Alton Towers
Alton Towers, in Staffordshire, England, features a double tourist attraction. Initially, the Alton Towers consist of a semi-ruined gothic revival country house. Today, the name Alton Towers is also given to the most visited theme park in the United Kingdom, located on the same grounds.
Soon after the Norman Conquest, a castle was built, initially intended as a three-story hunting lodge. Over the following ten years, several additions were built, such as a drawing room, a dining room, library, chapel, banquet hall, long gallery, conservatory and entrance hall. The building was renovated in Gothic style. It looks beautiful and authentic, with its crenele walls, its pinnacles, the arched windows and bays, and haunted folklore surrounds it. It houses an original armory and picture gallery, depicting the story of a curse, a ride called Hex, based on the same story. Visitors even claimed to have witnessed paranormal activity.
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The mansion offers welcome drinks of traditional mead, platform readings, walk-arounds guided by mediums and historians, ghost hunts.
The other buildings of the ensemble include the Garden Conservatories, designed by Robert Abrahams, built of cast iron and presenting various plants, the Swiss Cottage, which is now a restaurant, a miniature of Stonehenge and a copy of the Choragic Monument of Athens. The mansion is surrounded by several gardens, of which we mention the Dutch garden and the rock garden. Also noteworthy is an interesting Pagoda fountain.
The construction of the theme park started in 1980. It is split into many theme areas and the Von Roll monorail and Sky Ride cable car are the means of transportation across the park.
One of the main theme lands is Mutiny Bay, a pirate-themes area aimed for families. The attractions of the bay are the Battle Galleons, a "splash battle" water ride, a ride with rotating gun barrels, and the Sharkbait reef, an area of pools with an ocean tunnel, where the guests can interact with various aquatic species.
Another theme land, the Katanga Canyon, is designed as African Village. It includes rides such as the Runaway Mine Train, the Congo River Rapids and the Flume Ride.
There is the Gloomy Wood, a small ghost-themes area with the ride The Haunted House strikes back, and the post-apocalyptic Forbidden Valley land, with one of the major rides, the Nemesis inverted roller coaster.
One also has to experience the Dark Forest features Rita-Queen of Speed, an accelerator coaster, the X-Sector, themed as a sinister government facility, which features the Oblivion, an innovative ride, the world's first vertical drop roller coaster, and many more.