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Christmas 2023

NuttySquirrel said:
Very poor offering. Lightopia is out of their hands but when you see how easily other attractions are able to put on decent garden light trails it's just bewildering that they're not doing any of that this year.

They might as well shut up shop completely over the winter, this will only generate bad publicity for them as did the underwhelming February half term non-event.
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Why is out of their hands? Are there no other companies that can create a light trail?

It’s laziness, they should be adding to things, growing it. Not taking away.

Instead it’s reverting to type, whilst a regional park an hour away does a much better children event, Alton should have a offering for everyone.
 
GaryH said:
They did a Scarefest light trail I’m sure they could do a Christmas one themselves
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They did their own one in the past for Christmas too. It was included in the standard price with the rides as it was smaller scale like the Scarefest one unlike Lightopia which filled the entire Katanga Canyon and Gloomy Wood areas.
Themeparksandy1981 said:
Why can’t they charge just 1 price. I know it’s free to visit the stalls but if I want to visit overpriced stalls that’s available in every major city at Christmas time.
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they are just charging one price for park entry this year? Either you do the Santa Sleepover, similar to has been offered for 10+ years with a visit to Santa and a panto. Or there is one price for park entry and rides only.
 
jon81uk said:
They did their own one in the past for Christmas too. It was included in the standard price with the rides as it was smaller scale like the Scarefest one unlike Lightopia which filled the entire Katanga Canyon and Gloomy Wood areas.

they are just charging one price for park entry this year? Either you do the Santa Sleepover, similar to has been offered for 10+ years with a visit to Santa and a panto. Or there is one price for park entry and rides only.
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See that is unfair on most families as going to a Christmas event the kids would like to see Santa but I’m not paying over £500 to do that by staying over.
 
Themeparksandy1981 said:
See that is unfair on most families as going to a Christmas event the kids would like to see Santa but I’m not paying over £500 to do that by staying over.
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But that’s the way it’s been at Alton Towers for as long as I can remember, it’s nothing new. If you want to see Santa without a hotel stay then go somewhere else that offers a cheaper visit to Santa. It’s only since Covid they have opened to day guests at all, the winter openings used to be hotel guests only.
 
Ash said:
Why is out of their hands? Are there no other companies that can create a light trail?
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Precisely my point - they can't get Lightopia back as the company no longer exists but it would be very easy to put together their own light trail as they have done in the gardens the last two years' running.

I know we haven't had all the details through but I've not seen anything about a Whispering Souls walk for Scarefest and as I imagine the set-up for the Christmas trail was very similar we can assume that neither are returning, which is pretty disappointing.
 
Squiggs said:
I would, however, recommend waiting until a press release has gone out with the full event announcement, as this will give a clear overview of who will have access to what this Christmas. Right now, we're working from drips of information as different ticket types go on sale - it's not ideal that the park haven’t made an announcement about the event before putting tickets on sale.
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The park has now released a press release, which basically confirms everything we've seen drip out over the past few weeks. So, as you were, everyone... Slimmed down Christmas event it is!
Jingle all the way to a magical stay!
The countdown is on to experience the ultimate festive escape at Alton Towers Resort ​
  • With just 100 days to go (Saturday 16th September) until the most wonderful time of the year, the Resort is preparing to be transformed into the ultimate Christmas escape
  • From 24th November, the hugely popular Santa Sleepover’s are back, and guests are invited to step into a world of enchantment and wonder to discover a North Pole setting adorned with festive spirit, magnificent Christmas activities and meet the main man himself
  • Santa Sleepover guests can also enjoy a brand-new pantomime, oh yes they can!
  • For guests looking for a family day out, experience Christmas at the UK’s only CBeebies Land with a brand-new CBeebies Land Christmas show where little ones can meet some of their favourite CBeebies friends
Alton Towers Resort is preparing to deck the halls and trim the trees as it transforms into the ultimate Christmassy escape, with the return of the much-loved Santa Sleepover. On selected dates from 24 November, families will be able to enjoy the ultimate festive short break in a fantastical North Pole setting adorned with Christmas spirit and twinkling lights, offering the perfect way to make magical memories with the family this season.
The hugely popular Santa Sleepover offers a complete festive escape, embracing the spirit of Christmas in the run up to the big day. From just £85pp, guests can enjoy an overnight stay in one of four fantastically themed accommodations, a festive evening meal and live entertainment, including a pantomime which is brand-new for 2023, a delicious breakfast, one-day entry to the theme park with a selection of family rides and attractions, a unique visit to Santa’s Grotto with fun activities, plus entry to the Waterpark and nine holes of Extraordinary Golf.

For families looking for a festive day out, guests can enjoy Christmas at the UK’s only CBeebies Land with a whole host of show-stopping live entertainment, including a brand-new CBeebies Land Christmas show. Little ones will jump for joy as they get to meet some of their favourite CBeebies friends and enjoy a range of fantastical rides and attractions. In addition, guests can also enjoy The World of David Walliams with Gangsta Granny: The Ride, Mutiny Bay and Spinball Whizzer.
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I am genuinely surprised, I was definitely expecting at least one more new announcement for the event.
 
Am I right in saying that the Christmas market has seemingly been scrapped as well based on that press release? And that it’s going back to hotel guests only like it was in earlier years?

It is interesting, albeit a shame, that the park has slimmed down the offering for this year. The event seemed quite popular in 2021 and 2022, and I was hoping that that might open the door to wider park operation at Christmas in future years like some parks abroad do.
 
It’s not hotel only. Day tickets are available. However the line up is significantly reduced, no market, no Lightopia (or equivalent light trail experience) and limited or no entertainment outside of CBeebies Land.
 
Another event that is seemingly going backwards rather than forwards? Wow. I actually quite liked the Christmas market but definitely will not be visiting this year.

A shame. For all this talk of progressing with events the reality seems to be going the other way.
 
Rob said:
Another event that is seemingly going backwards rather than forwards? Wow. I actually quite liked the Christmas market but definitely will not be visiting this year.

A shame. For all this talk of progressing with events the reality seems to be going the other way.
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I didn't visit but I assume the event just wasn't profitable, there is no point progressing if guests just didn't seem interested in attending. Whereas the sleepover event is popular and obviously profitable.
 
I agree that there is no point in carrying on with something if it isn't profitable. But I would rather them try and create a compelling event that would be popular and profitable than just scale events back. So many theme parks around the world run popular winter events now. Towers are just so risk averse when it comes to this event.
 
The Christmas market by itself isn’t enough to bring in the crowds. Lightopia was quite unique the first year it ran and brought in the crowds.

They would need to either open more rides, or have a big wheel, ice rink, dodgem cars etc on the lawns as well as a Christmas market to try and attract people to the event.
 
Rob said:
I agree that there is no point in carrying on with something if it isn't profitable. But I would rather them try and create a compelling event that would be popular and profitable than just scale events back. So many theme parks around the world run popular winter events now. Towers are just so risk averse when it comes to this event.
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I think Lightopia going bust was the main issue. Without that they would need to try and commit to opening most of the theme park, which then means having enough technical services staff to work on the rides in January to March, which they don't want to commit to paying a decent wage to attract enough staff to do.
 
I don’t think opening more of the park is required. Wicker Man open would be a nice addition, but they could look toward other activities to make a more compelling event. Ice rink, fake snow (have it ‘snow’ every hour or something), large stage show on the lawns stage, a singing Christmas tree, a fountain show on the lake with lights and lasers, a parade, maybe hire in funfair rides and have a Christmas fair on the lawn.

When it comes to Lightopia, it’s a shame, but I think Alton Towers would be more than capable in creating their own lights trail in-house.

Alton Towers answer as always is ‘oh we did not make enough money last year, let’s scale it back’ - not the answer. There needs to be a degree of risk and events at Towers risk disappearing completely if they continue to play it safe year on year.

It’s disappointing given the new management, I was hoping for more.
 
I did the Warwick castle light trail last year, and was far better then last years Lightopia (or grotopia as we called it due to half the props falling apart). I’ve no idea who created that, but it really worked well for Warwick and their gardens, towers is an amazing setting, which could easily be used for a light trail. Incorporating the towers would also be good. Imagine some kind of projection mapping show on them.

It’s a shame the event seems to have gone back a few steps. Last years event was downhill compared to the year before work the lack of entertainment. It’s a shame they can’t bring that back.

But I guess the ents team are more focused on CBeebies Land and the panto (which is for hotel guests who have paid a premium only).
 
Wasn't there a behind the scenes TV show about Warwick that featured their light trail? If so, it looked like it was all done in house.

It does feel like it's missing a central attraction to anchor the event now Lightopia has gone. Especially for day visitors. Somewhat baffling that day guests don't seem to have the option to visit Santa. That would seem like and obvious addon and money spinner.
 
Squiggs said:
It does feel like it's missing a central attraction to anchor the event now Lightopia has gone. Especially for day visitors. Somewhat baffling that day guests don't seem to have the option to visit Santa. That would seem like and obvious addon and money spinner.
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I agree they probably do need that central attraction but adding more capacity to Santa meets would probably be hard, Chessington messed up a few years ago and couldn’t get everyone through the queue. Already AT offer multiple meets accommodate everyone across the three hotels. It would be great if they could offer it to day guests too, but if it all goes wrong then it really causes problems.
 
I think the issue with Santa is the capacity, and as they have added more hotels and rooms the more Santa capacity they need.

A few years ago I remember if you stayed in splash you only got a group meet with Santa in the tipi in the splash car park (which looked awful), so it’s no surprise all hotels include Santa now.

To combat the demand they now use the courtyard as well as CBeebies Land.

To me it would make sense to put Santa somewhere in the towers, even if that’s a 3rd location, it would feel quite nice going in to the towers.
 
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