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1986 Park Guide Map & Quiz

MaxPower said:
In the 80s and early 90s, it did seem as if there was more of a hi-de-hi feel to the place. Which I suppose was manly due to it being a family run business.

It's also important to remember that in these 'high investment' years, a lot of the rides weren't actually owned by the park, merely leased.

I don't even think the corkscrew at that time was owned by the park although I may be wrong?
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Family business? Which one?

The rides WERE owned by the park, including the Corkscrew. Any more history you'd like to re-write for us? ;)
 
BarryZola said:
Family business? Which one?

The rides WERE owned by the park, including the Corkscrew. Any more history you'd like to re-write for us? ;)
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The Corkscrew and several other rides were leased to the park, and John Broome married into the Bagshaw family who owned the park.

John Wardley himself talks about it in this video
 
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Sorry pal, turns out your claims do have good foundation indeed. As you say, Wardley does talk about leasing the Corkscrew and other rides in that video (he mention's they were leased from German travelling showmen). Not sure exactly how that arrangement would have worked but in the 'Story of Alton Towers' DVD one of the members of management from the time of the installation mentions that they convinced 'Dutch financiers' to fund the installation which is slightly different from what Wardley says but in essence the point stands that Broome didn't just go out and purchase some of these rides off the shelf, they were indeed leased or financed in some way or other with help from outside parties.

The only thing I would say about the 'family business' thing is that there is a middle ground between a major corporation and what is traditionally seen as a 'family business'. Although Bagshaw's was indeed run by a family, it was an established business that has been running since the 1800s and deals in property etc. It's not exactly a woman and her husband running a coffee shop out of the downstairs part of their house, and neither did the park have a Hi-De-Hi feel to it in the late 80s and early 90s, far from it.
 
BarryZola said:
The only thing I would say about the 'family business' thing is that there is a middle ground between a major corporation and what is traditionally seen as a 'family business'. Although Bagshaw's was indeed run by a family, it was an established business that has been running since the 1800s and deals in property etc. It's not exactly a woman and her husband running a coffee shop out of the downstairs part of their house, and neither did the park have a Hi-De-Hi feel to it in the late 80s and early 90s, far from it.
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I know what you mean, towards the end of John Broomes tenure it was most definitely a corporate business, but still nowhere near what it is today.

I know that a few members of the family ran businesses within the park such as the old gift shop that is now Hex, and the tea room next to the lake (that's now gone).

I have worked for Will Broome (Johns son) who runs a web based event business here in London, and have talked to him about his time at the Towers.
 
You got to admit that even it being a bit corporate John Broome got the right balance
 
delta79 said:
You got to admit that even it being a bit corporate John Broome got the right balance
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In a way, yes. Ultimately however, he was a businessman.

I have no doubt that if he was still in charge of operations today, the park would be doing exactly the same as all the other major UK parks; fleecing people for as much as they can.

I do think Tussauds took the park to level beyond what Mr Broome was capable of achieving.
 
I remember going in 87, it was my first visit and there seemed to be so much more going on than there is now. At that time I wasn't really into the coasters, I went with my local youth club because I'd always been interested in American theme parks and wanted to check out our own.

My memories - crapping myself on the Corkscrew, almost vomiting after the Enterprise (friend sat in front and blocked my view), refusing to get on 1001 Knights, loving 4 Man Bob and The Flume and wishing I was a bit braver and had got on The Black Hole. But the most memorable things are the quirky Doom & Sons, the Mississippi Show Boat and the masses of shops selling everything and anything. I also remember sea lions at the end of Towers Street, have I got that right? Hmm....not sure now...

I went back a couple of years later and loved The Rapids and The Mouse, Coaster corner had just opened up, I really loved how they managed to get so many coasters into such a small space.

So to sum up I'd like to see Alton Towers offer more quirkiness, bring back the show boat with its jazz band, add a new walk through like Doom & Sons and maybe add a few unique attractions similar to the old motor museum, doll museum and even the railway exhibition, anyone else remember that?

The Towers still have so much potential, I've always thought they could do so much more though, just the usual costs prohibit further renovation I guess. On a plus side they have added the Sea Life Center which is a nice walk through addition and I love how they've expanded on family attractions like Cbeebies.

I last visited in 2014 with my two boys aged 4 and 6, what did they enjoy the most? Wobble World by the Driving School, all the way from Norfolk and we spent half the day indoors on inflatables!.....hmm, just like their Dad, go for the underdog :)
 
Yes you are correct about the sea lions,
if you were lucky the men in white coats would let you feed them a fish.
As an old git,
I can remember the massive model railway in the towers building,
I think it was where you (used!) to queue for Hex,
but scariest of all was a small building,
roughly where the dark forest arcade is now,
that housed about a dozen tableaux displays of stuffed small animals wearing human style clothes...
gave me nightmares for years!
...and forty years later I finally get a season ticket.
 
Stuffed small animals wearing human style clothes? Yeah, enough to give any child nightmares, glad I didn't find those!
 
Stuffed squirrel or rabbit on a bun would probably taste better than most offerings at Burger Kitchen.
Maybe that was where they ended up

Also,
just noticed a nice picture of the sea lions on the A.T.Heritage site...
I was right about the men in white coats!
Massive crowd to watch them being fed.

Think I will try to search out a nightmare photo of the stuffed animals next!
 
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