I’m slightly worried because of the old adage “there is nothing more permanent than a temporary fix”. Alton Towers had always been about offering more than you can get at the local fair so I do hope these are temporary, it’s a cheap quick fix but I hope they invest in some properly themed flat rides!

I hope so! If the ticket availability is anything to go by the park isn’t hitting capacity yet so i would like to see them allocate more tickets for pass holders.

That would look great on the lawn in front of the towers!

Is anyone else disappointed with how few season/annual pass holder tickets are available? I can still book a full price ticket for today but if I want to use my season pass the earliest I can go is a week on Monday.

Any news on how the construction is going recently? When I visited last year we couldn’t see anything as the theming was being built and blocked out our view!

I’m glad that the area is having some investment, it was rather a dreary place before this season. I take school kids there so we always go into the area to get to the education centre and it was in need of money spending on it. I still think they could do more, too many facades with empty buildings...

I didn’t meet Henry Hound (a bit before my time) but my partner has!

It’s as much a business decision as anything else. Given that visitor numbers are finally on the up, a longer than usual close season won’t do much good for the balance sheet.

Last time I went and explored the Swiss Cottage it looked like it was being used as storage. I believe it was used as offices at one point but I looked pretty unused when I went.

Very interesting photos, I wonder what it’ll be used for.

My guess will be a big marquee on the lawns

I think this has potential to be a good event and I’m certainly planning on being there. I’m hoping for some nice bratwurst and currywurst!

An interesting collection of rides. I can’t imagine being on Congo River Rapids in Feb so I can see why they didn’t open it!

When the towers have been open for Feb half term before, what rides have been open?

I got my first back row ride on Wicker Man today, it was a morning run but a nice ride with good airtime!

I rode it today and it gave me a head bang that it doesn’t normally do. I rode it first thing on a cool morning so that may have something to do with it!

Thanks for the feedback guys. I’ve got some things to mull over!

Hey everyone, I have one day (Monday 21st Oct) to visit a park before the end of the season. I usually do Alton Towers but I’ve never been to Thorpe. Is a long round trip for me but as the opening hours are longer I thought it might be worthwhile. Do you think it’ll be very busy? Is it worth a 2.5 h...

The Dark Forest area of the park isn’t small yet the way it’s currently laid out makes it feel pokey and cramped. There is potential to do a lot with it if they can be creative. Totally agree with this, when it used to be Ug Land and housed Bone Shaker, Swinger and Corkscrew I used to love going to...

Sounds interesting! It’ll be interesting to see what they do.