Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride | |
---|---|
Alton Towers | |
Area | Cloud Cuckoo Land |
Status | Closed |
Cost | £8million |
Opening date | 1 April 2006 |
Closing date | 8 November 2015 |
Replaced by | n\a |
Ride statistics | |
Attraction type | Dark boat ride, Elevator |
Manufacturers | Mack Rides Rexroth Bosch Group |
Designer | P&P Projects[1] Tussauds Studios |
Theme | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory |
Capacity | 1000 riders per hour |
Vehicle type | Boat, Elevator |
Vehicles | 10 boats, 2 elevators |
Riders per vehicle | 9 |
Duration | 11 minutes |
Construction | JJ Cavanagh Construction (started mid-2005) |
Projection | Electrosonic Bose |
Elevator show | Falcon's Treehouse nWave Digital |
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride was a dark ride located in the Cloud Cuckoo Land area of Alton Towers theme park, Staffordshire, England. It is based upon the famous Roald Dahl book of the same name, and takes its thematic inspiration from the illustrations of Quentin Blake. The ride has been closed since the end of the 2015 season.
History
The building originally housed Around the World in 80 Days and later Toyland Tours, though the original layout was shortened when redeveloped into Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. Part of the old Toyland Tours station scenery and queueline still exists hidden behind set walls in the station. Mack Rides, who had engineered the original ride hardware in 1981, returned to add a new offload point towards the end of the ride, allowing guests to move into the new simulator ending.
The attraction was closed at the end of 2015 after the Intellectual Property license from the Roald Dahl Foundation was not renewed.[citation needed]
Ride experience
The ride is split into two segments, the first being a boat ride along the chocolate river inside Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Passengers encounter all the characters from the book (going from Augustus Gloop to Veruca Salt) either as simple animatronics or CGI projections. After disembarking the boats the second segment begins with a short pre-show video (involving Mike Teavee). The video is presented as if the viewers are actually trapped within the TV set. The ride continues inside one of two "Great Glass Elevators" which simulate passengers taking an airborne trip through the rest of the factory. Each elevator is a static room with semi-translucent walls and ceiling on which CGI animations are projected from the outside, and only the floor trembles slightly to give the impression of movement.
References
- ^ "Our Projects". P&P Projects. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
External links
- Charlie And The Chocolate Factory: The Ride at TowersStreet
- Charlie And The Chocolate Factory: The Ride at TowersTimes
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride at Towers Nerd
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride at Alton Towers Almanac
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride at darkrides.co.uk
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride at ThemeParks-UK
- Closed amusement attractions
- Amusement rides introduced in 2006
- Amusement rides that closed in 2015
- Alton Towers
- Dark rides
- Abandoned buildings and structures
- 2006 establishments in the United Kingdom
- 2015 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
- Water rides manufactured by Mack Rides
- Water rides by name
- Willy Wonka