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).

Prior to Disney fucking everything up, their included FastPass system meant you could go in peak times and not queue more than an hour if you were sensible. Which always made sense to me because less time in queues = more time in shops/restaurants. Sadly they're now ripping people off just like the crap UK theme parks...

It's probably better value for money to head to Efteling or another European theme park, which are far superior in theming and queue times!

Theme parks are very very busy this time of year. We knew this, Thorpe Park Halloween Theme starts early in October so we went on a Sunday a few weeks ago - no queue longer that 45-60 min.

I know we are lucky as we live quite close to lego land/Thorpe and chessington and learnt a long time ago the days they are busiest. We don’t go! The traffic is awful and that alone annoys me if I have to go anywhere local!

The summer holidays the last few days you think most people can’t be bothered - Lego land was so busy!! Even if there was a staff training day so did half the country who had the same idea as us!

Not any more. They’ve replaced free fast pass with paid for genie plus.

I almost never go to theme parks because I can't afford an expensive day out plus fast lasses, which is what is needed if you don't want to stand in queues all day.

If your DC enjoy rides, some seaside places have pretty good ones which are cheaper and don't tend to have such long queues.

Thank you for posting, OP. I imagined it would be bad, but not that bad. Now I will definitely be sure to avoid theme parks at busy times. I've always gone at quiet times before, because even a 30 minute queue is more than I'd want to do.

But I might have been tempted if a relative or friend had been very eager to go. Now I am resolved never to consider it, no matter what!

The thing is, it's not, if you plan.

We've been to Legoland, Alton Towers and Chessington this year. I saved the Sun vouchers for 2 free tickets, so about £30 on newspapers for all 3 parks. I've then had to buy a 3rd ticket. My Alton Towers ticket cost me £12 as the national lottery were doing an offer of £25 off a day out. Chessington and Legoland I used Tesco vouchers to discount it. So for 3 to go to 3 theme parks this year has probably cost me about £90 on tickets, if that .

It's only if you decide last minute to go, it's going to cost a lot of money (or you don't have the option of Tesco vouchers!)

Unluckily can’t go in school days but will go on a quieter weekend rather than Easter

@Thriwit isn’t august all school holiday time? I think 20-30min queue is quick!

Queues may or may not be worse now but even in the '90s and 2000s the queues were long. 4 hours some days according to this thread from 2005 www.attractionsource.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9370 which features many of the same complaints that feature on this thread.

9 hours in the '80s when a new ride(Corkscrew) opened up according to this www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/local-news/corkscrew-black-hole-eight-rides-6342892 and there's people on Twitter remembering waiting for hours in the '90s so I don't think they're that new.

Paultons and Drayton Manor were wonderful when the kids were small. Can recommend Peppa Pig world and Thomas Land. So many good memories.
London Dungeon not comparable as small rooms with actors so they can only hold about 15 people at a time.
Chessington is building a new massive ride looks like Jumanji so they’ll need to pay for it.
Scorpion Express has closed for good.

Yes @ToBeOrNotToB kids are now grown except for the big kid, my DH, who still likes theme parks! I hate the rides, I’m claustrophobic!! One of our kids works at one. They are way shittier to staff than customers!! Pay them shit money to be treated like crap by customers. My youngest had a man sing a song and dance around her with his children watching because he didn’t get what he wanted… ‘X is a dickhead’ over and over. Moron.

So please guys, no matter how frustrated you are with queues do not take it out on their low paid staff

@ScreamingFrog @headstone
Drayton Manor (Thomas Land) is a lot smaller than Alton towers etc. It's mostly kids rides with some adult rides as welll. Theres a few rollercoasters, rapids, log flume, Tomas land, carousels, parks and a zoo. On a quiet day you can comfortably do everything you want to do. I'd say it's suitable for all ages but largely 10 and under. Not for thrill seekers. But a fab day and nice and clean too.

I've been going to theme parks regularly for 30 years. Queuing has always been horrible in peak times. I always try and go in term time, and ideally on a colder slightly damp day.
I remember 2 hour queues in the 90s and 2000s when I did go on weekends/ school holidays. Can remember getting to the bubble works queue to see the big sign saying 2 hours from this point (no apps back then). Alton towers was always the worst back in 90s when I went. Hardly got on any rides each visit so it was never worth the long travelling to get there.

Also the vampire ride has never gone round twice as standard. The only times I've experienced that on any rides was first thing in the morning when there was no queue yet, and the guy would say want to go again and everyone would cheer! Or last thing at night before closing (I got that as the last ride of the day on nemesis last year).

The issue is the population has increased a lot since 90s so more people wanting to go. Plus days out like that are much more common. People would soon complain if they went to book tickets in the summer holidays to find every day was sold out and they couldn't go at all. People also wouldn't like pre booking only if the day they chose was pissing down with rain. And no you can't just go tomorrow as tomorrow is sold out. So that's it. Maybe you can transfer your tickets to next summer instead. But at your own risk. Same thing might happen then.

Try to go outside peak time. I once went to Alton Towers on the first day it opened after the winter break. It was in March, weather decent, and literally walked on everything without any queue.

@Funkyblues101 Paultons sadly don't do ANY discounts, not even disabled, but they do quick access for disabled children if they have a letter from their doctor to say they can't queue. We got the queue pass thing last weekend but only used it once for a ride in Peppa Pig World as they were the only rides with queues (even then it was only 20 minutes had we queues)

You are absolutely right about the park though. Very well run, lots of rides, not many queues and do much to do in the way of playgrounds etc that don't need queues. Shame it's hit expensive but so worth it.

Oh, and for the poster who said it's for little kids only, they now have quite a few big thrill rides. Okay, not on Alton Towers huge roller coaster level. Think along the lines of the vampire at chessington. But much rather go on 20 mid range thrill rides in a day than 3!

Last time I went to Disneyland Paris in 2019 it was the free fast pass system. It was brilliant and had been going for years. Can't believe they are charging now, I am going at the end of next month so will be interesting to see what the queues are like. We are going during the week so hopefully not awful.

Last time we went to Alton Towers and Thorpe Park we paid for fast passes. It was expensive but we only had 1 day in the park each time so felt it was worth it.

That's a concept I can get behind. (gym vs housework).

Well the photos round the park look quiet.
Yes there are queues but it’s impossible to tell how long they actually are - the pre built queuing areas don’t exists in the same way and new rides have been built since.

Given the population was 10 million less in 2000, its fair to say more people will be wanting to try the parks these days.

Paultons is expensive and there are never any offers for it. However they do have bigger rides these days and it is great for us as has the bigger rides for the older child and peppa pig world for the little one. Haven't been to Alton Towers or Thorpe Park for years but pretty sure we never queued for 2 hours.

We've gone on school days

My children have gone on school trip school days

There's still 2 hour queues for the big rides at Alton Towers and Legoland

Paultons park though that's so sweet, most you queue there on peak time was about an 1 hour , and some big rides (but not as big as AT or LL)

Theme parks are a con. Would you go to a fair and pay £15 a ride ?

Merlin don't care about the customer experience they just want your money

People pay over £10 for some rides at a fair.

I suspect lots of people would pay £15 or more just to go on one big rollercoaster. And they’d queue for it too.

Theme Parks are fucking hideous. We went to Thorpe Park for two days in the summer (during one of those heatwaves) and my kids spent most of the day queuing and very little time actually on rides. Not my idea of fun at all but they had a great time 🤷🏼‍♀️ I don’t even want to think about how much money we spent over the two days.

In contrast, we have been to Europa in Germany twice and had a great experience. The kids said it was better than Paris Disney (I haven’t been there but the kids went with school in Year 6). Europa, even in August, never felt crowded and none of the queues took more than about 45 mins. Highly recommend going if you can combine it with a holiday to Germany or France.