Alton Towers Opening Day Trip Report

[Count-Vonduel]

Alton Towers Opening Day Trip Report

It's picture heavy so make sure your computer is commited before opening it!

Spoiler

I arrived forgetting to take pictures of anything, so our day starts at the bottom of Tower Street!
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Ignore the thumb...
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Note the marks where the Scarefest theming was...I miss Scarefest!
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First I headed for Cbeebies land to check out the new rides!
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That picture was taken at the end of the day but shh...
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The newly painted trees were in quite the state
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I love the new fence thing!
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The new rides
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It was at that point, my epic quest unfolded before me...I would not leave the park until I had seen what was inside that Hotel!
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Then I went to the Skyride...
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They redid the brickwork of the Tower Street Station!
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They ware using all the gondolas today!
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Here comes our gondola!
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I did take some pictures of the SW site but there was a child in the gondola and I couldn't get a good shot that didn't involve plastering someones child all over the internet...SO HAVE A BONUS DUCK INSTEAD YAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!
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Gadens refurb!
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ONWARDS TO HEX!!!
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SCAREFEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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And a boat!
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Rita
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We arrive at CCL!
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En-route to Hex!
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HEX!!!
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Queue Theming
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One of the TV's got cursed!
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Then Merlin stepped in to ruin the theming...as usual...
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"But how is that Merlin's fault?"
...You will see...
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Hex Review
The 1st few rooms were much better than they used to be, however things start to go down hill once you reach the Octegon, When you enter the room the theming is top notch but as you go further in you will notice that the lighting is way too bright, you can see the witch before you're meant to (as clear as day might I add), then the rest of the scene plays out as usual with no alterations which was somewhat of a letdown for me as I was hoping for at least 1 new effect!
Then you get to the vault...it's just WAY too bright, to the point where it ruins the entire scene, its so bright that what should have been just as effective as 2015, was just not effective at all, it left me with a sour taste in my mouth and really ruins the whole experience somewhat and, judging by the reaction (or lack thereof) of everyone else in the vault, it seems I'm not alone on this.
but all in all Hex was mostly a vast improvement!
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Exiting Hex, I decided to take a look around the Towers
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Then I found a Strange string of lights on the spiral staircase!
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Then I made my way to CCL!
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Remember when I said about Merlin ruining Hex's queue?
well heres why!
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WHAT?
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FASTTRACK!!!!!
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ON HEX!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
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WHYYYYYYY?!?!?!?!?!
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That's right, they have Fasttrack on Hex (the ride that never has a queue ever) done via a side door that lets in bright daylight thus ruining the queueline theming right before you get to the preshow!
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since it's late, I'm going to continue this tomorrow...cya!

[Count-Vonduel]

Alton Towers Opening Day Trip Report Part 2
Its picture heavy!
Beware of ducks...

Spoiler

LIKE THE ONE RIGHT BEHIND YOU HOLDING A BREAD KNIFE BUT DON'T LOOK BECAUSE THAT WILL REALLY TICK IT OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Anyway, after solving the mystery of Hex's refurb budget (I know it was always there but its funnier if I pretend to not know) We go back round to look at the refurbished CCL!
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But as we turn to leave, we notice that Hex is being evacuated!
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I don't know who that is, but he's definately evacuating Hex!
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Now let's go look at CCL!
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We stop to take some pictures of the Driving School!
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Wait! What's that?
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Not that!
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THAT!
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Why, it's only Controversy Cow!
The edgyest cow around!
Hello Controversy Cow!
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After getting those sweet sweet guilt by association points, let's go look at the rest of CCL!
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Now into the newer part of CCL!
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Here's the old theatre
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They turned the old Ice Age queue into a small refreshment bar!
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And then...
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So after that little gate excursion let's...
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HOUSE OF MONSTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The 'keep out' signs are gone, replaced with pictures of the different characters!
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Something to note, is that in the last picture, you can see Skeleton John, Gorgle and Venom (the vampire from the dungeon scene) but the 4th character in it (bleow Venom) never appeared in the attraction at all, But saying that, I went through multiple times last year and never saw the chair in the dungeon scene get used, so this could be another case of that.
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I don't know why they picked Wolfboy and Volta as opposed to Gorgle and Skeleton John tho!
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Frankie's fine though.
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Let's peek inside!
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Random plant pot!
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Sorry about that...
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At first, the CCL sign looks half decent!
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Untill...
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Then we come across a queuetime board!
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Then someone must have held Merlin at gun-point!
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As we make our way back to Mutiny Bay, you may have noticed the lack of Forbidden Valley, Xsector and Dark Forest pictures, That's because everyone will look there, so there's no reason to update you all on it, (and let's be honest, you already seen the Nemesis repaint)
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As we arrive in Mutiny Bay, we notice some new shutters.
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Then I tried Furchester Hotel again but the queue is still too long!
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So we peeked over the SW8 fence while we walked down the new patch!
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Then we spot a strange shed thing by the Rapids and there seems to be someone in it!
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We arrive at Gloomy Wood and ride Duel!
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Then we spot something very strange!
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And in the drawing room!
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Anyone know what that's about?
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Since I have yet to go in Furchester Hotel we walk up to the Forbidden Valley Skyride...VIA A NEW PATH YAY!!!
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But when we got to the Skyride, it seemed to be closed!
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So we walk back thru the NEW PATH OMG!!!, where I wonder aloud why they couldn't have opend this path YEARS ago.
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We walk through Haunted Hollow which is mostly the same, except that after all these years they finally made those arch/tunnel things at least mildly presentable!
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Once we got to Mutiny Bay, we rode Heave-Ho then made a mad dash for Furchester Hotel before it closed!
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Having got there in time, the queue board claims it was 30 min but we only waited 5!
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Now for a review of The Furchester Hotel.
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Furchester Hotel Review
I will never forget my stay at the Furchester, not because I enjoyed it...no...it's because the Furchester is GOD AWFUL AND BY FAR THE WORST HOTEL EVER CONCEIVED!!!!!!
The person who's JOB IT IS to carry cases...COULDN'T AND HAD TO GET A CHILD TO DO IT!!!!!!!!!
so there was a local celebrity coming to stay at the hotel and instead of getting the hotel ready for him or ya-know CHECKING THE GUESTS IN!!!! they demanded that WE help them to get the hotel ready!
and the chef...woooow the chef, He is SO Imcompetent that he hides his food randomly around the lobby...HIDES HIS FOOD RANDOMLY AROUND THE HOTEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and the defining moment was, when I tried to check out...they started singing and trying to prevent me from leaving...PREVENT ME FROM LEAVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After I escaped, I will never return and give this hotel a 0/10
GOD AWFUL!
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...Oh ok here's the real review
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It was an interactive show and was surprisingly good!
At one point you had to find cookies hidden around the hotel and that was the worst part by far and let the attraction down as they do the same thing but 10X better in Mr Bloom so another scene instead of that wouldn't go amiss!
At the end of the attraction they sing a song from the show (Don't Check Out) which just does not work in this enviroment and really let the entire thing down right at the end! Look up the Furchester hotel opening song on youtube, that would translate perfectly to this attraction and would be the perfect way to end it! (I THOUGHT IT WAS MUPPETS OKAY!!!)
The overall theming inside is excelent if bizarrly creepy!
Overall it's a very good addition to the park and I hope they will fine tune it for next year!
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After this, we walked to the CCL Burger Kitchen to eat and managed to catch the skyride back to Tower Street (It was only closed on the side going away from Tower Street) after this we had a hot choc in Corner Costa, took some last shots of Tower Street then went home!
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SCAREFEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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But wait...TWIRLING TOADSTOOL CONFERMD TO BE OPEN THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yeah...they should probably sort that out before media get wind of it.
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Overall the park itself was a HUGE improvment from last year, I would even say it was the best it has been in a past 2-3 years!
However...the food and drink on park has took a drastic nose dive and was some of the worst food and drink I have had (on park) since I started going in 2009!
Other than the F&B the park is looking up and at this rate, 2018 is looking to be a really good year for it!
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And so, the trip report comes to an end, I hope you enjoyed this trip report and have fun on your next trip to Alton Towers!
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BONUS DUCK
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Quack quack