Freezing Fireworks

Alton Tower’s Scarefest has been a favourite of ours for many years, but after the absolute terror of the scare mazes last year (which we love!) we decided to take a year out and try the fireworks instead. We booked our favourite little bed and breakfast Trough Ivy House , which is situated almost at the gates of the park and has the most wonderful hosts, lovely rooms, comfy beds, tasty breakfast and is just genuinely perfect. It is just a few minutes’ walk from the park entrance and the owners are knowledgeable about the park having lived on the doorstep for many years.

November 5th 2016 was a very cold day - we went into the park just after opening at 10am and spent the morning on some of our favourite rides. At this point the park was moderately busy, but queues were small and the weather was good. We planned to lunch at the Rollercoaster Restaurant so arrived in Forbidden Valley early to make sure we got a table. Read our review of the restaurant here.

We managed to stay in the park until 3pm before admitted defeat to the cold weather and made the short walk back to Trough Ivy House to warm up. The traffic trying to enter the park at this point was horrific! We have never seen so many cars arriving from both directions. We later learned that the park had been closed to everyone except pre purchased ticket holders due to the sheer number of visitors. Before our visit we had read the tips and hints on the Alton Towers website which clearly stated that if you didn’t have a ticket you needed to arrive by 3pm to ensure entrance. The weather was very good for bonfire night and I think it had brought lots of people out at the last minute. Thankfully we had been hand stamped and after our refresh and re-warm we were able to go straight back in a about 5pm

The park by this time was absolutely packed. As most of the rides were being closed off prior to the fireworks starting, this led to some very long queues for food! We decided to wait until the fireworks were finished and set off to find a good spot. Unbelievably, the best views from the grass opposite the towers and lake were very quiet. Most people had stayed further back - possibly in order to make a quick retreat and miss the car park chaos later.  We had a great view and the hour we spent waiting for the show to start soon passed – people were dancing to keep warm, there were picnics set up complete with torches and even a family with their own sparklers. It was unbelievably cold by then – we had multiple layers on and were all still freezing.

​The show started promptly at 7pm and we were then treated to an amazing display of fireworks complemented by a story shown on a big screen and a laser show. I don’t think I have ever seen so many fireworks in the sky at one time. It really was spectacular – my favourite parts involved a Davie Bowie tribute to ‘Life on Mars’, some amazing shots of fire from the ground which you could feel the heat wave  from a long way back and the finale was just amazing. The sky was full of fireworks. The whole show had lasted 30 minutes, which must cost them a fortune. We had priced 5 mins of fireworks for our daughter’s wedding and that quote was over £1000.

​It is tremendous value for money as there is no additional charge for the fireworks. We spent almost a full day in the park (wimping out only because of the weather!), had a lovely meal in the Rollercoaster restaurant and a delicious hog roast bun in the evening and watched an outstanding firework display.

Maybe we didn’t get on as many rides as we would have on a quieter day but for us it wasn’t about the rides we had come for the fireworks and we were not disappointed. The staff we encountered all day were friendly and polite and mostly young people who must have worked very hard that day to handle the sheer number of visitors.  All in all we had a great time but I think next year it’ll be back to Scarefest!