Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Ride, Alton Towers, UK.jpg
The entrance to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Ride.
Alton Towers
Area Cloud Cuckoo Land
Status SBNO
Cost £8million
Opening date 1 April 2006
Replaced Toyland Tours
General statistics
Attraction type Dark boat ride, Elevator
Manufacturers Mack Rides
Rexroth Bosch Group
Designer P&P Projects[1]
Tussauds Studios
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 is 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 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. It is due to close in 2016.

History

The ride was originally called Around the World in 80 Days and was opened 1981 in Talbot Street (now Cloud Cuckoo Land). This ride took you on a journey through numerous locations including Egypt, Las Vegas and Paris. The ride was re-themed in 1994 as Toyland Tours. The ride was completely transformed into different scenes from a toy factory. During the 2005 season Toyland Tours was closed and work began converting it to its present incarnation. The ride manufacturers Mack were brought in to alter the water way to add a new disembarkation point towards the back of the ride building. This was necessary due to the new ride featuring two simulators as the second half of the attraction.

Trivia

  • At the time of its launch, this ride's introduction coincided with the release of the adaptation of the book in cinemas.
  • Part of the original Toyland Tour steamboat theming still exists hidden behind the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory theming.
  • It is rumoured that the Roald Dahl Intellectual Property licence for the ride ends at the close of the 2015 season. This does fit with the 10 year anniversary of the ride. However there has been no confirmation of the licence length or the ride being decommissioned at the end of the 2015 season.

See also

References

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External links

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