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Alton Towers Ruins - Behind a Paywall
I was thinking more small guided tour with 2 staff and 15-20 people. Cant be that difficult to count them in and out I’m sure.
D4n
TS Member
I think people here are vastly overestimating the interest in these tours.
They could, at most, form a welcome indoor edition to the Christmas offerings, with deals to attract pensioners.
There is not the interest to support them year round without significant expenditure on advertising
They could, at most, form a welcome indoor edition to the Christmas offerings, with deals to attract pensioners.
There is not the interest to support them year round without significant expenditure on advertising
BarryZola
TS Member
...and even then the take-up would be worse because there wouldn't be any colour in the gardens during Winter and it would be COLD. Old people aren't the biggest fans of winter.
The simple truth is that in this day and age of traditional capitalism you won't get a situation where the gardens, house and theme park are 100% maintained all together at the same time. It doesn't make sense for the bottom line or for shareholders. You can possibly have a pretty well maintained gardens and house attraction in the same way as a National Trust property OR you can have the Theme Park being maintained as well as they can (apparently) just about manage to do. The only way you're going to get both at the moment is if you get a Sheikh from the Far East or someone else who's mega-rich who doesn't care about making a profit.
The best we can hope for is that they allow free flow in the ruins like it used to be 20 years ago, with some new signage explaining the history etc and a staff member or two being guardians of the Towers on any given day. Unlikely in the current scheme of things if recent history tells us anything.
I would be interested to see the history but I wouldn't pay an upcharge to go look round. It should be a walkthrough zone like the sea-life bit, as a place to escape the crowds and see something different.
I don't actually agree with any kind of upcharges for extra "experiences" once you've paid to go in somewhere already; feels dirty to me. You could apply this logic to the Dungeon too; it should always have been part of the park entry.
I don't actually agree with any kind of upcharges for extra "experiences" once you've paid to go in somewhere already; feels dirty to me. You could apply this logic to the Dungeon too; it should always have been part of the park entry.
AltonLover123
TS Member
It's actually a really excellent tour the Towers and Gardens walk through for only £10 you get value for money.
The reason it had to become a guided tour was because people were vandalising it and these days have no respect for historic buildings anymore which is why it was closed off to prevent the destruction, you saw how the public treated Toxicator within weeks of opening and to do that with a listed structure was not acceptable
Also they are Ruins and parts of the Towers are quite dangerous should you enter.
The guided tour made me appreciate all the interesting buildings in the Gardens which are all great looking structures
The towers should be open all year round, the council should be pushing for this whenever they submit their next planning application.
I wouldn’t have guided tours, I’d have a simple but extremely well put together route/layout along and with an audio tour walkthrough headset thing.
They can be just as good if not better than guided tours, people can go and do it whenever they want in season and out of main season, and it’d easily be something the parents could do whilst their kids are in a queue for an hour at peak time.
A small kiosk could be situated outside hex somewhere with one member of staff, pay £10 get half back when the equipment is returned or whatever price they’d like to set it at.
They could have loads of tech in there with things like AR used in places to show how the towers would have looked, information screen, film some videos using a decent VFX company to set the scenes in each room. The possibilities are endless and they’re massively underutilising the space.
I wouldn’t have guided tours, I’d have a simple but extremely well put together route/layout along and with an audio tour walkthrough headset thing.
They can be just as good if not better than guided tours, people can go and do it whenever they want in season and out of main season, and it’d easily be something the parents could do whilst their kids are in a queue for an hour at peak time.
A small kiosk could be situated outside hex somewhere with one member of staff, pay £10 get half back when the equipment is returned or whatever price they’d like to set it at.
They could have loads of tech in there with things like AR used in places to show how the towers would have looked, information screen, film some videos using a decent VFX company to set the scenes in each room. The possibilities are endless and they’re massively underutilising the space.
venny
TS Member
The restriction of access to the Towers is just symptomatic of the wider poor operation of the Resort. They’ve closed access because they could. It saves them a bit of money. There’s a small outcry by the few of us, but more widely it’s just one of a hundred cuts to how the park operates.
The things that used to be nice additions to your day, that make you smile, that make a day extra special, are gone. Cuts that are more or less visible, that they have calculated they can get away with cutting, where the outcry that does happen is tolerable.
Sometimes the cuts are dressed up with half truths or corporate platitudes. Sometimes there’s silence.
Every time, it has that little more intangible effect on your visit. Until after years of perpetual cuts, you realise that a theme park that once was viewed as world-leading, has been left in the dust by European rivals that it was once vastly superior to.
The things that used to be nice additions to your day, that make you smile, that make a day extra special, are gone. Cuts that are more or less visible, that they have calculated they can get away with cutting, where the outcry that does happen is tolerable.
Sometimes the cuts are dressed up with half truths or corporate platitudes. Sometimes there’s silence.
Every time, it has that little more intangible effect on your visit. Until after years of perpetual cuts, you realise that a theme park that once was viewed as world-leading, has been left in the dust by European rivals that it was once vastly superior to.
No they have closed access because ot vandalism caused by guests having the guided tours completely prevent this from occurring. Given Public unruly behaviour now more likely to enter a restricted section.
Calling it all cuts is lazy answer there is a more logical reason than just cuts.
It's still a great theme park and can still rival some of those in Europe
Squiggs
TS Team
Fun(?!) fact: the earliest recorded case of vandalism at the park were reported in the 1820s, the fifteenth earl wasn't best pleased.
I think you could say that any effect on vandalism would be tangential at best, and overall ineffective, as it doesn't sound like it has had any effect on the issue.
And it is next to impossible for any member of the public to enter an area in the Towers that are properly restricted for safety reasons, those areas are well and truly sealed up - you would need some reasonably heavy-duty tools to get out of the areas that are safe to be in. The infrastructure that exists in the Towers were specifically designed to allow guests to explore the ruins.
Dave
TS Founding Member
I think both sides of this are true (weirdly), there was definitely a concern about vandalism and health and safety. Whether that concern was based on valid evidence is hard to say as we don’t get to see the incident reports for anything that occurred when it was last open to the public.
That said there would be ways to mitigate those concerns without doing charged guided tours. But I don’t think they make a ton of money out of it, it’s just probably more cost neutral than having staff patrolling the ruins which they should just suck up and do but there you go.
That said there would be ways to mitigate those concerns without doing charged guided tours. But I don’t think they make a ton of money out of it, it’s just probably more cost neutral than having staff patrolling the ruins which they should just suck up and do but there you go.
It isn't just the ruins behind a paywall though, don't forget that half of the very well laid out gardens have been put behind a seven foot fence, so there is no access within the park.
I suppose Merlin could claim the rest of the grounds have been opened to the public for free.
I suppose Merlin could claim the rest of the grounds have been opened to the public for free.
Squiggs
TS Team
As anyone who follows us on social media is probably aware, this week Alton Towers invited me to have a look at the 2025 edition of their House and Garden Tour. You might also recall I paid to go on the tour last year, so was interested to see what the next iteration looked like, promising a new route and six new rooms in the house, which was good to hear, as last year the house portion was notably brief in comparison to the garden tour.
This is what I posted at the end of the tour:
From: https://www.facebook.com/TowersStreet/posts/pfbid0JKSBPWTYVEy24aQyi9qwHFDi8mmJkjpj3CnSXm66pqfNVvoKX8VsKxeyv6McxY2Vl
And for none social media types:
In the luxury of a discussion forum, I can share a little more detail, for anyone whose interested.
First, the gardens. I mentioned above that the route is new for 2025, and is an improvement overall. From memory, the first half of the route is quite similar, but skips the Orangery (but the building is still discussed, as the tour passes the Dutch Garden). Last year we only went into one chamber of the Conservatory, but this time we went in all three, which is a huge improvement, and as ever the central chamber is the highlight here, with some really nice planting and atmosphere.
The second half of the tour is a different route, but touches more briefly on the same topics. The route no longer goes past Le Refuge, round the Pagoda Fountain, along the canal or through the rock garden (I think I'm remembering right that last time we went over the bridge on the Canal and back up past the Cascade). From the Prospect Tower, you now follow the cross-valley path down to the bottom of the valley, and then turn at the Pagoda along the Pony Drive and walk through the centre of the Garden, back to the Choragic Monument.
The Pagoda Fountain, Canal, Loggia and Le Refuge are all discussed along this path, but much more briefly (which is fine, as this time has been reinvested in spending more time in the house). I'm going to add some more thoughts about the state of the Garden in general in the relevant thread.
But onto the house, and let me start off by saying, to keep my word, I do still have to call for a riot....
Either way, the new route through the Towers is a big improvement from last year (last year you basically went straight to the Banqueting Hall, then up to the roof via the Small Library and the to the Chapel with a stop at some of the other rooms on that route), when basically there was lots of backtracking. This year there was basically no backtracking at all, so the tour flowed better.
From the Drawing Room, you now start by going upstairs through the Small Library, and then through the Fountain Room and Yellow Room (with a brief stop in the upper passage of the West Wing to look at the Star Garden) and up to the roof via the stair in the Doria Tower (above the Poet's Bay). The West Wing viewing platform is now included, taking the total up to three out of the five available viewing platforms.
The Attic maze structure is now basically totally gone, so you head off the roof through the Pugin Rooms and through the rooms above the Long Gallery and then down into the Small Dining Room. The tour then concludes in the Banqueting Hall.
So by my count I think that means all the rooms which were available going into covid are now included in the tour, except the Waxwork Room, and weirdly the Chapel, which wasn't included this time round (though I got the impression that it might still be included sometimes, it just wasn't this week).
So still some work to do to get it to a full house tour, and the tour is definitely not a substitute for being able to look around at your own pace - it was actually quite difficult at times to concentrate on exploring the place, whilst listening to the tour guide. There were a few things I had intended to have a look at that I completely missed. That said, the tour would be a good addition, if it was available as well as having the house open more generally.*
All in all, though, the tour does remain a good quality addition to the park's line-up. And definitely very worthwhile if you want to learn a little more about the history of the house and gardens.
Also, they absolutely could offer a stand-alone tour ticket, especially on days when there's a low capacity. On Wednesday the tour finished half an hour after ride close, so there would definitely be an option to offer a ticket to the park including the tour for say £20, which allow access at 2pm.
*I do have some further thoughts about the vandalism issue as well, but I might save those for when someone inevitably points out they can't just have them open because people these days would just graffiti them.
This is what I posted at the end of the tour:
From: https://www.facebook.com/TowersStreet/posts/pfbid0JKSBPWTYVEy24aQyi9qwHFDi8mmJkjpj3CnSXm66pqfNVvoKX8VsKxeyv6McxY2Vl
And for none social media types:
And so, after many ups and downs (2.5km walking across a 200ft valley to be precise), here's our thoughts about the House and Gardens Tour.
The tours remain good value for money, and the 2025 version is a definite step up from last year, with an improved route and much more of the ruins available, which makes the tour feel more balanced.
If you're interested in the historic aspect of the park, and are looking for an informative stroll through the house and gardens, the tours will definitely be of interest.
Outside of what you see on the tour, the tour guides themselves are a highlight. Stephen has clearly put a lot of time and effort into researching interesting facts and stories from the past of Alton Towers, and the entire team behind the tours are a delight and clearly relish the showing guests the park's heritage.
However, it does remain the case that the tours are not a replacement for the house being open to the public as a regular attraction. The ruins were open to the public with little issue for 40 years, and Merlin should invest in reinstating this important attraction as soon as possible.
It is also notable that the new route through the Gardens keeps guests in and around the manicured north terraces, avoiding where possible the more overgrown south side of the garden. But even at a distance it is alarming how overgrown parts of the Grade I listed gardens are - in particular the Rock Garden and Cascade, which have almost vanished completely under a bracken infestation over recent years.
That said, these issues are more broadly related to the level of investment that Merlin are putting into their heritage assets, rather than the Tours themselves. Even in their current faded glory, the House and Gardens are still one of our country's greatest historic treasures, and the guided tours provide an enjoyable two-hour window into the past.
It is remarkable that a House and Gardens Tour has not been a regular part of the line-up at Alton Towers, and we hope they become a more regular offering, as an excellent way to introduce guests to the fascinating history at the heart of the theme park. #ad
In the luxury of a discussion forum, I can share a little more detail, for anyone whose interested.
First, the gardens. I mentioned above that the route is new for 2025, and is an improvement overall. From memory, the first half of the route is quite similar, but skips the Orangery (but the building is still discussed, as the tour passes the Dutch Garden). Last year we only went into one chamber of the Conservatory, but this time we went in all three, which is a huge improvement, and as ever the central chamber is the highlight here, with some really nice planting and atmosphere.
The second half of the tour is a different route, but touches more briefly on the same topics. The route no longer goes past Le Refuge, round the Pagoda Fountain, along the canal or through the rock garden (I think I'm remembering right that last time we went over the bridge on the Canal and back up past the Cascade). From the Prospect Tower, you now follow the cross-valley path down to the bottom of the valley, and then turn at the Pagoda along the Pony Drive and walk through the centre of the Garden, back to the Choragic Monument.
The Pagoda Fountain, Canal, Loggia and Le Refuge are all discussed along this path, but much more briefly (which is fine, as this time has been reinvested in spending more time in the house). I'm going to add some more thoughts about the state of the Garden in general in the relevant thread.
But onto the house, and let me start off by saying, to keep my word, I do still have to call for a riot....
To be fair to them, it sounds like this is still off limits due to the need to preserve the plasterwork in there, which I can well imagine, as we saw evidence last year that some of the plasterwork had not fared that well over the years the room has been used for staging Scarefest. I can't help but wonder if it would have actually fared somewhat better had the room remain available to the public, and thus required more regular attention and maintenance from the park. But hey ho.If they've not managed to get the Music Room into the tour this year, I say we riot.
Either way, the new route through the Towers is a big improvement from last year (last year you basically went straight to the Banqueting Hall, then up to the roof via the Small Library and the to the Chapel with a stop at some of the other rooms on that route), when basically there was lots of backtracking. This year there was basically no backtracking at all, so the tour flowed better.
From the Drawing Room, you now start by going upstairs through the Small Library, and then through the Fountain Room and Yellow Room (with a brief stop in the upper passage of the West Wing to look at the Star Garden) and up to the roof via the stair in the Doria Tower (above the Poet's Bay). The West Wing viewing platform is now included, taking the total up to three out of the five available viewing platforms.
The Attic maze structure is now basically totally gone, so you head off the roof through the Pugin Rooms and through the rooms above the Long Gallery and then down into the Small Dining Room. The tour then concludes in the Banqueting Hall.
So by my count I think that means all the rooms which were available going into covid are now included in the tour, except the Waxwork Room, and weirdly the Chapel, which wasn't included this time round (though I got the impression that it might still be included sometimes, it just wasn't this week).
So still some work to do to get it to a full house tour, and the tour is definitely not a substitute for being able to look around at your own pace - it was actually quite difficult at times to concentrate on exploring the place, whilst listening to the tour guide. There were a few things I had intended to have a look at that I completely missed. That said, the tour would be a good addition, if it was available as well as having the house open more generally.*
All in all, though, the tour does remain a good quality addition to the park's line-up. And definitely very worthwhile if you want to learn a little more about the history of the house and gardens.
Also, they absolutely could offer a stand-alone tour ticket, especially on days when there's a low capacity. On Wednesday the tour finished half an hour after ride close, so there would definitely be an option to offer a ticket to the park including the tour for say £20, which allow access at 2pm.
*I do have some further thoughts about the vandalism issue as well, but I might save those for when someone inevitably points out they can't just have them open because people these days would just graffiti them.
You know I wish they included the back end of the Towers where the Sanctuary and Sub Species went never been to that part of the Towers before. Also across the bridge on the other side of the gatehouse.
Maybe including Flag Tower would be a good addition to and actually climbing the Tower itself would make it even more worth it as well as Prospect Tower
