Alton Towers Almanac

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2011 season starts at the resort

Saturday morning saw Alton Towers Resort open its gates up for the 2011 season with the park now open through to Sunday 6th November 2011.

There's no major new attraction for the 2011 season but there's been lots of smaller changes around the park.

The show line-up has been refreshed, Pirates! Quest for the Golden Parrot, now plays several times daily in the Mutiny Bay Courtyard. Following the pirates on their hunt for treasure, the show is great family fun with plenty of laughs and a couple of well-known songs from the charts for good measure. Over in the Cloud Cuckoo Land Theatre, the Go!Go!Go! Show has taken up residence, a pop musical for kids that played in London's West End last summer.

Food & Drink has seen some changes. Refresh@Spinball has gone and in its place you'll find Spinball Noodles offering a variety of Noodle dishes. Also new for 2011 is the Coffee Baaarr in the Old MacDonald's Farmyard area of the park and Ye Olde Sweet Shoppe has popped up next to Battle Galleons.

Sharkbait Reef by SEALIFE has seen the addition of a new Skeleton Bay area where guests will come face to face with Japanese Spider Crabs.

There's also a multitude of little things around the park that have seen a lick of paint or been refreshed for the new season. New ticket barriers with colour displays greet guests at the entrance and signage across the resort has been updated with the new themed lettering style in use this year.

Unfortunately one ride is missing from the 2011 line-up, a large blue fence has been erected in Adventure Land, closing off the Beastie rollercoaster and the ride has been removed from the map. We'll be keeping an eye to see what goes on in this area of the park as the season progresses.

2011 also promises to be an action-packed season of events. Mad Science will be taking up residence at the Alton Towers Resort over Easter (11th-25th April) whilst Sunday 19th June is Alton Towers Live, an outdoor concert featuring JLS, McFly, The Saturdays and Eliza Dolittle. Later in the year will see the return of Scarefest (15th-31st October) and a very welcome event back on the calendar after the success of last year is the Alton Towers Fireworks, a spectacular fireworks display on the 4th, 5th and 6th November.