Alton Towers Ultimate Firework Spectacular

General discussion regarding the UK's No.1 Theme Park. Talk about anything and everything Alton Towers here.
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harryss123
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The resort has now stated that Saturday 4th November 2017 is now fully booked and you should not travel to the resort unless you have a prebooked ticket. They still state that there is still "limited availability" on the Sunday. 
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Also, adding to that, all "Big Bang" VIP tickets are sold out for both days!
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JC13
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What was the fireworks theme this year? I’ve never been to the fireworks event so I don’t know what it’s like. 
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Adam.W
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JC13 wrote:What was the fireworks theme this year? I’ve never been to the fireworks event so I don’t know what it’s like. 
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Memories and people's experiences in Alton Towers, pretty much, just as we'd expected.
A full (albeit low quality) video of this year's display is available here. Obviously, spoiler alert!
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Robert.W
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Honestly spectacular. Alton Towers Fireworks 2018 here I come!
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Nickolai
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The display looked very magical, especially the beginning.
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monkeynips
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Very good this year. Alot more of a light show and the memories theme worked well.
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The fireworks were great as usual and had clearly been worked very hard on but the storyline was absolutely appaling! What the hell were they thinking!?!? It was beyond shocking. That is the sort of idea that gets rejected at the first brainstorm.
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Aidan Lowe
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MakoMania wrote:but the storyline was absolutely appaling! What the hell were they thinking!?!? It was beyond shocking. That is the sort of idea that gets rejected at the first brainstorm.
They've gone back to basics. Hearing from guests directly what Alton Towers Resort means to them, how it makes them feel, the excitement, the fear, the uncertainty of first rides. Emotion is huge and if there was one way to sum up this year's Display I'd say that.
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Bert
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The show was really good. I enjoying it lots of fireworks. My highlights included the bits with John Wardley and the debate about Black Hole and Corkscrew. Great end to the season!
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MakoMania
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Aidan Lowe wrote:
MakoMania wrote:but the storyline was absolutely appaling! What the hell were they thinking!?!? It was beyond shocking. That is the sort of idea that gets rejected at the first brainstorm.
They've gone back to basics. Hearing from guests directly what Alton Towers Resort means to them, how it makes them feel, the excitement, the fear, the uncertainty of first rides. Emotion is huge and if there was one way to sum up this year's Display I'd say that.
I agree, it's not the theme that we thought was awful, it was the particular storyline way it was executed. It really was like 25 minutes of TripAdvisor reviews.

That being said, we still enjoyed the show and the finale in particular was really good.
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Dom
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I don't think this year had a story line. Watching on Youtube as i'm miles away, I would say it was more people sharing memories of what the rides and the park mean to them and I think it was more exciting to the geeks than to the GP as it has a proper retro vibe and the legend that is Mr John Wardley. It brought back personal feelings (Even just on youtube) towards rides and memories of first rides and first visits. I think you're over examining it and being extra critical over something that doesn't need this much criticism. Things exploded and made the night sky look pretty :lol
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MakoMania
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Dom wrote:I don't think this year had a story line. Watching on Youtube as i'm miles away, I would say it was more people sharing memories of what the rides and the park mean to them and I think it was more exciting to the geeks than to the GP as it has a proper retro vibe and the legend that is Mr John Wardley. It brought back personal feelings (Even just on youtube) towards rides and memories of first rides and first visits. I think you're over examining it and being extra critical over something that doesn't need this much criticism. Things exploded and made the night sky look pretty :lol
It was extremely very pretty :P

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, it was just very cringeworthy, I looked at someone else in our group and we were both covering our mouths, the cringe was unreal. I think it would've been better if they'd had one or two sections of people talking rather than throughout the whole show. Don't get be wrong, it was still a great show :)
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Adam.W
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MakoMania wrote:Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, it was just very cringeworthy, I looked at someone else in our group and we were both covering our mouths, the cringe was unreal. I think it would've been better if they'd had one or two sections of people talking rather than throughout the whole show. Don't get be wrong, it was still a great show :)
I agree here, to me it just just seems like the idea was poorly executed, those sections just didn't have the high standard 'production value' in my opinion, especially with random people saying "yeah it was like, really scary and you know when you like hang over the drop, yeah, my heart was like pumping you know?". 
 
...they should have totally should have made the John Wardley section longer :D
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Robert.W
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I have to say that, from looking at YouTube videos, I think that this years Fireworks have been particularly strong, at least visually, with notably more affects like lasers and lights as well as fireworks. The audio / theme is interesting... I suppose the idea is a little Marmite - some of us will like it and some of us will not. I personally have enjoyed what I have seen.  :)
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I know people have been complaining that Alton' s themes are always a bit cheesefest, but isn't that what makes them so great? I honestly think that on videos, the best looking fireworks were this year's by miles.
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Robert.W
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jackf1tz wrote:I know people have been complaining that Alton' s themes are always a bit cheesefest, but isn't that what makes them so great? I honestly think that on videos, the best looking fireworks were this year's by miles.
Last years Galactica video made me cringe a bit!
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jackf1tz
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I kind of want the SW8 video next year to be cringey, it's an AT tradition :lol
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razgriz33
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The first time I managed to get to the fireworks after many years watching them on youtube... DEFINITELY worth going to. This year's brilliant!
Also I found it quite easy once out of the big squeeze to get on rides after the show. Stayed all the way until the queues closed at 2100, although you could tell the staff were tired at that point, ride controller in rita had to remind the station op's a few times to batch the last of us.

Theme of the show was sweet.
Fireworks and effects were great.
Awesome visit.
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I really liked the display this year.

Yes, some of the voiceovers were a bit cringey, but those are all real people and those are their real feelings about the resort, as someone involved with TowersTimes it was nice to hear it, we get a very scewed view of the park and often forget the excitement a yearly (or less often) trip to Alton Towers can bring.

It was also very nice to hear a lot of our members in the display, from the recording that took place on our 15th anniversary event earlier this year.

As for the fireworks themselves, I’m a bit of a geek in this respect so it was wonderful seeing the return of some of the larger effects. Jubilee is one of the best when it comes to pyrotechnics and this year didn’t disappoint. Yes there were large gaps between the pyro sections but these allowed for smoke clearance, which has been an issue in the past.

TowersTimes were lucky enough to get a behind the scenes look at the display this year and the passion and energy that goes into the display from the entertainments team is staggering.

I do think they’ve now done enough of the memories type of theme now, and I’m sure the resort knows this as well, I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with next year.
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