2010 sees a closed season not quite like any other we have seen in
the past few years. For the first time since the 90s the park itself
is open for the resort's Winter Season, although only in a limited
capacity. This year as well as the hotel attractions, Towers Street,
Mutiny Bay, Storybook Land and Old MacDonald's Farmyard are open for
hotel guests.
The big news for the closed season is of course the construction of
Thirteen, which involves the transformation of Ug Land into the Dark
Forest. Alongside this the Cloud Cuckoo Land Skyride station is
being rebuilt after last season's fire, creating a very busy corner
of the park.
Elsewhere Spinball Whizzer is receiving a repaint ready to become
Sonic Spinball in time for the February Half Term. Also the entrance
plaza is due to be transformed with the installation of the
Corkscrew's famous inversions as piece of artwork.
For more
information and photos on the attractions open during the festive
period, head over to the
Winter
Season page. And for pictures of the park's February Half
Term event head of to its dedicated
event gallery. And of course we
have construction archives for the construction of
Thirteen and the
Skyride.
that's an awful lot of tyre marks for an
abandoned overflow car park.
The Corkscrew's return.
Complete with supports, all ready to be
installed into the entrance plaza for the new season.
Whilst its looking a little worse for
ware at the moment, by the next time we see them they will be
looking resplendent in purple and gold!
January 31st
2010
Welcome to a very snowy Alton Towers,
but what's this I see??
That's right... some now ever so clean
looking Corkscrew still out in
the coach parks ready to be installed.
And work is continuing quickly in
preparation for them to arrive in the
entrance plaza, by February Half Term they could even be here.
Meanwhile the park is closed, and Towers
Street has now been cleared
of Christmas decorations, after the park's successful winter season.
Over at the car parks Nemesis and Air
are waiting to reopen.
In just two weeks both of these rides will be open to the public
again...
... though Ripsaw, which is not due to
reopen until the start of
the main season in March, is still in the middle of its winter
rehab.
We close today with
our annual look into the park's storage area behind Duel. As well as
the Flume and Rapids boats, the area is now also home to the last
Swan Boat to reside in the park, as well as the track for the
retired Splash Kart Challenge, which can be seen in the second
picture. Beyond the track you can also see the remains of the park's
old Rapids boats.
31st January Photos, courtesy of Rob
Lowe
February 13th
2010
Up on the roof of the Towers some of the
chimneys are receiving some work.
While we're up here lets take a look
down to Fountain Square...
... where Her Ladyship's Oratory has had
a bit of an accident over the closed season, apparently a victim of
tree fall. Luckily, despite this it does look like this listed
structure is fixable... after all those Victorians did build these
things to last.
Also in Fountain Square, Rita's Chicken
and Ribs is having a full closed season due to the nearby
construction of the Dark Forest.
