Alton Towers

History

Main article: History of Alton Towers

Early 20th-century public opening

Alton Towers first opened to the public on a regular basis following the opening of Alton Towers railway station. Money raised from railway excursions was paid to the Earl to help maintain the grounds.

In 1924, a group of local estate agents formed Alton Towers Ltd to take ownership of the estate and kept the gardens open as a visitor attraction. The estate was later closed to the public upon its requisition by the military during the Second World War.

In the early 1950s, ownership was returned to Alton Towers Ltd and the grounds reopened to the public. Alton Towers continue to grow as a visitor attraction, with additions including a railway, fairground and, by the 1960s, a boating lake and chairlift. Property developer John Broome later acquired majority control in the park and began planning its development as a theme park.

Early theme park developments (1980-1990)

Under John Broome's ownership, Alton Towers was opened as a theme park in 1980 with the introduction of a pay-one-price ticket structure and new attractions, including the Corkscrew. The following years saw new rides and areas including The Flume, Around The World in 80 Days, The Black Hole and the Grand Canyon Rapids.

Tussauds Group developments (1990–2007)

In 1990, Broome sold Alton Towers to The Tussauds Group, then a division of Pearson plc, after his development of the former Battersea Power Station encountered financial difficulties. The change of park ownership brought another era of development, involving the opening of new themed areas and attractions, such as Runaway Mine Train (1992), The Haunted House (1992), Toyland Tours (1994), and Nemesis (1994). Tussauds' park development team from 1990 to 2002 included attraction producer John Wardley among others.

The Tussauds Group was sold to venture capital firm Charterhouse in 1998. Oblivion opened that same year and Air (now Galactica) opened in 2002, both advertised as 'World First' ride types, followed by Spinball Whizzer in 2004.

In 2005, Dubai International Capital (DIC) acquired Tussauds for £800 million. That same year, Rita–Queen of Speed was built in the Ug Land area of the park.

Merlin Entertainments developments (2007–present)

In May 2007, The Blackstone Group purchased The Tussauds Group for US$1.9 billion and merged it with its then-subsidiary Merlin Entertainments. Dubai International Capital also gained 20% of Merlin Entertainment.

On 17 July 2007, Alton Towers was sold to private investment firm Prestbury under a sale and leaseback agreement. Merlin continues to operate the site under a renewable 35-year lease. As of 2024, the property is owned by LondonMetric Property.

As of early 2008, the resort changed its name to Alton Towers Resort to better reflect its status as a multi-day destination. At the end of the 2008 season, the Corkscrew closed and its corkscrew track element was placed in the park admissions plaza as a feature in early 2010. TH13TEEN, the first roller coaster to feature a freefall drop track, opened in March 2010 on the former site of the Corkscrew.

In 2020, Alton Towers operated on a shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, operating on a limited capacity from 4 July to 5 November. The resort resumed normal operations on 12 April 2021.

In 2024, Nemesis was revamped as Nemesis Reborn after a year-long refurbishment, along with a revamp of the surrounding Forbidden Valley area. The following year saw the opening of Toxicator in the area, a HUSS suspended topspin, on the former site of Ripsaw. 2025 also saw a cut to entertainment offerings, with the stage on the lawn being removed and a decrease in live actors.

In 2025, Alton Towers announced a new junior roller coaster based on the Bluey (TV series) was being developed for Cbeebies Land, and would open in Spring 2026, replacing Postman Pat Parcel Post.

Rides and attractions

Roller coasters

Flat rides

Water/Dark rides

Children's rides and attractions

Theme park transport and grounds

Past rides and attractions

Past roller coasters

Main Past Attractions

Alton Towers Theme Park

The Alton Towers Theme Park is divided into 11 areas: Towers Street, Mutiny Bay, Katanga Canyon, Gloomy Wood, Forbidden Valley, Dark Forest, The Towers & Gardens, The World of David Walliams, X-Sector, Adventure Land and CBeebies Land. The SkyRide cable car system travels between Towers Street, Forbidden Valley, and the Towers and takes in views of the gardens.

The park's maximum capacity at any one time is set at 28,000 guests. According to the TEA attendance report, the park was estimated to have attracted 2,130,000 people in 2019, a 1.4% increase on 2018's figure of 2,100,000. This made Alton Towers Britain's 2nd most visited theme park, after Legoland Windsor, and the 13th most visited theme park in Europe. Annual admissions surpassed 3 million in both 1994 and 2010, when the Nemesis and Thirteen rollercoasters were opened respectively.

Timeline of park areas

Previous themed area

Current themed area File:MutinyBay2015.JPG|Mutiny Bay File:Katanga Canyon at Alton Towers.jpg|Katanga Canyon File:Alton Towers Dark Forest entrance.jpg|Dark Forest File:Cloud Cuckoo Land, Alton Towers - geograph.org.uk - 1464494.jpg|The World of David Walliams Royal Carousel File:Sonic Spinball.JPG|Adventure Land Spinball Whizzer roller-coaster File:Curse at alton manor.jpg|Gloomy Wood File:XSector.JPG|X-Sector Smiler and Oblivion

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 jumping frog fountains and a lawn where seasonal events take place. The first SkyRide station is located nearby, which is a 1048 m long cable car transport that opened in 1987, and was refurbished 2009. The monorail moves guests between the park, and the accommodation, water park and car parks. In this area during the hour before the park's daily closure, departing guests are entertained by three people wearing police costumes, two of them riding Segway-like vehicles which play party music and the third standing with an old-fashioned megaphone that is unused, and a man riding a miniature ship while dressed as a sea captain.

Katanga Canyon

Themed as an African village; created in 1992 and incorporated existing rapids ride. Rides include the roller coaster Runaway Mine Train and Congo River Rapids. Both are well-established rides in the park whose ride tracks share a tunnel. Congo River Rapids is a river rapids ride that opened 1986, as The Grand Canyon Rapids, and was refurbished in 1992. A 735 m wild river rapids ride down the Congo River that lasts six minutes. Runaway Mine Train is a steel sit down powered coaster that reaches a speed of 22 mph (36 km/h) on a 1000 ft long track (305 m) and height of 36 ft; height limit 90 cm.

Gloomy Wood

Gloomy Wood serves as the area containing the dark ride The Curse at Alton Manor, which originally opened with the area as The Haunted House in 1992.

In 2007, a themed footpath through the woods was added to the area, named Haunted Hollow. The pathway follows the route formerly used by the park's old scenic railway, linking from Mutiny Bay. Haunted Hollow includes tombstones, statues and other features, some of which interact with guests using sound effects.

Forbidden Valley

Forbidden Valley is set in a 'research facility' run by the Phalanx organisation. Prior to a redesign for 2024, the area had a 'post-apocalyptic' theme with scrapyard structures populating the area. A SkyRide station also serves this area of the park.

The area's principal attraction is Nemesis Reborn, previously Nemesis which opened in 1994. Nemesis Reborn is a steel inverted coaster that reaches a speed of 50 mph (81 km) with four inversions, set in a rocky quarry over waterfalls. The attraction is themed as an alien creature inhabiting the quarry where the coaster is situated.

Galactica is a B&M flying coaster, originally opening as Air in 2002. Air was loosely themed as a peaceful landscape, distanced from the 'apocalyptic' look of Nemesis. Air was redesigned as Galactica in 2016, adopting virtual reality headsets and a space travel theme. The VR headsets have since been removed.

The area also contains two smaller attractions. Nemesis Sub-Terra is an indoor attraction featuring a drop tower ride. The experience is themed around Nemesis, and how some eggs have been found underground in a facility run by the 'Phalanx'. The ride originally operated from 2012 to 2015, however on 27 May 2023, it reopened. In 2025, the HUSS suspended topspin Toxicator was added on the former site of Ripsaw, sitting over the pathway on a 16 ft elevated concrete platform.

In May 2016, the 'Rollercoaster Restaurant' opened, offering a dining experience where guests have their food delivered by looping rails. The restaurant is open daily from 10am – 9:30pm; available to guests without theme park admission after the park has closed, except during Scarefest and Fireworks events. Since its opening, the Rollercoaster Restaurant has also provided a separate entrance to the park for hotel guests.

Adventure Land

Adventure Land is a small family area featuring Spinball Whizzer; based on a pinball machine in which the car is the ball whizzing around the machine. The ride originally had this name, until 2010 when it was known as Sonic Spinball. It regained its original name in 2016 when the contract ended with SEGA after six years. The ride is a Maurer Söhne spinning roller coaster, in which riders sit in cars that can spin on their base whilst travelling at speed around the track.

Adventure Land is named after the adventure play ground which previously sat on the site. The former play area was one of the attractions of a larger area called Kiddies Kingdom. In 1996, Kiddies Kingdom was split into Adventure Land and Storybook Land.

X-Sector

X-Sector is themed as a secretive facility, suggested to be subjecting park guests to experimental testing. In 2013 the areas theme was tweaked to include the Ministry of Joy, making guests test subjects for their machines, including The Smiler, which was meant to 'marmalise' riders into forcing a smile.

The area contains two thrill rides. The steel dive coaster Oblivion opened in 1998, was designed by Tussauds and manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard. The cars are held over the edge of the 87.5° drop for between one and three seconds, before diving into a deep tunnel. The Smiler is a Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster, which opened in May 2013, that holds the world record for most inversions on a roller coaster at 14. The area layout was partially altered in 2013 season to accommodate the opening of The Smiler.

Previous rides in X-Sector include The Black Hole, which was a Jet Star 2 coaster enclosed in a tent, where The Smiler is located today. Energizer (later renamed Boneshaker) was a swinging gondola flat ride. It was replaced by Submission in 2001, a "Chance Double Inverter" flat ride, which was itself removed in 2014. Enterprise was a standard HUSS Enterprise model which opened in 1984, spinning riders 360 degrees and giving the illusion of defying gravity. It was permanently removed from the resort in 2023 after being SBNO in 2022. It also featured 3 members of the retro squad (a series shortly lived themed flat rides), "mixtape" (ride type: smashing jump), "spinjam" (ride type: extreme) and "twistatron" (ride type: trabant). They remained from 2021 to 2023.

Mutiny Bay

Mutiny Bay is a pirate-themed family area, which opened in 2008. The area was a re-theme for Merrie England.

Attractions in Mutiny Bay include: Battle Galleons, an interactive "Splash Battle" boat ride, where guests sit in tracked boats while soaking other riders with water cannons. Also in the area is the rocking boat ride, Heave Ho. The park's original teacups ride was re-themed to become Marauders Mayhem, with the tea cup cars being redesigned as gunpowder barrels. The Flume was a Mack log flume ride that opened in 1981 and was rethemed in 2004 with a sponsorship from Imperial Leather alongside Bubbleworks at Chessington World of Adventures. Upon opening, it was the longest flume ride in the world at 886 m. Late in the 2015 season, the ride and the neighboring tavern closed and were removed in 2016 to make way for the Wicker Man roller coaster and the "Welcome Inn" bar which shares the coaster's theme.

In 2009, a Sea Life Centre named Sharkbait Reef opened in the location previously home to the 3D Cinema. This includes "touch pools" for interacting with underwater species and a 10 m underwater tunnel.

The World of David Walliams

The World of David Walliams opened in May 2021 and is aimed at younger children aged 7–11. It is based on the children's books by David Walliams. Attractions include Gangsta Granny: The Ride, Raj's Bouncy Bottom Burp (the former Frog Hopper) and Royal Carousel (previously Galloper's Carousel). The area has had various names over the years including "Cloud Cuckoo Land", "Cred Street" and "The Land of Make Believe", each had a similar a cartoon-inspired look, mainly featuring Toyland Tours. The area was first built as "Talbot Street" in 1981, becoming the park's first themed area, home to the Around The World in 80 Days and Doom & Sons dark rides. The World of David Walliams also includes many of the author's hidden secrets such as one of the streets being called "Wallibums Way".

In October 2019, it was announced that Cloud Cuckoo Land will be replaced by "The World of David Walliams" for the 2020 season, which will feature attractions based around Walliams' series of children's books.

On 29 May 2020, it was announced that the opening of "The World of David Walliams" would be delayed from 2020 to the 2021 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another attraction, Flavio's Fabulous Fandango, was temporarily added to the land for opening. The land also features Raj's Shop and various outdoor entertainment.

Dark Forest

The Dark Forest is themed as a supernatural woodland area; to coincide with the opening of TH13TEEN, a steel family coaster themed as a haunted crypt, that opened on 20 March 2010. Th13teen, features the "world's first freefall drop on a roller coaster" – an indoor, vertically dropping track element. The ride replaced the Corkscrew; the park's first roller coaster, which opened in 1980. Rita is a hydraulically launched steel sit-down coaster that reaches a top speed of 61 mph (100 km) that is now themed around an abandoned drag racer that is used to escape the Dark Forest.

The area was previously a cartoon prehistoric area named Ug Land, which opened in 1999, but was half-demolished to make way for Rita's construction in 2005. Rita used to be themed around drag racing but was changed with the opening of Th13teen and the Dark Forest. With the opening of Th13teen, the area was renamed as Dark Forest and further altered with a new colour scheme and entrance feature. Rita was also given a repainted control cabin and trains, shortening its name from "Rita – Queen of Speed".

CBeebies Land

Main article: CBeebies#CBeebies Land

CBeebies Land is based on the BBC children's TV channel: CBeebies and opened on 24 May 2014. The area includes rides, shows and interactive experiences based on programmes from CBeebies, including In the Night Garden... and Postman Pat. Attractions in the area are: In the Night Garden Magical Boat Ride, Postman Pat's Parcel Post (now closed to make way for "Project Sunshine", a new junior roller coaster), Get Set Go Treetop Adventure, Something Special Sensory Garden, Bugbie Go Round, Justin's House: Pie-O-Matic Factory, Hey Duggee Big Adventure Badge, Andys Adventures Dinosaur Dig, Jojo & Gran Gran at Home, Peter Rabbit Hippity Hop, Octonauts Roller Coaster Adventure, and The Furchester Hotel Live. Shows at the Big Fun Show Time stage include: Teletubbies Big Band Show, Bing Live, and Hey Duggee Live.

In 2015, Octonauts Roller Coaster Adventure opened, it is an underwater themed children's roller coaster; built on the former site of The Beastie rollercoaster. CBeebies Land was further expanded in 2017 with the opening of the Go Jetters Vroomster Zoom Ride and The Furchester Hotel Live, and again in 2019 with the addition of Peter Rabbit Hippity Hop and Teletubbies Big Band Live Show. 2022 saw 3 new attractions arrive, being Hey Duggee Big Adventure Badge, Andys Adventures Dinosaur Dig, and JoJo and Gran Gran at Home. A new Bluey themed attraction opened on 23 March 2024.

The Towers

The Towers are the ruins of Alton Towers stately home and are the source of the park's name. They belonged to the Talbot family as a stately home until 1924 and largely designed by Augustus Pugin, also noted for his work on the Palace of Westminster. The ruins are open to the public for guided tours. Key areas of The Towers include the banqueting hall, the chapel, conservatories, and Her Ladyship's Gardens.

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 a local legend about the chained oak tree, located in a nearby forest, and makes use of the history of the Towers. It draws its theme from the legend of the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury who was said to be cursed by a beggar woman to suffer death every time a branch falls from an old oak tree.

The Alton Towers Dungeon was added to the area in 2019, but was closed to make way for a Scarefest attraction in July 2024. Since the openings of CBeebies Land and The World of David Walliams; Spinball Whizzer and Cloud Cuckoo Land have been part of the area.

Cuckoo Cars Driving School allows children to drive miniature electric cars around a themed road layout, featuring visual jokes along the way. A SkyRide station is located nearby Fountain Square, giving access to other areas of the park.

The Gardens

Main article: History of Alton Towers#Stately home and gardens

Near the garden entrance is a cenotaph to the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury, who built Alton Towers and developed its gardens in the early 19th century. The monument features a marble bust with an inscription reading "He made the desert smile". Other landmarks include a Chinese Pagoda Fountain, The Swiss Cottage, Miniature 'Stonehenge', and orangeries.

Alton Towers Waterpark

Main article: Alton Towers Waterpark

The Alton Towers Waterpark, formerly known as Cariba Creek, opened alongside the Splash Landings Hotel in 2003. It is a large (with 7 pools and 10 water slides), part-indoor and part outdoor waterpark themed as a tropical Caribbean lagoon. The waterpark features several fast slides, a lazy river, a giant tipping bucket and many other water features. Also located there are two food and drink venues: Adventures Cave and Ice Cream Shack. A separate ticket is needed for waterpark access as it is not included with the theme park entrance price.

Attractions include Lagoona Bay, which is the main tropical pool, with water cannons, geysers and waterfalls. The Little Leak is a paddling pool for young children with two small slides and interactive pipes to play with, while Wacky Waterworks Treehouse is a wooden 'treehouse' with water cannons, and other interactive features to squirt passing people with.

The largest ride in the Waterpark is the water coaster The Master Blaster, with uphill sections similar to the Master Blaster at Sandcastle Waterpark, Blackpool and Nucleus at Water World, Stoke-on-Trent. The Master Blaster is a high speed water flume that contains sharp turns, drops and dark sections, and has views of the entire indoor area of the waterpark.

Other rides include Rush & Rampage, twin racing slides where riders experience wide turns. This attraction requires rubber rings. Lazy River (Calypso Creek) is a slow-moving water circuit, taking riders underneath spraying water jets and tipping buckets of water. Rubber rings are available. The Tipping Bucket is a container filled with 1000 litres of water which regularly tips its contents over people standing below. Flash Floods are tiered outdoor pools with two slides leading to the middle pool and three leading to the bottom. Other swimming pools include Volcanic Springs, and indoor heated hot pool, and Bubbly Wubbly Pool, an outdoor heated pool and whirlpool.

Resort accommodation

The resort contains 3 hotels, and 2 sets of glamping-style accommodation:

Alton Towers Hotel

The Alton Towers Hotel is a four star explorer-themed hotel that opened on 10 April 1996 with 180 rooms, the Secret Garden table service restaurant, the Chinese-themed Dragon's Bar, the traveller-themed Captain's Bar, a small arcade and the Emporium gift shop. A conference venue called the Emperor's Suite is also located next the Dragon's Bar on the ground floor. There are thirteen themed room categories. The Explorer rooms are the hotel's standard category, while the Arctic Explorer and Moon Voyage rooms on the second and third floors represent the mid-range offering. The themed rooms on the top two floors of the hotel include Gangsta Granny, Chocolate, Sleepover, Coca-Cola, Splish Splash, Big Pyjama, The Smiler, Arabian Nights, Princess, and Dreamy Den. Until the Rollercoaster Restaurant opened in 2016, the rock gardens behind the hotel were home to a route to Forbidden Valley called the Woodland Walk. The entrance near Galactica has been used since, as the CBeebies Land Hotel is now situated on the edge of the garden.

Splash Landings Hotel

The Splash Landings Hotel opened in June 2003. The hotel has a relaxed Caribbean theme and is attached to the Alton Towers Waterpark, with its entrance located on the ground floor. It also has a four star rating and houses 216 rooms, along with the Flambo's Jambo buffet restaurant, the Coffee Shack kiosk, Ma Garrita's Bar, the Shack gift shop, and a much larger arcade. There are three room themes: Beachcomber, Ice Cave, and the Mutiny Bay-themed Pirate rooms. The hotel is also connected to the Alton Towers Hotel by an elevated walkway, allowing easy access to the Waterpark from both hotels.

Enchanted Village

The Enchanted Village open in April 2015, and contains 120 lodges and 5 secluded treehouses set in the fictional Enchanted Forest woodland. Situated next to the Alton Towers hotel, it features a variety of miniature playgrounds for children.

CBeebies Land Hotel

The CBeebies Land Hotel is situated at the back of the rock gardens behind the Alton Towers Hotel, and opened on 8 July 2017 with a total of 76 themed rooms. There are eight themes: Bugbies, Bing, Octonauts, Postman Pat, Swashbuckle, In the Night Garden, Something Special, and Bluey.

Stargazing Pods

Although Alton Towers had previously gained the necessary permits to expand the Enchanted Village, these plans were eventually scrapped and reduced into a "pod"-style accommodation option. 102 individual pods were constructed, each sleeping up to four people.

The proposals have faced some critical views from the public, with many criticisms being raised over the capacity of bathroom facilities as well as how the resort will cope with the increased demand in food and beverages, as the Stargazing Pods will not have its own restaurant, bar or shopping facilities. The council even initially rejected the application citing lack of imagination and "magic", although the plans were granted permission the second time without making any notable improvements.

The Stargazing Pods opened on 12 April 2019.

Recreation

Alton Towers Spa

Alton Towers Spa was part of the Alton Towers Hotel and opened in 2004. It included relaxation and treatment rooms and an adults-only swimming pool. Despite being inside the Alton Towers Hotel, non-hotel guests were able to use the spa. It was closed on 31 December 2023 with the resort citing future development for the area.

Extraordinary Golf

Opened in 2007, the Extraordinary Golf mini-golf attraction is themed to different rides and attractions at the park, some of which, are from the park's history. Extraordinary Golf is located to the west of the Splash Landings Hotel. Extraordinary Golf was refreshed for 2016 including the addition of a Galactica themed hole.

Future developments

Alton Towers is located in a Conservation Area, which puts restrictions on its permissible development, notably that no structures in the park should be built above tree line and if so should be disguised from external views of the park; this can be seen on the ride Rita, where the highest sections of track are camouflaged green.

Noise pollution is also a problem for the park due to the close proximity to the villages of Alton and Farley and the town of Cheadle. There have been several cases where Alton Towers have been taken to court over the noise levels emitted from the park and have been served noise abatement orders between 2004 and 2006.

Alton Towers has a tradition of codenaming its future roller coaster developments as "Secret Weapon", for example "SW6". The naming tradition began after "Secret Weapon" was the working title of a cancelled Arrow pipeline roller coaster, planned to open in around 1993, on what later became the Nemesis site.

In September 2022, Alton Towers held a public consultation to propose plans for an indoor attraction on the former site of the Alton Mouse, codenamed "Project Horizon". A planning application was submitted and later approved with conditions in June 2023. Construction has not yet started and no set opening has been announced.

A new children's roller coaster themed to Bluey was announced to open for the 2026 season, located in the Cbeebies Land area on the site of Postman Pat, with construction beginning in June 2025.

Events

Scarefest

Scarefest is the resort's annual Halloween event, which runs from the first weekend of October until early November. It celebrates Halloween with a number of seasonal scare attractions, costumed characters and extended opening hours. Rides and areas are lit after sunset, with most operating until 9pm. Scarefest has been running since 2007, although the park had celebrated Halloween several years before. The park's first scare maze was Terror of the Towers in 2002. No park Halloween events ran for 2006, though a hotel-only unadvertised scare maze "Room 13" operated that year and again in 2007. The scare mazes are upcharge attractions. The 2024 season runs from 11 October – 3 November.

– Previous Scarefest attraction. – Current Scarefest attraction.

Other events

Fireworks

For the final few days of the season, Alton Towers host firework shows, which have been running annually since the 1990s on the Great Lawns. The shows were reduced to 3 a year following a court order in 2005. In 2006, the display was rebranded as Electric Towers, but then discontinued. However, the fireworks and laser show was reinstated in 2010 to celebrate the park's 30th anniversary and has returned to being an annual event.

Services Day

Since 2015, Alton Towers have opened the park for a Services Day; a day where a limited quantity of discounted tickets (fewer than on a usual season day) are sold to those who work in public services.

Concerts

Alton Towers has a history of hosting concerts since the 1960s. Alternative rock band James played to a crowd of 30,000 on 4 July 1992. Concerts in recent years have included the Alton Towers Live event in 2011 and 2013. In 2010, there was a 1980s concert for the 30th Anniversary featuring Rick Astley and Bananarama and also that year hosted a P!nk concert. In the past, these concerts were often held in the car park at an additional fee, however, more recently concerts have been held within the theme park. Artists that have performed there include Tina Turner and The Black Eyed Peas.

Records held by the park

• Worlds largest polar fleece blanket.
• Corkscrew was the first double inverting coaster in Europe.
• The Flume was the world's longest log flume at the time of opening. (1981)
• Nemesis was the first inverted coaster in Europe. It also holds the record for the most naked riders
• Oblivion was the world's first B&M dive coaster, advertised as "the world's first vertical drop rollercoaster". It also holds the record for most couples renewing their wedding vows on a rollercoaster
• Galactica was the world's first B&M flying coaster.
• TH13TEEN had the first "freefall drop" track element on a rollercoaster.
• The Smiler is the coaster with the most inversions in the world at 14.

Incidents

Main article: Incidents at European amusement parks#Alton Towers

The Smiler

In June 2015, sixteen people were injured on The Smiler ride, with two individuals requiring leg amputations. Merlin Entertainments originally released a press release blaming the crash on "human error." However, the Health and Safety Executive concluded the crash occurred due to Merlin failing to put proper processes into place for operating the ride. During the subsequent court case, Merlin retracted their statement and pleaded guilty to a breach of health and safety law. The company was fined £5 million, with the court citing a "catalogue of errors" with Merlin's operating procedure and training.

In June 2017, Alton Towers estate owner Nick Leslau repeated the discredited claim that the crash was due to "a human error", but added that "Merlin has paid a massive price, but the performance of the business has been exemplary and the share price is now at an all-time high."

Sky Ride

On 30 June 2004, due to a strong gust of wind, the Sky Ride cables became caught, jamming the ride. About 80 people were on the ride, and nine people had to be rescued by being abseiled down 200 foot cables.

On 28 October 2007, a fire broke out in the Forbidden Valley Skyride station, leading to a partial evacuation of the park.

On 21 July 2009, another fire broke out, this time in the Fountain Square station, leading to the entire station being destroyed. During the latter half of the 2009 season and over the following winter, a new station was designed and built, ready for the 2010 season.

The Sky Ride has also had issues with unintentional stoppages lasting for up to 2 hours, such as on October 27th, 2025 when 8 passengers were on the ride when it unexpectedly stopped operating mid-ride.

Runaway Mine Train

Main article: Runaway Mine Train (Alton Towers)

On 20 July 2006, when the train was entering the tunnel section of its course, two carriages uncoupled, with the front half of the train continuing up the slope while the rear half remained in the tunnel. The front half failed to make it over the hill, rolled back and crashed into the stationary rear half. Six people were taken to hospital and 23 others were treated for cuts and bruises. Following the incident the Runaway Mine Train was closed for the rest of the season. The train was only returned to full length operation in June the following year.

Toxicator

On 15 March 2025, the brand new ride Toxicator was shut down for roughly 2 hours and 45 minutes on its opening day due to an incident involving a drainage/sewer overspill directly under the ride.

Court cases

In 2004, a private prosecution was brought against the park by a couple from the local village of Farley over its noise level. Alton Towers was found guilty, with the judge singling out Oblivion in his judgement. The park were fined £5000, and was later issued a Noise Abatement Order limiting emissions to 32 dB. The fine was reduced to £3500 and the limit increased to 40 dB on appeal. The order led to the park removing a recording from Oblivion that was played before the rides drop as they believed it contributed to the noise by encouraging riders to scream.

The couple were later granted permission to bring an injunction hearing against the park to enforce the order in November 2011; however, there is no record of the case going ahead.

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