The park just a few minutes of junction 9 on the m62 has been running christmas events for a number of years now and can get really busy during this period, not to mention extremely cold.

They offer a number of different options for Christmas, I wont list them all but they offer the same each year, you can also choose to have a meal option included and a live show.From the feedback I have had from other parents the food is the biggest let down for the park. Im not having a go at Gulliver’s here but the food on offer throughout the park is awful and expensive, I like most parents I know would be only too happy to pay for food if its warm, served well and a reasonable price.

Only last week a colleague in work spent the Sunday at the park and couldnt even get a warm drink as the machines had broken.

Ok enough of the food the Christmas experience is allot better. As part of the trip to see father Christmas you board the Gulliver’s train near the entrance of the park and after a short journey you arrive at the grotto.

Gulliver’s boast the grotto is the largest in the north west and I can well imagine this as its huge. The grotto is full of Christmas trees and decorated extremely well, they have a flying father Christmas above the crowd and some snowmen on a chair lift which look great.

As you go deeper through the winding paths to get to see father Christmas the place is full of fluffy animals and very well designed Christmas themed sets. At the eventual end of the queue you are greeted by santa’s helper who then guides you into a maze of corridors to see the waiting father Christmas.

At this point the kids tell father Christmas what they want for Christmas and answer the usual questions like have you been good this year (my kids have the cheek to say yes) then a photograph is taken and the kids move into a toy shop.

In the toy shop the kids are allowed one present each to choose from. They normally have a good selection of toys for boys and girls, with items like coloring books, racing cars, pencil sets, teddy bears and many many more items to choose from. One of the difficulties is the choice as the kids don’t know what to choose.

In all the experience at Gulliver’s over the December period is magical, the kids really enjoy visiting father Christmas and the grotto is fantastic. When the kids first see the grotto their eyes light up, its moments like this you cherish.

Also bear in mind when planning a trip to Gulliver’s near Christmas only part of the park is open and you can usually go on all the rides in little over a hour, so if you book to see father Christmas at 5pm, i wouldn’t advise arriving at the park at midday – otherwise you will have a long wait.

The last time we visited we arrived early afternoon and probably did 2 or 3 laps of the park before boarding the train to see Father Christmas.

Heres a selection of photographs I took of the grotto – these were all taken December 2007.

Father Christmas working through his Christmas lists.

These look like the seven dwarfs.

Related Articles, Gulliver’s World Warrington trip report.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

This article isnt going to be a ride spoiler as such, more an in depth looking behind the scenes of one of the parks most spectacular dark rides.

Hex is a Vekoma Haunted Swing ride, it has operated at the park since 2000. Its located in the towers and well you cant really miss a big great tower.

The control room for Hex is around the back of the towers. Here’s a couple of shots of the main ride operators console.

In the shot below you can see a screen just where the operators elbow is. This controls the full attraction from start to finish the music/effects everything. Its all perfectly timed for the audience. Just behind the green wall is the final queue line to get into the ride chamber itself.

And a close up of the panel (for the guy in Canada who said it wasnt made by Vekoma.!

The rotating room.

*SPOILER*

As you have probably guessed the attraction sits inside a huge drum similar to a washing machine with a center pivot for the seats. the room rotates in huge pit and its quite difficult to get a decent picture, but heres my effort anyway.

This is a picture taken from the side of the attraction looking up, the big white steel bar is the pivot point for the seats.

This is taken from the first operators console looking back at the queue line.

A couple of similar views at different angles.

Turning around now looking at the operators console.

Ever wondered what those numbers are whilst your queuing for Hex. Basically it tells the operator how many people have passed through the entry turnstile. Hex has a capacity of 78 people every few minutes, once they hit 78 the pre show starts.

Once through the turn style this is where you wait for the rest of the customers.

Once enough people are in the queue the doors in front are open and you enter the video room.

Inside the video room.

Im not going to spoil this for anyone, if you want to see the show theres a copy on youtube.

After the show which lasts a few minutes the doors open and your led into the next room.

Again I wont spoil this for anyone who hasn’t been through Hex, so heres a few photographs.

The lighting rig in the center of the room, this is dropped to the floor during winter for maintenance.

The theming in Hex is fantastic.

After a short time you are lead through to the ride.

Seats.

And finally the fallen branch. – Don’t know what this means then take a trip through Hex next time your at Alton Towers.

Thats the end of the tour, thanks to Alton towers and Club pleasure beach for arranging this tour, we also viewed a few more attractions at Alton towers this day, to see a complete list of behind the scenes tours on ridemad click Behind the scenes

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.