Welcome to Talbot Street, a virtual stroll through the history of Alton Towers, where we highlight some of our favourite aspects from the park’s past.
We might not be able to visit the park right now but that doesn’t mean we can’t start celebrating Alton Towers’ 40th Birthday.
Team TowersStreet have hunkered down in our bunker deep below Talbot Street, where we keep our park archives. And so, whilst the 2020 season is delayed, each day we’re going to be bringing you some of the highlights from the last 40 years!
Our history updates are named after Talbot Street, the park’s original ‘Street’.
Alton Towers has a long history of using street scenes to create an immersive atmosphere, such as our namesake, Towers Street. However Talbot Street was not only the first street to arrive in the park, but also the park’s very first themed area, bringing a slice of Victoriana to the park in 1981.
1980s
To begin our Talbot Street Lock In, let’s start at the very beginning and head all the way back to 1980.
The 1980 Map does not look much like the map of an amusement park, but hidden within three magical red circles are the seeds of the park we know today – with the Corkscrew in the Talbot Centre and Pirate Ship in the Springfield Centre operating alongside the older attractions in the Ingestre Centre, which at that time still included Donkey and Pony Rides!
It’s not only the park that turns 40 this year, The Blade has been operating ever since the park opened. Originally known as the Pirate Ship, it operated on the site more recently occupied by Submission but was moved to it’s current home in Forbidden Valley in 1997.
We were not expecting to see The Blade operating at the start of this season but let’s keep our fingers crossed that the extra closed season gives the park enough time to get this ship swinging for her 40th birthday! Read More…
The park saw significant expansion in 1981, with the arrival of the much-loved Log Flume in Ingestre Centre as well as the construction of Talbot Street – the Victorian Boulevard taking over the site of the park’s old Fairground.
1981’s Map was a much more colourful affair, with drawings representing each of the park’s attractions. Some of them were more abstract then others.
The first themed area opened at Alton Towers in 1981 when Talbot Street opened in the area where the park’s Fairground had previously operated behind the Towers.
So today, let’s take a look at the Victorian boulevard after which brand our history updates here at TowersStreet. Read More…
Alton Towers has had many iconic map designs over the years. Visitors from the 80s will be familiar with this design that was used from 1982 to 1986.
Today we have an interesting look at how the maps were updated in a time before photoshop. The first image shows the 1982 map covered with tracing paper onto which the updates are designed before being added onto the draft of the 1983 map as seen in the second image.
In 1982 the park added Adventureland 4-11, the first area dedicated to kid’s attractions.
While most of the rides in the area were not new to the park, it did introduce the park’s first coaster for kids. The Junior Apple Coaster was an standard off-the-shelf design but was popular with younger members of the family and operated for 15 years. Read More…
The greatest show on earth rolled into town in 1983 with the arrival of the Circus Hassani in the park’s new Big Top venue. Two classic kids rides also arrived with the addition of the Vintage Cars as well as the Dragon Coaster (later known as The Beastie)
We can’t pass 1983 without mentioning the Space Boat – an almost mythical attraction that operated at the Towers for less than a single season before being replaced by the Octopus.
Whilst it may only have had a brief time at the Towers, the ride still operates today as the Black Pearl at Lightwater Valley. Read More…
1984 saw one of the largest expansions in the park’s history with the addition of nine new attractions over the course of the season.
The park opened with five new thrill rides – the Enterprise, Wave Swinger, Turbo Star, Magic Carpet and Octopus – as well as the much-loved Black Hole.
During the season, these were also joined the classic attractions that were the Mississippi Showboat and 1001 Night.
1984 heralded the arrival of the Black Hole in Fantasy World.
Interestingly, the original marketing for the ride used a stylised version of the Corkscrew’s train to advertise the ride. It wasn’t until the ride was transformed into Black Hole II that the marketing was updated to include the ride’s actual train design. Read More…
Between 1985 and 1987 Sunflower Books produced an official and rather comprehensive guidebook for the park.
Unlike the normal park maps these guidebooks included a detailed plan of the park to help navigate guests. This 1985 plan features the new additions that season – the Ferris Wheel and 4 Man Bob – both of which had been relocated from nearby Trentham Gardens.
With all the modern coasters in the park today it is easy to forget how much ride technology has moved on in the past 40 years.
In 1985 the park added the 4 Man Bob, a coaster that used a manual breaking system that relied on a ride op to reduce the bobsleigh’s speed from 35 mph to 0 within around 6 feet.
Needless to say over its six years in the park, the Bob caused its fair share of bumps and bruises. Read More…
In 1986 the front of the park became much more recognisable with the addition of Towers Street along with the Grand Canyon Rapids – today known as the Congo River Rapids.
1986 also saw the addition of Kiddies Kingdom, a large new area located where Adventure Land sits today, which offered a whole range of slides and other playground equipment for younger guests.
Who remembers when Alton Towers used to have museums and exhibitions as part of the attraction line up?
The Wildlife Museum was the first to open back in the 1970s but in 1986 it moved into a building on Talbot Street nearby the park’s other museums, such as the Dolls House and Space 1999 Exhibition. Read More…
1987 was the year of transportation, upgrading the park’s infrastructure to handle its huge growth spurt of the 80s. Inside the park the Skyride replaced the Cable Cars to transport guests across the Gardens and outside Towers Street the Monorail shuttled guests back and forth to the new car parks built on the old deer park.
Iconic rides also kept on arriving with the addition of the Tea Cups and Swan Boat Ride, as well as the Open Air Stage on the Piazza (now Fountain Square).
Over the years Alton Towers has hosted a whole range of weird and wonderful events. None more so than in 1987 when the Royal Family descended on the park for It’s A Royal Knockout, a super-sized version of the popular gameshow featuring a whole host of actors, sports stars, musicians and other celebrities. Read More…
1988 was a bumper year for coasters at Alton Towers when The Alton Beast and Alton Mouse arrived to complete the line-up for Coaster Corner and the park’s indoor coaster received substantial upgrades to become briefly known as the New Black Hole.
It was also the season that Henry the Hound became the park’s official mascot – arriving in style with his Birthday Parade.
Coaster Corner was an area of the park that could be found between Talbot Street and the Flag Tower in the late 80s. The area was only open for a few seasons before it was closed and today is part of the backstage area behind The World of David Walliams.
Alongside the Alton Mouse and 4 Man Bob, the largest coaster in the area was the Alton Beast. The Beast opened in 1988 and survived the closure on Coaster Corner to become part of Thunder Valley in 1992. The site it once occupied by the coaster would later become home to Air. Read More…
The big addition for 1989 was the Britannia Farm. It was also the season when the long-running circus left the Big Top to be replaced by a Laser Adventure Show.
Fans of the circus could still get their fix, however, as Grimble the Clown remained in the park in his new Clown-A-Round show.
1989 was the National Food & Farming Year, marking the 150th anniversary of the Royal Agricultural Society. As part of year long celebration, Alton Tower introduced the Britannia Farm, a small working farm that was located alongside Towers Street.
The farm and its animals may now be long gone, replaced now by the characters of CBeebies Land, but many of the farm buildings are still recognisable in the park today. Read More…
