In 1980 a Big Top
was erected alongside the Courtyard in the Ingestre Centre. This
yellow tent was home to the new park's first permanent entertainment
attraction, The Parrot Show. The park soon started to look at
expanding its entertainment options and in 1983 this led the park
to move The Parrot Show, tent and all, across the lake to the
current site of the Hospitality Suite
In Aqualand
meanwhile, whilst the venue's facade remained in place, behind this
a much larger green and yellow Big Top was erected, featuring all
the technology required to bring the world of the circus to the
park.
During much of
the rest of the 80s the venue was home to various circuses, until
1988 when an Ice Rink was installed into the tent for the park's
first Christmas Festival. This addition would define the use of the
venue, which after 1989 became a
permanent home to the park's ice shows.
After a few seasons hosting various laser and circus spectaculars, in 1992 the
Big
Top complete with ice rink was moved across Towers Street to take up
residence in a new home next to Safeway Farm. When it opened in its
new position it also boasted a new show, Captain Henry's Gold: An
Adventure on Ice.
Captain Henry's
Gold ran for just two seasons in the Big Top, since Henry Hound left
Alton Towers at the end of 1993. Following the departure of
everyone's favourite hound, the next season Peter Rabbit took over
the Big Top,
becoming its longest running resident starring in two separate shows
over the next eight years. In 1995 the area around the Big Top was
even themed to fit in with the show, becoming Storybook Land.
The departure of
Peter Rabbit in 2001 also saw the removal of the familiar Big Top,
to be replaced with the more permanent and purpose-built Ice Arena
we see today. This new venue would go on to house the technological
Webmaster in 2002, followed by the much more traditional Circus of
Illusion for 2004.
The 2005 closed
season saw the Ice Arena host the Magic of Panto on Ice during the
Winter Weekends, but as it transpired this was the last show to be
hosted in the venue and since the start of the 2006 season the Big Top
has sat empty in Storybook Land.
The park's first permanent
entertainment feature was The Parrot Show, which began
performing in the new yellow big top in Ingestre Centre for the
1980 season. After a couple of seasons operating near the
courtyard the show, Big Top and all, moved across the lake to
the site currently occupied by the Hospitality Suite.
In 1983 The Hassani Family arrived
at the Towers with their circus troupe. Whilst they performed
beyond the same facade as the parrots, the park had invested in
an all new green and yellow big top which was fully fitted out
for a circus which featured all sorts of traditional circus acts
from trapeze artists and clowns through to gymnasts and a strong
man.
After the
Hassani troupe left the park at the end of 1986 the circus show
was taken on by the park's internal entertainment department and
became known as the International Circus. The new circus show
starred some of the same acts as had performed in the Circus
Hassani, such as Grimble the Clown, who went on to have his own
show after the International Circus closed at the end of 1988.
The long and
varied history of ice shows at Alton Towers started in the Winter of
1988. During the closed season the Big Top was
transformed into ice rink for the park's inaugural Christmas Festival, which hosted
the first Ice Spectacular starring Henry Hound along with his new
companion Henrietta. These Christmas Ice Spectaculars continued for
the following few seasons.
Laser Adventure Show
Years: 1989
The following season the Big Top
became home to yet another new style of show, featuring the Laser
Adventure Show, which utilised the very latest technology combined
with an action packed musical spectacular to produce a brand new
20 minute show.
Circus on Ice
Years 1990
Having tried
circuses and having tried ice shows, in 1990 the park decided to combine the
two genres to produce the Circus on Ice, creating yet another
unique experience for guests.
Amongst the other
circus acts to glide across the rink, the highlight of the show
was the amazing Wheel of Death.
Laser Ice Spectacular
Years: 1991
1991 saw the return of lasers to the
Big Top when, in another move of artistic fusion, they were in
turn combined with ice dancing to produce the Laser Ice
Spectacular; a high paced show, which would be the final one
performed in Aqualand.
1992 saw the Big
Top relocated to the farm and featuring a brand new show, which
once again saw Henry Hound take centre stage for Captain Henry's
Gold.
The sumptuous new
show took guests on a journey both on the crest of the waves and
deep beneath them.
Henry was chased
out of the big top by Peter Rabbit, the most prolific resident
of the Big Top remaining in the tent for eight years.
Over the course
of his stay Peter featured in two different shows, first
accompanying his young friend Lucie and later being joined by
his creator Beatrix Potter herself.
During the
90s the park had several attempts at celebrating Halloween with
shows in various locations from Gloomy Wood through to Fountain
Square, but in 2000 the park stepped up their efforts by
introducing a specially created Spooktacular ice show. The show
was so successful that it became a permanent part of the parks
Halloween offering, to the point that in 2004 it was the park's
only offering.
After Peter
Rabbit departed at the end of 2001, the Big Top was removed to
make way for a purpose built Ice Arena. This new venue housed
the very different ice show of Webmaster; a show which set
itself in the much edgier world of computer viruses, which was
something of a contrast to the arena's Storybook Land location.
After only
two seasons Webmaster was replaced by Magic of Ice: Circus of
Illusions, a show which saw the return of circus style
performances to the venue, though with much more focus on
illusion then acrobatics.
In its second
season the show even starred The Twins, a pair of famous
illusionists, focusing even more on the art.
In 2005 the park
once again returned to the idea of producing an off-season ice
show, this time to entertain hotel guests staying during the
Christmas Period.
As it turned out
The Magic of Panto would unfortunately be the final ice show to
be performed at the park, bringing a proud tradition to a close.
