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Oktoberfest 2024

I wandered around the area today, and noticed temporary flooring slabs at the way in to the lawn, the kind you get at a building site or a temporary event in a park. If this staging area is going to be permanent, they definitely need to improve that!
 
Dan12345 said:
I wandered around the area today, and noticed temporary flooring slabs at the way in to the lawn, the kind you get at a building site or a temporary event in a park. If this staging area is going to be permanent, they definitely need to improve that!
Click to expand...

Not much else they will likely be able to do given the listed nature of that area.

The stage on the lawns isn’t permanent, they only have temporary planning permission.
 
This Towers St article has a very small reference to the potential scrapping of Oktoberfest for 2025:

There is a big question mark over the future of Oktoberfest, with rumblings that the event may not be returning in 2025 after a wunderbar five-year run.
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Very disappointing if so. This is my favourite event of the season and is great for those that don’t want to just do rides all day.

Anyone else disappointed this may be the end of the event after they have spent 5 years building it up?

towersstreet.com

Goodbye, 2024 – what’s coming to Alton Towers in 2025 – TowersStreet - Your premier Alton Towers guide!

towersstreet.com towersstreet.com
 
I’m not actually that disappointed given last years offerings were lessened. Plus it’s very close to Scarefest. I think the park really needs to focus on :

The summer events to soak up queues from the rides

Scarefest

Christmas

If that means dropping Octoberfest for a while then so be it.
 
I hope it isn't the end of the event, for me it has overtaken Scarefest as the best event (excluding the fireworks). It is a fun event, making the most of the last of the late summer daylight too. If its cost cutting at play here then cut it down to Friday, Saturday and Sundays only.

And if it gets scrapped but Thorpe get to keep their pathetic attempt at it (and their "Mardi Gras") then there is something very, very wrong at Merlin to allow that.
 
Well, that's the last remaining thing that could have tempted me back in to MAP ownership gone, then.
 
Considering that I’ve been noticing more Merlin/AT Ticket discounts again in Kitchens and Supermarkets, it definitely seems that Towers are once again looking towards increasing attendance as a way of generating profits, rather than encouraging secondary spend with stuff like increased events that we saw as COVID restrictions got lifted.

Oktoberfest was one of Varney’s legacy ideas and was markedly the first shift towards increasing secondary spend. I think there’s an argument to continue CAPEX spending however, to help stem a lot of the aging infrastructure within the park, especially as competition heats up in the rest of the theme park industry. So hopefully it’s not a return to same-old Merlin.

Will also be interesting to see what happens with the Celebration Stage next year, as I suppose without Oktoberfest or any summer celebration, it’ll be hard to justify for the use of one month out of the whole season.
 
Steve74 said:
I hope it isn't the end of the event, for me it has overtaken Scarefest as the best event (excluding the fireworks). It is a fun event, making the most of the last of the late summer daylight too. If its cost cutting at play here then cut it down to Friday, Saturday and Sundays only.

And if it gets scrapped but Thorpe get to keep their pathetic attempt at it (and their "Mardi Gras") then there is something very, very wrong at Merlin to allow that.
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me to I really liked the atmosphere, and it is just really fun (I really like the oompty band)
bit of a strange oppinion I also prefered the 2024 offering over 2023, whilst there was less stages it being all located on the lawn and the roof tent thing made it attract larger crowds and made it a much better atmosphere with everyone singing along and interacting with the actors (when there is only like 2 groups often there is just awquard silence when the actors are trying to interact with the audience, but it was much better).
 
I'd agree with that. I've only done the last two years, but I had a lot more fun in '24 than '23.
... I think.
 
As mentioned, given the even further reduced capacity this year, and its proximity to scarefest/fireworks. I think focussing on a longer/smaller footprint summer event would be far better.

Alton after dark start of the season
New summer event
Scarefest/fireworks in the Autumn
Xmas in the winter

As it should always of been in my opinion
 
Ash said:
As mentioned, given the even further reduced capacity this year, and its proximity to scarefest/fireworks. I think focussing on a longer/smaller footprint summer event would be far better.

Alton after dark start of the season
New summer event
Scarefest/fireworks in the Autumn
Xmas in the winter

As it should always of been in my opinion
Click to expand...
Oktoberfest was brought in to encourage visits during the quiet September period. The school holidays are relatively busy no matter what so they don’t need as much to encourage visits. A stage show for added capacity would still be good, but I don’t think they need anything too big to push.
 
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