• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Christmas 2023

AT86

AT86

TS Member
Santa sleepovers have gone on sale today, just had an email with the info:

Join us for a fantastical short break and discover a North Pole setting adorned with festive spirit, twinkling lights, and a magnificent Christmas tree. Find yourself transported to Santa's very own grotto where you can meet the jolly old man himself, share your Christmas wishes, receive a special gift, and create treasured memories.

But the story doesn't end there! Enjoy a whole host of rides and attractions including the UK's only CBeebies Land plus plunge into splashtastic fun at the Waterpark! Then, let the magic continue, gather your family and immerse yourself in the laughter and cheer of the all-new traditional panto,beloved characters will come to life on stage, spreading
laughter and joy.
Click to expand...

Seems the panto has returned after not being a feature for a couple of years.

However no mention of the Towers St Christmas market or any sort of replacement for Lightopia.

They may still be finalising the details for these elements, but if they have been scrapped with no replacement this will be a big step back for the Christmas event.

Santa Sleepover | Alton Towers Resort

Experience the ultimate festive short break at Alton Towers Resort. Immerse yourself in a world of enchantment and wonder this Christmas
www.altontowers.com www.altontowers.com
 
Last edited:
Last edited by a moderator:
No Curse at Alton Manor
No Hex
No Lightopia
No free gardens walk
No ending show

Hope more comes out because that lineup is woeful…

A 4D cinema still sat empty
Still no permanent towers/fountains show
No ice rink on the main lawns (still seems a no brainer)

Are they offering a significant discount on last year or haven’t they announced that yet?

Events have been superb in recent years, this seems a step backwards.

Long term planning for the park needs to include indoor attractions, adaptable shows (both stage and audio/visual/water) and permanent lighting. If Merlin are serious about 365 that is.
 
Last edited:
No Curse doesn’t surprise me as they’re aiming for the younger market and it’s a bit too scary and out of the way of the rest of the offering.

Neither does no Lightopia as they went bankrupt. Hex isn’t surprising either. Hopefully they’ll be working on it.
 
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.
 
Very surprised there is no market though. I thought that was successful - although last years was significantly smaller than the year before. To give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they tried to get stall holders but not enough signed up to make it viable. We'll probably never know.

This whole year has been odd with their event offerings - Festival of Thrills, pretty woeful; Mardi Gras, suberb event; Summer Of Fun, looked ok; Oktoberfest looks fantastic (will find out at the weekend); Scarefest looks average at best; Fireworks - lets hope they live up to the last 2 years and Christmas, well, they may as well not bother. Such a shame considering the investment they put into it over the last two years. Maybe there was a special post-covid budget for the last 2 years that allowed them to make Christmas better and that's not available this year, who knows but it's very disappointing whatever the reason for this year's event.
 
Steve74 said:
Very surprised there is no market though. I thought that was successful - although last years was significantly smaller than the year before. To give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they tried to get stall holders but not enough signed up to make it viable. We'll probably never know.
Click to expand...
Its plausible that without the draw of Lightopia to attract guests they don't think they will get enough stallholders to make it viable.

At this point it probably would be better to make it hotel guests only again, or hotel stays and passholders maybe.
 
Just to flag, this lastest discussion was kicked off by the park revealing the ride line-up for the event's day tickets.

I don't think we've seen the full announcement of the event yet, so I would hold off making any assumptions about what won't be included just yet. Other than maybe the lack of Lightopia, given that company has gone bust.

In various places, the park has referenced the re-introduction of a pantomime, market stalls on Towers Street and a new Xmas show in Big Fun Showtime. No indication of scale or what different tickets will include/exclude, but it certainly seems there's more to be announced.
 
Last edited:
Squiggs said:
Just to flag, this topic was kicked off by the park revealing the ride line-up for the event's day tickets.

I don't think we've seen the full announcement of the event yet, so I would hold off making any assumptions about what won't be included just yet. Other than maybe the lack of Lightopia, given that company has gone bust.

In various places, the park has referenced the re-introduction of a pantomime, market stalls on Towers Street and a new Xmas show in Big Fun Showtime. No indication of scale or what different tickets will include/exclude, but it certainly seems there's more to be announced.
Click to expand...
That's fair enough, I didn't know they'd made references to other things and things potentially returning. I'll take everything back in my previous post about Christmas 2023 if more things are announced!!
 
Squiggs said:
In various places, the park has referenced the re-introduction of a pantomime, market stalls on Towers Street and a new Xmas show in Big Fun Showtime. No indication of scale or what different tickets will include/exclude, but it certainly seems there's more to be announced.
Click to expand...

Whilst I am open to the possibility there is more to announce I am not overly convinced that will be the case.

The pantomime is specifically listed as included in the Santa Sleepover packages, not for day guests on the website. I suspect his means it is moving back to being held in the conference centre in the hotels as opposed to in the park itself.

The CBeebies show whilst new, is clearly aimed at the youngest guests, leaving anyone over 5 with even more reduced entertainment versus the last couple of years. The ‘market style chalets’ simply sound like the same ones that were on Towers St during the summer with different theming, again a reduction compared to the Christmas Market advertised in previous years.

IMG_5467.jpeg
 
I entirely take your point - the wording around the event isn't exactly clear in many places, and some of the assumptions made in this thread may well be true.

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.
 
Steve74 said:
Christmas, well, they may as well not bother. Such a shame considering the investment they put into it over the last two years. Maybe there was a special post-covid budget for the last 2 years that allowed them to make Christmas better and that's not available this year, who knows but it's very disappointing whatever the reason for this year's event.
Click to expand...
Although Santa's Sleepover events in the hotel have generally been well-reviewed, popular and profitable. I expect that as they did switch to a more outdoor-led event due to Covid they then decided to keep trying it in conjunction with Lightopia, but that obviously wasn't very successful as the company didn't survive. Therefore it seems they are basically moving back to what they know works, an event mainly aimed at getting people into the hotels. I don't actually think they want the days guests, its just something to get an extra few quid and probably to keep passholders happy. The real profit is in getting the hotel rooms booked, hence keeping the lower capacity activities of meeting Santa and the panto exclusivily for hotel guests only.

AT have tried various winter openings and similar, but even the original winter weekends 20 years ago were hotel guests only really. It makes perfect sense to prioritise filling up the hotels.
 
Based entirely off the ride line up, it's ok for families with young children.

For myself, unless something rather spectacular is announced extra in terms of entertainment or light-trail, I will not be wasting money getting there when Chessington are managing to open their brand new area for Christmas including their new wing coaster.
 
Unless they announce anything else, unless you've got kids it seems a bit pointless to go if you have to travel any kind of distance to get there. The light trails and light show on the lake were really good a couple of years ago. Can't even get the Towers ruins open either...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top