Pirate Takeover at Alton Towers Resort is officially underway over the February half-term, but is it any good? We bring you our Alton Towers Pirate Takeover review.
When the words Alton Towers and event go together I normally have this intense overwhelming stress take over my body along with a nervousness of what on earth we are going to see next.
Events across the board at Alton Towers Resort have been so up and down over the last few years that it feels like there are too many creative cooks in the kitchen arguing over what would be the best thing to implement.
After just minutes in the park during my visit on the opening day of the event, it was very clear that there was a focus, a purpose and a creative agreement on what the event should be and how it should be executed.
In short. It was AMAZING!
What to Expect at Pirate Takeover
To answer that question in short, well, pirates!
Bear in mind I’m a 32-year-old man attending an event that is catered for families themed around pirates but the second I was handed my treasure map from a jolly pirate I was swept away with the task at hand.
Scouring Mutiny Bay and taking part in challenges, solving riddles and playing games to earn letters to decode a word was incredibly fun.
Each challenge station was a themed hut (the same huts as what market traders use over the Christmas period or merchandise sellers during Towers events) where an actor would give you a task to complete.
Not only that but you had to board a ship (the Battle Galleons ride to be precise) as a pirate jumped on the boat with you and guided you through an interactive and quite fun little ride.
I think that’s the third time in my entire life I’ve been on Battle Galleons and even without the water guns turned on that are used to splash your opponents having the actor guide us on our journey was a nice touch.
Very peculiar having the inclusion of actors on the boats as I’m forever banging on about how the ride could be improved for events (this applies to River Caves at Journey to Hell in Blackpool too) and finally someone has turned it into a reality.
Swashbuckling entertainment on the main stages had panto-style plays unfold in the Mutiny Bay Courtyard and one particular task was themed around a Skeleton Bar, the facade of which looked incredible!
It was very clear to see the park had gone the extra mile on an event that is on for 15 days.
2024 sees Alton Towers scaling back on the number of events and focusing on quality with Oktoberfest, Scarefest, Fireworks and Christmas being the only events line-up in the park this season.
For me, this is a great move from the park as much weaker events are cast aside to focus on the ones that the majority of people enjoy the most.
Festival of Thrills and Mardi Gras were very weak events where poor planning and overpriced food came together for quite an uneventful experience.
Mardi Gras certainly had a charm to it but it was condensed to such small areas that it just wasn’t worth doing unless you wanted to pay £10+ for a bit of street food.
Pirate Takeover instantly had this fun and celebratory vibe, there was a good atmosphere around the park which has been sorely lacking for some time now.
If this much effort has gone into a half-term event I’m eagerly looking forward to what lies in store for the main events in the calendar year.
SEA LIFE Secrets of the Smugglers
In addition to your treasure hunt SEA LIFE is open with a pirate twist.
The theming inside Sharkbait Reef at SEA LIFE is already very much pirate themed but they’ve added a few bits and bobs throughout to enhance the experience.
For me, this particular experience was the weakest as the pirates were just walking through during our walkthrough and not interacting with guests just merely commenting on their surroundings.
We walked past two pirates being educated on what fish they were standing by to adlib dialogue when guests came through but we were those guests, surely this should have been prepared well in advance as we were getting a firsthand look at actor training whilst the attraction was open to the general public.
Instead, actors should have been given a room to work in each and because the attraction is quite narrow in its design they should be locked to that room as acting around crowds must be very frustrating for the actor and for the public trying to get past.
For me, it just didn’t work very well and the process didn’t flow on our run-throughs (we went through a couple of times) but it’s a minor fix and could be quite the experience for children (especially the walkthrough tunnel) if it’s just fine-tuned that little bit and confined to one actor per space.
A conga line of pirates in a narrow attraction is a recipe for disaster.
Pirate Takeover Overall
With stage entertainment, a treasure hunt where you receive actual treasure at the end (tote bag, chocolate, key ring and a gold coin to be precise) and CBeebies Land the entry price of £15 (free on your Merlin Annual Pass) is a bargain!
Having themed food in Mutiny Bay at Burger Kitchen was a nice touch albeit I’d stay away from any Aramark theme park food personally if you value your tastebuds but all in all, an incredible Pirate Takeover event.
If this is the standard we are going to see moving forward with Alton Towers events then we’re in good hands, this was a solid start and we spent an ENTIRE day at Alton Towers where the big rides weren’t even missed.
I want to give a big shoutout to the actors who made this event, they embraced their characters adlibbed some incredible one-liners and fully dragged me and my friends into the overall experience, they are a credit to the park and catapulted the immersiveness of the event tenfold.
Find out more at – https://www.altontowers.com/explore/events/february-half-term/
