March 1, 201510 yr comment_203858 £30 is still quite expensive for a day at a theme park of Thorpe's standard - good value if it's quiet, but on a busy day I wouldn't be happy with paying that, and it is definitely too much for half price. Whilst I see what they are trying to do, I just think that it's much too expensive now and I can see it putting people off. I'm sure that the management know what they are doing, but it does seem very overpriced this year and just comes across as greed. Given that people will have £60 in their mind, and most will have still paid around £30, I can see Thorpe getting quite a bit of negative feedback from the GP in terms of pricing and value for money this year.
March 1, 201510 yr comment_203860 I don't know, I think £30.00 for a theme park of Thorpe Park's standard is reasonable and appropriate. The park sees investment in major rides every 3-4 years and is one of the more major parks in the UK. Given the cost of wages in the UK are 15-20% higher than, say, Germany, I believe that £30.00 is the sort of price Merlin should be charging guests to visit the park. If you compare the cost of a day at a theme park at £30.00 with other activities - such as the cinema, football match or day out shopping - then £30.00 is fine. Any less and it becomes 'cheap' and any more it is a rip off. £30.00 sits about right. Merlin parks should not be 'cheap' because that devalues the value of the brand but at the same time, suggesting the park is worth £50 or £60.00 and it won't be seen as value in the public's eye - no matter what they pay.
March 1, 201510 yr comment_203862 I don't know, I think £30.00 for a theme park of Thorpe Park's standard is reasonable and appropriate. The park sees investment in major rides every 3-4 years and is one of the more major parks in the UK. Given the cost of wages in the UK are 15-20% higher than, say, Germany, I believe that £30.00 is the sort of price Merlin should be charging guests to visit the park. If you compare the cost of a day at a theme park at £30.00 with other activities - such as the cinema, football match or day out shopping - then £30.00 is fine. Any less and it becomes 'cheap' and any more it is a rip off. £30.00 sits about right. Merlin parks should not be 'cheap' because that devalues the value of the brand but at the same time, suggesting the park is worth £50 or £60.00 and it won't be seen as value in the public's eye - no matter what they pay. Yes, £30 is acceptable, but not as half price, it comes across as more expensive then because you would expect half price to be much less than £30.
March 1, 201510 yr comment_203863 Yes, £30 is acceptable, but not as half price, it comes across as more expensive then because you would expect half price to be much less than £30. Thing is if somone goes online and buys a ticket half price they may well feel they are getting good value for money too, I'd say vouchers are also an important marketing tool, you get a 50% off voucher on a cereal box, it catches peoples attention and may make somone visit who wasn't consifering before
March 1, 201510 yr comment_203868 Thing is if somone goes online and buys a ticket half price they may well feel they are getting good value for money too, I'd say vouchers are also an important marketing tool, you get a 50% off voucher on a cereal box, it catches peoples attention and may make somone visit who wasn't consifering before That is very true, but if they have got to the stage where they are having to charge £60 on the gate just to be able to do this then something's wrong IMO.
March 1, 201510 yr comment_203870 Thing is if somone goes online and buys a ticket half price they may well feel they are getting good value for money too, I'd say vouchers are also an important marketing tool, you get a 50% off voucher on a cereal box, it catches peoples attention and may make somone visit who wasn't consifering before Thing is, people will go expecting stuff worth paying the marked full price of £60, regardless of the tasty deal that got them in the first place... All this is for is to push more people booking online... Why? Probably so they can actually plan for numbers... Is this the right method of promoting the park? Unlikely... £60 for any of the UK parks is a ridiculous price... And for every single European park to boot... And the American parks...
March 1, 201510 yr comment_203876 Plenty! Many of the larger parks in the US do, such as disney, some six flags and cedar fair parks, and I'm not sure, but even some of the canadian parks?
March 1, 201510 yr comment_203877 I've been looking at Disney and the cedar fair parks and I haven't come across a price that is higher. How much do they charge?
March 1, 201510 yr comment_203880 1 park 1 day ticket at Disney world (so you can only go to one of them) is between 97 & 105 USD $, which equates to about £65. This will probably be more expensive on the door, not sure how disney do it...? California disneyland is $99, which is £60 A 2 park 1 day ticket at DLP is £65 without tax. Alot better then I thought, Cedar Fair's prices don't seem to exceed $50 online, which is £35... about the same as thorpe online. On the door they don't go more then $15 more. Six flags general price seems to be $42.99, which reaches up to $70 on the gate (between 35 & 50 quid) Busch gardens and seaworld online are $75, The killer here, is Universal. $147 for a 2 park day ticket, or £90. (£61 for single park admission, this is online!!) So, if we are considering These parks to be 'world class' their prices can be deemed as reasonable... Although of course, we can be welcome to some slight decreasing.... But guys, like I said, it doesn't take much at all to use some common sense and just avoid paid events and get an annual pass. Practically all of us have done it, so be selfish, and stop moaning. It literally doesn't effect you.
March 1, 201510 yr comment_203881 Thorpe Prices in Previous year years 2006 £30 1 giant rocket lunch 2007 £32 1 fish back from the dead (up 6% Aprox) 2008 £33 1 disappointing 4d show (up 2%) 2009 £36 1 scary themed coaster (up 9%) 2010 £38 1 unsuccessful scare maze (up 5%) 2011 £40 1 leaky water ride [up 5%) 2012 £43 1 top notch roller coaster (up 9%) 2013 £45 moderate rethemed coaster (up 5%) 2014 £50.00 Angry Birds Land (2 new rides) ( up 11%) 2015 £60.00 (£50 off peak) 1 new walk through maze (Up 20% (peak days)) In ten years the price for on the day has increased significantly snd has infact more than doubled in the span of just ten years. Atleast the online price has stayed worth while of its value and should be advised when buying tickets. Moral to the story- Don't buy on the day at Thorpe!
March 2, 201510 yr comment_203930 Merlin have increased the gate prices by significantly more than inflation in order to offset their discounting habits. Fools.
March 3, 201510 yr comment_203960 Are they fools? If people still pay it and it doesn't generate complaints then really it was a sensible move. However £60 does strike me as the point where people just won't bother.
March 3, 201510 yr comment_203981 Another thing I find very strange is that they seem to have done away with family and child tickets. For a park that is trying to re-enter the family market, this seems a very bad move, as £60 (or even £30 at half price) for anyone under 1.4m is shocking value for money, so it's a very poor decision to get rid of these and only offer a very expensive one price ticket IMO.
March 3, 201510 yr comment_204009 Are they fools? If people still pay it and it doesn't generate complaints then really it was a sensible move. It generates ridiculous amounts of complaints. It also completely screws the value for money thing - as people are now expecting a product worth the full price, and the park is NOT worth £60. So Value from the vouchers has gone too. They've gone stupid now, which is not to the benefit of anyone whatsoever.
March 3, 201510 yr comment_204012 Well, they will make a hell of a lot more money now and that is all they care about...
March 4, 201510 yr comment_204032 Well, they will make a hell of a lot more money now and that is all they care about... According to members, not enough people pay the gate price so they won't be making that much more money..
March 9, 201510 yr comment_204703 I personally don't think its fair to compare UK parks like-for-like to overseas parks due to the amount of tax we pay. I'm not saying that this would solve all of our problems, but if we were paying 5% VAT instead of 20%, the current gate price would be sat at a more sensible amount. Then when you add in the cost of merchandise, food etc. Merlin are probably sitting on a much smaller profit margin than their worldwide counterparts which they need to recoup somewhere. That said, I'm not naive enough to actually think if they did get a tax break they'd pass it on the consumer. That'd be going straight in their back pocket at this stage. And its safe to say they've more of less trapped themselves in to a 2-4-1 discounting black hole, which they'll probably never get out of.
March 31, 201510 yr comment_206216 http://www.thorpebreaks.co.uk/flash-sale.html Free stay at local hotel with park ticket, £10 stay at Shark. Both a decent deal by value, and an indication that Thorpes pricing is mental by its ability to exist.
July 16, 201510 yr comment_213136 Didn't want to start a new thread, but it looks like Merlin have set up camp on Groupon for the summer. http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/thorpe-park £99.95 for 4 Adults and 4 photos is pretty good value I suppose. £25 each and a photo is better value than using a 241 and you get put in a draw for an annual pass. It's a terrible shame there's no option for groups of 3/5/7 etc. though. Otherwise, its nice to see some good promotion.
July 19, 201510 yr comment_213251 With the cut that Groupon take I'm amazed they'd be flogging tickets on there, unless they get a much better rate because of their size.
March 8, 20169 yr comment_229119 12pence tickets (yes 12 English pence) anyone? http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/thorpe-park-tickets-for-just-12p-limited-number-available-friday-25th-march-10am-2409541
March 8, 20169 yr comment_229120 Based on how well advertised these tickets are, no doubt they will sell very quickly. Also I wouldn't be surprised if there is a limit of one per person or something stupid.
March 9, 20169 yr comment_229134 I'll have to have a go to get a couple of tickets then in a few weeks - planning on visiting May 11th
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