AT86
TS Member
It seems that this year Alton Towers has taken a step forward in terms of entertainment options at the park, Lets face it, things hit an all time low between 2016-2019 with no shows outside CBeebies Land at all, and little other entertainment other than ATTP on Towers Street. But even before that, the small scale Pirate show in Mutiny Bay, whilst fun, didn't come close to the level of shows seen at the park in the proceeding decades.
2020 introduced Oktoberfest and with it some new entertainment and the Christmas Event seems to have introduced some additional entertainment in the form of Carol singers and roaming characters, and hopefully the Panto can also be performed as planned if the next round of tier restriction reviews goes in the park's favour.
Looking around the other UK Merlin parks, it does seem that entertainment has picked up slightly there too - Oktoberfest at Thorpe and new Christmas offerings at Chessington. It is probably too early to tell, but perhaps Merlin have seen fit to loosen the purse strings a little when it comes to this element of the parks? Lets hope so.
I know shows and entertainment aren't everyone's cup of tea which is fair enough, we all like different things. For me, a day at a theme park is about the whole package, rides, shows, characters food etc. so I personally would love for things to steadily evolve over the coming years to expand the entertainment offerings.
There are a distinct lack of show venues across the park these days due to a lack of focus on shows, and the only indoor venue that can be converted back into a theatre is now in the Walliams area, restricting the show to being linked to that IP. Whilst I wouldn't be averse to this being put back into use with a Walliams themed show, I do think there are other options for show venues - such as:
2020 introduced Oktoberfest and with it some new entertainment and the Christmas Event seems to have introduced some additional entertainment in the form of Carol singers and roaming characters, and hopefully the Panto can also be performed as planned if the next round of tier restriction reviews goes in the park's favour.
Looking around the other UK Merlin parks, it does seem that entertainment has picked up slightly there too - Oktoberfest at Thorpe and new Christmas offerings at Chessington. It is probably too early to tell, but perhaps Merlin have seen fit to loosen the purse strings a little when it comes to this element of the parks? Lets hope so.
I know shows and entertainment aren't everyone's cup of tea which is fair enough, we all like different things. For me, a day at a theme park is about the whole package, rides, shows, characters food etc. so I personally would love for things to steadily evolve over the coming years to expand the entertainment offerings.
There are a distinct lack of show venues across the park these days due to a lack of focus on shows, and the only indoor venue that can be converted back into a theatre is now in the Walliams area, restricting the show to being linked to that IP. Whilst I wouldn't be averse to this being put back into use with a Walliams themed show, I do think there are other options for show venues - such as:
- Fountain Square - a more permanent stage/seating area similar to the Christmas set up would see a far bit of 'passing trade' attracting people to stop and watch
- Goal Striker location - an outdoor stage/seating area similar to the one at Chessington could work well here
- Air car parks - a larger scale show venue that could be used by park and hotel guests, the return of Ice Shows perhaps?
- Small stage on the Ripsaw site? Think they have tried this briefly before
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