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I took my family to Alton Towers theme park over the bank holiday weekend. I paid a small fortune for the stay in their hotel, mainly to keep the kids happy as i had promised my daughter i would for her birthday.
I have to say that from the motorway, the park is poorly signed, when we went to Chessington, Thorpe park, Paultons Park, they were all signed from the motorway, however Alton Towers does not benefit from this luxury.
So, on arrival i find out that the Smiler Ride is not working, now on Sky the night before, there's an advert telling everyone to come to the park and ride the new ride, the ride that isnt working!!!!. So we felt a tad deflated at that, but we decided to carry on and make the best of it even though the kids were disappointed.
So, we get into the park,brought my lad a toy, when we got it back to the hotel, it was buggered, the batteries were brown with corrosion and leaked everywhere.
We queued up for over an hour to get on a ride called "Rita", we got to the front of the queue, only for the ride to break down, we then waited for ages, then they made an announcement telling us that they had decided to close the ride. Half of the afternoon was lost on this alone. And whats worst, nothing to compensate us at all. Now ive read their terms and conditions and i know there are clauses that say no liability for closed rides etc, so i get that, but it don't stop me from feeling really let down after spending a LOT of money on this place.
Sooo, we decided to abandon the day and go back to the hotel, before we left the park, i made a point of asking a member of staff one question. That was as follows " As a hotel guest, i understand the park opens at 9am?" yes i am told, so i asked a second question " so, if i come in at 9am, i can get on Air,Ripsaw and Nemesis?" yes sir you can.
So we go back to the hotel planning our second day in the park.
We had a meal in the Secret Garden restaurant, my daughter had fish in batter with chips, she said it didn't taste right, although i put it down to my daughter being fussy, however, at night i don't think that i was right, because she had serious stomach cramps and shyte everywhere.
Soooo, we start day two.
We get to the monorail station and the bloke there tells us, "its broken down and we don't know why" any idea when it will be fixed? no, any idea when the mechanics will be here? no, so i tried to catch the guy, to ask how to get to the park from the hotel as it isnt sign posted or shown on their map of the park that they gave us, the bloke just ignored me and walked off.
Anyway, we manage to get to the park eventually, and we get in, we go to the back of the park to get on Air, Ripsaw, and Nemesis, and as were walking towards the ride some bloke walks in front of us and say that we cant go there. So i asked why, and i was told only one ride in this area opens before 10am and that's nemesis. So i asked when the others open, 10am im told, and the arcades too? yes he said.
Well he was wrong, the arcade opened at 10:17am and frankly at this point the kids were pretty pi$$ed off, they had to walk all the way to the back of the park and couldn't go on anything other than nemesis which my lad was too small for and there was nothing else open for him to go on.
I feel that the staff had given out bad misinformation there which did impact on our day. I mean you expect staff to know how their park operates ffs.
So, on leaving the park, my daughter and son ask for a hoodie each, to remember the park as like a souvenir, so we buy them a hoodie each from the shop, we get home and my daughter tries hers on, and it literally falls apart, she put her had in her pocket and there was a huge hole in the pocket
To top it all off, Friday evening, during the soaps on ITV, there was an advert inviting customers to come to alton towers to ride the smiler ride, yes, thats the one that broke down and didnt work!!!
Overall, i feel pretty let down after spending the sums i spent there, however, this is not the end of the story, its the beginning, as im now going to take Alton Towers to task about this. Lets see how they deal with complaints!!
I have to say that from the motorway, the park is poorly signed, when we went to Chessington, Thorpe park, Paultons Park, they were all signed from the motorway, however Alton Towers does not benefit from this luxury.
So, on arrival i find out that the Smiler Ride is not working, now on Sky the night before, there's an advert telling everyone to come to the park and ride the new ride, the ride that isnt working!!!!. So we felt a tad deflated at that, but we decided to carry on and make the best of it even though the kids were disappointed.
So, we get into the park,brought my lad a toy, when we got it back to the hotel, it was buggered, the batteries were brown with corrosion and leaked everywhere.
We queued up for over an hour to get on a ride called "Rita", we got to the front of the queue, only for the ride to break down, we then waited for ages, then they made an announcement telling us that they had decided to close the ride. Half of the afternoon was lost on this alone. And whats worst, nothing to compensate us at all. Now ive read their terms and conditions and i know there are clauses that say no liability for closed rides etc, so i get that, but it don't stop me from feeling really let down after spending a LOT of money on this place.
Sooo, we decided to abandon the day and go back to the hotel, before we left the park, i made a point of asking a member of staff one question. That was as follows " As a hotel guest, i understand the park opens at 9am?" yes i am told, so i asked a second question " so, if i come in at 9am, i can get on Air,Ripsaw and Nemesis?" yes sir you can.
So we go back to the hotel planning our second day in the park.
We had a meal in the Secret Garden restaurant, my daughter had fish in batter with chips, she said it didn't taste right, although i put it down to my daughter being fussy, however, at night i don't think that i was right, because she had serious stomach cramps and shyte everywhere.
Soooo, we start day two.
We get to the monorail station and the bloke there tells us, "its broken down and we don't know why" any idea when it will be fixed? no, any idea when the mechanics will be here? no, so i tried to catch the guy, to ask how to get to the park from the hotel as it isnt sign posted or shown on their map of the park that they gave us, the bloke just ignored me and walked off.
Anyway, we manage to get to the park eventually, and we get in, we go to the back of the park to get on Air, Ripsaw, and Nemesis, and as were walking towards the ride some bloke walks in front of us and say that we cant go there. So i asked why, and i was told only one ride in this area opens before 10am and that's nemesis. So i asked when the others open, 10am im told, and the arcades too? yes he said.
Well he was wrong, the arcade opened at 10:17am and frankly at this point the kids were pretty pi$$ed off, they had to walk all the way to the back of the park and couldn't go on anything other than nemesis which my lad was too small for and there was nothing else open for him to go on.
I feel that the staff had given out bad misinformation there which did impact on our day. I mean you expect staff to know how their park operates ffs.
So, on leaving the park, my daughter and son ask for a hoodie each, to remember the park as like a souvenir, so we buy them a hoodie each from the shop, we get home and my daughter tries hers on, and it literally falls apart, she put her had in her pocket and there was a huge hole in the pocket
To top it all off, Friday evening, during the soaps on ITV, there was an advert inviting customers to come to alton towers to ride the smiler ride, yes, thats the one that broke down and didnt work!!!
Overall, i feel pretty let down after spending the sums i spent there, however, this is not the end of the story, its the beginning, as im now going to take Alton Towers to task about this. Lets see how they deal with complaints!!
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