Alton Towers Live: Saturday 6th July 2013

[LevSusenka]

Considering this is such a big event that is pulling people in for the Saturday and a lot of others are avoiding the weekend because of it. What do we think the park will be like on the Sunday numbers wise?

I was supossed to go with friends last Wednesday but a family funeral stopped me now feeling I missed out and Sunday is my only free day for a few weeks but if its going to still be packed like a normal weekend this year I will give it a miss.

[Kirsty25]

Considering this is such a big event that is pulling people in for the Saturday and a lot of others are avoiding the weekend because of it. What do we think the park will be like on the Sunday numbers wise?

I was supossed to go with friends last Wednesday but a family funeral stopped me now feeling I missed out and Sunday is my only free day for a few weeks but if its going to still be packed like a normal weekend this year I will give it a miss.

I would imagine it will be pretty busy with people staying over after a late finish but having never attended or been the day after I couldn't say for definite.

[LevSusenka]

I would imagine it will be pretty busy with people staying over after a late finish but having never attended or been the day after I couldn't say for definite.

Yeah that was my worry, ah well have to play the waiting game I guess.

[nicolah]

I can honestly say I am a bit worried about the concert they are expecting close on 30.000 and the fireworks are bad enough with crowd control I am sorry I bought these tickets as I am scared taking my daughter and her friend

[bensaund]

So what is the deal with parking on Saturday, do they fill up the main car parks first then move on to the grass?

also if you are parked on the grass car park which doesn't have a barrier, do they still force you to pay £6 for the privilege of parking in a field?

[Adam]

Parking is going to be an organised chaos tomorrow. Every inch of spare ground will be used with many plans in place to get people off the resort ASAP after the concert. Obviously there will be delays and queues but hopefully it should go fairly smoothly.

[Themeparksandy1981]

Did any 1 on here go to the concert?

[Fish777]

No but a friend did.

[Everton-99]

I did, I have to say it really was quite a good day, the rides weren't as busy as  I actually thought they were going to be. Entry to the actual arena could have been better as there was a huge queue and some staff were giving different instructions to others ( but thats the security company not alton towers staff!!). All of the acts were brilliant apart from The Vamps who didnt get to perform really as they were having technical difficulties. It only took 35 mins to get out of the car park and onto the main roads and we were in the car park right by the monorail station! I have got loads of photos and videos but I am on my phone at the moment so I cant upload them here yet!!!
All together it was a really well organised and exciting day 

[tallicay2k]

I actually can not think of anything worse than this. Never in my life would I go to an AT concert, I can barely make it through Fireworks.
The kids, the crowds, the screaming, the queues, the horrendous music..... Worst Nightmare!

Totally agree with you here. Wots the point? I go cos I want rides

[bensaund]

I go for more than the rides, if its just rides Alton offers a good atmosphere and it does cater for a wide variety of people.

The concert may not be up my street, but it does appeal to many, so it doesn't bother me if they have these, I may not go to them, but they are popular. I won't go to Thorpe's club nights but I enjoy the park.

I won't go to Fright Nights at Thorpe, but I'll happily drive 168 miles to Alton for Scarefest.

[Lee]

Alton Towers is no longer just a theme park anymore though, it has long been a resort so I totally agree that the next logical step is events and concerts. Fine, the line up may be pretty commercial and not to everyone's taste, but it's a group of artists who in my oppinion represent a good role model to the younger generation (look at Jay from Union J outting himself long before he was famous). It may not be your cup of tea, but lighten up a little

I'm also glad that apart from the odd person having a moan, there seems to be very little complaints on Facebook and here this year. I was dreading a repeat of the Pink concert fiasco.

[Lanarkian]

We took our 2 kids and they really enjoyed it. The only nightmare was getting out at the end. The concert finished at 10.15pm and then it was about a 30 minute walk to the car park. They said they would not be running the monorail but they did. The nightmare started as it was total grid lock getting out of the car park. After 30 minutes of not moving we just parked up and waited. We eventually got out of the car park at 12.45am. We were lucky as it was only a 15 minute drive to the hotel but I heard folks saying they had a 3 hour drive.

[gloriousmcclorious]

First post - please be kind!

Glad those who attended the concert enjoyed themselves 

We were in the park Fri/Sat (me/wife/7yo/10yo) without attending the concert and and as an event organiser in my spare time there were only 2 things I could say they could improve upon:

The first is the location of the queue for entry to the concert. It snaked from Mutiny Bay/Entrance to Tower Street right back past Hex. This meant where the access narrowed, right next to the Battle Galleons, it got really tight as some parts of the queue were 6 and 7 people wide. It was gridlock there for a while and for small kids that's not fun.

I think they could have used the walkway that goes around Battle Galleons next to the water that leads onto the grass before you actually "enter" Mutiny Bay itself. This would have meant they avoided the gridlock. Might also be an idea to snake the queue on the grass back up the hill before you reach the Tower itself, which would mean people wouldn't have to break through the queue all the time. We had to pass MB a few times and granted when we passed later on once the concert was in full swing they had narrowed the queue which really helped but that was something they reacted to, not planned.

The second thing is they opened access to the concert arena way too late imo. I was talking to a member of staff about how we got back to the ATH later on and what time everything was closing down and she let me quickly take a pic of her itinerary which is shown here:



The times missing on the left are 1pm Arena area cleared, 2pm Arena opens to guests, and at the bottom 9:15pm Olly Murs goes onstage.

I think half an hour to get all those people into the arena before the first band appears is no way enough time. My wife mentioned if she was attending and the gig had started while she was still queuing she wouldn't be happy after paying so much for a ticket. I know they were using Sonic Spinball area for the event so that ride closed at 1pm, but I don't know if they really had to open it at all on Saturday and this would have meant they could have opened the arena as soon as the queue started building.

Anyway that's just my thoughts - I think overall they did well with the number of people they had on site. Lot's of staff we spoke to didn't know any of the details in other parts of the park, but then if they weren't directly affected by the gig (FV,DF) then perhaps the decision was taken to not include them in the briefing. The queues for the rides certainly weren't anything above norm, even after Smiler closed before 3pm.

Already planning our next family trip for next year but might avoid the AT Live weekend 

[bensaund]

Ouch that was a long wait to get out of the car park, I expected it would have been bad.

As for the monorail, I did think it was strange they said it would not be operating, but I guess this was due to them not wanting 10,000 people queuing up Towers Street for the monorail

[SuperWill]

I wish AT would stop the 'Alton Towers Live' concerts because years ago when AT was magical they never had concerts! It would always be about the magic but nowadays they don't give two s**ts about the magic anymore! AT is not magical anymore! Bring back the good old Alton Towers!