Away from the thunderstorms, the sun has been shining over the weekend, and Alton Towers was hotter than PortAventura! So rather than jump on a plane, we hopped in the car to bring you coverage of SW8 and more!
Splash Landings Reopening
Splash Landings reopened today following an extended closure since January this year. The fountain at the entrance to the hotel has received a lick of paint, and the boards previously blocking the entrance have been removed.
Heading inside, buffet restaurant Flambo’s Exotic Feast has now had a name change to “Flambo’s Jambo”. Breakfast is served in the restaurant for hotel guests, and day visitors also have the option to purchase breakfast for £12.95 or £6.95 for kids 12 and under. Lunch is served during peak days and costs £9.95/£5.25 for kids up to 12, whilst dinner offer 5 tiers of prices for adults and children of different ages:
The main change appears to be a new Jambalaya bar, where guests can choose cajun rice served with meat. Aside from this, the food selection appears to be much the same as the previous incarnation of the restaurant.
Although the fountain has seen a lick of paint, the extended closure of Splash Landings doesn’t appear to have resulted in a great deal of painting or maintenance being carried out. Both restaurant and hotel look much the same as they did when they closed back in January.
Rollercoaster Restaurant Breakfast
As a trial over the course of half term week, the resort announced that Rollercoaster Restaurant will be serving breakfast from 10am-11am until the 4th June. The menu includes flat iron pancakes, along with breakfast bruschetta and a full english breakfast which are both pictured below. As with the Rollercoaster Restaurant’s standard lunch and dinner menus, meals come served in metal pots via the restaurant’s track system.
SW8 Construction
Over at the SW8 site, the recent excellent weather has meant progress is flying along. The station area is a hive of activity, with wooden structures being built and stored in and around the building. The foundations for the theming structure are now looking complete, with mounting plates fixed into the concrete ready for the structure to be moved into place.
Elsewhere on the site, a number of mounds have been constructed, with diggers still continuing work moving soil and rockwork around to landscape the site, and to prepare for timber bents to go up for the coaster itself.
Don’t forget that we’re regularly updating our Facebook page with updates on our regular visits to the park.
Fireworks 2017: Annual Pass Pre Book
Looking toward the end of the season now, and the Merlin Annual Pass page has announced that Annual Pass Holders will have the option to pre book entry to this year’s Fireworks Spectacular, which is being held on Saturday the 4th and Sunday 5th November. The event was cut to just a Saturday and Sunday last year, as opposed to previous years where the event took place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This inevitably brought a larger number of guests to the Saturday of the event, which led to large queues across both rides and food outlets. The resort eventually closed the gates to the park, resulting in a large number of visitors, including some annual passholders being turned away. Whilst visitors with regular tickets were strongly encouraged to prebook last year, annual passholders were not given the option.
The introduction of the option to pre book brings the park in line with what other UK Merlin Parkshave done in recent years. Legoland already offer the option for Annual Passholders to pre book for their annual Fireworks event. Meanwhile Thorpe Park charge Standard passholders around £10 for entry to Fright Nights, and give Premium passholders the option to pre book to guarantee entry with a small booking fee.
The booking page for Alton’s Fireworks event is not live yet, however Merlin have advised that more information will be “released soon”.
