Oktoberfest: The Event That Keeps on Giving

Hey guys, like beer or music or good vibes? Well Oktoberfest is the event for you! 

If there is one thing to know about us, it is that we love theme parks, beer and live music. Well it will be no surprise that Oktoberfest is our favourite event in the theme park calendar. The atmosphere, the vibes and the fun is just on another level. I appreciate most people enjoy Halloween more with the thrill of a scare and night rides being appealing for a lot of people, but for me at least, that does not sound fun. Scares are not for me, what can I say? 

Now, there is an allure to this event, you only get about 4 weeks to take in all the beer and bratwursts you can but there is such a charming side to this event. So, lets start with the food and drink side of things. Well the beer is always great, both Alton Towers and Thorpe Park have similar selections with a couple of German beers along with a couple of classics to keep those of you who are maybe less adventurous when it comes to alcohol happy. Both last year and this year, Spaten has been the best on offer in our opinion, nothing fancy, just good beer and with pass holder discount it is at a very good price but £6 for a pint isn't too bad anyway. Of course, German food is also on offer and it does not disappoint from the different types of wurst for hot dogs, I like the classic but I have heard other options are also great. Along with that there is also the sweet side with pretzels! These are great and offer variety to the lineup and mean you can feel like your fully in Munich celebrating the famous event.

Along with that there is live entertainment and this is the heart of the event. Oompah music could well be my favourite genre with the way things are going! Now I think we should start with Thorpe Park's offering seen as it was our first time seeing this event this year. 

Now, I will try to recall as best I can the live shows however we did consume multiple pints that day so my memory is perhaps hazy! The opening ceremony was short and a bit odd but something different for sure. We stopped by to check it out then carried on with our day on the rides. Now I will also mention here that they also have ride overlays here (if you don't know what they are, essentially they play unique audio for the event instead of the usual audio) and we experienced these on the rapids and Detonator and both felt very fresh and added an extra layer to the event. Now when we returned to the stage. Steins at the ready, it was at the end of a dance show I believe. They looked good but we did not see much of them. The variety show however was stellar, a few jokes to start with and then some really good music choices and choreography as well as excellent hosts meant we did enjoy this a lot.

 The main attraction is of course the Oompah band and they were excellent, playing a selection of covers as well as a couple of classic Oompah songs, which really made it for us and got the beer flowing. This was just good fun and one of our favourite parts of the event across both parks. I will also mention the actors, they were so much fun. From getting us to play drinking games, telling us about the goat train (which was hilarious) and just bringing life to the event, they really brought it all together and we had a lot of great interactions with them while we were by the stage. My only wish is they expand the event so there is a second stage similar to Towers and that will allow the actors to roam the park too. 

Now on to Alton Towers, the park that made us fall in love with this event. Now last year we went on a wet day so avoided the main stage and that turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we were introduced to a legend, Robert Burton. We spent the day drinking and singing along to music and it was so much fun. This year, we decided to save him till the end of the day and check out the main stage over lunch.

The Oompah band here was also fantastic, playing a few medleys with a German twist and they were quite funny too. The school disco medley was a highlight for me personally, definitely a lot of fun. We missed the Darwin show and also once again only caught the end of a dance performance but there was a sing a long coming up for us to see. There is so much entertainment that you are never just stuck waiting to see what's next. The sing a long was not for us sadly, ultimately I think if it was busier we would have enjoyed it much more but thems the brakes. 

Now, the Bierkeller. Too many pints have been drank there but nevertheless it is always fun. A very talented man on guitar was playing his last few songs when we arrived and it got us in the mood. Then the main event as Robert took to the stage. He plays classic Oktoberfest songs on his accordion and there is just some authentic charm about this set and how basically every song is about getting you to drink. About 30 minutes long but some of the most fun we've had at a park and I hope we can get a whole group on it next year to really pump up the energy. We absolutely loved it and will always recommend stopping by to see his set during the day above everything else.

As most look forward to the spooky season, Autumn peaks right at the start and the love I have for this event is profound. I don't know if I can be happier then listening to live music with a pint in hand while in a theme park with my mates. The entertainment, the atmosphere and the fun is just on another level. Next year we hope to return to both of these events as well as finally check out the Pleasure Beach iteration. As our season winds to a close and we really reflect on the year we've had, there will be our top 10 moments of the year coming soon. Our biggest year to date and hopefully we keep checking out more places! 

As always, thanks for reading and make sure to check out this event next year!

Take care and see you in the next post.

Tom ✌