Our final visit for the 2021 season was Alton Towers for their Firework Spectacular event. Our intention was to ride as many rides as we could before the fireworks closed most of them at 5pm, then head to the lawns for a good spot.
Our day started like most at Towers, getting onto Wicker man first before the queues became too long, then onto Battle Galleons as there wasn’t a queue and next to Rita. We were intending to ride Th13teen, but due to the new rules, it can’t run in the rain. There was a bit of mist about, which I assume was why it was closed earlier on in the day but we never actually got any rain all day. It did open later but we were always miles away from it!
Next we went on Roller Disco, one of the Retro Squad rides that were brought in to relieve queues on other rides. Roller Disco is probably the weaker of the Retro Squad as it didn’t have much force or spinning to it. I’m not normally a fan of Waltzers due to the stop/start nature of the spinning but even I would have liked a little more!
Next was Gangsta Granny: The Ride, which was fine once again, and even with this being our third ride, I still noticed new fart jokes in there!
After checking our photos for Gangsta Granny, we headed to The Burger Kitchen for some dinner, which was nice. Chips could have done with cooking a bit longer, but it was nice enough. I think they could have done with opening up the whole restaurant for seating though as it was very cramped!
Our next visit was X-Sector for rides on Mixtape and Oblivion. The Smiler was still down so I couldn’t get a final ride of the season today, and through out our visit neither of us saw any action at all from the ride. Hopefully it’ll be back next year!
Mixtape is arguably the best Retro Squad ride, at least for Tracy and myself as it is a really fun, decently forceful ride! Even though the soundtrack to all three is the same, I think it fits Mixtape the best.
We then headed to Spinball Whizzer, Runaway Mine Train, Duel and finally Funk n’ Fly. Funk n’ Fly is only the second Super Trooper that I’ve ridden and this one’s sequence was the best. When it initially tilted, it felt just like Clarence Pier’s one, but when it went the other way, it did so with enough speed to properly shake the gondolas which was a thill and certainly woke us up!
With our last ride done before the fireworks, we headed to Towers Street. Festivities started at 5pm warming everyone up until the show at 7pm. All in, the were about 16,000 people in attendance for the fireworks, and looking around, you’d think there were a lot more!
As for the show, it went through the history of the park, starting in the 1850s when Alton Towers was finished, then onto 1980 when the park first opened as a theme park. Many of the rides get their own segments such as Nemesis, Oblivion and The Smiler, others were absent, most notably Galactica which didn’t get a mention at all. Maybe it really is curtains for Galactica?
The display featured dot matrix screens, fire and smoke, excellent audio, as well as many lasers that filled the sky above us, and of course many fireworks too!
The whole show lasted around 26 minutes and was a fantastic way to celebrate the 40th anniversary and round off the 2021 season. Last year was Alton Towers’ 40th anniversary but due to the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic, the fireworks were called off. I am so glad they managed to get them in this year, and even though we grumbled at having to pay £20 on top of our annual passes, we thought it was well worth it in the end!
Those involved should be very pleased with themselves for bringing together all those elements and making it work so incredibly well! Even Tracy said that it gave Disney’s fireworks a run for their money! Let’s hope we can see more of this going forward!
For those who didn’t go and wanted to see it, I recorded the whole show and it’s on my brand new YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHbpfNFvoh0
Please give it a watch whenever you’ve got time!
After the show, we caught up with Theme Park Worldwide again, and this time managed a photo and met Charlotte too! They’re both lovely, and hope to see more of them on our travels!
To round off our day, and the season, we had a ride on Galactica, the last of the big coasters we’ve yet to have a night ride on. It rode as well as it ever has and even though I think it’s day are numbered, I look forward to more rides in the 2022 season and beyond!
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