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2015: Alton Towers Enchanted Village

If half the things that are happening on tonights press launch are in and around the village when its open it will massively change my opinion on the project.
 
Things like that projection mapping really annoy me. It looks fantastic. Things like that should be part of theme park shows etc, not just reserved for exclusive press nights so that it all looks great in the media.

:)
 
Why don't they create something amazing thought instead of relying on what amounts to false advertising to an extent with a few marketing buzz word tricks?

I remember when I first went into splash landings and I was blown away, granted it was without seeing the rooms or visiting european parks, but thats what you want. People to see it, go home and tell all their friends how amazing it is.

From what I can see people will be going there thinking they are getting a hot tub, a fairy tale house in the woods and it's more like a static caravan park. I just fail to see how anyone could get enthusiastic about it and it's even more painful knowing that with just a little more effort this too, like splash could be amazing!
 
Croftybaby said:
Why don't they create something amazing thought instead of relying on what amounts to false advertising to an extent with a few marketing buzz word tricks?

I remember when I first went into splash landings and I was blown away, granted it was without seeing the rooms or visiting european parks, but thats what you want. People to see it, go home and tell all their friends how amazing it is.

From what I can see people will be going there thinking they are getting a hot tub, a fairy tale house in the woods and it's more like a static caravan park. I just fail to see how anyone could get enthusiastic about it and it's even more painful knowing that with just a little more effort this too, like splash could be amazing!
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I'm not defending anything but Splash Landings is a bad example :p

When it opened it got panned and had to close and re-open again
 
From the Brimingham Mail:
Birmingham Mail said:
After dark
At night the village takes on a whole new level of enchantment, as its wildlife lights up whilst the faint sound of whispering ''little folk'' fills the air!

The Great Oak illuminates with hundreds of fairy lights and a glowing mushroom trail leads guests to The Crooked Spoon for dinner.
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I think I'll wait to see some evidence before believing this "whole new level of enchantment".

The article also confirms that the Crooked Spoon does only serve continental breakfast - sure to go down well with the great British public.

It also appears that some of the evening entertainment involves blasting out pop music, unless of course that was just for tonight. Pop music in an enchanted village, hmmmmm!

:)
 
Rob said:
I'd imagine you will be able to do this when you check in. It's not too much of a problem in my eyes, both DLP and EP (Europe's two biggest theme parks) allocate breakfast time slots at peak times (you get to choose at check in from what times are available for each morning of your stay). It is in effect the same as booking a table for breakfast.

:)
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Europa-Park do not allocate breakfast slots.
 
I did have second thoughts after posting that, vaguely remembered getting them in 2012 but sounds like I am mistaken!

:)
 
Just seen the pictures TS have posted on Facebook of the new VIP Welcome Lounge for those staying in the Treehouses, along with a little sign with the names of who is staying in which treehouse, some chairs, coffee machine etc.

It just saddens me so much that what was once a great fun break from reality for everyone has become this place of snobbery where those with more money than sense get treated like royalty and those who cant have their faces rubbed in it, not just in the hotels, but also in the theme park with the fast track system and VIP passes, fireworks VIP areas etc.

What a dumb decision to not have the check in over at the Enchanted Lodge reception for these people too - or are they deemed too posh to check in there? Its all getting a bit pathetic. Will they have a VIP dining area or butler service for them too? I think I recall reading somewhere that the lodges could have their own chef if you wanted one......
 
I have no problem with a gradation of products for different prices but the issue here is the impact it has on other guests.

No theme park works on a socialist principle (even EP) but Merlin make it too damn obvious. So a chef in your tree house is fine, it impacts me very little and if you want to pay for it be my guest. Stealing seating space from regular guests for a second thought welcome area is naff.

Basically everyone should get a good product and "VIP's" who pay up should get extreme amazingness I guess... At the moment though the ethos is everyone gets mediocrity and VIP pay for something that often pisses on those who haven't.
 
It would be fine if this welcome lounge was in a separate area, say, a new building sat beside the treehouses. But it's sat at the front of ATH, near the communal areas of the 'normal'/'poor' people, you couldn't make the segregation more obvious!

All they're doing is cutting the capacity of the current hotels in favour of new products. It's not the best way to run things, and pretty poor for a new accommodation complex, which should have had all these things planned and thought out before plans were submitted.
 
Judging by the pictures on Facebook, I think it does actually look quite nice. What lets it down however is how the marketing relied heavily on the "enchanted" feature, something which they could never realistically pull off. It's things like magical sparkles and the glowing trees that were the downfall.

Branding it as a little medieval village would have been much more effective in my opinion.
 
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Dave said:
I'm not defending anything but Splash Landings is a bad example :p

When it opened it got panned and had to close and re-open again
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I think the finished product was the last glory of the Tussaud's era before it went down the chutes. The theming and overall immersion was top notch.

If only they had foreseen during planning that Splash would really need more facilities, rooms and eventual expansion space.
 
Looking at some of the pictures on TS facebook the lodges down the far end of the site look quite nice. So I think once planting had bedded in the lodges themselves will look nice enough.

Still dissapointed with the lack of thought on the little details and the roads and fences.
 
As Dave says, the lodges at the bottom end of the area look the most 'enchanted'. There's two clusters which have a foresty background so that helps, however all the lodges proud of ATH don't look very magical at all, which is disappointing.

The play equipment in the middle of each group are not particularly entertaining, and need at least one or two other pieces to really make the area.

The music within the Crooked Spoon restaurant is really nice, however we sat on the benches just outside the door having a drink, and the music was very difficult to hear as the speakers were only indoors. They could do with a few speakers on the exterior of the restaurant and maybe one or two in the middle of each group of lodges on a quiet volume to enhance the experience.

As for the treehouses, some of them look smaller than others, with the leftermost being the smallest and the rightermost being the largest, or so it appears. They do unfortunately look far too cramped together, and could have done with being split up by 1 or 2 parking bays.

Unfortunately the entrance to the village doesn't overwhelm and at first appears to be a narrow back entrance to a group of lodges. The reception is also very small.

I'm not sure what I make of the whole project as there are certain positives and negatives that outweigh each other. But it's all a matter of opinion at the end of the day.
 
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Argh after seeing the projection mapping I'm a little bit annoyed tbh having stayed in a lodge Sunday night.

The entrance is underwhelming, still feels very unfinished.

We found the lodges fine but can see them looking incredibly worn down in about 2 years.

No sign of any speakers or sound yet, we even went for a walk from our side of the village right over to the other to see the enchanted tree.... NOTHING! There's big tree with a rope fence round it and a power socket ready for when they bother to throw some lights up it. Was very disappointed.

The village is incredibly dark and the mushrooms had one light to the side of them pointing straight up, it was mostly covered by the overgrown grass and missed the mushrooms entirely!

Now on to that projection mapping... why oh why have they paid a company to produce it for the one night. All the hard work and cost has been done! Hide a projector somewhere on the first set of lodges you come to and have it on until 10pm every night and it would add so much more atmosphere.

After the secret garden breakfast I found the crooked spoon to be a lot worse, seemed ever so small with what was on offer. Cereals, fruit and juice plonked on the bar and a small cooked breakfast area opposite. Didn't see any of these magic pictures on the walls and the whole things felt bare, led spot lights just randomly pointing white circles onto random bits of the walls! They can't have finished it yet, just wish they'd have said that when we booked!

On a positive note we liked the little archery range just outside the prison fence. The chap was super friendly and made a nice addition to our stay, especially as it was free - even then it was not advertised anywhere and everybody stood around for a bit to see if they were charging people for doing it, it felt very un-merlin like not to be charged £5 per arrow so we couldn't believe our luck! That runs 4-8pm each day, how long for is anybody's guess.
 
e4kenndr said:
On a positive note we liked the little archery range just outside the prison fence. The chap was super friendly and made a nice addition to our stay, especially as it was free - even then it was not advertised anywhere and everybody stood around for a bit to see if they were charging people for doing it, it felt very un-merlin like not to be charged £5 per arrow so we couldn't believe our luck! That runs 4-8pm each day, how long for is anybody's guess.
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That sounds fantastic. It's bound to be short-lived, but little bits of entertainment like this is sorely needed throughout the resort.
 
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