Spent a fortune on Alton Towers and nearly everything was closed

[Foxy200]

Warning to anyone thinking of taking the kids to Alton Towers this Easter, AVOID it unless you have checked exactly what is open.

We drove all the way up yesterday, paid for a hotel last night and again for tonight, and arrived to find that nearly everything is shut. Only a handful of rides are actually open.

It is absolutely disgraceful to be charging full ticket prices when so much of the park is closed. After just an hour of walking around and seeing the reality of it, we asked for a refund and were told no.

The disappointment for the children has been awful, and to say I am angry is an understatement. We have spent a huge amount on tickets, travel and hotels for what has turned into a complete waste of money.

Families deserve to know before making the trip, this has completely ruined what was meant to be an Easter treat.

This happened to me with Drusilla's Zoo shocking waste of money 2)3 RDS of it was closed and the cafe wasn't even open. Utter rip off. I complained to Trading Standards.

Yanbu - did you pay on a credit card? If so take note of everything that was closed and put in a claim on your credit card. I saw drayton manor was the same this past weekend- we were planning on going but my kids ended up poorly. Considering its basically the cost of a holiday these days its outrageous.

That’s a lot to be closed in one day.

YABU.

Send them a letter before action for breach of contract.

Yanbu, awful. Why haven’t they updated prior? Try claim it back.

"essential maintenance"? Wtf have they been doing for the last 5 months?

OP do you know if the Cbeebies Land rides were largely open? I was planning to take the littlest one next week as he is desperate to go to on the new Bluey rollercoaster but I'm not going to bother if nearly everything is closed

We went to Thorpe Park last year and it was randomly really windy so they shut half the rides, they gave us all tickets to return another day. We didn’t get round to using them, but they offered without prompting via email while we were still there.

Please do explain why a customer paying for a service is unreasonable to expect that service…

What was actually closed? The list today isn't terrible. Oblivion has been closed a while, the skyride is never open and the monorail is just to get you into the park. Almost all the proper rides bar oblivion are open

Universal are going to give Merlin a run for their money when they arrive.

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

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.

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.

May you justify your comment?

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! :)

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.

The point is that they are taking 100% of our money when only 50% of rides are open. We don't live locally so we had to book a hotel for 2 nights and this has been planned for a few months.

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)

What rides were closed OP?

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

They were not clearly declared - would have booked for the summer hols if we knew it was like this. Maybe it was in the small print but it wasn't clear.

@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.

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.