Attraction Source Forum

After the extremely successful launch of Wicker Man in 2018, the 2019 season would be important to Alton Towers in terms of retaining and capitalising on those successes and re-assert itself as the nation’s theme park. With the opening of The Alton Towers Dungeon, Peter Rabbit Hippity Hop and the Stargazing Pods, alongside its seasonal event offerings, we take a look back at everything from the previous twelve months.





During the close season Alton Towers unveiled a new slogan, “Power of the Towers”, that would be the driving force and recurring theme used throughout the year, highlighting the magic that Alton Towers can bring.  For families, it was announced that Peter Rabbit Hippity Hop would join CBeebies Land, a pair of frog hopper style rides, themed around the adventures of Peter Rabbit. Additionally, the Teletubbies would be joining in the entertainment with their Big Fun Show Time performance. Away from the family fun, The Alton Towers Dungeon opened its gates to the public taking traitors on a trip down Staffordshire’s darkest memories. Whilst outside the theme park, the latest in onsite accommodation in the form of Stargazing Pods opened in April, providing another choice in overnight accommodation. 





Throughout the season, the Resort saw multiple events take place including celebrating Nemesis’s 25th birthday with extended ride time and meet-and-greets with designer John Wardley, a competition called Meme Your Scream that involved guests creating their own imaginative photos around the park for a change to win a prize, and CBeebies’s Land celebrating its 5th birthday at the Resort. During the summer, Enterprise had reopened after a long awaited absence due to ride maintenance, bringing back another flat ride to the attraction line up. Away from the rides and attractions, the Battle of the Burgers was launched at Rollercoaster Restaurant with several ride themed meals for guests to enjoy. In addition, guests could vote for their favourite dish with the winner receiving a permanent place on the 2020 menu. 





The season wouldn’t be complete without the end of year events, Scarefest and the annual Fireworks Spectacular. At Scarefest 2 new mazes were added to the line-up, Darkest Depths and The Attic: Terror Of The Towers, which complemented the other returning heart pounding scare mazes, whilst family fun was maintained at the event with shows and roaming flash mobs. Whilst topping off the season was the annual Fireworks Spectacular, taking place over 3 nights for the first time since 2015, with more lazers, bigger set pieces and of course bigger fireworks to round off the 2019 season in style, all based around the idea: the Power of the Towers.





What did you think of Alton Towers in 2019? Did you brave the Alton Towers Dungeon? Did you discover the secrets of The Attic: Terror Of The Towers? What was your personal highlight from 2019 at the Resort?

I highly enjoyed the 2019 season, probably the best in a while (unless this year tops it). Dungeons were surprisingly good and reasonably priced, some of the disagreeable operational decisions made in 2018 were reversed, the surprise Nemesis event with John Wardley was really cool and during the last week of summer the park extended hours to 7pm a couple of times for the first time since 2014. Scarefest also saw two great additions in The Attic and Darkest Depths, the latter of which proved so popular they decided to keep it open for Fireworks, which I believe until then had never been done before.

 Some of these surprises of 2019 I mentioned leave me wondering if there’s anything planned for the parks 40th that none of us know about yet...

Expectations of how busy the park is going to be on opening day (Saturday 21st)? Would like to visit but am coming from a long way!

Coastersnaps wrote:Expectations of how busy the park is going to be on opening day (Saturday 21st)? Would like to visit but am coming from a long way!

Opening day is traditionally quite busy, but nowhere near as busy as a peak summer day.

Things to be aware of are ride breakdowns (I remember a couple of years ago we had lunch at 11:30 as all of the coasters were down :lol ) and the weather. As long as reliability is ok and the weather is kind you shouldn’t have any issue getting on all the major rides.

Ahh perfect! Thanks for your reply

The day after opening day (Sunday 22nd this year) is traditionally quiet.  I've done it before and will be doing that day this year.  It was so quiet that I have been sat on Thirteen's train in the station waiting for more guests as they needed a nearly full train to send it!

Earlier today, Alton Towers unveiled details of what we can expect during their 40th anniversary season. TowersTimes round up everything announced today.

What are you most excited to experience during the 2020 season?

Oktoberfest without a doubt.
I really hope it's not a half arsed offering, we've seen that they can put on quality events and also questionable ones but if the ents department are involved in any capacity I've got high hopes.
I'm really excited that they're trying something new.

'Summer of Thrills' is a little vague so I'll be interested what they're going to do to justify if being on a list of events for the 40th year.

Michelle wrote:'Summer of Thrills' is a little vague so I'll be interested what they're going to do to justify if being on a list of events for the 40th year.

Part of it will be celebrating attractions current and past. So why do I get the feeling it will be some social media thing. :lol

Oktoberfest sounds pretty much what I've been after since visiting EPCOT Food and Wine a couple of years ago, and SeaWorld's Beer Festival last year. Many places to get something interesting to eat - hopefully more than just pretzels and Bratwurst, but at least it's a move in the right direction!

Can't wait for Olympia Looping on the front lawn. :love :sus: :lol

I'm very interested to see what Towers do with an Oktoberfest event, in terms of what it will entail and where in the park it'll be located.

Let's be honest, it's going to go one of two ways. It'll either be brilliant or terrible, there'll be no in-between. I have a feeling that it'll be brilliant, but I guess time will tell.

Where will it go? I can only see two realistic locations, which are the lawns or Mutiny Bay (including the Courtyard).

My guess will be a big marquee on the lawns

If we take into consideration that Darkest Depths will most likely be returning this year due to its popularity last year, the courtyard doesn't seem like a suitable place for the main event area to be constructed as I'm sure scare maze construction will need to start before the event finishes. However, there is an incredibly small chance that Alton Towers will not bring back Darkest Depths this year to allow the marquee to be installed.

It appears work is taking place on the entrance plaza in preparation for the new season.

These photos show some sort of new unit being developed on the edge of the building where the cash machines were located.





Source: TowersStreet

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

Maybe it could be more ticket purchase booths or maybe could be a security desk, so there is an actual section of the entrance dedicated to bag searches, etc. Could be too small for a security desk though

I don't think it would be a security desk as although that could work for guests walking from the main car park, it would be a struggle with monorail and express guests to access in a queueing format.

I also think it’s the right size for a desk, maybe an extra one for annual pass purchases/renewals/collection? It could take some of the strain off the box office on busy days 

Anyone know why the app is showing queue times and saying the parks open? I'm really confused and I cannot find anything online about this. Also, the world of David walliams is still not on the app.

4rchman155 wrote:Anyone know why the app is showing queue times and saying the parks open? I'm really confused and I cannot find anything online about this. Also, the world of David walliams is still not on the app.

There have been private events for members of the emergency services and their friends and family this weekend.

Oh ok makes sense. Thank you.