After attending the official opening day of Gangsta Granny the Ride and the brand new David Walliams World area we bring you this review of the main attraction at Alton Towers in 2021.
With a story plucked straight from the books written by David Walliams Gangsta Granny tells the story of Ben and his Granda who go on a mission to steal the crown jewels and you’re going to be joining them on this wonderful little crime caper adventure.
Full of hilarious antics, easter eggs and effects Gangsta Granny the Ride immerses you into the story the second you step foot inside the building.
With regal wallpaper and picture frames lining the walls, you are greeted with numerous characters and audio as you await your royal carriage.
Plush curtains drape from the windows and the hallways are designed with a fancy flair as your carriage arrives at the station.
The doors automatically open and in front of you lies a red curtain similar to those you’d see at a theatre, they open and the show begins.
Fully immersed in the world of Gangsta Granny, the ride combines 2D-3D and even 4D effects with great delivery.
From projections and animations to a grand illusion involving the crown jewels themselves it’s such a fun little experience.
There’s so much detail in the sets and before you know it the curtain next to you is lifted and into another scene you go.
This curtain that divides the scenes acts as a page that has just been turned to the next chapter of the book.
It’s a great way to divide the sets but with the curtain being a little thin you can hear previous and subsequent chapters taking place around you.
A slight oversight there but small niggles aside (including a water effect that either wasn’t working or doesn’t exist and is a severely wasted opportunity to not add one) it’s a great little adventure.
Garmendale and Alton Towers have made the most of the small space that is the previous old Wobble World / House of Monsters building.
The ride rotates 360-degrees, it stops at the various scenes and racks up a solid 5-minute runtime.
With such a long show-time though however and with limited capacity due to the social distancing, the queue times are certainly not short.
The throughput is poor on the ride (around 400 an hour without social distancing batching we were told) and it certainly shows. We waited for a good 30 mins+ for the ride and the queues haven’t shrunk down any less since it has been open.
It’s a ride you’ll want to go around again as there are many hidden things you miss the first time around and lots of little quirky jokes dotted not just around the queue line but the ride itself and finishing the ride in Raj’s Shop is a delight.
With actors in character serving you as you enter the shop its the perfect way to keep the immersion of the ride going even after you depart the royal carriage.
It’s something completely different at Alton Towers with character immersion within a ride and I hope it wasn’t just for opening day and this continues throughout the ride’s operation.
There are also shows going on outside including the Queen’s royal guards and it’s such a wonderful area that completely sucks you into the weird and wonderful world of David Walliams.
It went above and beyond my expectations and I can’t recommend checking it out enough!
It’s like a moving 4D cinema and a great little addition to Alton Towers dark rides.
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For the full VLOG of opening day click the link below:
