Sammy
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Untamed - Walibi Holland
Warning, this post is rather picture heavy.
So I was having a little clear out of my house the other day and came across this little gem, an Alton Towers 1986 Guide Book/Map and naturally I have decided to share it with the lovely people of TowersStreet The little 10 page, A5 booklet is filled with lots of wonderful pictures of the rides and park in days gone by, accompanied with little snippets of delightfully 80's style marketing spiel that is all so very quaint.
The front page of the book is taken up by the standard 1980's promo piece, The Corkscrew swooping over the Towers viewed from across the lake.
Also, take note... We may well laugh at Today's generic corporate line of "You can still enjoy over 50 other rides and attractions" However it would appear that is, in actual fact rather reserved, as guests in the 80's had no reason to be disgruntled if 'The Black Hole' or 'Log Flume' were ever to close, they were spoiled rotten with over 100 other attractions to enjoy!
104 attractions to be precise as shown here on pages 2-3 of the guide, the park map. Needless to say some of them are rather questionable, anybody for a trip to the 'Baby Feeding Room'?
The map does however show that 1986 really was rather a high investment year, with not only two new areas (one of which being our very own namesake Towers Street) but also, 'The Spider' and 'The Grand Canyon Rapids'.
Moving on to pages 4-5 we start to look at the individual areas, with some lovely captions, I'm particularly fond of the use of the word 'Superb'.
Not so much of a fan of the Doll Exhibition...
Pages 6-7 see us look at 'Fantasy World' and 'Aqualand', featuring a 'sensational journey through space' and 'the most exciting family ride in the world'
...Always been a fan of bold statements then.
Lots of use of the word Spectacular too, anybody would think this was Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Beyond the centre pages we discover the parks wide range of restaurants and shopping facilities including, the largest fast food eatery in Europe, steak served from a carriage and obviously pottery, freshly blown glass and a wide array of 'Basketware'. After all, what theme park trip is complete without a handcrafted wicker basket?
Is that some 'Ride Me' merch I can see in the leisurewear shop?
The final pages give us a lovely comparison of the 'Unique combination' of culture and heritage next to lots of garish, brightly coloured inflatable children's tat, sorry... I mean 'A kaleidoscope of activities for young children'
Nice to see some lovely images of the gardens without them covered in wooden posts and rope anyway...
And obviously we couldn't leave without talking pricing, the back page covers, directions, entry fee's and how they went out of their way to lay special paved areas and provide special toilets for disabled guests...
One for the geeks... Check out the throughput on those fast food outlets!
But wait, that is not all back in 1986 every visit to Alton Towers came with the opportunity to win a holiday... And not one to Alton Towers either! The park had teamed up with Horizon holidays to offer a number of holidays to Spain... along with a few return visits to the park.
Now for the fun part, the 'Alton Towers Fun Quiz' to be exact! All guests had to do was complete 12 simple questions, the answers to which were readily available around the park, to be in with a chance of winning said holidays. And for the competitive ones among you, here is that quiz... Note a long term photographic memory is required, one of approximately 29 years.
(Please note: Terms and Conditions apply, please ask the bill payers permission before entering, entries past the closing date will not count but you may still be charged... holidays and return tickets are no longer available.)
So I guess all that's left to say is, I hope you will find this both as interesting and amusing as I did.
So I was having a little clear out of my house the other day and came across this little gem, an Alton Towers 1986 Guide Book/Map and naturally I have decided to share it with the lovely people of TowersStreet The little 10 page, A5 booklet is filled with lots of wonderful pictures of the rides and park in days gone by, accompanied with little snippets of delightfully 80's style marketing spiel that is all so very quaint.
The front page of the book is taken up by the standard 1980's promo piece, The Corkscrew swooping over the Towers viewed from across the lake.
Also, take note... We may well laugh at Today's generic corporate line of "You can still enjoy over 50 other rides and attractions" However it would appear that is, in actual fact rather reserved, as guests in the 80's had no reason to be disgruntled if 'The Black Hole' or 'Log Flume' were ever to close, they were spoiled rotten with over 100 other attractions to enjoy!
104 attractions to be precise as shown here on pages 2-3 of the guide, the park map. Needless to say some of them are rather questionable, anybody for a trip to the 'Baby Feeding Room'?
The map does however show that 1986 really was rather a high investment year, with not only two new areas (one of which being our very own namesake Towers Street) but also, 'The Spider' and 'The Grand Canyon Rapids'.
Moving on to pages 4-5 we start to look at the individual areas, with some lovely captions, I'm particularly fond of the use of the word 'Superb'.
Not so much of a fan of the Doll Exhibition...
Pages 6-7 see us look at 'Fantasy World' and 'Aqualand', featuring a 'sensational journey through space' and 'the most exciting family ride in the world'
...Always been a fan of bold statements then.
Lots of use of the word Spectacular too, anybody would think this was Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Beyond the centre pages we discover the parks wide range of restaurants and shopping facilities including, the largest fast food eatery in Europe, steak served from a carriage and obviously pottery, freshly blown glass and a wide array of 'Basketware'. After all, what theme park trip is complete without a handcrafted wicker basket?
Is that some 'Ride Me' merch I can see in the leisurewear shop?
The final pages give us a lovely comparison of the 'Unique combination' of culture and heritage next to lots of garish, brightly coloured inflatable children's tat, sorry... I mean 'A kaleidoscope of activities for young children'
Nice to see some lovely images of the gardens without them covered in wooden posts and rope anyway...
And obviously we couldn't leave without talking pricing, the back page covers, directions, entry fee's and how they went out of their way to lay special paved areas and provide special toilets for disabled guests...
One for the geeks... Check out the throughput on those fast food outlets!
But wait, that is not all back in 1986 every visit to Alton Towers came with the opportunity to win a holiday... And not one to Alton Towers either! The park had teamed up with Horizon holidays to offer a number of holidays to Spain... along with a few return visits to the park.
Now for the fun part, the 'Alton Towers Fun Quiz' to be exact! All guests had to do was complete 12 simple questions, the answers to which were readily available around the park, to be in with a chance of winning said holidays. And for the competitive ones among you, here is that quiz... Note a long term photographic memory is required, one of approximately 29 years.
(Please note: Terms and Conditions apply, please ask the bill payers permission before entering, entries past the closing date will not count but you may still be charged... holidays and return tickets are no longer available.)
So I guess all that's left to say is, I hope you will find this both as interesting and amusing as I did.