And so, as night follows day, the 2007/2008 closed season roles
around. It would be amiss of me not to mention that rarest of events
at the park, which is a new area rising from the dust that was
Merrie England. While pictures of the Battle Galleons can be found
in the ride's
construction gallery, the rest of
Mutiny Bay's construction can be found on these pages.
Other notable features of this year's closed season would be one of
The Blade's "Big Ol' Refurbishments" we see every now and again, as well
as significant (and long long, LONG overdue) restoration work on the Towers themselves.
After the fire at the end of last season, the Skyride is also seeing
some TLC over the closed season and McDonald's are departing from
the park after ten years. It looks likely that for 2008 the chain's
three outlets in the park will be handed over the Burger King.
Many
thanks to Kaycee, Marky and Astrodan for providing the pictures
on this page.
What better way is
there to ring in the new year then with a look around everyone's
favourite theme park? We couldn't think of one, and so here's
TowersTimes' little New Year tour of the park to see how things are
progressing ahead of the February Half Term Hullabaloo.
As we follow the woodland walk from
the
hotel the first ride to come in sight
is Air, soaring above the
trees.
followed closely by Ripsaw, which
you can see here clad in scaffolding during its winter maintenance.
Into Forbidden Valley and there appears
to be something blocking up the path...
...a whole heap of tubes and framework
and stuff, whatever could it be?
It's The Blade of course having one of
its semi regular refurbishments, to make it shiny and new for the
2008 season.
Looking down into an excessively empty
Blade pit we can see the few remnants
of the ride still in place.
In fact while we're here, how about we
take a closer look at the ride's carriage, which is currently
sitting alongside the
pit with its themed ends nearby.
As you can see Ripsaw's Revenge and
Rampage have been somewhat taken apart for the refurb. There is a
chance by the new season these game units might have seen even more
upheaval.
As will the Generator just up the way.
All the McDonald's signage has now been removed ready for its
transformation into Burger King .
But what about the Skyride? How are
things progressing with the rebuilding of its Forbidden Valley
station?
Well the whole
building is now surrounded by scaffolding ready
for the
station's reconstruction...
...and just in case you didn't believe
me, see... more scaffolding!
In fact, the scaffolding continues
all the way through the station showing the scale of the operation
at hand.
Looking up, you can still see some
charred remains of the roof, which suggests there's still quite a
way to go.
Meanwhile a pile of the burnt wood
already stripped from the station lies nearby ready to be disposed
of.
In the other direction we can look out
across a very atmospheric lake towards the eerily deserted Haunted
Hollow.
As the mist sets in time for a quick
look at the X Sector, which is one of the areas of the park which won't
be opening for the
Hullabaloo.
And then on to the Towers, which rise
out of the mist like a gothic masterpiece, perhaps in part designed
by Pugin. But then that might just be my interpretation of the
picture.
And no, your eyes are not deceiving
you, that is scaffolding on the Round Tower, one of the oldest parts
of the building, which is finally receiving
some stabilizing work.
The Round Tower is in a part of the
house inaccessible to the public, so tours of the house are still
occurring over the winter. The conservatory in the centre of the
house is also due for restoration in 2008.
And so let's leave
the park and this misty update with another look at Oblivion,
looking ever so menacing in the mist.
January 19th 2008
A quick picture
update today, focusing on the hotels just a fortnight after their
successful festive period came to a close. Let's head on down and
look at the remains of the Christmas, Halloween and indeed Easter
events at the hotels.
Down at Splash Landings most of
the rides set up for Christmas have
already gone, with only the park's
own rides
left to remove...
The Bouncing Bugs sit in Splash Landings
car park; an unusual
setting
for the ride, especially as they are currently surrounded by cars
Looking the other way you can
see where the ride sits in relation
to the hotel.
The Bugs have also started to be
dismantled ready for their trip back to Cred Street for the new
season.
Beyond the Bugs you can see the other
park ride which took part in the resorts festive event, the Frog
Hopper...
...which sits slightly closer to the
monorail station. (That's the monorail's track at the top of the
picture)
Interestingly the Frog Hopper sits on a
foundation which appeared towards the end of last season. Could this
be a sign that the ride will now be a regular visitor to the hotels
during the closed seasons?
But let's wander over to the Alton
Towers Hotel, where on the balcony above the entrance you may just
be able to make out the purple remains of an
Easter
Egg left over from Chocolate Towers.
But our real reason for being here is to
take a look at what's left of Field
of 1,000 Screams, where all that now remains are two cabins and a
lot of mud.
That's almost it for this small, but perfectly formed, update.
Today we'll close with a little news from the park, though sadly
no pictures here. The X Sector is currently deep in the throws of
it's Winter maintenance, and it seems that The Blade isn't the
only ride receiving quite a large refurbishment this closed
season, as currently Submission has also been entirely dismantled
for maintenance, leaving only the ride's stump in situ on its
site.
