Take a magical boat journey through a wonderous factory filled with colourful toys...
Take a magical boat journey through a wonderous factory filled with colourful toys...
Theme Park | Alton Towers |
---|---|
Park Area | Cred Street |
Type | Dark Boat Ride |
Audience | Families |
Opened | 19 March 1994 |
Closed | June 2005 (replaced by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) |
Manufacturer | Mack Rides |
Model | Free Flow Boat Ride |
Designer | Tussauds Studios |
Cost | £2 million |
Duration | 5 minutes |
Floating through the toy factory
Toyland Tours was an indoor boat ride which took visitors on an adventure through a toy factory packed with rooms full of colourful sights and animated characters, all set to a jolly soundtrack.
The factory was full of puns and visual gags such as the Elecopter (an elephant with a propeller attached to its back) and Snailextrics (a rather slow racing circuit). Castles bounced up and down on trampolines – they of course were bouncy castles.
As the star of 90s video games, even Sonic the Hedgehog made an appearance in the Sega Room. The ride’s finale took place in the Party Room with dancing hippos, toy soldiers playing their trumpets, a mermaid on a giant green jelly and a house band of teddy bears.
Prior to its retheme into Toyland Tours by Tussauds Group after they bought Alton Towers, the ride was originally known as Around the World in Eighty Days. It opened in 1981 as the first dark ride at the park, and was themed around a story based on the Jules Verne novel of the same name. Boats floated past scenes representing various countries including Egypt, Italy, Holland and the USA.
The Toyland incarnation of the ride closed in 2005. Over the winter the path of the water channel was shortened and the ride reopened as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the 2006 season.
Snailextric
The giant pink elephant
Sonic the Hedgehog
The Party Room
Teddy Train
A Mermaid on a Giant Jelly, because why not
Elephant statue outside the ride
One of the more unusual signs at Alton Towers