"The Magic".... That phrase typified Alton Towers to me, but which has sadly long departed. This topic has had many discussions about the "The Magic", so here is why my passion has disappeared and why I yearn for its return.
I first visited Alton Towers as a 14 year old in 1986. That first visit was truly magical and even though I had been fascinated by rides and amusement parks previously, it was Alton Towers that ignited that enthusiasm.
There were shows and entertainment everywhere and I remember walking in through the gates, to hear and see a jazz band playing. Looking down Towers Street there were loads of costume characters everywhere. Shops adorned both sides of the street and it was a fun happy place to be and a perfect entrance.
Around the park, and I will be the first to admit it, were fairground rides which could be found on the continent, but not really the UK. The 1001 Nights sweeping majestically over the tree tops, the Polyps (one in Aqualand, the other in Festival park), Turbo Star and the original locations for Enterprise and Wave Swinger in Festival Park. But at least there were lots of them and for their time current. Look at the park now with the lack of supporting and aging attractions, it was never like that back then. However, in amongst these were others which were more unique; Doom and Sons, Around the World in 80 days, Space 1999 (Gerry Anderson exhibition), Alpine Bob Sled and the Model Railroad in the Towers. Even the main gift shop housed in the Towers, now the Hex queue line was different and unique. The Mississippi fun boat and the Miniature Railroad were down at the bottom of the park along with the iconic Swan boats.
And then of course, the Gardens. Many hours were spent exploring them and they were wonderfully maintained and landscaped. The Towers themselves were fully accessible and you could explore all the various nooks and crannies in the old building.
That was just the start of my love affair with Alton and many more visits were made, but lets now fast forward to 1992 when Tussauds had taken over. The expansion of the park with Katanga Canyon and Gloomy Wood, was a stroke of genius. All that dead space in the rapids had now been reused and these paths created to give new exciting vistas. As for the Haunted House, it really was a great dark ride for the time and was truly magical.
It was the attention to detail for me which made the park back then and which gave it "The Magic". Lets look at the Haunted House at this point. It was designed in such a clever way that even though its a massive metal building, you don't see any of it. It could have had a boring cattle pen queue line, but they went the extra mile and provided a winding queue through a graveyard. Into the house itself and you saw all these special effects everywhere in the internal queue line which gave it the magical touch. Then of course the ride itself, but even on exiting and walking round to the toilets you saw a themed telephone booth. No reason why it was themed the way it was, other than to fit in.
1992 was the real start of the magic for me but it exploded in 1994 when Nemesis was unleashed to the World. Just like Katanga Canyon and Gloomy Wood, Forbidden Valley was designed magnificently and allowed guests to interact with Nemesis and explore around it. Never before in the UK had I been able to walk underneath a roller coaster while it was in operation. The station, the alien creature itself, was a fully themed building and not one part of it was un-themed. The queue line weaved around the area giving great vistas. The queue meandered up past the station and to where the stall turn is and even had a themed camp up there. Even the "Nemesis Kitchen" underneath the ride was perfect and the Mushroom tours bus had smoke belching out of it.
On the official opening day of the ride (and subsequent visits that year), the blood was rushing down the waterfalls, the ride soundtrack was pumping through the speakers and the area had numerous staff dressed in post apocalyptic attire interacting with park guests. I remember one particular time, this bizarrely dressed man approached us carrying a black plastic bag. He stopped and stared at us for a while when walked over to a rubbish bin, fished around in it and pulled out some discarded food. He went to eat it, looked over at us and then as if spooked by us looking, put it in his bag and wandered off. That to me typified "The Magic" of Alton Towers.
Also that year was the Land of make believe, including the one and only Toyland Tours opened. By this time in my life I was 23, so I was not looking through rose tinted child's glasses, but this was wonderful. The whole area was, even producing themed benches. (They may still be there. Look at some of the benches in Cloud Cuckoo Land and see if they have a logo in the metal. That was the old Land of Make Believe logo !) At this time there were also still the parades, shows and costume characters walking around.
In the following years Storybook land was built including the wonderful bookworm along with a great kids area in the form of Old McDonalds Farm. During the construction of Oblivion, the same attention to detail was in evidence with staff employed to stand around the perimeter guarding the new installation. The Black Hole received a great re-theme and all was well with the World at Alton Towers.
There then followed a downward spiral, which we all know about, so I wont go on about it here, but lets fast forward to today and what do we see? Well if I am perfectly honest I cannot tell you as of 2017. The reason why? Well for me the magic has gone and I don't visit anymore. My last visit to the park was June 2015 (pre Smiler crash) and seeing the park as it was then to how it was in the golden era of the 1990s is heart-breaking.
The entertainment and shows were nearly non existent, the budget was gone. Rides were closed or removed and the numbers of supporting attractions left were much lower. The Monorail, where once it was a great entry into the park was a glorified advertisement, along with the Cable cars too. Towers Street was more akin to a market place with traders peddling their wares and trying to extract every last penny out of you.
The gardens were a shadow of their former selves with water features either not working or removed and whole sections which looked overgrown and unmaintained. Even the towers themselves were locked down.
However for me, the standard of attractions and design of them had really gone down hill. When Merlin came in and took over the park, I had real hopes for it, but they were quickly dashed. To spend the money that they did on Battle Galleons was crazy. A ride which barely gets a queue on even the busiest days. Yes its themed well, but not popular.
They had the perfect chance in 2010 to solve the problems in what was to become Dark Forest, but rather than rip down the buildings and redesign the whole area from scratch, they just shoe horned Thirteen in and then repainted the existing buildings cheaply. The outcome of that was a mess of wooden fences for the queue lines for of Rita and Thirteen. Its such a mess and could have easily been sorted out, IF they had gone the extra mile. That coupled with being able to see the shed that the drop mechanism is in and other sections covered by sheeting is a cheap way to complete the building. One wonders that if Thirteen had been built in the glory years that the station building would have been fully themed. It probably would have.
The Smiler... Well what can I say about that. The outside cattle pen winding queue line is depressing and oppressive and the obsession with Worlds Firsts is frustrating. Did having 14 loops actually contribute anything to the ride? Not really for me. In my last visits pre the crash, the area (for a brand new ride) was looking shoddy, the projectors weren't working, the marmliser had effects which weren't working, it just felt like they couldn't be bothered to maintain effects.
This wasn't just on the Smiler, but everywhere. Theming and rides were being left to rot with no apparent planned cleaning or maintenance of effects in place.
In the dark times of the 2010's myself and my wife used to seek out the magic in two areas which still had it. Storybook Land and Old MacDonald's Farm, seeking out the bookworm and listening to his stories, to visiting Old MacDonald himself still climbing the ladder while all his animals sang his song and even the hens singing "The sun has got his hat on" outside. Yes these areas were looking tired, but the magic was still there.
So for me, the magic wasn't all about exciting new coasters, it was all about going the extra mile. Adding theming for the sake of theming and keeping it maintained as well. The quality of the rides and attractions was not as important as that for me. The amount of entertainment throughout the place and the subtle way of selling you things rather than the in your face method used now was more important.
I haven't even touched upon the hotels in this post, but the hotels as they are now, is a poor imitation to what they were. PeteB's post sums this up wonderfully. When I go to other theme park resorts and see the magic in their hotels I do wonder what has happened at Alton Towers.
"The Magic" still exists for me, unfortunately not at Alton Towers, but at other Theme Parks around the World. Places such as Efteling still have it and add the little touches, just because they want too. Even the most corporate of parks that you can imagine, Disneyland California has the magic for me. When I walk into these parks, I can see where my money is going in quality of attractions, entertainment and how well kept they are. To see a talking trashcan at Disney is the magic, themed bins at Efteling asking me to put "papier hier" is wonderful, for my wife to be stopped by a member of staff and saying that there was a phone call for her and when she put the phone to her ear it was Mickey wishing her a Happy Anniversary was just pure magical. When I enter Alton Towers that magic simply isn't there.
This is the biggest shame for me. I desperately want Alton Towers to have this level of investment into the infrastructure and entertainment, but alas under Merlin, who only seem to be interested in returning a dividend for their shareholders, this will never happen.
Thank you for reading this, I didn't realise it would be so long, but I love Alton Towers with all my heart and hate to see the park that is has become.
