To think 2 hours queuing times is wrong at Merlin?

[ToBeOrNotToB]

We went to Chessington Howl’oween. The queues for most of the big ticket rides were 2 hours long all day. Some were 90mins. We went on 3 big rides in total. Shouldn’t theme parks limit number of visitors to guarantee better value for money? (It costs over £100 for a family of four to visit).

They are capped, they usually sell out at halloween

A theme park in my country did that after it reopened after pandemic closing, with tickets limited at 50% of normal capacity. I went and it was brilliant, very short queues (though tbh the queues are never that bad there, certainly not hour plus)

Are they still doing it now? I assume not, as it wouldn't make any financial sense.

No, it was only temporary because of the restrictions on numbers of people but it was so nice! But at least queues are never that long anyway because smaller population and whatnot.

OP isn't complaining about having to queue though - just asking if 2+ hours is unreasonable. We were there on Wednesday, the queues were bad and the queue times on the app not at all accurate.

We stayed at the hotel, so had early access - but only the kiddy rides are open then, so all mine did was join a queue for Vampire. With no guarantee it would open at 10, or at all. Every big ride broke down, I think more than once each, while we were there. If you have queued for an hour to a ride which then breaks down, unlucky, you just get sent away.

The queues for fast pass/disabled access were still 45 minutes plus. My DD has a ride access pass, how it works is you book a ride, queue in the 'fast pass' queue, then the system locks you out for the duration of the standard queue, before you can book another ride. So e.g. you book Dragons Fury, queue in the fast pass queue for 45 minutes, go on, then wait the 2 hours the normal queue would have been before you can book something else. So no, a fast pass or disabled pass doesn't solve the problem, nor are those with them causing the problem for everyone else.

So posters can say get there early/buy a fast pass/check the queues on the app - we did all of those, and still queued A LOT. We can't go on a quieter day, we have to go in school holidays. And I personally think that the amount of queueing, even with all my efforts to minimise it, added to rides breaking down, slow queues for food, toilets, even to get the QR code to activate the access pass in the first place, isn't okay. 'Don't go when its busy then' isn't possible for everyone, and some customer service or better organisation would at least help me.feel less ripped off.

@nothingcomestonothing I’m so sorry you went through that. You’ve understood what I’m saying perfectly and it sounds like you were ripped off big time. Vampire used to open before 10am when we stayed before. That was the best thing about staying, jumping on that early doors.

Some other European theme parks to recommend as Europa Park has been mentioned.

Phantasialand in Germany, went last week, no queues as that part of Germany were at school. Unbelievable rides, theming, really good variety of food much cheaper than UK.. Wipes the floor with Alton Towers in every aspect. Nothing broke down either. Very impressive.

Plopsaland in Belgium (about 40 mind drive from Calais. Theming is for smaller kids but there are some fab big rides. Place is quite mad but very good fun.

If you can go whilst their kids are at school and ours aren't will make a huge difference.

Off topic a bit but we did Legoland on a Monday in September last year and it was much busier than I expected! It wasn’t packed but it was pretty crowded, all things considered.

People keep saying it would be more expensive - NO - the people running it woudld make less profit! It's insane to pay for several hours of queing and your kids get 3 rides. INSANE> But also insane parents do this. If people stopped going along with it they would have to lower the numbers of people they allow in.

I’ll tell you what’s insane. Grown adults going to this event in a school holiday with no kids in tow. I saw a few of those!

I’ll tell you what’s insane. Grown adults going to this event in a school holiday with no kids in tow.

I wouldn’t do it either but it’s not just for kids and if they don’t have any they may not have thought about school hols

I think you'e incredibly naive if you think they'd just accept less profit, though. If they were somehow forced to reduce numbers, of course prices would rise. They'd get their money back somehow - increased entrance costs, shorter opening hours, parking costs, charging for lockers, pricier food and banning things like picnics so you're a captive audience etc.

At the end of the day they're a business and their costs must be astronomical. Ground rent, land maintenance, ride maintenance and safety, salaries and wages for hundreds, if not thousands of staff, toilets, cleaners, food stands, car park maintenance, first aiders, insurance, electricity, gas, internet, stock, cleaning products, tools....the list goes on.

I agree that it's insane that people pay several hundred pounds just to ride 2-3 coasters, though, which is why you'd never catch me at any of these over-hyped events in the first place lol.

If people stopped going to them because it was too busy they wouldn't need to lower the numbers allowed, it would lower itself!
The numbers are high because the population is high and people want to go. People go and moan there's other people there. But they're there themselves. If half the people in the park decided it was too busy and they were going home, there would be half less in the park and those half left would have a great time with shorter queues.

Exactly. It's like what someone said upthread - people travel and moan about the traffic on Bank Holidays but conveniently ignore the fact that they're also the ones causing the traffic 😂

My husband is terrible for this. If we get stuck in a traffic queue 'why is it so busy? why are all these people on the road?' and I'm saying, 'well, we're here, aren't we?'🙄

Some people missing the point here. I expect it to be busy but how busy is too busy? And shouldn’t Merlin take note that 2 hour queues aren’t ok? It would be great if they had a dial saying what percentage capacity of tickets have been sold when you go to book. Might help people even out their choice of day.

No, we're not missing the point at all.

Merlin will think two hour queues are absolutely fine because the consumer is telling them it's fine - by repeatedly making these events insanely popular sell-outs, year after year.

People need to take personal responsibility for their choices, surely? If you choose to go to a massive, time-limited, annual event at a huge theme park during the school holidays, surely you know it's going to be stupidly busy?

It's a bit like complaining that Tesco is over-crowded at 2pm on Christmas Eve, or that Cornwall is busy during the school holidays. What else do you expect?!

It's either worth the queues because you'll get something amazing (like a holiday) at the end of it, or it's not. That's something only you can decide.

And shouldn’t Merlin take note that 2 hour queues aren’t ok?

As above, as long as people keep going, no they won’t. There’s no legal requirement either, the ticket t &c says it doesn’t guarantee you anything but entry or something. The queues outside our house are from 9.30-11 or 12 some days so we can’t go anywhere! They don’t care about local residents being inconvenienced either. If we really hate it we can move 🤷🏽‍♀️

If I was a theme park enthusiast, I wouldn’t go if it was 2 hour queues. Honestly that is the only thing that would change the way it runs. Not going.

Plopsaland in Belgium (about 40 mind drive from Calais. Theming is for smaller kids but there are some fab big rides. Place is quite mad but very good fun.

The name alone is enough to make me want to go there

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who liked the name!

Interestingly though just looking at chessington app now the queues aren’t awful- must be a quiet day. Vampire is only 25 mins for example. Might just be that some days are
by luck much worse than others.

@WahineToa have you considered moving?
@thelobsterquadrille I understand your position, you’re keen to get your say across but I have to disagree with what you say. I expect value. And no, it’s not at all like complaining about Cornwall at peak times. I’m paying for an experience that was limited at best.

@Bunnycat101 it’s raining so probably put people off or they all went the day we did!!

Yup. We are when we can afford it. So, have you considered not going again?