This October has proven to be better than last year, but it still isn’t as grand as the festivities back home.
Last year hubby and I did absolutely NOTHING for Halloween, which really bugged me because I LOVE Halloween and I LOVE October. It’s my favorite time of year. So….With that in mind, I think we’re going a bit overboard this year with the trips/outings/etc to make October fun.
SCAREFEST:
There were 3 mazes. 1 which was free with your ticket…which wasn’t that great but it was housed in the ‘Alton Tower’ which is this huge castle in the middle of the park, so it was quite long and you had to wait to get into it.
The other 2 mazes were THE BEST, but you had to pay up to 13 pounds per person and you could only go through these mazes within a 40min time span.
One Maze was called ‘Carnival of Screams’ which, if I’m being honest, was a more cohesive, funnier and scarier version of Jokesters. You entered the maze through a carnival tent into this open-aired abandoned carnival ground where this clown told you the set up/creepy story and then you went into the ‘main tent’ where all the scary trippy carnival scares happened. SO cool.
The park had some enjoyable unique rides…but it will never compare to my love of Magic Mountain, growing up there and working there.
Some rides, like ‘TH3RTEEN’ had some unique twists that would only be good for the first time, when it could surprise you. But I could see that after maybe the 2nd time those surprises would just become old hat and make the ride boring.
Some other rides, like “Air” and “Nemesis” seemed VERY similar to rides at Magic, almost identical, and I did enjoy myself on those, but still…made me a little jaded, like ‘yeah….been on this ride like 20x before….nothing new here’.
There was ONE good ride….OBLIVION. I didn’t go on it because I’ve been on enough coasters to know what I do and don’t like, but I would say that it was the most unique thrill-seeking ride at Alton Towers.
The other event this month (not Halloween related, but still fun) was going to see Ice Age LIVE! On Ice! Lyndsey, Greg, Robert and I won tickets at a Charity auction earlier this year and yesterday was our day to go see the show.
Hubby and I went down early to check out the shopping mall across the street from the theatre and ending up having a nice meal at T.G.I.Fridays which was SO BUSY, but good.
There were 3 mazes. 1 which was free with your ticket…which wasn’t that great but it was housed in the ‘Alton Tower’ which is this huge castle in the middle of the park, so it was quite long and you had to wait to get into it.
The other 2 mazes were THE BEST, but you had to pay up to 13 pounds per person and you could only go through these mazes within a 40min time span. One Maze was called ‘Carnival of Screams’ which, if I’m being honest, was a more cohesive, funnier and scarier version of Jokesters. You entered the maze through a carnival tent into this open-aired abandoned carnival ground where this clown told you the set up/creepy story and then you went into the ‘main tent’ where all the scary trippy carnival scares happened. SO cool.
The other maze, The Sanctuary, was set up to be like a hospital Pysch ward where this mad scientist conducted experiments on living people, turning them mad by brainwashing them(ala Clockwork Orange Style) to make everyone ‘smile’. Those were some of the BEST scares I’ve ever seen and the maze had some surprising twists in there.
The Park, OVERALL:
Some rides, like ‘TH3RTEEN’ had some unique twists that would only be good for the first time, when it could surprise you. But I could see that after maybe the 2nd time those surprises would just become old hat and make the ride boring.
Some other rides, like “Air” and “Nemesis” seemed VERY similar to rides at Magic, almost identical, and I did enjoy myself on those, but still…made me a little jaded, like ‘yeah….been on this ride like 20x before….nothing new here’.
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| AIR, at Alton Towers Theme Park |
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| Tatsu, at Magic Mountain.....kinda similar, don't ya think? |
Batman Nemesis
And the attractions, namely “Nemisis: Sub-terra”…..were just plain lame. Nemesis was a good coaster, but they decided to make a sequel of it, except make it a lame attraction instead of a ride.
There was ONE good ride….OBLIVION. I didn’t go on it because I’ve been on enough coasters to know what I do and don’t like, but I would say that it was the most unique thrill-seeking ride at Alton Towers.
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| Going up..... |
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| ONE STRAIGHT DROP DOWN...and this is the last thing you see before getting swallowed into a massive hole into oblivion. |
A cool thing to note about Alton Towers vs. Magic Mountain is their ride picture experience. Instead of buying all the ride photos that you like throughout the day….you have an option to buy a USB wristband, which I thought is a cool idea in this new age.
The overall experience at Alton Towers wasn’t great (employees giving us the run around, giving out misinformation, not hearing out guest complaints, as well as WAYYYYY too many Park regulations not enforced—dress code, no smoking, no littering, line jumping), but for not being Magic Mountain, it was alright.
The other event this month (not Halloween related, but still fun) was going to see Ice Age LIVE! On Ice! Lyndsey, Greg, Robert and I won tickets at a Charity auction earlier this year and yesterday was our day to go see the show.
Hubby and I went down early to check out the shopping mall across the street from the theatre and ending up having a nice meal at T.G.I.Fridays which was SO BUSY, but good.
The theatre was small, but it was interesting to see how an Ice show in a small arena would work out. The pre show was set up just like the beginning of Ice age 1 the movie, where the squirrel runs across the ice to get his acorn and causes the ice to crack.
After that the show just became its own little mini combo storyline of all the movies (I think), but with Ice-skating, acrobatics, gymnastics, etc etc….all while in those gigantic fluffy costumes. I managed to sneak a quite photo to show you, but this doesn’t even begin to describe the type of things we saw in that arena.
Next up on October’s to do list is The Vidler Halloween extravaganza next Friday. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some good photos of our costumes for the next blog. J
