Name	Power metal
Color	white
Bgcolor	#BB0022
Stylistic origins	NWOBHM, speed metal, thrash metal
Cultural origins	Early–mid 1980s, Germany
Instruments	Vocals − electric guitar − bass − drums − keyboards
Popularity	Medium in Europe, Japan, South America and North America, and underground in Asia.
Fusiongenres	Symphonic metal
Regional scenes	Germany - Scandinavia - Finland - Italy - Brazil - Japan
Other topics	}}

Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a later more widespread and popular style based in Europe (especially Germany, Finland, Italy, Scandinavia), Brazil and Japan with a lighter, more melodic sound and frequent use of keyboards.

Musical characteristics

Power metal is today associated with fast tempo and melodic harmonies, the sound tempered by characteristics of speed metal, power metal's musical forerunner.

Vocals

Power metal is highly focused on the vocalist, with "clean" vocals being much more prevalent than the growling vocals often associated with death metal and black metal, Children of Bodom for example. Following in the tradition of Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan, Eric Adams, Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford and other heavy metal vocalists, power metal vocals are often in a high register, Cam Pipes of 3 Inches of Blood for example. The majority of the genre's vocalists sing in the tenor range, capable of hitting very high notes. There are however many exceptions who sing in either baritone or bass range, or even make use of growls. Many power metal vocalists record multi-layered vocals reminiscent of Queen, creating a choral effect.

Lyrical themes

Power metal's lyrical themes, though as varied as metal itself, often focus on fantasy and mythology, camaraderie and hope, personal struggles and emotions, war and death, or combinations of the listed themes. Many otherwise typical metal themes such as religion and politics are comparatively rare but not unheard of.

Instrumentation

Power metal guitarists and bassists generally play rapid streams of notes, but change chords comparatively slowly, with a harmonic tempo of once per measure or slower. Fast and demanding guitar solos, however, are almost guaranteed. The slow changing of chords are significant in defining power metal just as the fast rapid chord changes often define traditional thrash metal. Power metal often makes use of Major chord progressions as well as circle progressions. Some of the most influential and imitated power metal guitarists are Kai Hansen of Gamma Ray, Michael Weikath of Helloween, and Timo Tolkki formerly of Stratovarius, currently of Symfonia. It is a common trait in power metal for the bass guitar to take a back seat, so to speak; often simply providing the chord root notes and being drowned out by the more prevalent rhythm guitars. However, some power metal bands incorporate bass that is more audible with colorful patterns distinct from the rhythm guitars, such as Helloween, Hibria, and Symphony X.

Many power metal drummers play with double bass pedals or two bass drums, utilizing them to play a constant stream of sixteenth notes (semiquavers) with snare drum accents on the beat, a style not restricted to, but most often associated with, power metal. The style was used by drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg of Helloween, setting a blueprint for many other drummers to follow. Others, such as the drummers of Blind Guardian and Iced Earth, use a more thrash metal style of drumming with rapid bursts of double bass that involve three to six beats with the double kick. Even more uncommon, but not unheard of, is the use of the blast beat.

Power metal bands often incorporate keyboards into their musical arrangements, something popularized by Jens Johansson of Stratovarius, though their usage varies from subtle accents to a full-blown melody line. Some power metal bands also record with symphonic elements, and as such, they utilize a full orchestra to fill the role usually played by the keyboardist.

Types of power metal

American power metal

This branch of power metal emerged in early 1980s in the United States, drawing its influences mainly from speed metal and the NWOBHM. Though very close to its roots, US power metal (often abbreviated USPM) is often faster than standard heavy metal, with a more riff-driven approach than its later European counterpart, but more melodic and often with a higher emphasis on guitar leads than thrash. Another notable difference is the relative lack of keyboards in American power metal, in contrast to their almost universal presence in the European variety. USPM is also notable for its wide (but not universal) use of high-register operatic vocals, a trend which would continue with the rise of European power metal in the late 80s and early 90s. Many major US power metal bands, such as Fates Warning, were also pivotal in pioneering the progressive metal genre. US power metal saw a sharp decline in popularity at the beginning of the 90s, though the style has rebounded somewhat in the past decade.

European power metal

Often referred to as melodic power metal, European power metal originated from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, emerging in mid/late 1980s with Germany's Helloween, Blind Guardian and Finland's Stratovarius, with a strong focus on melody and uplifting, positive themes. Helloween mixed fast palm muted speed metal riffs with high-pitched clean vocals. Stratovarius further developed this melodic direction by making heavy use of keyboards. This genre spread over Europe, often incorporating further influences from classical and folk music. The style has become one of the most popular metal subgenres, and has many bands outside of Europe.

See also

List of power metal bands

Neo-classical metal

Progressive metal

Symphonic metal

Literature

References

External links

[ Power Metal] at Allmusic

Power Metal Radio

Category:Power metal Category:Heavy metal subgenres

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name	Joseph Kabila Kabange
order	President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
primeminister	Antoine GizengaAdolphe Muzito
term start	26 January 2001
predecessor	Laurent-Désiré Kabila
birth date	June 04, 1971
birth place	Fizi, Zaire
spouse	Olive Lembe di Sita
religion	Anglican
party	PPRD }}

Joseph Kabila Kabange (known commonly as Joseph Kabila, born on June 4, 1971), is the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He took office in January 2001, ten days after the murder of his father and DRC president Laurent-Désiré Kabila. On November 27, 2006, Joseph Kabila was confirmed as President following the first ever democratic elections in the country's history .

Biography

Early life and education

Joseph Kabila Kabange was born on June 4, 1971 at Hewabora, a small village in the Fizi territory of the South Kivu province, in Eastern Congo. He is the son of long time rebel, former AFDL leader and president of the Congo Laurent-Désiré Kabila and Sifa Mahanya.

Guerrilla and army years

Following high school, Joseph Kabila followed a military curriculum in Tanzania, then at Makerere University in Uganda. In October 1996, Laurent-Désiré Kabila launched the campaign in Zaire to oust the Mobutu regime. Joseph became the commander of the infamous army of "kadogos" (child soldiers) and played a key role in major battles on the road to Kinshasa. The liberation army received logistical and military support from regional armies from Rwanda, Uganda, Angola and Zimbabwe. Following the AFDL's victory, and Laurent-Désiré Kabila's rise to the presidency, Joseph Kabila went on to get further training at the PLA National Defense University, in Beijing, China.

When he returned from China, Kabila was awarded the rank of Major-General, and appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 1998. He was later, in 2000, appointed Chief of Staff of the Land Forces, a position he held until the elder President Kabila's assassination in January 2001. As chief of staff, he was one of the main military leaders in charge of Government troops during the time of the Second Congo War (1998–2003).

Presidency

Kabila rose to the Presidency on 26 January 2001 after the assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila. As such Kabila became the world's first head of government born in the 1970s. He remained the world's youngest head of government until Roosevelt Skerrit became Prime Minister of Dominica in January 2004.

At age 29, he was considered young and inexperienced. He subsequently attempted to end the ongoing civil war by negotiating peace agreements with rebel groups who were backed by Rwanda and Uganda, the same regional armies who brought Laurent-Désiré Kabila's rebel group to power 3 years before. The 2002 peace agreement signed at the Inter-Congolese Dialogue in Sun City, South Africa, which nominally ended the Second Congo War, maintained Joseph Kabila as President and head of state of the Congo. An interim administration was set up under him, including the leaders of the country's two main rebel groups as vice-presidents (two other vice-presidents were representatives of the civilian opposition and government supporters respectively).

On March 28, 2003, an apparent coup attempt or mutiny around the capital Kinshasa, allegedly on the part of members of the former guard of former president Mobutu Sese Seko (who had been ousted by Kabila's father in 1997 and died in the same year), failed. On June 11, 2004, coup plotters led by Major Eric Lenge allegedly attempted to take power and announced on state radio that the transitional government was suspended, but were defeated by loyalist troops.

In December 2005, a partial referendum approved a new constitution, and a presidential election was held on July 30, 2006 (having been delayed from an earlier date in June). The new constitution lowers the minimum age of presidential candidates from 35 to 30; Kabila turned 35 shortly before the election. In March 2006, he registered as a candidate. Although the new constitution stipulates that a debate be held between the two remaining candidates for the presidency, no debates took place and this was declared by many as unconstitutional.

According to widely disputed provisional results announced on August 20, Kabila won 45% of the vote; his main opponent, vice-president and former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, won 20%. The irregularities surrounding the elections results prompted a run-off vote between Kabila and Bemba which was held on October 29. On November 15, the electoral commission announced the official results and Kabila was declared the winner, with 58.05% of the vote. These results were confirmed by the Supreme Court on November 27, 2006, and Kabila was inaugurated on December 6, 2006 as the country's newly elected President. He named Antoine Gizenga, who placed third in the first round of the presidential election (and then backed Kabila in the second round) as prime minister on December 30.

Although Kabila registered as an independent, he is the "initiator" of the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), which chose him as their candidate to the election.

In response to accusations that sex crimes had been committed by the Congolese military, he pointed out that 300 soldiers have been convicted of sex crimes, although he admitted that is not enough.

Wedding

On June 1, 2006, after many wedding rumors were fueled by many in top positions in the country, the head of the Presidential Household, Ambassador Theodore Mugalu officially announced the wedding of the President to Ms Olive Lembe di Sita. The wedding ceremonies took place on June 17, 2006. Mr Kabila and his spouse have a daughter, born in 2001, named Sifa after Kabila's mother. A few years later, rumours of domestic abuse started to surface in the presidential circle, supposedly due to his frequent consumption of Marijuana.

As President Kabila is Protestant (Anglican), and Ms Lembe di Sita is Catholic, the wedding ceremonies were ecumenical, and were therefore officiated by both the Catholic Archbishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal Frederic Etsou Bamungwabi, and Pierre Marini Bodho – Presiding Bishop of the Church of Christ in Congo, the umbrella church for most Protestant denominations in the Congo, known within the country simply as "The Protestant Church".

References

External links

Concerning the true Identity of Mr. Hippolyte Kanombe alias “Joseph Kabila”

Rape in the DRC

BBC Country Profile

Official website of the President of the DRC

Kabila 2006 campaign site

Democratic Republic of the Congo - Permanent Mission to the United Nations

DR Congo presidential candidates face off in second round Jane's Intelligence Watch Report, 22 August 2006

For Congo’s Leader, Middling Reviews by Jeffrey Gettleman, ''The New York Times'', April 4, 2009

{{Incumbent succession box | title = President of the Congo-Kinshasa | before = Laurent-Désiré Kabila | start = 2001 }}

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:People from Sud-Kivu Province Category:Current national leaders Category:Makerere University alumni Category:Democratic Republic of the Congo Protestants Category:People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy politicians

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name	Kid Congo Powers
background	solo_singer
birth name	Brian Tristan
born	March 27, 1961La Puente, California, U.S.A.
instrument	Guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals
genre	Post-punk, alternative rock, garage rock
occupation	Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist,
years active	1979–present
label	Mute
associated acts	The Gun Club, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Cramps, The Divine Horsemen, Congo Norvell, Kid Congo Powers and the Pink Monkey Birds
website	Official site
notable instruments	}}

Kid Congo Powers is the stage name of Brian Tristan (born March 27, 1961, La Puente, California), an American rock guitarist and singer, best known as a member of The Gun Club, The Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Biography

Powers is a second generation Mexican American. In 1976, he was president of The Ramones fan club, then ran a fanzine for The Screamers. After traveling to London and New York City he returned to L.A. and in 1979 met Jeffrey Lee Pierce. Pierce taught him to play guitar using open tuning, and they formed 'The Creeping Ritual', which became The Gun Club. Powers left that group before their recording debut, instead joining New York-based band The Cramps in December 1980. He rejoined the Gun Club briefly in 1983, rejoining again between 1985 and 1988, when he again left to join Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in Berlin, for several albums and associated tours. Powers has also played with The Divine Horsemen, The Angels of Light, Die Haut and The Fall.

Powers has collaborated with New York City guitarist Jack Martin on projects like The Pink Monkey Birds, Congo Norvell and Knoxville Girls.

2009 saw Powers update band members Kiki Solis on Bass, Ron Miller on Drums, and Jesse Roberts on guitar and keyboards. The band move to In The Red Records and released the much acclaimed LP "Dracula Boots" which was herald by many as a "return to form." Co-Produced by Jason Ward and recorded in a High School gymnasium in Harveyville, Kansas, now an artists retreat known as The Harveyville Project, Dracula Boots uses southern soul, 60's Chicano rock, and psychedelic imagery. British magazine N.M.E. said " In short, on ‘Dracula Boots’ Kid Congo Powers has once again found the juicy jugular of soul-fired, funked-up rock’n’roll. You’d be foolish not to take a bite." In 2011 Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds released their follow up album, "Gorilla Rose" also on In The Red Records. Eamon Carr of The Dublin Evening Herald said of "Gorilla Rose" "Having a working band is paying off. Gorilla Rose elevates seedy go-go weirdness to the level of high art."

Selected discography

1981 The Cramps - ''Psychedelic Jungle''

1984 The Cramps - ''Smell of Female''

1984 The Gun Club - ''The Las Vegas Story''

1987 The Gun Club - ''Mother Juno''

1990 The Gun Club - ''Pastoral Hide and Seek''

1991 The Gun Club - ''Divinity'' EP

1985 The Fur Bible EP

1988 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - ''Tender Prey''

1990 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - ''The Good Son''

1988 Barry Adamson - ''Moss Side Story''

1998 Mark Eitzel - ''Caught in a Trap and I Can't Back Out 'Cause I Love You Too Much, Baby''

2005 Kid Congo Powers - ''Solo Cholo''

2006 Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds - ''Philosophy and Underwear''

2006 Madrugada - ''Live at Oslo Spektrum'' [DVD]

2009 Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds - ''Dracula Boots''

2011 Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds - ''Gorilla Rose''

References

External links

Kid Congo Powers official site

Kid's page from his label, New York Night Train

The ultimate Kid Congo Powers resource - Kid discusses his life and career in over 4 hours of audio, text, mp3s, rare photos, and more from NewYorkNightTrain.com

2006 Interview with Kid Congo Powers from the Modern Pea Pod

interview on outsideleft.com

two part 2006 interview with Kid Congo Powers on outsideleft.com part one part two

Interview with Kid Congo on ruadebaixo.com (Portuguese)

LA Weekly 2011 interview {http://www.laweekly.com/2011-05-26/music/kid-congo-powers-the-abrasive-and-the-beautiful/}

Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:People from Los Angeles County, California Category:American blues guitarists Category:American rock guitarists Category:American indie rock musicians Category:The Cramps members Category:Punk blues Category:Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds members

fr:Kid Congo Powers

Michael West (born 27 August 1965 in Tottenham, London), better known under the aliases Conquering Lion, Congo Natty, Rebel MC, Blackstar, Tribe Of Issachar, X Project and Ras Project, is an English jungle producer and toaster. "Conquering Lion" is an abbreviation for "The Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah", one of emperor Haile Selassie's many titles.

Biography

In the early 1980s, West formed the group Double Trouble with the now deceased Michael Menson, Karl Brown (more commonly known as the UK garage DJ Karl 'Tuff Enuff' Brown) and Leigh Guest; and released the single "Just Keep Rockin" on the Desire record label in 1989 as Double Trouble and Rebel MC. The single was a UK Top 20 hit, and the follow-up "Street Tuff" (1989) was his biggest success, reaching #3 in the UK Singles Chart.

Because of the style and content of these releases, West was often dismissed by a British hip hop community, distrustful of pop success and "selling out". His first album was ''Rebel Music'' (Desire, 1990) which included the popular dance track "Better World".

His second album. ''Black Meaning Good'' (Desire, 1991) was a complete change of style for West, mixing his former pop-rap influences with reggae, hip hop, dance and the emerging jungle styles. The album featured ragga notables like Barrington Levy, Tenor Fly and Dennis Brown singing and toasting on top of reggae-house music rhythms.

''Word, Sound and Power'' (1992) was a further exploration of roots electronica that mashed up techno, house, reggae, ragga and hip hop music.

Forming the Tribal Bass label, Rebel MC released "Tribal Bass" (1992), which was his last significant hit, reaching #20 in the UK charts, and the hip house track Demon Boyz "Dett" (1992) and the Oldschool Jungle track "Jungle-ist" (1993). The X Project label followed shortly with the "Old School Ting" (1993) single. As Conquering Lion, West, with help from DJ Ron and Jumping Jack Frost, released the sound system mash up "Lion of Judah/Innah Sound/Dub Plate Special" (1993). With vocals from Supercat, Conquering Lion's "Code Red/Phenomenon" (1994) caught the attention of 4th & Broadway who re-released the track along with "Rastaman/Word, Sound and Power/Code Black" (1995).

Tribal Bass gradually mutated into Congo Natty, and West himself released some material under this name, before settling on the Conquering Lion name. However, this was not the last the world heard of Rebel MC. Despite his continued success with his new style of music, West released the single "Junglist" (Congo Natty, 2004) under the Rebel MC name, and followed this up with a greatest hits album ''Born Again'' (Congo Natty, 2005).

New interest in the Double Trouble & Rebel MC song, "Just Keep Rockin" in December 2007, saw it re-enter the UK Dance Chart at #32.

Music

Rebel MC's sound derives from his focus on blackness from various angles. Rather than solely celebrating Afrocentric motifs, his music hearkens back to the African diaspora. The lyrics embrace a wide range of approaches to blackness and black-pride, bringing a different understanding of tradition by combining the different voices, themes and styles drawn from all kinds of sources of "blackness", creating a "playful, vibrant, postracial utopia". This amalgamated version of modern thought has allowed for the emergence of a uniquely London version of politically charged hip hop. Paul Gilroy argues that Rebel MC's message prevents the existence of "the trope of race as family." Instead, Gilroy states that the London hip hop culture allows for a healthy competition between African-American and Caribbean sounds to gain exposure.As recently as 2009 Joe Rankin' Rattigan described the song Street Tuff as "the birth of UK grime", a view supported by Dizzy Rascal also.

Album discography

''Rebel Music'' (Desire, 1990)

''Black Meaning Good'' (Desire, 1991)

''Word Sound and Power'' (Big Life, 1991)

''Born Again'' (Congo Natty, 2005)

References

External links

Discog's Rebel MC page

Heroes of UK Hip Hop's Rebel MC page

Rebel MC - MC Directory

Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Drum and bass musicians Category:English electronic musicians Category:English male singers Category:English rappers Category:English record producers Category:Musicians from London

bg:Конкъринг Лайън de:Rebel MC es:Rebel MC fr:Congo Natty ru:Вест, Майкл sr:Мајкл Вест

name	Alton Towers Resort
location	Alton
location2	Staffordshire
location3	England
homepage	www.altontowers.com
owner	Jackie Tian, leased to Merlin Entertainments
general manager	Sir Ian Crabbe
opening date	1860 (1980 as Theme Park)
season	March - November
area
rides	29
coasters	8
water rides	5
slogan	"Where The Magic Never Ends!" "Escape to Alton Towers Resort" "No Where Else Like it on Earth"
coordinates	}}

Alton Towers is a theme park and resort located in Staffordshire, England. It attracts around 2.7 million visitors per year making it one of the most visited theme parks in the United Kingdom, after Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Alton Towers is also the 9th most visited theme park in Europe. It is based north of the village of Alton in Staffordshire (approximately east of Stoke-on-Trent), in the grounds of a semi-ruined gothic revival country house of the same name, the former seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury. The resort also 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 is the flagship attraction of Merlin Entertainments in the United Kingdom.

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'', a launched roller coaster which accelerates to 100 km/h (62 mph) in approximately 2.2 seconds.

''Th13teen'', the world's first vertical free fall drop roller coaster.

The park's promotional music is In the Hall of the Mountain King, written by Edvard Grieg which has been used in TV promotions and around the park since the early 1990s.

History

Early history of the grounds

The estate dates back to before 1000 BC, when an iron age fort was built in the area, known as Bunbury Hill. In circa 700 AD, the estate became the site of a fortress for the Saxon king Ceolred of Mercia. A castle was built soon after the Norman Conquest, but the date of its erection is unknown. In the 12th century, the estate passed to Bertram de Verdun, as a reward for his work in the Crusades. In 1318, the estate passed by marriage to Thomas de Furnival, when he married Joan de Verdun. It passed again in 1406, to Sir John Talbot, when he married Maud, the eldest daughter of Lord Furnival. He became the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1442, a title that had been resurrected after being forfeited by the third earl in 1102. The old castle was destroyed during the English Civil War.

The early Alton Towers was a hunting lodge, known as ''Alveton Lodge'' (or ''Alverton''), which is the ancient name for ''Alton''. It had three floors; one of the towers was from an earlier building, which is part of the present-day building. It was split into two properties, one of which was rented by a tenant. The other property was used by the Talbots as a summer residence, their main residence being at Heythrop in Oxfordshire.

Charles Talbot, the 15th Earl, began improvements on the house and initiated the creation of the Gardens, at the turn of the 19th century. Through the early 19th century, 13,000 trees were planted in the grounds. In 1811, major work began on the house. Over the next ten years, several new rooms were built: a drawing room, dining room, chapel, library, long gallery, banqueting hall, conservatory and entrance hall were all added. As a result of the work done, the house doubled in size. The entire building was renovated in a Gothic style, and the foundations of the Flag Tower were also laid. The house was renamed to ''Alton Abbey'', despite there not being any particular religious connection. Some of the architects that worked on the house were Thomas Allason, William Hollins and Thomas Hopper.

In 1814 Charles and his wife moved into Alton permanently, and began the creation of extensive gardens. Prior to his work on the gardens, the land around Alton was farmland. Charles transformed the land into one of the largest gardens in Britain. Set in a valley that leads down to the River Churnet, a variety of features were created. A Pagoda fountain was built as an exact copy of the To Ho Pagoda in Canton, which used water from a spring at Ramshorn that passed through various lakes and pools. The Garden Conservatories, designed by Robert Abrahams were built of cast iron, and today are filled with various plants. A building known as the Swiss Cottage housed a Welsh harpist, and is now a restaurant. A building known as Stonehenge was constructed, and a copy of Lysicrates' Choragic Monument from Athens was built. Several gardens were planted, including a Dutch garden, located to the left of the conservatories, and a rock garden.

Following the earl's death in 1827, his nephew John succeeded him, who completed the gardens and house. In 1831, the earl's principal residence in Heythrop burned down. Everything that was saved was moved to Alton, and the earl came to live there permanently. Augustus Pugin designed a new entrance hall, banqueting hall and various other rooms, extending the house further, and it was renamed to Alton Towers. The grounds were opened to the public at various times of the year from 1839.

The 16th Earl died in 1852. He was succeeded briefly by his cousin, Bertram, who died at the age of 24. The house was finished by 1856, with no further alterations being made to the house again.

Because there was no direct heir to the estate, Bertram left the earldom and the estate to a younger son of the Duke of Norfolk. Henry Chetwynd-Talbot, a distant cousin of the late earl, contested the will and a lawsuit was initiated to determine who would get ownership. After some time it was granted to Henry Chetwynd Talbot of Ingestre Hall, Staffordshire. The ownership of the contents of the house was never contested, and so everything in Alton Towers was auctioned, with 4000 lots being sold over a period of 29 days. The new earl gained his title in 1858, and the estate in 1860. To celebrate, the earl held a procession on 13 April 1860. Beginning in Uttoxeter, it stretched over a mile and in the end over 40,000 people were said to be in the grounds. The earl continued to open the grounds to the public throughout the year at certain times, to help raise money to refurbish parts of the house.

During the 1890s, the 20th earl, Charles Talbot started the tradition of summer fetes at Alton. As well as the Gardens, people were attracted with fireworks displays, balloon festivals, clowns, and exhibitions of instruments of torture. In 1896, the earl and countess separated. The earl went to live at Ingestre, where he founded the Talbot Car Company in the 20th century, and the countess stayed at Alton. However, the house was left to decay because the earl did not pay much for the up keep, and the estate was neglected.

In November 1918, the Earl decided to sell the majority of the estate by auction, due to his absence. After the earl died in 1921, the countess continued to live in the estate for another two years. In 1924 the rest of the estate was sold to a group of local businessmen, who formed Alton Towers Limited. While the contents of the house was sold off, the grounds were restored and remained open to the public. Some of the rooms of the house were converted into cafés and toilets for public use. The house was requisitioned during World War II as an officer training unit and the gardens were closed until 1951, it is a common misconception that the army's time at the towers caused a lot of damage to the building. However despite some minor damage the army did not cause too much destruction to the towers complex, as much of the building was boarded up and unused in the war effort. It is now commonly understood that the majority of the decay was initiated by the Bagshaw family who sold the interior wood and plaster fixtures as well as the lead roofing allowing water to invade and rot the remaining fixtures. In the 1970s, concrete floors were added so that it could be opened to the public, and the building was listed as Grade II.

History of theme park

Alton Towers began its evolution into a theme park in 1980 with the installation of The Corkscrew rollercoaster, Pirate Ship and the Alpine Bob sled ride. A year later the Log Flume opened and in 1984 the park's second roller-coaster, The Black Hole opened. The themepark continued to be heavily invested in, year-on-year.

The park was purchased by The Tussauds Group in 1990. In 2005, Alton Towers was bought by the investment group Dubai International Capital (DIC) when it purchased Tussauds for £800million. The Tussauds Group was bought by Merlin Entertainments in March 2007 for over £1billion from DIC, placing Alton Towers under their control. In July 2007, the resort and park was sold to Nick Leslau and his investment firm Prestbury who now lease the park back to Merlin Entertainments to operate on a 35-year lease.

Monorail

The Von Roll monorail transports visitors from the further away car parks to the main entrance and ticket booths. The monorail system was acquired from Expo 86 which was held in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was installed in 1987, a year after Towers Street, and was opened by Star Trek actor William Shatner.

In 2008, Sarner, a UK based theme park design company, was commissioned to revamp the nine monorail trains. This included exterior decoration and new bench seating. Each train has a personalised soundtrack to fit with its own theme, such as 'pirates'.

The monorail moves visitors from the Alton Towers Hotel, Splash Landings Hotel, Cariba Creek Waterpark and Extraordinary Golf to the Alton Towers Theme Park .

Skyride

The Skyride is a cable car system which visitors can use to travel between Towers Street, Forbidden Valley, and Cloud Cuckoo Land.

The Skyride has operated since 1987 and replaced an earlier chairlift, which had opened in 1963. The central station in Forbidden Valley was burned on the evening of 28 October 2007, due to a faulty halogen lamp. The incident caused a power cut, which led to some guests being stranded on the park's monorail. Luckily, this incident was reported quickly by a Towers employee as to not cause as much massive damage, and the park says that the damage caused to the station was mainly cosmetic. The Skyride re-opened 19 April 2008 after major work had been carried out on the station's roof. At the end of 2008 season the original Skyride gondolas were replaced with smaller and more colourful gondolas.

At approximately 22:30 on 21 July 2009, a fire broke out in the Cloud Cuckoo Land station. It remained closed for the rest of the 2009 season.

Theme park areas

The park is split into many themed areas, which are located in a horseshoe shape around The Towers ruins and 19th century gardens. Guests have the option of using the Skyride to navigate around the park; there are stations in proximity to Towers Street, Forbidden Valley, Dark Forest and Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Timeline of Theme park areas

! Original Areas	! Areas in 1984	! Areas in 1986	! Areas in 1992	! Areas in 1994	! Areas in 1995	! Areas in 1997	! Areas in 1998	! Areas in 1999	! Areas in 2008	! Areas in 2009	! Current Areas
Talbot Centre			Dark Forest
	Britannia Farm
Springfield Centre

Towers Street

Opened in 1986, Towers Street is the first area that visitors to the park encounter. Themed loosely as a town street, it leads to views of the gardens and the Towers across the lake in the distance. Along the pathway are the park's famous jumping frog fountains and a lawn where seasonal events usually take place. The street contains several shops, including the Towers Trading Co., which sells official park merchandise. The first ''Skyride'' station is located nearby. A ticket shop called ''Resort Box Office'' is based in a building at the end of Towers Street and sells products such as Fastrack, Annual Passes and Hotel Breaks. Also located in Towers Street is Corner Coffee, Towers Family Restaurant and Guest Services.

Navigation:

Skyride (opened 1987; refurbished 2009)

Monorail (opened 1987; refurbished 2008)

Food, drink and shops:

Coca Cola Refill Station

Corner Coffee

The Towers Hot Dogs

The Towers Family Restaurant

Towers Trading

Resort Box Office

Mutiny Bay

Mutiny Bay is a pirate-themed land, which re-themed Merrie England in 2008, is aimed primarily at families. Attractions in Mutiny Bay include: ''Battle Galleons'', a large interactive "Splash Battle" water ride where guests sit in pirate boats that travel through a water channel, while soaking other riders with water cannons; and a rocking boat ride, ''Heave Ho''. The teacups ride was re-themed to become ''Marauders Mayhem'', where rotating gunbarrels replaced the tea cups. The area also has a Burger King take-away and live entertainment. Since the opening of the area, many live actors roam around the area dressed as pirates.

In 2009, a new Sea Life centre, Sharkbait Reef, opened in the location previously home to the 3-D Cinema. This includes designated "touch pools" where guests can interact with various underwater species and a 10-metre ocean tunnel. The attraction is one of the most heavily themed Sea Life centres to open worldwide. In April 2010, a live webcam was installed to allow internet users to watch one of the tanks, which can be accessed via the official website.

Attractions:

Battle Galleons (opened 2008, replaces the Splash Karts)

Heave Ho (opened 2008)

Marauder's Mayhem (opened 2008, rethemed Teacups ride)

Sharkbait Reef by SEA LIFE (opened 2009, replaces 3D Cinema, closed since 2004)

Live Shows and Entertainment:

The Pirates of Mutiny Bay: Quest for the Golden Parrot - Live Show (Opened 2011)

Shark Tooth Jack's Pirate Training Camp (Opened 2011)

Pirate Walkabout Characters

Meet and Greets with Fin the Shark (Since 2010)

Food, drink and shops:

Pirate's Galley - Burger King

Courtyard Tavern and BBQ

Eastern Express

Mexican Cantina

Mutiny Bay Donuts

Mutiny Bay Hot Dogs

Mutiny Bay Shoppe

Pirates Pasty Co.

Ben & Jerry's

Previous names/themes:

Ingestre Centre

Aqualand

Merrie England

Katanga Canyon

Themed as an African village; created in 1992 and incorporated existing rapids ride. Rides include the ''Runaway Mine Train'' a wild speeding mine train rollercoaster and the ''Congo River Rapids''. Both are well-established rides in the park whose ride tracks share a tunnel. The area has a new 'Explorer's' restaurant for 2009, with a shared indoor seating area (£8.25 per head for all you can eat buffet). There is a shop located at the exits of the two rides called ''Katanga Cargo'', hosting "ancient" tribal themed merchandise. Slightly outside the area (but still part of Katanga Canyon) is the popular 'Flume' ride, a log flume with boats themed as bath tubs and many ducks quacking around the station area. The Flume opened in 2004 after being re-themed from a traditional log flume ride. The ride was sponsored by imperial toiletries until 2011. The ride has two other attractions at the park based on it, the Master Blaster water slide and the Imperial Room at the hotel. Attractions:

Congo River Rapids (opened 1986; refurbished 1992)

Runaway Mine Train (opened 1992)

The Flume Unplugged (opened 1981; refurbished 2004)

Food, drink and shops:

Katanga Kabin

Explorers Pizza-Pasta Buffet Restaurant (Replaced KFC/Pizza Hut in 2009)

The Katanga Cargo Company

Previous names/themes:

Aqualand (Congo River Rapids/Grand Canyon Rapids only)

Gloomy Wood

The Gloomy Wood is a small, haunted house themed area containing the ride ''Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back!''. The ride was originally a spooky 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 to deactivate some scares, with each player's score displayed on a digital display in the ride car to encourage competitive play. In 2007, an outdoor walk-through was added, named "Haunted Hollow". The pathway follows part of the route formerly used by the old scenic railway, linking from Mutiny Bay to Gloomy Wood. Haunted Hollow includes various tombstones, statues and other features, some of which interact with guests using sound effects.

Attractions:

Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back! (opened 1992; refurbished in 2003)

Haunted Hollow (opened 2007)

Food, drink and shops:

Gloomy Wood Kiosk

Waffles and Ices

Spooks 'R' Us

Forbidden Valley

Themed around a frightening 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 a giant ancient malevolent alien creature. Nemesis is consistently regarded as one of the greatest designed rollercoasters in the world in major, global rollercoaster polls. Also in the area, and continuing the apocalytic theme, are the ''Ripsaw'' and ''The Blade'' thrill rides. ''Ripsaw'' is a Huss Top Spin ride which opened in 1997 themed around a piece of shrapnel thrown from the alien creature's pit, while ''The Blade'' is an older Huss Pirate Boat themed around a pendulum blade. At the end of the valley is an "oasis", with calmer colours and plants, where the spectacular ride ''Air'', the world's first B&M flying coaster, can be found. A ''Skyride'' station also services this area of the park.

Attractions:

Air (opened 2002, originally sponsored by Cadbury's Heroes)

The Blade (opened 1980; relocated 1997 from Fantasy World before retheme to X-Sector)

Lava Lump (climbing wall)

Nemesis (opened 1994)

Ripsaw (opened 1997)

Skyride (opened 1987; damaged by fire 2007; refurbished 2009; damaged by fire 21 July 2009; Rebuilt for the 2010 season.)

The Edge: Video Arcade

Previous attractions:

Thunder Looper (closed 1996, replaced by The Blade in 1997)

The Beastie (relocated to Adventure Land in 1997)

The Beast (closed 1997, replaced by Air in 2002)

Dynamo (moved to Forbidden Valley in 2002, removed 2004 and sold on in 2005)

Food, drink and shops:

Forbidden Treats

Fresh Fish and Chips (Take-Away)

The Generator - Burger King

Nemices Donuts

Refresh@Ripsaw

Air Shop

Previous names/themes:

Thunder Valley

Dark Forest

Dark Forest opened on 20 March 2010, replacing Ug Land which opened in 1999 which itself replaced Festival Park. The park's first major rollercoaster, Corkscrew, which inhabited Festival Park/Ug Land for almost twenty years, and on that site for nearly thirty years, was replaced by Thirteen, a multi-million pound project involving the world's first horizontal freefall rollercoaster and dubbed as the first ever psycoaster.

The new ride for 2010 was unveiled as 'Thirteen' (often stylised as 'TH13TEEN') in late 2009, after much marketing hype over the development in that area. During construction, the rollercoaster was referred to as 'Secret Weapon 6' or SW6, following the tradition of the park's other main thrill coasters. Along with Thirteen's opening, the surrounding land was rethemed into a haunted crypt in a Dark Forest with refurbished outlets and game stalls. Rita was also altered, with new station and train designs to look 'engulfed' by the supernatural forest.

Attractions:

Th13teen (Opened March 2010, Replaced Corkscrew)

Rita (Opened 2005, re-themed 2010)

Live Shows and Entertainment:

Wraiths of the Dark Forest - at select times of the year (Since 2010)

Previous Attractions:

Bone Shaker (SBNO in 2004, removed 2005)

Corkscrew (closed 2008, re-placed by Th13teen in 2010)

Ug Swinger (moved to Cloud Cuckoo Land in 2009 as Twirling Toadstool)

1001 Arabian Nights

Game stalls:

Galloping Gargoyles

Creeper's Challenge

Food, drink and shops:

Forest Feast

Tormented Treats

Rita Shop

Thirteen Shop

Woodcutter's Bar & Grill

Previous names/themes:

Talbot Centre

Festival Park

Ug Land

Cloud Cuckoo Land

Cloud Cuckoo Land is aimed at the younger audience of Alton Towers, and is themed with bright colours incorporating oversized flowers and toadstools, as if in a fantasy garden. Among the attractions are a bouncy castle play area called Wobble World, regular shows in the Theatre, and a Wave Swinger ride called the Twirling Toadstools. There are several other rides in the area especially suitable for younger children: ''Frog Hopper'', ''Galloper's Carousel'' and ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory : The Ride'', based on the Roald Dahl novel. ''The Peugeot Driving School'' gives children the opportunity to ride their own miniature car around a British style road network.

After a fire which destroyed the previous Skyride station in this area took place last year, the Skyride was made nonoperational for the rest of 2009. A new building was built with a brighter appearance. The ride reopened at the start of 2010.

Attractions:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride (opened 2006, replaced Toyland Tours which in turn replaced the original boat ride Around the World in eighty days)

Frog Hopper (opened 1999)

Galloper's Carousel (opened 1991; refurbished 2009)

Peugeot 207 Driving School (opened 2006)

Wobble World indoor-play area (opened 2009)

Twirling Toadstool (opened 2009-originally located in Ug Land)

Live Shows and Entertainment:

The Go!Go!Go! Show (Opened 2011)

Meet and Greets with Peugeot's Rory the Tiger (Since 2010)

Food, drink and shops:

Cuckoo Diner - Burger King

Caffe Express

Wobble World Cafe

Cuckoo Toys

Navigation:

Skyride (Opened 1988, refurbished 2009. The new station was opened in 2010.)

Previous names/themes:

Talbot Street (unknown date-1992)

Land of Make Believe (1993–1997)

Cred Street (1997–2008)

X-Sector

X-Sector is themed as if it were a sinister futuristic government facility. The area contains the innovative ''Oblivion'' ride, the world's first roller coaster with a vertical (89.8°) drop. The extra-wide roller coaster cars are held suspended over the edge for a maximum of three seconds before dropping downwards into a large hole amid mist and sirens thrown a pitch-black tunnel, and then re-emerging into a heavily banked turn leading back into the station. From the start of the 2011 season, it is sponsored by Fanta

Two thrill rides are located in the X Sector: ''Submission'', which opened in 2001 and is a double swing inverter; ''Enterprise'' which has been at the park since 1984, originally located where the Dark Forest is today, and is a HUSS enterprise. A giant blue building, which once held the ''Black Hole'' roller coaster, lies disused to one side of the area. A game arcade next to ''Oblivion's'' gift shop and the 'Meltdown' restaurant, selling KFC fast food, can also be found here.

Attractions:

Enterprise (opened 1984)

Oblivion (opened 1998)

Submission (opened 2001)

Previous attractions:

Black Hole (closed 2005)

Energizer (relocated to former home in Ug Land 2001, until closure in 2004)

Food, drink and shops:

Meltdown - KFC (and Pizza Hut until 2009)

Rehydrator

X-Sell

Previous names/themes:

Springfield Centre

Fantasy World

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. The main ride is the Sonic Spinball, based on the hit SEGA video game franchise Sonic the Hedgehog. It's a Maure Sohne spinning roller coaster, in which riders sit in seats that can spin on its base whilst travelling fast around the twisted track. There is one other attraction, 'Space Adventures' playground. The area also contains a food outlet. ''Beastie'', a small kiddie roller coaster is standing but not operating (SBNO) in the area.

Attractions:

The Beastie SBNO (opened 1983, Closed late 2010)

Sonic Spinball (opened 2004, rethemed 2010)

Live Shows and Entertainment:

Meet and Greets with Sonic the Hedgehog (Since 2010)

Food and drink:

Refresh @ Spinball

Previous names/themes:

Kiddies Kingdom

Storybook Land

Storybook Land is the park's smallest area and only contains one attraction: the 'Squirrel Nutty Ride' where riders travel around the area in acorn-shaped, powered cars that go around most of the way around the area. Storybook Land was created in 1996 when Kiddies Kingdom was split into this area and Adventure Land. The area contains no food outlets.

Attractions:

Squirrel Nutty Ride (opened 1996)

Live Shows and Entertainment:

Meet and Greets with Squirrel Nutty (Since 2010)

Farm Animal Talks

Previous names/themes

Kiddies Kingdom

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 ''Ribena Berry Bish Bash'', that contains thousands of small foam balls that are propelled, raised, thrown, dropped and shot from air cannons, now called Berry Bish Bash. In 2007, a new themed playarea opened called ''There's Something in the Dungheap'', especially for youngsters, with a maze, a playground and a picnic area. The main feature is a large pile of dung in which visitors can enter to find interactive insects crawling the floor, made possible by a projector and sensor.

Attractions:

Berry Bish Bash (opened 2003, originally sponsored by Ribena)

Doodle Doo Derby (opened 1995)

There's Something in the Dung Heap (opened 2007)

Old MacDonald's Singing Barn (opened 1995)

Old MacDonald's Tractor Ride (opened 1995)

Riverbank Eye-Spy (opened 1999)

Previous names/themes:

Britannia Building Society Farm

Safeway Farm

Historic areas

The Gardens

As 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 the desert smile".

Landmarks include:

Chinese Pagoda Fountain

The Swiss Cottage

Miniature 'Stonehenge'

A Greek Choragic Monument

Orangeries

The Towers

The Towers ruins are the source of the park's name. They belonged to the Talbot family as a stately home. The ruins are open to the public during most of the open season. However, some areas are closed off as part of a £1.1 million project in place to restore the oldest parts of the Towers.

''Hex - the Legend of the Towers'', a walk-through dark ride based within the ruins themselves, opened in 2000. The finale to the ride is a Vekoma Madhouse located away from the real Towers but themed as a secret vault. The storyline is based on Staffordshire's true legend about the chained oak tree, located in a nearby forest, and makes use of the history of the Towers.

In addition, a temporary scare maze, ''Terror of the Towers'', operates during the park's Halloween 'Scarefest' event and has done yearly since 2002. It takes guests through a tour of the ruins and uses live actors, lighting, mist and sound effects to add atmosphere. The attraction won the 2009 London Screamie Awards for 'Best Seasonal Attraction/Maze'.

Key areas:

Hex - The Legend of the Towers (dark ride) (opened 2000)

Terror of the Towers: What Lies Within (seasonal attraction)

The Banqueting Hall

The Chapel

Conservatories

Her Ladyship's Gardens

Other facilities

Hotels

The resort features two hotels, ''The Splash Landings Hotel'' and ''The Alton Towers Hotel''. ''The Splash Landings Hotel'' is a combination hotel and waterpark.

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 à 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" centrepiece of the hotel featuring a hot air balloon shape and rotating propellers.

The ship is also used as a stage for the evening entertainment including:

Pirate Bill's Magic Show

Live Bands and Singers

Character Photoshoots with Darwin the Dodo and Alton Bear.

Splash Landings Hotel

The Splash Landings Hotel is the newer of the two hotels, opening in 2003, it has a colourful exotic 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, also serving a buffet breakfast. Above Flambo's Feast is the Ma Garrita's Bar. 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. In all the public elevators in the hotel, when they are in motion, the theme tune to Captain Pugwash is played, and stops as soon as the doors start opening. Splash Landings also plays host to "Ringo's Kids Club," new for 2011. Activities include:

Ringo's Pirate Workshop

Facepainting

Ringo's Dance Workshops

Pirate Bill's Magic Show

Party Time with Ringo!

Ringo's Bed Time Story

Ringo's Fish Tank Talk

Character Photoshoots with Ringo the Lemur and Alton Bear

Conference centre

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.

Waterpark (Cariba Creek)

The Alton Towers Waterpark, previously known as Cariba Creek, opened in 2003. It is a large, part indoor and part outdoor waterpark themed as a tropical lagoon. It is located within ''The Splash Landings Hotel'' and is available for both guests at the hotel and members of the public. The park features several fast slides, a lazy river, a giant tipping bucket and many other water features. Also located here is Quencher's bar, which was previously themed as a shipwreck until 2007 when it was extended.

Extraordinary Golf

In 2007, Alton Towers opened ''Extraordinary Golf'', 2 nine hole themed ''crazy golf'' courses, located near ''The Splash Landings Hotel''. Each of the holes have themes based on attractions within the themepark e.g. Nemesis. As with Cariba Creek, this facility is aimed at the general public as well as park and hotel guests. The standard price is £5 to play one 9 hole course or £6 to play all 18 holes.

Music

The music played at Alton Towers is a combination of commercial tracks, library music and commissioned music. The following composers have had their music played at the park: Graham Smart Ian Habgood David Buckley Crispin Merrell John Sanderson

In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg is the theme park's theme tune used in adverts, and played throughout the park.

Past rides

A single-loop roller coaster called Thunder Looper, manufactured by Schwarzkopf was constructed in 1990 but was closed only 6 years later. The ride propelled guests in cars along a track, through a loop, up a steep hill and then let gravity pull the car back through the loop again and back into the station. It was removed mainly because Alton Towers only obtained a temporary planning agreement and later height restrictions placed on the park and problems with the high level of sound the ride produced made it certain permanent planning permission would not be granted. Thunder Looper stood in the area Thunder Valley, which is now Forbidden Valley. The large ditch in which the track was situated is now partially taken up by the Blade ride.

The ''Black Hole'' featured a spiral lift and was contained entirely within a permanent tent structure that made some sections of the ride completely dark. This ride was closed in March 2005 and was sold and shipped out to an undisclosed theme park in Brazil in 2008. The sale was attributed to rising maintenance costs and new health and safety requirements requiring evacuation stairs on the spiral lift that could not be accommodated within the tent structure. As of April 2011 the tent structure which used to hold The Black Hole is still in place in its original location in the X-Sector area.

In common with most major parks, there was also a miniature railway line. It ran through the forest, and was one of the first attractions built after World War II. It was a 2-foot (610 mm) gauge line equipped with Baguley locomotives, which although steam-outline in appearance were in fact powered by diesel engines. It closed in 1996, by which time this once-popular ride had been displaced by the Skyride cable-cars. It was gradually removed afterwards, and is now covered in part by the Haunted Hollow walk-through, some remnants of the railway can still be seen at various points in the forest.

List of past rides

New and proposed attractions

2010

Thirteen, a £15million rollercoaster opened on 20 March 2010. The ride is built on the site of the removed Corkscrew rollercoaster. The new ride features the world's first vertical freefall drop, and was manufactured by Intamin AG. A new area, the Dark Forest, opened up with Thirteen and has a spooky/gothic theme based in a haunted forest. The nearby Rita coaster was given a retheme to allow continuity with the rest of the area.

Alton Towers made a deal with Sega at the end of 2009 to give Spinball Whizzer a sponsorship. The ride was partly rethemed with Sega's famous mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog for February Half Term of the 2010 season. The ride's name was changed to Sonic Spinball, named after the 1993 video game by Sega.

The Skyride station in the Cloud Cuckoo Land area of the park was rebuilt and the ride attraction is now operational again. The new building replaced the original 1980s station, which was destroyed by a fire in July 2009.

2011

The main new installation for the 2011 season will be the Go!Go!Go! Show; a pop musical show aimed at children. The show will perform regularly throughout the season in the Cloud Cuckoo Land area of the park.

Originally, it was rumoured, there were plans for a Shrek 4D attraction in the disused ice tent based in Storybook Land; along with a retheme of Storybook Land/Old MacDonalds Farmyard to Far Far Away from the films. However, these plans were scrapped by DreamWorks.

2012 onwards

It was mentioned at the one-off TH13TEEN Event on 19 June 2010 that the Black Hole tent, unused since the former ride's closure in 2005, could be the site of a new development for the 2012 season. Morwenna Angove, former Head of Marketing at the Resort, stated that work on 'SW7' (see below) may postpone the project, in which case it is likely to take place after 2014 instead.

A planning aplication for an indoor ride for the 2012 season has been submitted to the district council

The next major rollercoaster at the park was also announced at the TH13TEEN Event in June. It was described by Mowenna Angove, as the next "white-knuckle thrill ride". John Wardley, Ride Consultant for Merlin Entertainments, stated that the ride will also include a world's first feature. It will be codenamed "Secret Weapon 7" or "SW7" for short. SW7 will be the next attraction in the 'Secret Weapon' line-up. The ride has been announced for a 2013 opening. There is speculation that it will be a wooden rollercoaster but that is unlikely because of noise and height restriction on the park. John Wardley, the rollercoaster designer for the park, has been spotted surveying around 'The Flume' area and the X-Sector area with height balloons which see if rollercoasters go above tree height. Teaser posters have gone up around the Mutiny Bay toll booths. The poster suggests the Flume might be replaced with a "secret weapon" from Switzerland, although seems to be sketchy about the time frame of its arrival or if this will result in the flumes removal. Also notable is the description of "awesome might", which seems reflective of a comment Merlin Entertainments CEO Nick Varney made.

Alton Towers currently have an competition as part of the there "All time greats" marketing campaign, in which the public can become part of the design team for the new coaster that is due in 2013.Official Website Page

Development plan

In July 2009, the park outlined a 10-year development plan for the park (2010–19), the aim being to increase visitor numbers, in particular multi-day guests. The plan showed an option for a third hotel or new accommodation of some sort over the coming years. The plan also highlighted areas for development, as well as suggesting the possibility of a new park entrance nearer to the hotels, which could act as a second entrance or replacement to the existing one in Towers Street.

Events

Live concerts

The theme park and backlot car park areas host occasional concerts during the year, these have included Tina Turner, James & Chris de Burgh, among others. Alton Towers celebrated their 30th birthday with an 80's concert held on 23 May 2010. On 27 June 2010, the park played host to its first full live date within the theme park itself, when P!nk performed during her Funhouse Summer Carnival Tour.

''Alton Towers Live'' was a past event, which was hosted on 19 June 2011 and saw pop artists such as ; JLS, McFly, The Saturdays and Eliza Doolittle perform at the theme park.

Another concert was held at Alton Towers on 6th July 2011 which featured The Black Eyed Peas as the main act and had supported acts such as LMFAO, Labrinth and Parade. The Black Eyed Peas announced that this would be there last U.K performance as they would be taking indefinite break.

February Half Term

The theme park traditionally opens selected attractions during February half-term in the closed season, prior to the main opening in March. This year's event ran from 19–27 February 2011 and opened a selection of thrill and family rides at a discounted rate. Ride list

Scarefest

The park's major annual event is 'Scarefest' which celebrates Halloween with a number of temporary scare maze attractions, costumed characters and extended opening hours to 9:00PM. Many rides and areas are lit with coloured lighting at night, with rides operating in the darkness after dusk. The Scarefest event has been running since 2007, although the park started celebrating Halloween with decoration several years before. This year's Scarefest will run from 15–31 October 2011.

Current seasonal attractions

''Terror of the Towers - What Lies Within'', a long scare maze situated inside the Towers themselves, first introduced in 2002. This attraction has seen several different incarnations since its debut. A new format was introduced in the 2009 Scarefest event, along with the new tagline "What Lies Within" replacing "Bloodfest Banquet". Visitors queue outside in Her Ladyship's Gardens, and the attraction itself starts in the derelict Conservatories. Batches of guests watch a short pre show video showing two men exploring inside the Towers in search of ghosts. The video then unexpectedly cuts short, and guests enter the Towers in order to find them. At certain points in the maze, the bodies of the two men are each seen hanging from a noose. Visitors become lost in the lengthy corridors and themed scenes in the Towers, with live actors pursuing them in every room. The finale to the attraction is a maze-like walkway that winds around actors in cages, with intense strobe effects.

''The Boiler House'' is a scare maze first introduced in 2008, and is situated next to the Alton Towers Hotel. Originally, the scare maze was based around an abandoned industrial facility and featured live actors in make up. This was changed in 2009, when a new storyline was added. The scare maze is now based around the fictional "Hamble Twins" serial killers hiding in the industrial building, and visitors have to escape them as they are chased through the scenes. Visitors queue outside, past a van labelled "Alton News 24", from which television screens play news reports on the activity of the serial killers. Guests then walk through a covered walkway, which hides the marquee that the maze is contained in from view. Once inside, a man appears and warns guests about the dangers of coming inside. The murderers then appear and kill him, before chasing visitors away. Each of the Twins are played by two different actors wearing the same grotesque, latex mask. They appear at different points in the maze, creating the illusion that one character is in several places at once. Dim lighting and scent effects are heavily used. As of 2010, both the Boiler House and Carnival of Screams are located in the same large, temporary building, separated from each other.

''Carnival of Screams'' is a scare maze that opened for the first time during the 2010 scarefest event, during the 2010 event the carnival shared the same temporary building as the boiler house. The attraction is entered through a large clown face with enhanced horrific features. The maze is a mixture of funny "laugh out loud" moments and serious scares. of interest is the use of Toy Land Tours music that has been slightly warped for dramatic effect (Toyland tours been a now defunct ride at the resort). John Wardley is known to have contributed heavily to the development of this scarefest attraction.

''Skelvin's Haunted Adventure'' is a new version of Duel Live, first introduced in 2010, and takes over Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back! throughout Scarefest. As in previous years, the attraction will include live actors situated at different points around the ride. The laser guns and LED targets are switched off during this time. The ride is based around the Scarefest mascots, notably the character of "Skelvin".

Past seasonal attractions

''Terror of the Towers''. The first incarnation of this long-running annual scare maze was introduced in 2002, and was located in the Towers ruins themselves. Many scenes from the original maze are still used every year. Visitors walked through the long, winding corridors of the Towers, through many different themed scenes, whilst being pursued by live actors. The finale featured a winding pathway around actors behind fences, who lunged towards visitors, accompanies with heavy strobe effects. Terror of the Towers returned for the 2003 season, but was completely restructured and gained the new tagline and theme "Bloodfest Banquet".

''Terror of the Towers - Bloodfest Banquet'' was a new version of the successful Terror of the Towers scare maze, running from to 2008. It retained much of the original version, but featured new scenes that included scripted dialogue from the several characters, and a new storyline was added. The strobe maze finale was moved to another point in the maze and replaced by a new ending, in which visitors become trapped in a small room with cages on every side, as actors reach for them through the metal bars for almost a minute. Every year, Terror of the Towers kept changing slightly with revised scenes and new scares. However, for the 2009 Scarefest event, Terror of the Towers was once again completely rethought, with the tagline "What Lies Within". The new incarnation drops the scripted scenes and characters, meaning it is similar to the original Terror of Towers of 2002. The whole layout for the maze was also reversed, with what was previously the entrance becoming the exit.

''Room 13'' was first introduced in 2006 and was located in the conference room of the Alton Towers Hotel. It was only available to guests of the hotel, who were lead around the maze as many live actors appeared to scare them. Room 13 had positive reviews and returned in 2007, but was replaced by The Boiler House in 2008.

''Field of 1000 Screams'' was first introduced in the 2007 Scarefest event and was the first maze at Alton Towers not situated inside a pre-existing building. The Field was located entirely outdoors in a moderately sized field of maize, which had to be planted especially for the event several months earlier. It was based around the fictional village of Altonville, that had supposedly become overrun by zombies. Visitors walked down a long pathway cut through the corn, and encountered various characters and scares along the way, before the finale took place. Each year the maze developed slightly with different scenes, with the storyline continuing on from the previous year's backstory. The Field of 1000 Screams was received with positive reviews in its first few seasons, but did not return for the 2010 event.

''Haunted Hollow Live'' was first seen in 2007 and consisted of several sinister, costumed actors performing along the Haunted Hollow walkway in Gloomy Wood. The attraction was similar to Duel Live, which was introduced the year later. Haunted Hollow Live returned for the 2008 Scarefest event, but was cancelled for 2009 because of incidents involving actors being attacked.

''Duel Live'' was first introduced in the 2008 Scarefest event. Throughout this period, the park's haunted house dark ride, Duel, became host to this attraction, which included several live actors situated around the ride circuit. Duel was available to ride normally until 12PM, when the laser guns and LED targets were switched and the actors took their positions. This was changed in 2009, when Duel Live took place throughout the whole day and many more actors than the previous year were present. Duel Live was aimed at the family audience, and included such features as new music playing throughout the ride (instead of the usual Duel theme music), as well as a butler or maid who would welcome you inside the house. The attraction was changed slightly for the 2010 season and is now based around the park's Scarefest mascots.

Adrenalin Week

Adrenalin Week has run since the 2005 season, but had a break in 2008 after low attendance during the 2007 event. From 2–7 November 2009, the park's ten biggest thrill rides (including Air, Nemesis, Oblivion, Rita-Queen Of Speed and Enterprise) were in operation for the last time in 2009, with admission to the park costing just £10 in advance or £15 on the day.

Winter

The Splash Landings and Alton Towers hotels are open throughout Winter. Visitors can still enjoy Cariba Creek water park, Extraordinary Golf and Spa while most of the theme park is closed. Selected areas are open in Winter for the Christmas event, in which the Old McDonald's Farmyard area of the park is decorated for the special occasion and home to real reindeer.

Fireworks

From the 1990s, Alton Towers hosted an annual fireworks event on the Great Lawns, which often attracted tens of thousands of visitors. The displays although stunning, were considered disruptive by some, which led to complaints from local residents. Two local residents, Suzanne and Stephen Roper, decided to take the theme park to court regarding this issue. The court issued Alton Towers with a noise abatement order in October 2005, this restricted the theme park to three shows a year, previously five, with noise readings not exceeding 40 decibels outside the park. This led to the park temporarily abandoning the fireworks, however, the 2010 season saw an impressive fireworks and laser show which ran from 5–7 November to celebrate the new Th13teen (thirteen) ride and 30 years since the opening of the park in 1980. The park was open until 9pm with most major rides open.

It is also of note that the Earl of Shrewsbury made use of fireworks as part of the Grand Fetes held at Alton Towers in the 1890s, when Alton Towers was still a stately home.

The Ultimate Event

Every year, usually in May, Alton Towers plays host to ''The Ultimate Event''. It consists of "a day of fun and contemporary Christian Music." People can spend the day in the park before going to a concert at the end.

80s Disco

On 23 May 2010 Alton Towers Resort had an 80s Disco to celebrate thirty years of the park. Featuring a concert with 1980s pop stars including 'Kim Wilde', 'Midge Ure', 'Bananarama' and 'Rick Astley'.

Alton Towers Resort DVD

The Alton Towers Resort DVD system enables visitors to have footage captured of them as they visit eight of the main rides and other various locations around the park, by wearing optional RFID wristbands during their stay. The wristbands can later be returned to the shop (located on Towers Street); where the personalized footage is collected and compiled alongside stock footage of the rides, to produce a DVD souvenir of the visitor's day.

The system features personalised footage on Nemesis, Rita, Sonic Spinball, Oblivion, Air, The Flume and Congo River Rapids. Customers can preview their footage before they buy the DVD.

The system was originally known as "YourDay" and was run by a separate business to Alton Towers. It was first installed in the 2007 season. YourDay officially went into administration on 31 March 2009, and failed to open at the start of the 2009 season. However, the shop reopened for business in October 2009 for the final weeks of the season after Alton Towers decided to take over the concept and run the system themselves. YourDay remained closed again throughout the first few months of the 2010 season, before being rebranded as the "Alton Towers Resort DVD" and reopened again. The shop, system and footage used remains much the same.This has since been closed down for the 2011 season.

Controversy

A marketing strategy encouraging workers to call in absent in order to visit the theme park was heavily criticised by business groups.

Relations with the local community were harmed when Alton Towers significantly reduced the amount of free tickets it provides to local residents as compensation for the heavy traffic the theme park attracts to the small local village roads.

On 20 July 2006, an accident involving the ''Runaway Mine Train'' occurred near the tunnel area of the ride. The train separated into two, with the two sections colliding after the first section rolled back (or "valleyed"). Three people were taken to hospital while another 26 were treated for minor injuries. The ride remained closed until 2007. See Incidents at European parks for more information on accidents that occurred at Alton Towers

The park was subject to media coverage over its decision to slaughter its livestock from the Old McDonald's Farmyard area due to the Foot and Mouth disease outbreak in 2001. The slaughter was deemed necessary as the park would have been unable to open to the public if the animals remained, and livestock movement restrictions prevented them from being removed from the theme park itself. The RSPCA criticised the action, saying other options should have been examined.

In July 2006 a story broke that Alton Towers had been hired out for the day by a Muslim group, so people of Muslim faith could attend the resort for the whole day and perform prayers and other Islamic activities. It was, however, attacked by critics as an example of political correctness. It was discovered that the same day had already been booked for a wedding for a non-Muslim couple and their 60 invited guests. The couple were told they were allowed to attend the day, but had to respect the Muslim rules. The event was eventually cancelled due to lack of interest.

In October 2006, 15 out of 19 fast food outlets, and an independently run KFC failed local council health inspections.

In August 2009, Alton Towers hit the press with its decision to ban men from wearing Speedo style swimming briefs.

The Sun published an article on 29 Jul 2010 stating that the resort had banned sexual intercourse in certain sections of the hotels, because "a string of families moaned to staff that they were kept awake by noises from neighbouring rooms".

Restrictions

Alton Towers is set in the Staffordshire countryside, which put restriction on height of any ride or building and noise in the park. All buildings and rides must be below the tree line or disguised to fit the landscape. This can be seen on the ride Rita, where part of the track is painted dark green to fit in with the trees.

Noise pollution is also a problem for the park, due to the local villages that surround Alton Towers. There have been many times where Alton Towers has been taken to court for the noise that is made in the park.

See also

List of theme parks in the United Kingdom

Merlin Entertainments (Alton Towers parent company)

Incidents at European parks

References

External links

Lost Heritage: full architectural history of the house

Description of Theme Areas

1930 film of Alton Towers

Heraldry at Alton Towers

Category:Merlin Entertainments Category:Gardens in Staffordshire Category:Visitor attractions in Staffordshire Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Staffordshire Category:Von Roll people movers Category:Monorails Category:Amusement parks in England Category:Country houses in Staffordshire

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