target is young adults, and the majority enjoy thrill rides, being 'scared' and like the 'rave' atmosphere, all of which Thorpe provide. Alton also do well, as they target families, and have the near-perfect blend of children's rides, thrill rides and rides for all the family. However, having that larger target means that they won't necessarily please everyone all the time - it becomes a lot more difficult. Then again, Thorpe are perhaps targeting a certain type of young adult - I won't use the word chav, as that's not it - but it targets young adults with a certain taste and style in things (which, you could say, chavs fall under). There's no definitive way of describing this 'type' of young adult, but they aren't technically targeting the whole of the young adult market, which again means it becomes difficult to please everyone in their target market. No other park in my opinion, however, comes as close as 'hitting the nail on the head' for this as Thorpe and Alton do, but I do think that Alton are just a little bit better at this..

Then you could just judge it on the experience and atmosphere a park provides, which goes to what Sheepie said earlier. Again, I think Alton, especially the staff on the whole, provide a much better atmosphere for the park than Thorpe do. The experience of doing to either of them are pretty equal. Again, both are pretty much better than most of the UK rivals, but Alton do really just pip Thorpe at this stage,

tl;dr? Alton are better than Thorpe in most departments, though Thorpe are in some cases, a close second...

[pluk]

Maybe it should be about how well a park is received by it's target market.

I would say that the target market is the defining factor in which park is number 1, but not how well that market receives it but how wide it is. As long as the offering is a decent reflection of what that target market wants the widest draw will remain number 1.

As a massive generalisation, but I think quite an accurate one, for Merlin parks:

-Legoland is for kids

-Chessington is for young families

-Thorpe is for teens and adults

-Alton is for all of the above

All the time the development plans conform to these demographics (which for a whole range of reasons is likely to be for the foreseeable) Alton will remain number 1, as it will appeal to most people. A lot of people here won't have it as their number 1 though, as TPM closer match the demographic for Thorpe.

Also, because of the structure of parks Merlin have, I think the only challenge to become the UK's number 1 can come from outside the group. Some might say BPPB already do, I wish someone like Drayton would step up and really challenge Merlin with some quality competition.

[AstroDan]

I also wish DMP would rise up, however they continue to let reasonable investments rot, in no time at all, and their operations simply do not match those of the likes of Alton Towers.