Alton Towers

Our first event of 2024 was upon us and another sell out day at Alton Towers awaited us.

As a break from tradition lanyards were handed out to attendees within the Towers Suite, for this year the new blue colour lanyards were revealed.

Free time followed for a couple of hours where everyone scattered to the four corners of the park to get in lots of rides and re-rides of their favourites. After this time it was time to return to the Towers Suite.

The first part of our organised elements of the event was a talk from Bianca Sammut (Divisional Director for Alton Towers) and a quiz run by John S (Director of Technical Services at Alton Towers).

The talk centred around Project Sparkle and the out of season work done around the whole resort to make sure everything was looking as good as it could, it really was amazing to see the differences on before and after pictures and just how quickly that cleaning can look grubby again once guests are back on resort. Bianca also showed some of the adjustments that had been made on rides across the resort to help both staff and visitors, many of which are noticeable as you go to each ride.

The quiz followed this and really tested some obscure knowledge of the resort, with some questions more general knowledge than others. Prizes were awarded for the winners, some of them admitting to using sheer guess work for most of the answers. A massive thanks to both Bianca and John for such a great talk and quiz.

Following this was the usual water ride takeover where the queue more than doubled for the rapids as we went en mass to see how wet everyone can get, the waterfalls being back do add that extra soaking danger. Mike thought he had got away without getting wet before the waterfalls got him.

Curse was next for a lot of the group as we continued to enjoy each others company across the park. Following an enjoyable New Year’s party in Alton Manor we went off to see some pirates as some of the more adventurous members braved a real soaking on Battle Galleons, this is always a fun (and loud) takeover as those on the boats battle each other as well as those on shore with guns.

More free time followed for everyone to get some more rides in and for those wet ones to dry off before the main event; Exclusive Ride Time on Nemesis Reborn.

Once everyone had met up again at the pit, it was time to try to organise everyone together for the group photos, and once this was complete it was time for an hour on Nemesis Reborn.

For some the hour meant getting as many rides as possible on the reopened classic, for others more a leisurely stroll around. The atmosphere down in Forbidden Valley for the whole hour was electric with the ride staff joining in with getting riders shouting and cheering. I personally did 5 rides but ensured that I got front and back row rides included in that, I know that the runners were well into double figures by the end of the hour.

A very enjoyable event with great insight from the park and an amazing ERT. Everyone seemed to have a brilliant time and as a team we were really pleased with how well it went. A big thank you to everyone for coming and also the staff and management at Alton Towers for a really enjoyable day.

Trip report by Sam Billyard, photos by Becca Bickerton and Matt Kirkham (ThrillPix). 

​

​

We are currently working on our future event plans, for all the latest event information head HERE