Festival of Thrills has returned to Alton Towers Resort this year with The Smiler Takeover, as the ride prepares to celebrate its 10th anniversary on 31st May. The event sees the Ministry of Joy take control of the theme park, with roaming Ministry agents and a collection of The Smiler related additions throughout. These include the placement of theming objects in different areas of the park, shows and live entertainment in X-Sector, and some unique and fun Easter eggs!
2023’s event is notably different in format to when it debuted last year and featured a number of different musical acts performing on multiple stages across the theme park each day. There are three shows on during the Festival of Thrills this year: The Fear Test, Meet The Ministry, and Celebration of Happiness.
The Fear Test introduces advocates to the fear laboratory, where a somewhat twisted scientist working for the Ministry of Joy challenges your fears with the ultimate test. Failure is not an option in this interactive show, where lucky advocates are placed on a monitoring throne and forced to face their fears!
As the name suggests, Meet The Ministry provides an opportunity to meet those behind The Marmaliser’s twisted mind manipulations! This show incorporates hypnotising magic and twisted balloon modelling to mesmerise your mind with body-bending delights. This show features a contortionist and a magician who provide an interactive and most curious show for guests.
The Celebration of Happiness sees Felix E Lated host an office gathering at the Ministry of Joy where you can take your tie off and let a little loose! Expect a selection of joyful sing-a-longs and an opportunity to dance around and share you love of joy of all things smiley. This show is a flamboyant musical extravaganza, so be sure to pack your dancing shoes next to your lunch box when you head off to work at the Ministry of Joy.
As you venture around the theme park during Festival of Thrills, you’ll see a selection of theming pieces in the classic colours of The Smiler – yellow and black. From a Ministry of Joy testing station in Dark Forest to a floating astronaut near Galactica, along with an ominous looking machine near Wicker Man, there can be no doubt that The Smiler and the Ministry of Joy have taken over with their bizarre apparatus! Other additions include signage and stickers, along with event-specific audio announcements from the Ministry of Joy. The reaction to The Smiler’s theme being extended across the theme park in this way has been mixed, as while some feel it reflects the event living up to its name, others have questioned whether it impacts on the integrity of the themes of the other areas and attractions – what do you think?
Outside the entrances to each of the Resort’s major roller coasters, as well as just after the turnstiles at the top of Towers Street, sit ‘Stamp and Win’ boxes. These offer visitors the opportunity to win an overnight stay at Alton Towers. To enter the competition you first take a card from one of the boxes and visit the stamper at each coaster to collect all six stamps. Once you have completed the stamp card, you post an image of your card on social media using #FestivalOfThrills in order to enter the competition.
So, what did members of the TowersTimes team who visited the event think?
Emily-May said:
“After visiting Festival of Thrills in its debut year of 2022, I thought I had some idea of what would be in store this season… I was quite wrong.
“Although this year’s event is themed around the ride in celebration of its tenth anniversary, I felt as though the various The Smiler themed elements across the park were ever so slightly out of place. I believe the “Festival of Thrills” name should’ve been dropped and instead, replaced entirely with “The Smiler Takeover.” Despite this, the vibe in X-Sector was great with a buzzer challenge and numerous shows all proving to be very popular! In my opinion, the added details (such as interactive illusion elements, entertainment and roaming actors) should become permanent installations to give X-Sector that extra little something going forward.
“All in all, I’d love to see the event return with a few tweaks but I had an amazingly fun day smiling from ear to ear, so I suppose the Ministry of Joy completed their mission and The Smiler Takeover can be deemed a success!”
Rachel said:
“When Alton Towers announced that this year’s Festival of Thrills was to be based on celebrating 10 years of The Smiler, myself and Saps were so excited to attend. After experiencing two days of the event, we were not disappointed.
“As soon as we stepped foot onto Towers Street we were greeted by the entertainments team, who were dressed in various themed costumes representing the Ministry of Joy. The staff interaction amongst guests was was so much fun and was definitely a wonderful highlight of our day. We collected our Ministry of Joy ID cards and excitedly headed straight to X-Sector.
“We spent the first few hours of our day enjoying the shows which were funny, entertaining and really enjoyable to watch. There were also lots of opportunities to have pictures with the entertainments team, which added to the special memories of our day and other guests too. We also enjoyed having a go at the ‘Beat the Buzzer’ game next to Oblivion, which to my surprise I completed in my first attempt.
“We then headed round to collect our stamps from the different stations outside the entrances to The Smiler, Oblivion, Galactica, Rita, TH13TEEN and Wicker Man. There were various set pieces themed around the Ministry of Joy outside, and within the queue lines to the other coasters around the resort – it was also fun to see how many The Smiler stickers we could find, and to to hear various Ministry of Joy announcements instead of the usual ride soundtracks within the queue lines. It really felt as though The Smiler had taken over.
“We had such a fun time and would definitely recommend visiting Alton Towers for Festival of Thrills – The Smiler Takeover.”
It will remain to be seen whether the event will return next year and if so revert to being more music-orientated, although with Nemesis set to reopen in 2024 following its track replacement, we could certainly see the potential that the Resort will hold an event at the start of the season that celebrates the return of this iconic coaster.
Festival of Thrills – The Smiler Takeover will continue to run through to Sunday 7th May. Have you visited the event this year? Are you a fan of how The Smiler has taken over the theme park? Be sure to let us know via our social media channels.
