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Oktoberfest 2022: Event Discussion

AstroDan

TS Team
Favourite Ride
Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
I just wanted to post some of my thoughts after a trip to Oktoberfest yesterday. The event has certainly improved for the third year running in the majority of ways:
  • 8 different shows (3 in the Bierkeller, 5 on the Main Stage)
  • New roaming characters including the Clockmaker.
The roaming entertainers really do make this event what it is - they galvanise the crowd. Herr Gone (with the horn), the Monks, the Clockmaker - these and more are great! Food options are reasonable, although I don't think there's as much variety. The bratwurst stand is the same price as last year (thank god) at £8. The Hog Roast stand is daylight robbery, though - at £9.50 for a baguette and £9.00 for a roll. There is Schnitzel though now! The Chicken & Chips stand looked quite poor, however.

As has been the case through the past few years, all of these stands are brought in and not run by Alton Towers. I don't really get why the resort don't take all of this on themselves, given the opportunity for revenue.

Beers are as follows:
  • Spaten £6.00
  • Franziskaner Weiss £6.00
  • Camden Pale £6.00
  • Stella £5.50
MAP discount is only available at the Bierkeller.

Show breakdown:

MAIN STAGE
  • Singalong Show (much improved this year, with more use of backing dancers and Darwin the Dodo)
  • Darwin's Show (designed for younger guests, but still tolerable for adults due to the music)
  • LUNAFALL Party Band (good, although not sure they quite hit the spot by 6.30pm)
  • The Oomparty Band (excellent, but could just do with a couple of traditional German songs mixed in) - I would also like to see 1 encore at the end! It all suddenly just finishes.
  • Lebhaft Tanzen Show (fantastic)
BIERKELLER
  • Bierkeller Oompah Show - Robert Burton is back and is great. Traditional German experience.
  • Oktoberfest Singalong Shindig - exactly what it says on the tin. A singer doing party/German songs.
  • Gittarenpatei - Singer/guitarist. Nice in the background.

SHOW TIMES:

7pm ride close sees the Main Stage till 8pm and Bierkeller till 6pm
6pm ride close sees the Main Stage till 7pm and the Bierkeller till 6pm
5pm ride close sees the Main Stage till 6pm and the Bierkeller till 6pm
4pm ride close sees the Main Stage till 5pm and the Bierkeller till 4.45pm

Overall - the event is brilliant, with a fantastic atmosphere. I recommend it to anyone who likes to see the Alton ambience at its very best.

6 to 8pm on the lawns is the best time.

OKTTT.jpg
 
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Great review glad it’s improved again. Wish I could get the 6-8pm atmosphere again but a 4pm ride close on Friday 30th says otherwise 🙄
 
It’s good to see they continue to head in the right direction with this event. I was a little worried about opening times until they updated then recently - one would hope they could announce those extensions a little further in advance to allow people to plan.

The only backwards step seems to be the loss of Lisa on draught.
 
Oktoberfest really has improved year on year. There was a great atmosphere on the lawns on Saturday night. I didn’t see much in the mutiny bay, but saw most of the shows on the lawn. The song a long show is much improved this year, with dancers and more of a show, rather than just a bloke signing on his own which we had last year.

It was nice to have a band and a bit more variety this year, but I’m not sure on their song choices, some were a bit flat and could have done with more party tunes to get the crowd going.

I agree with Dan that the roaming ents really do make the event, some of them are so funny when they speak to you.

It’s a shame we can’t have more roaming ents all season. We get the traffic patrol for an hour or two a day but that’s about it. And scarefest other than the mazes and Alton Ancestors there isn’t really anything on park.
 
@AstroDan noticed you pop up a few times on the latest TPWW video!
I like to show my inner 'vlogstar' with @Sammy, @djtruefitt and @Vik now and then!

In all seriousness, the TS team (and non-team) have always gotten on well with Shawn - going right back to when we ran TTF when Charlie opened.

Had a good natter on the lawns, when he wasn't being accosted by kids wanting selfies, bless them!

:)
 
I got to experience Oktoberfest on Monday, and once again it is a brilliant event! I agree that the event is made by the roaming ents. Looks like there are less on an off-peak day (did not see a clockmaker, but 2 monks alongside Beer and Bubbles were there) but they are all just so funny. The weather was pretty dire at times and not many people were there come the end of the day, but this led for a really intimate experience!

Food does seem less varied this year, there is no currywurst for example which is a pity.

Glad that there is a wheat beer on tap this year!

Oktoberfest is easily the best event of the year at Alton Towers though. It completely transforms your day at the park and the entertainment going on for an hour after ride close really makes a positive difference.
 
I went to Oktoberfest on Sunday (25th) and had a brilliant time. While not as busy as a Saturday round the main stage (expected as it was a Sunday), it was still great fun in the last couple of hours of entertainment.

The character actors were fantastic and were the highlight of the day. While waiting for my group to join me at one of the front benches, Gretel saw a half-eaten sausage on the grass next to me, asked if it was mine and called Hansel over. They then started to worship it as they'd "been looking for a sausage all day" apparently!

After that, the monks showed up with the brilliant actor Sam Simkin (@SamSimkin_ on Twitter, he was the lead in the Towers Street krew in Mardi Gras too) playing one. But they didn't have their barrel. After a while, the female monk went to get it from behind the main stage and then was hauling it along the ground back to the main area (pretending it was very heavy). The compere saw this, pointed to me and said could I help her. So I did and ended up walking halfway up the benched area and back down again to the stage to a big round of applause!

After this, a Prost shouting competition started:


From: https://youtu.be/y2eZ_BxSQuU

swiftly followed by the character race - the monks cheated by getting one of the dancers (who had just done their show and joined their family on the bench by me) to race for him. Watch my video to see what happened...


From: https://youtu.be/R1llJU1se78

After this, the party band came on for the last 30 minutes with loads of dancing and singing. I've got a few other shorter videos in my playlist of the event, if you fancy watching.

About 4 or 5 security people around the benches towards the end but was great to see they didn't have to intervene at all (from what I saw anyway!)

All in all, was an amazing atmosphere, and credit to all the actors, tech and entertainments team for putting on one of the best events in Towers' calendar. Depending on how Scarefest goes next month, it may well be my favourite event of the year.

The evening ended by catching the last monorail of the day and the host onboard saying to everyone as it pulled away "Welcome to the last monorail train of the day. You made it!"
 
I went to Oktoberfest on Sunday (25th) and had a brilliant time. While not as busy as a Saturday round the main stage (expected as it was a Sunday), it was still great fun in the last couple of hours of entertainment.

The character actors were fantastic and were the highlight of the day. While waiting for my group to join me at one of the front benches, Gretel saw a half-eaten sausage on the grass next to me, asked if it was mine and called Hansel over. They then started to worship it as they'd "been looking for a sausage all day" apparently!

After that, the monks showed up with the brilliant actor Sam Simkin (@SamSimkin_ on Twitter, he was the lead in the Towers Street krew in Mardi Gras too) playing one. But they didn't have their barrel. After a while, the female monk went to get it from behind the main stage and then was hauling it along the ground back to the main area (pretending it was very heavy). The compere saw this, pointed to me and said could I help her. So I did and ended up walking halfway up the benched area and back down again to the stage to a big round of applause!

After this, a Prost shouting competition started:


From: https://youtu.be/y2eZ_BxSQuU

swiftly followed by the character race - the monks cheated by getting one of the dancers (who had just done their show and joined their family on the bench by me) to race for him. Watch my video to see what happened...


From: https://youtu.be/R1llJU1se78

After this, the party band came on for the last 30 minutes with loads of dancing and singing. I've got a few other shorter videos in my playlist of the event, if you fancy watching.

About 4 or 5 security people around the benches towards the end but was great to see they didn't have to intervene at all (from what I saw anyway!)

All in all, was an amazing atmosphere, and credit to all the actors, tech and entertainments team for putting on one of the best events in Towers' calendar. Depending on how Scarefest goes next month, it may well be my favourite event of the year.

The evening ended by catching the last monorail of the day and the host onboard saying to everyone as it pulled away "Welcome to the last monorail train of the day. You made it!"


I couldn't agree more - Oktoberfest is firmly my favourite event of the year now.

I also happen to be in one of your videos sat on the next bench along...and we also caught the last monorail of the day and giggled at the 'you made it!' announcement :)
 
Oktoberfest is by far my favourite event now on park, it’s just so fun. Even on a quiet day like yesterday there were still people watching the shows.

Also due to the short hours the shows are pretty much back to back with very little gaps between them, which I guess encourages people to stay and watch the next bit.

I actually really love the sing along show, it’s improved massively this year with the dancers and characters on the show. I would actually do more of this after we’ve had the dancers and before ommparty, as it’s a bit more fun than the compare filling for 20 minutes.

I would also say the dance show could do with another song or two just to make it slightly longer, as it’s quite short compared to all the other acts.
 
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