Inside Alton Towers - General Discussion

[jlm2002]

Ehhh...it was ok. They should have really called it 'Wicker Man: Behind The Scenes feat. random theme park goers'.

There was like 0% focus on anything in the park else except that coaster and the Smiler crash.

[Justin]

It was a great program, but of course we are going to pick up on all the little bits That concept art was beautiful though.

One thing I do agree with in some way is the comments being made about the enthusiast sections. I think there were too many featured and it would have been nice to see more GP opinions. I would have also liked to have seen more from behind the scenes during construction and more from the construction team.

Overall, enjoyable, but I do prefer the style of The Magic Factory documentary!

[wamdue]

Talking of the GP, I felt that "It's better than colouring in!" may have been damming Wicker Man with faint praise. A £16 million anything, had better be better than colouring in.

[AltonOperator]

I'm also quite disappointed at the way enthusiasts were portrayed in the documentary. Whilst I appreciate everyone has individual reasons for becoming interested in Alton Towers / theme parks / rollercoasters, I felt the way that enthusiasts were portrayed on the whole was not representative of the wider enthusiast community, but rather those select few who would make more interesting TV.

I completely agree with this. I did not like the way enthusiasts were portrayed. I appreciate and respect that some people become enthusiasts because of struggles and that's brilliant - we are lucky to be interested in something that brings people so much joy - but that's not everyone. Some people just like roller coasters and don't have a reason for it. I don't think the inclusion of any enthusiasts was necessary at all. I'd much preferred to hear from staff like ma mate Francis Jackson! Tell me about the struggles of planning and construction and logistics not how excited 4 different enthusiasts are.
If this was a documentary on knitting would they really have people telling stories about how sad they were and knitting just gave them something to live for?

I did think they handled The Smiler fairly well. They acknowledged it head on and explained how devastated they truly were but they could have described some of the things they were doing to improve and explain that it was human error and that roller coasters are safe.

[Steff15]

Argh, so this documentary was good but could have been so much better I think is my feel of it. It wasn’t a look inside Alton towers at all it was a look into the creation of Wicker Man with the passing mention by a select few regarding The Smiler incident.

I feel they missed a trick, too many non-enthusiasts who just like to visit AT like my sister they don’t know how the safety have been improved across the park, how much has been done to prevent an incident like Smiler happening again and I feel honesty and a real look at the safety improvements would have gone much further to regain trust than “We’ve built a new coaster come and see!” which as someone mentioned above it did feel somewhat like a very long advert with some added extras.

I really liked the look at the story board and hearing from the marketing guys which I’d have loved to have heard more from. Sad there was no mention whatsoever of John Wardley as I know he’s retired but he had such a hand in what towers has become yet his name didn’t even get a mention even though they mentioned “the unusual first drop”.

The enthusiasts were interesting but I think they’d have been better off with Alton Towers enthusiasts rather than general coaster enthusiasts who could have also had a part in discussing the changes they’ve seen since Smiler as well as the exciting development of Wicker Man.

Anyway that was my feel of it. I’ve been waiting for a moment to come and see what others thought and share mine!

[Doublethink]

I thought it was ok but a bit on the dull side to be honest. Agree with the above that safety improvements would be nice to have been included. I thought they could have included some respected community figures like Shawn from TPW too, instead of just enthusiasts who use theme parks to help with their mental health.

[Nynaeve]

I found the documentary a little bit of a disappointment but on reflection I don't think enthusiasts were the intended audience and this probably explains the lack of depth or technical content which would have been of far greater interest to all of us but might have seemed a bit dull to the general public.
It did feel like too much of the footage had been cut and the result was a rushed, poorly edited documentary that played out like an extended advert.
The whole time I was just thinking it would have been so much better done as a series with maybe a different theme for each episode or with focus on a different ride each episode for example.  

[DeadJack5]

I forgot to mention that I was featured in the documentary!

[Nickolai]

You are part of the 'magic' of Alton Towers. :lol