Fireworks 2024

[Ash]

Given the recent pictures of the Phalanx Expo banners at the park and small theming bits on the lawns, what are people’s expectations for this year?

I for one love the expansion of the Alton Towers “lore” in a way that only Alton can. And certainly gives us a break from the usual “mega mix/power of the towers”-ness of years past. Although that and Sir Algenon etc have their place (still awaiting a Henry Hound return)

Even the segment for TCAAM was excellent and a great way for the park to look backwards, forwards, tell more story and create some hype at the end of the year.

But fundamentally as long as the same standard as the other years, and ends in a massive crescendo of ITHOMK and lighting up the towers, that’s all it needs for most to go home happy.

 

[VerticalLoop123]

I reckon there be fireworks that go bang, some that go whizz and maybe some that go pop.

It will also be very very cold and getting off the lawns will be a nightmare. Even worse will be leaving the car park.

And CBeebies Land will be shutting at 5pm! Won’t someone think of the children!

 

[Skyscraper]

I reckon there be fireworks that go bang, some that go whizz and maybe some that go pop.

It will also be very very cold and getting off the lawns will be a nightmare. Even worse will be leaving the car park.

And CBeebies Land will be shutting at 5pm! Won’t someone think of the children!

And the World of David Walliams will not reopen after the fireworks!

 

[s_g_k]

I’m very hopeful for this year’s display. I really don’t like the chav fest “tour of the UK Top Ten Charts” style of late, so the Phalanx Expo gives me promise that we can at least expect a story this year. I’m unable to visit this years fireworks but was there last year and whilst the pyro and lighting was great as always, it was disappointing that there was no story like there used to be a few years ago.

Anyway, happy bonfire night all - I’ve just watched the 2021 display on YouTube. I was there for it and it was fantabulous albeit a bit too pop music heavy.

 

[AltonLover123]

I’m very hopeful for this year’s display. I really don’t like the chav fest “tour of the UK Top Ten Charts” style of late, so the Phalanx Expo gives me promise that we can at least expect a story this year. I’m unable to visit this years fireworks but was there last year and whilst the pyro and lighting was great as always, it was disappointing that there was no story like there used to be a few years ago.

Anyway, happy bonfire night all - I’ve just watched the 2021 display on YouTube. I was there for it and it was fantabulous albeit a bit too pop music heavy.

The fact they’ve got more than the usual merch and have gone bespoke it certainly looks as though they’ve got big plans.

 

[Steve74]

Whatever it turns out to be, it's going to be big with these 4 huge screens!

Those screens are bigger than the ones used for the 2022 display and Nemesis closing announcement.
There is also a new lighting tower on the edge of the gardens:


Taken from

From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WpEUjHTdA8

 

[VerticalLoop123]

And the World of David Walliams will not reopen after the fireworks!

Again won’t somebody think of the children who like semi-cancelled children’s authors!

Whatever it turns out to be, it's going to be big with these 4 huge screens!

Those screens are bigger than the ones used for the 2022 display and Nemesis closing announcement.
There is also a new lighting tower on the

The screens could be for the BSL interpreter they mention in this video.
Know before you go Fireworks

Think it would be hilarious in the Nemesis hippy protest group interrupt the Phalanx Expo a la just stop oil. Throw tomato soup on the lawns or something.

 

[jon81uk]

It will also be very very cold

Actually it’s unseasonably warm currently.

 

[Steve74]

Again won’t somebody think of the children who like semi-cancelled children’s authors!

The screens could be for the BSL interpreter they mention in this video.
Know before you go Fireworks

Think it would be hilarious in the Nemesis hippy protest group interrupt the Phalanx Expo a la just stop oil. Throw tomato soup on the lawns or something.

I'd say that's unlikely, unless the interpreter will be a picture in picture. They had an interpreter last year and in 2022 and they had a couple of 40" ish screens attached to the speaker trusses - one next to the VIP/wheelchair area and the other in the centre of the main area. This was one of the screens in 2022 and you can see the one in the VIP area bottom right of the far left screen:

 

[AT86]

Looks like Saturday is now fully booked.

 

[Dan12345]

Watching the video has made me wonder where the fireworks are set off from, and what happens to the debris?

Presumably if they’re blocking off everything south of the lawn (x sector and dark forest) for only a couple of hours they must be coming from the towers - but then wouldn’t they want to make sure that they don’t leave any debris behind in the rides, or even on a protected building?

 

[DiogoJ42]

That's why the back half of the park closes, and takes a while to reopen, it's the fallout zone.

 

[Dan12345]

That's why the back half of the park closes, and takes a while to reopen, it's the fallout zone.

Assuming a 30 minute display, having only 30 minutes (as they’re saying reopening at 8pm) doesn’t seem very long to clean and check 2 whole areas?

 

[Steve74]

Watching the video has made me wonder where the fireworks are set off from, and what happens to the debris?

Presumably if they’re blocking off everything south of the lawn (x sector and dark forest) for only a couple of hours they must be coming from the towers - but then wouldn’t they want to make sure that they don’t leave any debris behind in the rides, or even on a protected building?

The fireworks are mostly set off on the lawn area between the Towers and lake, with the bigger shells launching from in the Towers somewhere (her Ladyship's Garden or the roof?)

They're pretty good at checking everything tbh, these fireworks displays have been going for 10yrs + on and off, so they're well practised

Fun fact, stand by the cash machine opposite the Games Bunker and look at the last conifer to the right of the path up to Spinball. You'll see half of it is missing; that's because in 2019 some rogue firework debris landed in it and it caught fire.

Alton Towers fireworks: Blaze breaks out at display

The theme park says the "small fire" broke out in an area that was closed to the public.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Dan12345]

Wow, that’s interesting!

And thanks for the info and helping my curiosity. Sounds like it isn’t too close to the ride areas that it’ll cause a huge problem!

 

[Steve74]

Wow, that’s interesting!

And thanks for the info and helping my curiosity. Sounds like it isn’t too close to the ride areas that it’ll cause a huge problem!

Yeah its not too close. Each time I've been, the prevailing wind has been blowing across the gardens so most debris would probably end up that way. I know nothing of professional fireworks but I suspect the rockets won't have plastic tips or wooden tails like consumer ones do! And all of them will have minimum packaging that probably burns up when they explode anyway.

 

[s_g_k]

Yep as others have said, the majority of the small to medium fireworks are set off from the lawns on the other side of the lake.

The bigger shells are then set off from a combination of Her Ladyships Gardens, The Towers, and then also from the pathway from the archway to the old Darkest Depths site and also the pathway just before X Sector, and maybe also Fountain Square.

 

[s_g_k]

Yeah its not too close. Each time I've been, the prevailing wind has been blowing across the gardens so most debris would probably end up that way. I know nothing of professional fireworks but I suspect the rockets won't have plastic tips or wooden tails like consumer ones do! And all of them will have minimum packaging that probably burns up when they explode anyway.

Sorry for double posting!

Correct - the big “rocket” style fireworks are actually single shells in professional displays. They have a launch charge at the bottom which propels the shell into the sky, and then the main sphere contains the actual shell which then explodes in the sky. They’re set off from their own cylindrical tubes. The large bass thud you hear when these bad boys are set off is the launch charge igniting and sending the shell into the sky

 

[DiogoJ42]

Yeah its not too close. Each time I've been, the prevailing wind has been blowing across the gardens so most debris would probably end up that way. I know nothing of professional fireworks but I suspect the rockets won't have plastic tips or wooden tails like consumer ones do! And all of them will have minimum packaging that probably burns up when they explode anyway.

They don't use that type of case. Most "rockets" in big displays are actually mortars, launched by an explosive charge from a mini cannon pointing upwards. (You can hear the "THOOMPF!" from the launch a few seconds before the main explosion). There's very little debris left.
ETA: Beaten to it.

 

[dave___]

They don't use that type of case. Most "rockets" in big displays are actually mortars, launched by an explosive charge from a mini cannon pointing upwards. (You can hear the "THOOMPF!" from the launch a few seconds before the main explosion). There's very little debris left.
ETA: Beaten to it.

Got hit by a bit of paper from one of the big mortars at my local display this year.

Made me nostalgic for the firework displays when I was a kid, everyone watching out for the metre-long rocket stick (with a glowing end on it if you were lucky) to avoid losing an eye or getting speared in the head.

I’m also nostalgic for bangers and the proper air bombs you used to be able to get from the dodgy newsagent that set everyone’s car alarms off but that just means I’d be hated by the PTSD and pet crowd nowadays.