Alton Towers - Your Guide to the Alton Towers Theme Park and Resort
 |
Alton Towers is more than just a theme park. It is a huge resort located in the grounds of a former stately home in Staffordshire, England. The resort includes two hotels; The Alton Towers Hotel and Splash Landings Hotel, The Alton Towers Waterpark (Cariba Creek), Extraordinary Golf, Conference Centre and The Alton Towers Spa (Located in the Alton Towers Hotel).
Alton Towers theme park is the flagship attraction of the Alton Towers resort. It attracts around 2.5 million visitors each year, making it the most visited theme park in the UK. It is based north of the village of Alton in Staffordshire approximately 16 miles east of Stoke-on-Trent, in the grounds of a semi-ruined gothic revival country house of the same name.
Some of the major attractions at Alton Towers include: |
- Nemesis, Europe's first inverted roller coaster.
- Oblivion, the world's first vertical drop roller coaster.
- Air, the world's first B&M flying roller coaster.
- Rita - Queen of Speed, a launched roller coaster which accelerates to 60 mph in approximately 2.2 seconds.
Alton Towers Hotel
The Alton Towers Hotel opened in 1996 and is themed to the eccentric fictional character Sir Algernon Alton. The rooms are decorated in a classically English style with pictures of Sir Algernon's inventions including the coasting roller adorning the walls.
The hotel features the Secret Garden restaurant serving a buffet breakfast and a la carte dinner, there is also the Captain and Dragon bars, the latter having a Chinese theme along with the small event/conference rooms in the hotel. The bars and restaurant surround the "ship" centerpiece of the hotel featuring a hot air balloon shape and rotating propellers.
Alton Towers Splash Landings Hotel
The Splash Landings Hotel is the newer of the two hotels, opening in 2003, it has a Caribbean theme and the main feature is the Cariba Creek Waterpark. The hotel features Flambo's Exotic Feast a buffet restaurant with a wide selection of food including roast dinner and a chocolate fountain, a buffet breakfast is also served. Above Flambo's Feast is the Ma Garrita's Bar which features evening entertainment including karaoke. Both the bar and restaurant have windows looking out over the indoor waterpark. The hotel rooms are in a wing to the side of the hotel and some rooms have views over the outdoor sections of the waterpark. The hotel also contains two shops, one selling general snacks, sweets and souvenirs and the other offering swimming costumes and other waterpark related sundries. There is also an arcade near Flambo's restaurant.
Between the hotels sits the Alton Towers Conference Centre, Winner of meeting & Incentive Travel Magazine's Best UK Unusual Venue Award 2007. The Conference Centre opened shortly after the Splash Landings Hotel and is linked to both hotels via a walkway running from the side of the Alton Towers Hotel to the Conference Centre and through the Cariba Creek waterpark to the Splash Landings Hotel.
New for 2008, Mutiny Bay, a pirate-themed land, replaced the old Merrie England which opened on March 15. New attractions to Mutiny Bay include Battle Galleons, a large "Splash Battle" water ride where guests sit in boats which travel along a track, and a rocking boat ride Heave Ho. The old teacups ride has been re-themed to become Marauders Mayhem, complete with rotating barrels instead of the old tea cups. The area also has a new Burger King restaurant and a new live show, The Pirates of Mutiny Bay. Since the opening of the area, many live actors roam around the area dressed as pirates.
Areas of the Alton Towers Theme Park
The park is split into many themed areas. The Skyride is a cable car system which visitors can use to travel between Towers Street, Forbidden Valley, and Cred Street. Guests can start their day on the Alton Towers Monorail which transports visitors from the main car park to the theme park entrance and ticket booths.
Towers Street
Towers Street is the first area that visitors to the park encounter. Themed as a town street, it leads to views of the gardens and the Towers ruins and borrows heavily from Main Street, USA in the Walt Disney Theme Parks. The street contains several shops, including the Towers Trading Co., which sells official park merchandise. The first Skyride station is located nearby. The Your Day Shop is also located in this area.
Mutiny Bay
Mutiny Bay, a pirate-themed land, replaced the old Merrie England which opened on March 15. New attractions to Mutiny Bay include Battle Galleons, a large "Splash Battle" water ride where guests sit in boats which travel along a track, and a rocking boat ride Heave Ho. The old teacups ride has been re-themed to become Marauders Mayhem, complete with rotating barrels instead of the old tea cups. The area also has a new Burger King restaurant and a new live show, The Pirates of Mutiny Bay. Since the opening of the area, many live actors roam around the area dressed as pirates.
Katanga Canyon
Themed as an African village. Rides include the Runaway Mine Train and the Congo River Rapids. Both are well-established rides in the park whose ride tracks share a tunnel. The area has KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants with a shared indoor seating area. There is a shop located at the exits of the two rides called Katanga Cargo, hosting "ancient" tribal themed merchandise.
Gloomy Wood
The Gloomy Wood is a small, ghosts-and-monsters themed area containing the ride Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back!. The ride was originally a non-interactive ride named The Haunted House, but was upgraded in 2003 with laser-based plastic guns to shoot LED lights scattered around the rooms and monsters, with each player's score displayed on a digital display in the ride car to encourage competitive play. In 2007 Haunted Hollow an outdoor walk-through following part of the route taken by the old railway was added to the Resort, linking from Mutiny Bay to Gloomy Wood, along the route tombstones and other scary items make noises and special effects are used to great effect.
Forbidden Valley
Themed around a post-apocalyptic landscape, with large rocks and rusty pieces of metal and machinery scattering the area and also waterfalls coloured red to look like blood. One of the major rides is Nemesis, an inverted roller coaster, based around the fictional tale of an ancient malevolent alien creature. Also in the area, and continuing the apocalytic theme, are Ripsaw and The Blade thrill rides. Ripsaw is the Huss Topspin ride, which opened in 1997. At the end of the valley is an "oasis", with calmer colours and plants, where the ride Air, the worlds first B&M flying coaster, can be found. A Skyride station also services this area of the park.
Ug Land
Ug Land is a prehistoric/neanderthal themed area containing two of the park's major roller coasters. These are Rita - Queen of Speed and Corkscrew, which opened in 1980, making it the park's first and therefore oldest roller coaster. It also features a Chair-O-Planes ride called "Ug Swinger". There is also a range of food outlets and shops.
Cred Street
Cred Street is aimed at the younger audience of Alton Towers, and is themed with bright colours. There is a selection of bouncy castles and play areas in the Cred Street playground. There are four rides in Cred Street especially suitable for younger children; Frog Hopper, Bouncing Bugs, Cred Street Carousel and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory : The Ride. The Peugeot 207 Driving School, for under 10s, opened to guests on 17 July 2006. The area is also home to the Cred Street Theatre, which in 2008 plays host to "The Wonders of Algenon's Attic" - an interactive play for children. The play's eponymous hero, Sir Algenon Alton, is also an important figure in the themeing of the resort's Alton Towers Hotel.
X-Sector
Previously called Fantasy World. X-Sector, themed as if it were a sinister government facility, contains the innovative Oblivion ride, a roller coaster in which riders experience an 87.9' degree drop (the world's first roller coaster to do this). The extra-wide roller coaster cars are held hanging over the edge for 3 seconds before dropping downwards under gravity into a large hole amid mist, and then re-emerging into a heavily banked turn leading back into the station. The area features a KFC and Pizza Hut outlet, and many side stalls. Its many amenities continue the theme, including by name, for example, Xpose Photos, Xcite Arcade and X-sell Shop. Also in the area are the Enterprise and Submission thrill rides.
Adventure Land
Adventure Land is aimed at visitors between the ages of 5 and 11, and consists mainly of climbing frames, slides, swings and similar equipment. There are two rides: Beastie, a small roller coaster, and Spinball Whizzer, a Maurer Söhne pinball-themed spinning roller coaster. The area also contains a food outlet.
Old MacDonald's Farmyard
Themed around a traditional farm, this area contains a small petting zoo as well as a few rides for younger visitors, which include Doodle Doo Derby, a farm-themed carousel, and Riverbank Eye Spy, a recently re-themed boat ride. In 2003, the old barn that used to hold the farm animals before the Foot and Mouth crisis of 2001, was converted to a play barn called Berry Bish Bash, that contains thousands of small foam balls that are propelled, raised, thrown, dropped and shot. 2007 introduced a new themed area called There's Something in the Dungheap, an area specially for youngsters, with zip lines, climbing frames and a picnic area.
The Gardens
Alton Towers in 1880As an example of the mixed style of Humphry Repton's gardens, Alton Towers' garden was begun, circa 1814 by the eccentric 15th Earl of Shrewsbury, of whom J. C. Loudon (who was consulted on design features of which there were many) relates that he consulted every artist, only to avoid 'whatever an artist might recommend'.
Alton Towers grew into a collection of gardens: a Swiss Cottage, a Stonehenge, a Dutch garden, a Pagoda Fountain, said to be based on the To Ho pagoda in Canton, Lysicrates' Choragic Monument from Athens (a feature in English gardens since the 1760s), domed glasshouses (originally gilded), even a fairly large Matterhorn as a backing to one of England's earliest Alpine gardens. Near the garden entrance is a cenotaph of the 15th earl, a marble bust with an inscription reading "He made desert smile". The Towers
The Towers ruins are from what the park derives its name, and has sometimes features a spooky maze during the Halloween period. |
 |
Added for the 2000 season was the ride Hex - The Legend of the Towers within the ruins itself, an indoor haunted swing ride which made use of the history of the Towers. The story for the ride is based on one of Staffordshire’s great legends about a chained oak.
There is currently a £1.1 million project in place to restore the oldest parts of the castle. It is currently unknown how the completed renovations will be used.
|
