Hi all,
Well, I\'ve just got back from Alton Towers. It was a really good event, but perhaps not as well attended as I had expected or hoped.
There were around 250 people there, which I expect means that Alton Towers lost money on the event. Andrew Welch said, last night, that they\'d like to run it again but it really would need more people to turn up - so as yet, no decision on next year.
Couple of grumbles:
Everything was very, very expensive. I know that\'s what put a lot of people off in the first place - the high room rate - but the food and everything was really expensive too (and it wasn\'t actually that great, either). All of us in YBN ate together on Friday night and were pretty shocked to be asked from £15 per head (plus drinks), for some not too spectactular buffet-style food. Especially as some people just had fish and chips. The manager was eventually talked into letting us off for £6.90 a head, but needless to say we didn\'t eat there again last night! We went to a pub in Alton instead, which served better food and charged less for it!
Drinks were £3 upwards, which I thought was a bit steep too.
Worst thing was what I bought from the cafe/bar in the waterpark on Saturday though - Chicken Salad Sandwich, Small Fruit Salad, and an Orange Juice - £7.90. Didn\'t think the sandwich tasted very nice at all, and when I eventually checked the date label (after having ate it
) I found that it was a day out of date... :x
Second lot of grumbles:
It seems that one or two BN members don\'t believe in free choice. Obviously, as we had been outside of the hotel to eat on Saturday night, all the YBN\'ers turned up to the pub quiz and following disco, back at the hotel, fully clothed. Seems like most just prefer to put something on in the evening, but for me it was just a case of not really wanting the bother of going back to the room, getting undressed, making my way back up again, etc (at least not until I got far too hot, later in the evening).
Anyway: One woman came up to us when we were dancing on the stage and told us to get our clothes off (quite aggressively, I thought!) and another bloke asked me if we\'d come in fancy dress.
OK, yeah, so it\'s a naturist event and, as it happens, I spent almost the entire weekend naked - but if someone wants to put clothes on, I don\'t think they should be \'told off\'. What happened to freedom of choice?
Right, so, good things :grin::
Really nice people, apart from those one or two. All the staff were great (the odd giggly girl and a few cleaners who seemed to spend an awful long time polishing the same banisters and door handles, but hey, they\'d never seen anything like this before) and I thought the waterpark was excellent.
Managing to get up after only four-and-a-half hours sleep, without feeling dead to the world, was also a positive. :grin:
Really enjoyed it overall, anyway (despite the moans. Moaning\'s my hobby though, you know? :grin:) - so I hope it will happen again and that more people will go if it does!
