Alton Towers Almanac

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New season tidbits

Just because the park is currently closed, things are far from quiet behind the scenes.

Here are a few bits and pieces of information about the upcoming season.

The appeal against the Noise Abatement Order will now not go to court until March at the earliest, meaning that it will definitely be in force at the start of the season (though Oblivion has until 1st July to meet the restrictions put in the order). The order also states that the park can make no more noise when it is open than it does in the middle of the night!

The logo on the picture to the right is the official Rita - Queen of Speed ride logo. The marketing department wanted something that would stand out from the rest of the market, and they are spending almost as much on marketing Rita as they did on Air three years ago (around £1m).

Rita-QoS is being fitted with a digital sound system that has a 500 song library, though only the music suitable for the ride will be played. This is a similar system to the one used on Spinball Whizzer.

A new system is being installed at the Ticket Booths and Turnstiles to try to prevent the queues that occurred last season.

And finally, the Black Hole will run for the last time ever on 5th March 2005. If you want to get your last ever ride before it disappears, you will have to turn up during a Winter Weekend between now and the 5th.