Alton Towers Gardens, Brand New Events and the Return of Fast Track!
Well, it’s official, the 2021 UK theme park season has officially begun as Alton Towers finally opened their gates to the public today once again for their incredibly popular gardens offering.
With the opening of the gardens however came the chance to make our first visit of the season and check out all of this season’s biggest changes, and boy, were we surprised!
Today’s visit has confirmed many things. One being there’s now a garden center in the gardens iconic conservatories and two ride testing is now in full swing, however that’s far from all believe us.
We’re therefore going to break this down and take you through everything today’s visit revealed step by step to ensure you’re completely in the loop when it comes to visiting the resort in 2021.
Fast Track Returns for 2021.
It’s fair to say that this is something which was heavily missed back in 2020, however 2021 seems to be the year for the return of fully fledged fast track at the resort.
There have however been a few changes, and these are by far for the better in most cases.
It is now confirmed that from April 12th fast track will return in both it’s former format (Bronze, Silver and Gold packages) and in the form of the incredibly popular one shot format too.
Packages start at £30 per person for Bronze and range all the way up to £65 for Gold with the inclusion of an additional option to upgrade the Gold package to unlimited for an extra £40..
One shot fast tracks will range between £8 and £10 per time depending on the ride in question.
Full details of the newly reformatted fast track can be found below.
Presenting Alton Towers Mardis Gras!
With today’s reopening came the confirmation of yet another brand new event set to premier at the resort this season.
Alton Towers Mardis Gras is described by the resort on their official website as a “Mardi Gras inspired takeover that will dazzle you with an explosion of colours, sounds and much more!”
This takeover is set to include live entertainment, food options from around the world and a true festival style vibe.
There are also rumors of yet another brand new event set to come to the resort for 2021 as well, however no official confirmation of what or when has been given by the resort to date.
Alton Towers Mardis Gras will takeover the resort from May 22nd and will run all the way up until June 20th!
There's a garden center in the gardens.
If there is one thing that has become evident from today’s visit, it’s that Alton Towers Resort really are thinking outside of the box this season.
A trip down into the historic gardens and down to the iconic conservatories has today revealed the addition of plant sales taking place within the conservatories themselves.
The selection was varies and vast and the prices not too shabby either.
This is somethings completely different for the resort an to our knowledge nothing like this has taken place at any other theme park located here in the UK for quite some time (if at all).
Social Distancing has been refreshed.
The first thing that became evident as we arrived today was the extensive lengths the resort have gone to completely refresh all safety measures and markers in place for the 2021 season.
All social distancing chevrons have been completely repainted and more have been added as the resort prepare themselves for a much larger footfall in 2021.
The gates at the front of the resort next to kiosks have also been removed too maker for much easier access to the resorts entrance plaza and a much wider room for flow overall.
They have also implemented a clearly marked ‘Keep Left’ system too with clear indication being painted in plain sight throughout the resort.
There's a brand new stage on the lawns.
The Final change to note for this season is the addition of what appears to be a completely brand new permanent looking stage situated at the bottom of the front lawns.
This brand new stage will undoubtedly be used throughout the season for the various different forms of live entertainment which will make up the likes of Oktoberfest and Mardis Gras.
This is great to see and it means that the resort really are considering bringing back live entertainment at the resort in a much bigger and better way than seen previously.
Final Roundup.
After months of being stuck indoors restricted both physically and mentally today’s visit to Alton Towers Resort truly has been a breath of fresh air.
The gardens were as beautiful as they ever are, staff were friendly and helpful and the overall offering was well worth the trip.
It’s also worth noting that most of the resort is currently fenced off and as such everything from ride areas to the left hand side of towers street are all restricted by barriers.
There were however toilets available for use within Mutiny Bay and there was also food and drink available from Pirates Treats as per last season.
We will next back at Alton Towers on April 18th as we visit the park post opening on April 12th and get back on some of our favourite rides here in the UK!
Following that we will back at the resort post May 17th for the opening of the resort’s highly anticipated new area – The World of David Walliams!