Alton Towers, it’s the UK’s biggest theme park, arguably one of the best that this country has to offer and here you’ll find world class rides and rollercoasters. Not only that, Alton Towers has so much history, opening as the theme park we know today in 1980, but the park itself has been around for 160 years.
So, for a park with so much history, there are a bunch of hidden secrets and easter eggs which you’ve probably never noticed before. So today we’re going to be taking a look at 9 of these hidden secrets so you can look out for them during your next visit to the park.
8 - The Smiler's Cameras
Starting off with The Smiler, this is one of the parks most popular rollercoasters for many reasons. This rollercoaster has a few easter eggs which we’ll be covering. The Smiler opened in 2013 and was and still is the world record holder for the most loops and inversions. The Smiler has an nauseating 14 inversions, including 5 corkscrews, 2 dive loops, a heartline roll, a reverse sidewinder, a regular sidewinder, a sea serpent and a cobra roll. So many elements packed into a rollercoaster that’s under 3 minutes long, it’s truly a unique experience and the reason it’s one of the best out there. If you’re brave enough to experience this ride, as you go through the entrance have a look up at the cameras pointing at you and around the area, how many are there? You guessed it. 14 cameras each representing an inversion. The Smiler still holds the record of most inversions to this day, who knows when that record will be beaten, but for now it still stands as the record holder and one of the best rollercoasters in the UK.
7 - The Smiler's Paint Rollers
I told you there’s a few easter eggs for The Smiler so we’re going to stick with it. Now, even though The Smiler is fantastic, the opening of the ride did not go as planned. Originally, the coaster was supposed to open at the start of the 2013 season. But, due to construction delays and weather issues, the opening of the ride was pushed back to the end of May 2013. Of course not a massive delay, but still very inconvenient for guests wanting to ride this new world record breaking rollercoaster for the first time. So, Alton Towers put an easter egg in the queue line as a nod to troubled opening of the ride. Just before you head up the stairs to the station, look straight up and you’ll see some paint brushes that have half painted the ceiling. If you think this Smiler easter egg is cool, then you’ll love the one coming up later!
6 - Rita's Posters
On to one now that may not be as hidden, but is still a cool throwback. If you head to the left past the iconic Towers you’ll reach the Dark Forest. This area is home to two rollercoasters, one being Th13teen and the other being Rita. Before the Dark Forest became all spooky, the area was called Ug Land which had a prehistoric theming. This is where you could ride former coaster Corkscrew which we’ll be covering for the next easter egg, but in 2005 Rita was introduced to the area. Rita is a hydraulic launch coaster that goes 0-61mph in 2.5 seconds. So of course, very fast. Nowadays with it being the Dark Forest, it has a rather strange theme where you have to try and escape the forest. But before this retheme, it was called Rita Queen of Speed and had a drag racing theme. Although the coaster is no longer the Queen of Speed, if you take a look at the fences around the launch you’ll find posters which reference the former name and theme, including one saying Rita Raceway 2005 and Thunder Rock Rally, races here from 2005 to 2009.
5 - Corkscrew
So this next one is not so hidden, in fact it’s impossible to miss it when you enter the park. Corkscrew was a rollercoaster that was in the Ug Land area, now the Dark Forest. This was a steel rollercoaster manufactured by Vekoma and operated from 1980 to 2008. Even though we have better coasters at the park now, Corkscrew was still an iconic rollercoaster and it’s sad that it was removed after so many years of operation. However, Alton Towers have kept the memory of Corkscrew alive by putting the actual double corkscrew elements at the entrance of the park. It may look like an ornament, but this was the actual track which is really cool of Alton Towers to do. They could have just scrapped it, but they decided to keep this iconic rollercoasters memory alive for years to come.
4 - Corkscrew Lift Hill Motor
So this next Corkscrew easter egg isn’t as obvious. One, because it’s hard to spot and two, the only way to see it is whilst riding one of the rollercoasters. Th13teen opened in 2010 at the park, and replaced Corkscrew which closed a couple years prior. Whilst you’re riding Th13teen keep an eye out at the end of the ride as you head back in to the station because on the right hand side you’ll see some machinery that has become entangled in vines. This isn’t any old machinery, this is the lift hill motor from Corkscrew. Another easter egg to keep the memory of this classic rollercoaster alive.
3 - Oblivion's Projector
Now I’ve already mentioned that Oblivions queue line in pretty long. And sometimes when the park is at it’s busiest that’s a good thing because the queue can sometimes be an hour plus. But the X-Sector, the are where you’ll find Oblivion is pretty small. So, Alton Towers needed to make the queue the right length but make it compact enough to not take up too much of the area. So when you enter the queue, you spiral round upwards until you get to the station.
So, if you don’t know already, Oblivion is a vertical drop rollercoaster, although it’s 3 degrees shy of actually being vertical, a little bonus fact for you there. And that almost vertical drop sends you through a black hole in the ground which is pretty deep. The chain lift takes you up 65ft, but the drop is 180ft, so if my calculations are correct that means that 115ft is underground. So that’s obviously a lot of digging and a lot of dirt that had to be taken out. And all that dirt had to go somewhere. Well, the hill that you spiral round in the queue line is the earth that was dug up to make the black hole. And if you love facts about dirt and rocks, then you’re going to love this next one.
2 - Rocks around the Park
Alton Towers is a very good looking park. You have the gardens, the lawn area and the lake. But around the different areas, Alton Towers use plenty of natural pieces to make up scenery and to form the path areas. As I mentioned with Oblivion, they dug up the earth and used it to form the queue line and station. Well, Alton Towers also dug up other areas to build their rollercoasters as they’re not actually allowed to build above the tree lines. So digging up large areas means that they can still make tall coasters, but just put them below the ground level.
Other coasters that do this are The Smiler which is in a huge man made pit, and also Nemesis where most of the coaster is in the dug up area. Before Nemesis, this was a flat area on level with the rest of Forbidden Valley. Builders used TNT to create the man made pit, but this of course created a lot of earth that needed a place to go. You can find these rocks around the pathways and other areas of the park, a lot of them line the Congo River Rapids in Kantanga Canyon. So it’s good to know that no dirt was wasted at Alton Towers and it was reused in the best way possible.
Okay so that is enough dirt facts for today, let’s move back on to The Smiler.
1 - The Smiler's Exit Floor
So if you’ve ever been on The Smiler, you will have walked on this and probably never realised. Once you’ve been on the ride you’ll exit through the gift shop where you can of course, buy gifts and also check out your on ride photo. But as you leave the gift shop back into the X-Sector, you’ll notice the floor is a little bit different.
This is actually a pane of glass, which originally was supposed to give you a view of The Smilers indoor section where you encounter that first inversion. But, the indoor section is too dark to see anything through the glass and as it’s at the exit of the shop where every single rider walks over it, it’s very dirty meaning you can’t see anything. I get what Alton Towers was going for and it would be really cool to see that indoor inversion from above. But, it obviously didn’t work out. The next time you’re at Alton Towers have a look, although don’t expect to see much.
Did you know any of these Alton Towers secrets? Know of any more? Let me know in the comments!
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