History of the gardens

Alton Towers in 1880

As an example of the Mixed Style of Humphry Repton's gardens, Alton Towers' garden was begun, ca. 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.

Modern theme park

Alton Towers was opened as a theme park in 1980. It was purchased by The Tussauds Group in 1990. In 2005, Alton Towers was bought by the investment group Dubai International Capital when it purchased Tussauds for £800 million ^[1]. Today it is notable for its extreme rides, including Nemesis, a roller coaster in which people hang with their legs dangling down (or up as the case may be), and Oblivion, the world's first vertical drop roller coaster. The oldest rollercoaster at the site is Corkscrew built in 1980, a ride with two inversions which many riders find uncomfortable due to its rough track. Another of their coasters, Air, is a flying roller coaster, a coaster in which riders find themselves suspended horizontally facing down, as though flying. It is the first Bolliger & Mabillard coaster of this type. Another breath-taking ride is the Rita - Queen of Speed, which can take riders to 100km/h in approximately 2.5 seconds. It was opened on 1 April 2005, and is located in Ug Land. Inside the towers is the ride Hex, a surreal attraction which is based on a local legend about a chained oak. It is one of Staffordshire’s great legends.

Guests can stay at one of two hotels on the site. When Cariba Creek, a water park, was first built, only hotel residents could visit. However, non-residents can now also use the water park with payment of an admission fee.

Rumours are rife that a so-called "Project Dolphin" is being planned for the park, which will represent a massive investment in Alton Towers (where and when this money is being invested is currently unknown, however).

Project Dolphin is Alton Towers' plan to change with the public's needs for extreme entertainment. This could involve moving into completely different realms of entertainment, from adventure golf to ice climbing which are both listed by the Towers as possibilities, along with many more. With DIC rumoured to be investing around £48 million in the towers next year, guests can possibly expect to see some vast improvements.

Due to a recent court battle with 2 local residents, Alton Towers is starting to have problems with its end-of-season fireworks display. However, the towers is still fighting hard to keep them running. The court battle ended in October 2005 leaving Alton Towers with the permission to stage three of the five firework and laser displays. The park now has a noise abatement order in place meaning that it cannot exceed 40 decibels to their nearby neighbour.

Another court battle with local residents resulted in a court injunction which prevents Alton Towers from building any rides above tree height. The local residents argued that the park should not be visible above the surrounding forest as it spoils the landscape. At first it was thought that this would mean Alton Towers would no longer be able to build extreme rollercoasters. This, however has proved not to be the case as the theme park has overcome this problem by building new rides either in man-made ravines in the case of Nemesis or partially underground as in the case of Oblivion.

On July 20, 2006 an accident involving the Runaway Mine Train occurred near the tunnel area of the ride resulting in the closure of Katanga Canyon. It happened when the train split in two with the front section colliding with the back section of the train after the front section had continued forward under its own momentum and subsequently valleyed or "rolled back". Three people were taken to hospital while another 26 were treated for minor injuries.^[4] RMT will now be closed until 2007. It was rumoured that Runaway Mine train would receive a retheme for 2007, which may have included a karaoke style theme with speakers and microphones for rides to sing along. In early December the park management announced that this re-theme would not take place.

Future

After years of speculation from enthusiasts and several failed attempts, the park is again attempting to install a wooden coaster. They have released an official statement -

We are pleased to confirm that we are currently working towards a planning application for a medium sized, family orientated, wooden rollercoaster, potentially for the 2008 season.

However, we are still in the early stages of this process with much work to do to ensure that the plan is appropriate to the site and deliverable to our guests. The scale of the planned ride is much smaller than that debated in 2002/2003, and it will sit on the area formerly occupied by The Beast and The Mouse. If it goes ahead, it will provide a valuable additional experience that will further enhance Alton Towers’ reputation as the home of original and unique attractions.

Alton Towers' January 2007 staff newsletter announced plans for the 2007 season, including a new outdoor play area named 'The Dung Heap'(as it will be located in the 'Old MacDonalds Farmyard' area of the park); two new eating outlets, one located in Forbidden Valley and one near UG Land on the site of the 'Hogs Head Bar' which will be removed; and a new walk through attraction that shall be named 'Haunted Hollow'. The park have also released plans for a re-theme of Towers Street, with work scheduled to be completed for March 2007.