UK theme park opening hours

[TheBikiniExpert]

Why do they close so early? Surely in the summer they could stay open later like they do on the continent? They could even have evening passes to bring in more revenue. Paulton's Park closes at 5.30pm!!

why isn't that long enough?

We've been to Legoland for the past two days and they are open until 7pm ...although rides close at 6pm. DS was knackered by 2pm yesterday and 4pm today. We got there at 9.30am, to be fair.
Our local theme park closes at 6pm and they won't let anyone one in after 4.30pm. It's for little kids up to the age of about 10. They don't need to be open any longer.
We're not in the UK, though.

Probably because there isn't enough demand to warrant staying open later.

Paultons is aimed at relatively young children.
If they stay open longer they'd have to pay a 'second shift' of staff to man the rides.

I've always wondered that. Places like Efteling, Disneyland, PortAventura etc open til 8-11pm in the summer. I know our parks don't attract anywhere near as many tourists but I have always thought it a bit strange.

Paultons pisses me off because they start closing the restaurants a good hour before. We’re season tickets holders who often go at the end of the day and so many times I’ve been annoyed I can’t just get dinner there.

So the staff can go home

YANBU, I have very fond memories of being at Chessington WoA til 9pm as a 12yo.

Would be too tiring for me now tho 😉

paultons is pretty dire....surely a few hours is enough for anyone!

Most uk parks are the same - we love going to Disneyland paris where it opens from 10am ish to 10pm at night!!

I think they have to change the batteries in the animals at about 6:00 ready for the following day.

YANBU, we stayed at Alton Towers until about 9pm on Halloween. In the light summer days, it should definitely stay open longer.

But they could have more than one shift? Lots of places ARE open in the evening. They could even close PP world and just have the rest open along with the restaurants, maybe even have an afternoon/evening ticket? Paultons are you listening? 😁

I haven’t been for years but I was surprised at how early Alton Towers closes, especially considering they only open at 10 as well.

I always think this. Stagger start times. It’s not rocket science 😅 they’re clearly making a killing as they’re currently operating though so I guess why would they change things.

We went to Paulton's a few weeks ago, it's targeted at younger kids I'd say in comparison to other theme parks. It was late enough for our preschoolers and plenty of other people were leaving when we did at 4:30ish. I think others close later?

they’re clearly making a killing as they’re currently operating though

I wouldn't be so certain. Paulton's isn't open all year round. The investment in new rides to keep people coming back must run into £££££££.

If they thought it would be beneficial from business point of view to open later then I'm sure they would!

Legoland used to be open til 8pm we used to go after school during the summer months. Opening times seemed to get much shorter about 5 years ago.
it’s just another cost-cutting exercise.

Maybe it just isn't that cost-effective in terms of the extra spend on lighting, staffing etc in proportion to the extra revenue.

Think of it this way: if you pay £30 for a day ticket and arrive at 10am, if they stay open until 10pm rather than 6pm they're having to pay for four more hours of staff and four more hours of running costs, but you haven't paid any more for your ticket so they're out of pocket. Sure, they might make a bit extra from the refreshment stands etc, but maybe it's just not enough per person to cover the extra cost of staying open later, given that most people in the UK probably would go home earlier anyway. It's not like night-times in the UK are as warm as they are in places on the Med or in Florida, and we don't have the same culture of kids staying up late that they do in Spain, France etc. So it probably wouldn't be busy enough in the evenings to make it profitable to stay open unless they whacked up the ticket price even more.

Generally speaking, if a company can make more money out of something, they'll do it, so I suspect it's something they've definitely considered and ruled out because the numbers don't stack up.

I leave near to Alton Towers - don't know if it's the same for other UK theme parks, but it causes absolute chaos on the roads and vilages nearby, particularly in the Easter and summer holidays. After hours is the only time of calm local residents get - I imagine there would be outcry if they tried to open later.

We don’t go to theme parks but I’m surprised they close so early?! Alton towers closes at 6? I certainly would have thought they stayed open later than that

We've done chessington and legoland recently. Both parks notably become a lot quieter from 3.30/4 onwards. I don't think British families as a whole do the later evenings like families do on the continent. Just different cultures.

Obvious - it would cost them more. People would be on the same price of ticket but they'd be incurring more costs.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach stays open later to say 9pm or 10pm for some weekends over summer and during when the illuminations are on.

I reckon it's because of the British attitude of "get your money's worth." If they opened longer and hired more staff, they'd still end up with the same number of people milling around, just being there longer and going on more rides, so they couldn't sell more tickets.

It's the same reason we have so few "all you can eat" places compared to the US. People here would literally take the mickey just out of principle.