April 3, 20187 yr comment_257116 1 hour ago, Marc said: I’ve noticed you’ve had this problem with them a lot - it’s certainly not great customer service and closing 2 hours earlier than advertised is bad, there’s no real other way round it. Have you ever complained to the park direct to see if the shed anymore light onto why? I suspect it’s just when they feel it’s too quiet to stay open later but they really should do things the other way round, advertising an earlier close time and then extending if needed. Yeah, I complained at the informafion desk and was told "it's an operational decision based on the number of guests."
April 3, 20187 yr comment_257117 I'm wondering how common this (closing parks earlier than advertised online) is across smaller parks in Europe. When I went to Bobbejaanland, they closed an hour earlier because it was so quiet. Definitely made no sense for them to stay open longer from an operational perspective. It wouldn't surprise me if this is a common thing across smaller parks who set optimistic opening hours but change them if the numbers aren't what they expect. Anyone else got any experiences? Just out of interest Coaster, would you say your standard guest did have gotten everything major done by 5pm? Would those extra 2 hours have actually helped people do the whole park, or just given rerides and the chance to do smaller stuff? These things can't always be black and white. (Though in saying that, I do agree that if you're explicitly advertising an "earliest possible closing" time, it's poor not to stand by that. They should reword that).
April 3, 20187 yr comment_257118 They should simply do what Adventure Island do. They say for example... Opens at 11am, closes between 4pm and 8pm. Then they announce the closing time at the entrance and on their website about midday/1pm.
April 3, 20187 yr comment_257119 Or simply do what Europa Park do and don’t release the official closing until like 1pm that day or something. After all, Mandy and the Mack family have a close connection. Although in all honesty almost any method of closing time is better than just cutting off several hours of park time in the day.
April 3, 20187 yr comment_257120 Pleasure Beach have cut an hour off today’s hours as well. Earliest ride close was 7pm but now 6pm. Really poor showing from Pleasure Beach.
April 3, 20187 yr comment_257126 Bobbejaanland closed an hour earlier than advertised when I visited. The park was heaving and the car park was full. The woman working the ticket office laughed in my face and shrugged when I asked her why they were closing earlier than advertised. It's not an operations decision based on guest numbers, it's just a s**thole. As for Pleasure Beach, that's disappointing to hear, whilst I understand the logic if it's deemed too quiet, they really need to change their wording to avoid upset.
April 3, 20187 yr comment_257142 12 hours ago, BaronC. said: I'm wondering how common this (closing parks earlier than advertised online) is across smaller parks in Europe. When I went to Bobbejaanland, they closed an hour earlier because it was so quiet. Definitely made no sense for them to stay open longer from an operational perspective. It wouldn't surprise me if this is a common thing across smaller parks who set optimistic opening hours but change them if the numbers aren't what they expect. Anyone else got any experiences? Just out of interest Coaster, would you say your standard guest did have gotten everything major done by 5pm? Would those extra 2 hours have actually helped people do the whole park, or just given rerides and the chance to do smaller stuff? These things can't always be black and white. (Though in saying that, I do agree that if you're explicitly advertising an "earliest possible closing" time, it's poor not to stand by that. They should reword that). The park was quiet but I don't think this is relevant, the Pleasure Beach clearly advertised an "Earliest Ride Closing Time" of 7pm and this wasn't changed until the Monday morning (meaning that anyone who had purchased wristbands online would have done so under the impression that the park would close at 7). In turn, I'd suggest that the fact the park was quiet over Easter weekend is concerning in itself, it has historically been much busier. There really is no excuse when the park states "Earliest Possible Ride Close" on the booking page; And in addition on the opening times page; (Note how Wednesday was suddenly amended to 6pm today) I have never known another UK park take this stance with regards to closing earlier than stated on quiet days, Thorpe for example honoured the advertised 10pm closing time during Fright Nights a couple of years back when the weather was horrendous and the park virtually empty. Along with the handling of the Wild Mouse closure, it displays an arrogance and contempt towards customers and really isn't going to help the park make a good impression.
April 3, 20187 yr comment_257144 I thought 2018 was supposed to be the year of park’s offering the best new ride, not offering the worst possible customer service. Blackpool with it’s apparently awful manner of providing information and suddenly slashing hours, and Towers with it’s staggered operations and further outlet cuts. If both parks are trying for RCT a 0 park rating, they should be given a medal.
April 4, 20187 yr comment_257149 I don't disagree that it's poor the park close earlier than their "earliest closing time", and I totally think they're opening themselves up to criticism. This past week has shown they need to reword because they simply can't honour that. But I think you'd be surprised about the number of people who would be accepting of the fact that a park closes early. There's always people who question 'will the park close early if it's too quiet / weather is very bad', and they're always surprised if a park says 'no, we'll honour our closing time regardless'. Naturally there will be those who are disappointed or unhappy, but a lot of people are also accepting that sometimes these things happen. As I say, sometimes these things aren't as black and white as they're made out to be.
April 4, 20187 yr comment_257172 Oh dear, oh dear. The lights are already broken before Icon is even officially open. I don't know if it's just the pictures / paintwork but it looks like there's strip lights running down the side too.
April 4, 20187 yr comment_257174 34 minutes ago, Stuntman707 said: Oh dear, oh dear. The lights are already broken before Icon is even officially open. I don't know if it's just the pictures / paintwork but it looks like there's strip lights running down the side too. I wouldn't worry about the lights at this stage, it's still in the testing stages don't forget. The trains do indeed have strip lights, and in addition spotlights under the seats. Of course, we can moan when they're broken a few weeks after the ride opens
April 6, 20187 yr comment_257218 Given the stance of Blackpool today (I’m visiting) and the post I’m about to make in the Tower thread, I feel very sorry for Pleasure Beach’s alleged low attendance to start the year, as the town as a whole is busy, but struggling to get people into attractions it seems. I drove past PB earlier and the park seemed incredibly quiet in comparison to the town centre.
April 10, 20187 yr comment_257325 On 06/04/2018 at 10:26 PM, Flipper said: Given the stance of Blackpool today (I’m visiting) and the post I’m about to make in the Tower thread, I feel very sorry for Pleasure Beach’s alleged low attendance to start the year, as the town as a whole is busy, but struggling to get people into attractions it seems. I drove past PB earlier and the park seemed incredibly quiet in comparison to the town centre. Sadly the low attendance doesn't surprise me, they've demolished one of the best rides around and their attitude to customer service is dismal. Closing two hours early is hardly going to attract customers and encourage repeat visits. In better news, this video (not mine) shows Icon running on a three train service at full tilt, it seems to be picking up more speed in the first half and dispatch times are fast - BPB have no excuses for slack operation now that we've seen what the hardware is capable of!
April 10, 20187 yr comment_257326 Or everyone's waiting for Icon to open... Towers in 2013 before Smiler opened was pretty dead compared to previous years...
April 10, 20187 yr comment_257327 Yeah, people are waiting for Icon. Thorpe was unusually quiet too until the new attraction opened. The GP don’t want to spend their money going to a park when they can see a big new ride that isn’t open yet.
April 11, 20187 yr comment_257334 It wasn’t a sole reflection on Pleasure Beach. The Merlin attractions were abysmally quiet, and new ride or not, for it being Easter the attractions should have been busier than they were especially with how busy with tourists the town was.
April 19, 20187 yr comment_257530 We don't deserve it and we aren't ready for it but here we go, not long now...
April 19, 20187 yr comment_257539 Positive news about Icon aside, this has just come to light on the Blackpool Pleasure Beach website; Please note: Big Dipper ride will be closed Monday – Friday during April and May excluding bank holidays. Please note: Carousel, Veteran Carousel, Alpine Rallye, Pleasure Beach Express, Grand Prix rides will be closed Monday – Friday during April and May excluding bank holidays. Please note: Bikini Bottom Bus and Dora’s World Voyage rides will be closed Monday – Friday during April and May excluding bank holidays. Words absolutely and utterly fail me. First they demolish the Wild Mouse and handle it terribly, then they close the park 1 (or on some occasions, 2) hours earlier than the advertised "earliest ride closing time", now this. It's clear that BPB have zero concept of customer service. A park which treats its customers with such contempt is never going to be a success, even with a new coaster opening. Just for reference... BPB might have good rides, but as an organisation they're absolutely terrible.
April 20, 20187 yr comment_257541 It’s easy to say they are terrible etc - but parks don’t make cuts like it for the fun of it, they know it’s not ideal, they know it will affect people’s days, but only they truly know what the state of finances are and what they need to do to help balance the books - that said it’s quite extreme closing rides rather than staggering the opening abit! Can only assume they are massively struggling this year which is a shame - but smaller company’s can’t absorb costs as easy as say Merlin can if needed.
April 20, 20187 yr comment_257542 It could be that Big Dipper, Pleasure Beach Express and Grand Prix need to be closed due to ICON work? They are all in that area of the park right? (I don't know the layout that well)
April 20, 20187 yr comment_257547 It’s not great, but at least the rides will be still open during the weekend when it is usually the most popular time to visit.
April 20, 20187 yr comment_257548 It’s not great, but at least the rides will be still open during the weekend when it is usually the most popular time to visit.
April 20, 20187 yr comment_257549 It’s not great, but at least the rides will be still open during the weekend when it is usually the most popular time to visit.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.