Spent a fortune on Alton Towers and nearly everything was closed

nearly everything is shut? Bollocks, I’ve just looked on the app two of the things shut don’t count as it’s the monorail, two open in May, (congo river and battle galleons) two are in CBeebies (go jetters and Justin pie house) , one for maintenance (runaway mine train) and one hasn’t be open for ages (oblivion) There’s still plenty open and running

Was it set out on their website what would be open and what would be closed? Normally theme parks are really clear about this sort of thing, and advertise scheduled closures months in advance based on the season and school holidays.

If this was on the website and you just didn't look then YABU as they could not do more. If it was not on their website or their website is incorrect that YANBU and I would kick up a stink.

Did their website list the closures?

If 50% of the rides are closed, I agree they should be providing at least a partial refund. However, their app and their website show that most rides are open. The only dippers that are shut are the Runaway Mine Train and Oblivion. Toxicator, Nemesis Reborn, Wicker Man, The Smiler, Nemesis Sub-Terra, Galactica, Thi3teen and Rita are all open. Alton Towers has over 40 rides and attractions, so 6 being closed is hardly 50% of them.

Alton Towers is just awful now- dirty, awful food, insane queues/overcrowding. It costs an absolute fortune and I recommend spending that money on a trip to Efteling in Holland instead. It’s clean, beautifully landscaped, excellent rides, reasonable queues so you’re able to get on more than three rides in a day, lovely places to sit and have a coffee, can’t recommend it enough.

How are they supposed to know what's closed in advance? The rides are normally closed because they need urgent maintenance or because of weather, its not planned

The app publicises whats closed on the day

OP said hardly anything was open...of the (approximately) 40 attractions there, only 6 were closed - 2 of which are just means of getting around the park...

The closures have a bigger effect than just not being able to go on those particular rides - they also mean longer queues for everything else. The monorail sucks up a lot of people.

I'm not normally a fan of posters answering like it's homework but in this case Im interested in your thinking

How is it unreasonable to expect something you've paid for to be available?

Of the six attractions that are closed, two are ways to get into/around the park, and two are water rides so are often closed at this time of year. We went a few weeks ago with exactly the same closures and had a great day

No I don’t believe this for a second. Well ok yeah it’ll be exorbitantly expensive and a huge shock to anyone who hasn’t been to Florida or similar, but have you seen the size of the park? These theme parks are not like the UK. Merlin are not comparable. I will be buying express passes though as we always do!

That's only 6 closures though - one of them is the monorail, as someone else mentioned, it's not even a ride.
According to the website, there are 40 rides/attractions - 6/40 is only 15%, not 50%...not quite enough to justify wanting a full/partial refund IMO

Yes. I agree - terrible customer service. They should be up front and charge 50% if half the good rides are closed. I took my mum for a spa day a while back for her birthday - some of the facilities were unexpectedly closed. They gave everyone a voucher as we left to come back to come back another time too without even asking.

@Foxy200

I am on your side - I was replying to someone else who suggested that all the closures were fine. Re-read my post.

They would never declare all those closures clearly otherwise no one would book at that time!

It’s very sneaky.

Wow! Isn’t it! They should offer half price tickets on days like that

What rides were closed OP?

Universal is going to be an absolute over priced shit show with massive queues. We are no longer capable of running any kind of family day out that offers value for money. As a nation we are rinsed dry, left right and centre, by greedy private corporations, whether that's in transport, retail, leisure, hospitality, energy - whatever the sector. And what's worse is that we stand for it (and I include myself in that)

OR they could have notified full price
paying customers what was closed in advance of the trip?

Are you suggesting that these closures were advertised on the website when @Foxy200 booked the tickets?

If yes, then I am happy to stand down.

If all these closures were not clearly declared at the time of booking then
both you and the venue are being ridiculous.

If she had known so much was closed she would not have booked. Obviously.

I think as we’ve had such crap weather it’s delayed a lot of the rides opening, it’s always the way when they reopen. That said universal opens in a few years! :)

May you justify your comment?

Partly YABU you could have checked before travelling what was actually open. Remember that they're closed rides for safety reasons - considering what horrible accidents have happened on rides with theme parks over the years.

Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and most of the other Merlin attractions are being absolutely run into the ground at the moment. I'm a massive roller coaster fan and all the channels on youtube are complaining incessantly about it for the past year or so.

I still go to both parks once a year or so, but usually on a school day in late September, where it will be quiet but opening hours are still decent and most stuff will be open.

I can honestly see a lot of our theme parks closing in the next few years, especially once the new Universal resort opens in a few years and people realise just how neglected places like Alton Towers have become.

How the bloody heck is the OP being unreasonable. Are Brits really this accepting of throwing their hard earned money away?