MakoMania wrote:

Isn't the current construction by the Enchanted Village to do with a Santa tipi for Christmas?

Could be in this case but I'm sure Tipis are a part of the development of the Enchanted Village.

MakoMania wrote:

Isn't the current construction by the Enchanted Village to do with a Santa tipi for Christmas?

Possibly. I was there Monday morning and Ents were supervising a delivery of long wooden polls.

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I'm not sure exactly where this belongs but TowersStreet have spotted what look like new boats for Congo River Rapids! With doors, headrests and grab bars

I believe it's a Rumba Rapids boat. These modifications will likely be seen on the usual yellow boats next year.

When I saw them on FB, I instantly thought Thorpe but good spot with sticker mark. I wonder why it is up at Alton, unless this is an old boat used to practice making adjustments on?

I do hope they don't get rid of the current yellow boats and they just make the modifications to the existing boats. That's purple boat really wouldn't suit Congo River Rapids!

Justin wrote:

MakoMania wrote:

Isn't the current construction by the Enchanted Village to do with a Santa tipi for Christmas?

Possibly. I was there Monday morning and Ents were supervising a delivery of long wooden polls.

Sorry about the double post but,

I imagine this is indeed that tipis for Christmas. TowersStreet are saying it is.

Yes, they’re for the Christmas event. Construction of the permanent tipi entertainment area wasn’t scheduled until 2020 in the Enchanted Village expansion planning application.

Robert.W wrote:

I do hope they don't get rid of the current yellow boats and they just make the modifications to the existing boats. That's purple boat really wouldn't suit Congo River Rapids!

They may just be expecting the boats to be used more as its so close to SW8 so they may want more to circulate. I also hope they repaint then but if they aren't permanent attentions then they may not

As posted on TowersTimes Facebook earlier on, the resort’s website has been updated with the 2018 opening dates (opening times yet to be added).

The main points of interest are as follows:
Opening day - Saturday 17th March
Scarefest - 6th & 7th, 13th & 14th, 19th October - 2nd November
Fireworks - 3rd & 4th November

Closed days:
March - Weds 21st
April - Weds 18th & 25th
May - Weds 2nd, 9th, 16th & 23rd
September - Tues 4th & Weds 5th, then Mon, Tues & Weds 10th-12th, 17th-19th, 24th-26th
October - Mon, Tues & Weds 1st-3rd, 8th-10th, 15th-17th

I'm actually really frustrated about the open dates. They're gradually adding more closed dates and it's ridiculous. I get that they need to make money back and that they don't have as many visitors as they have in the past but at this point, especially in September, they're practically forcing people to pay more money to stay at the hotels. The price of the rooms almost doubles in price when you look at a Thurs/Fri room compared to a Sat/Sun room. They're slowly reducing the amount of open days in September until only the weekend remains. And what then? All those people that either go during the week to ensure a quiet day or can only go during the week are going to angry and many won't be able to visit, no money for Merlin. All those who can and will go on the weekend just so that they can visit will have to visit across the weekend meaning it's going to be absolutely packed with people. Guests will be unhappy due to long queues, many will be frustrated after travelling long distances only to not get chance to ride anything and it could easily get to a point where Alton decide to close admission, leaving guests infuriated because they're unable to enter. I'm sure they could find another way to make their money back. Reducing the open days is not going to help.

As annoying it may be, these closed days don't exactly bother me, especially if they mean opening times are longer on open days. At the end of the day, the amount of people who visit on off peak days is minute, compared to peak days.

I'm too frustrated with the reduce open dates.  I can't see them having longer open days.  I would have thought that the gate numbers will be up due to SW8.  However there is more scarefest dates available. 

I guess it alright being annoyed at the amount of closed dates, but they are probably only trying to respond to the amount of demand by looking at this year to predict next year. Scarefest this year was by far the busiest I've seen it and likely the resort want to make the most of that next year. The closed dates are probably not completely set in stone anyways, but they will have looked at how busy it was this year to decide next seasons closed dates.

Fair enough

That was my tweet the replied to lol! I’ve been down with my family the last three years at the Scottish half term in October which next year is W/B 15th Oct. we were down on the Thursday and Friday this year and, although this meant we got to experience Scarefest, it wasn’t in my opinion, worth the long queue times compared to the previous years. Think it’s likely that we’ll give AT a miss next year as a result. I had a laugh about the Big 6 Challenge this summer where the real challenge is having enough time to queue and ride the coasters rather than your body being physically strong enough to take it lol.

Alton Towers Resort has been awarded a silver award for Large Visitor Attraction of the Year 2017. Additionally, as I also mentioned in the CBeebies Land Hotel topic, the CBeebies Hotel won a gold award for Best Hotel 2017 from the Staffordshire Tourism Awards.