Originally a private estate of the Earls of Shrewsbury, Alton Towers' grounds were opened to the public in 1860 to raise funds.

The park has many attractions such as Congo River Rapids, Runaway Mine Train, Nemesis Reborn, Oblivion, Galactica, The Smiler, Wicker Man, Rita and TH13TEEN.

It operates a total of ten roller coasters and offers a range of accommodation and lodging options alongside the theme park.

From there, he began the theme park by developing new areas and installing permanent rides, including the Corkscrew, The Flume, Around The World in 80 Days, The Black Hole and the Grand Canyon Rapids.

[9][10] In 1990, Broome sold Alton Towers to The Tussauds Group, then a division of Pearson plc, after his development of the former Battersea Power Station encountered financial difficulties.

[10] The change of park ownership brought another era of development, involving the opening of new themed areas and attractions, such as Runaway Mine Train (1992), The Haunted House (1992), Toyland Tours (1994), and Nemesis (1994).

The opening of Oblivion that same year and Air (now Galactica) in 2002 saw the park sustain new major roller coasters, both marketed as 'World First' rides.

[16] On 17 July 2007, Alton Towers was sold to private investment firm Prestbury under a sale and leaseback agreement.

In this area during the hour before the park's daily closure, departing guests are entertained by three people wearing police costumes, two of them riding Segway-like vehicles which play party music and the third standing with an old-fashioned megaphone that is unused, and a man riding a miniature ship while dressed as a sea captain.

Nemesis Reborn is a steel inverted coaster that reaches a speed of 50 mph (81 km) with four inversions, set in a rocky quarry over waterfalls.

Previous rides in X-Sector include The Black Hole, which was a Jet Star 2 coaster enclosed in a tent, where The Smiler is located today.

The park's original teacups ride was re-themed to become Marauders Mayhem, with the tea cup cars being redesigned as gunpowder barrels.

Rita is a hydraulically launched steel sit-down coaster that reaches a top speed of 62 mph (100 km) that is now themed around an abandoned drag racer that is used to escape the Dark Forest.

They belonged to the Talbot family as a stately home until 1924 and largely designed by Augustus Pugin, also noted for his work on the Palace of Westminster.

The storyline is based on a local legend about the chained oak tree, located in a nearby forest, and makes use of the history of the Towers.

It draws its theme from the legend of the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury who was said to be cursed by a beggar woman to suffer death every time a branch falls from an old oak tree.

[84] It is a large (with 7 pools and 10 water slides), part-indoor and part outdoor waterpark themed as a tropical Caribbean lagoon.

The Master Blaster is a high speed water flume that contains sharp turns, drops and dark sections, and has views of the entire indoor area of the waterpark.

The themed rooms on the top two floors of the hotel include Gangsta Granny, Chocolate, Sleepover, Coca-Cola, Splish Splash, Big Pyjama, The Smiler, Arabian Nights, Princess, and Dreamy Den.

Although Alton Towers had previously gained the necessary permits to expand the Enchanted Village, these plans were eventually scrapped and reduced into a "pod"-style accommodation option.

The council even initially rejected the application citing lack of imagination and "magic", although the plans were granted permission the second time without making any notable improvements.

[93] Noise pollution is also a problem for the park due to the close proximity to the villages of Alton and Farley and the town of Cheadle.

[52] Alton Towers has a tradition of codenaming its new roller coaster developments as "Secret Weapon", or "SW", followed by a number.

However the naming tradition actually began for unrelated reasons, since "Secret Weapon" was the working title of a roller coaster that was ultimately never commissioned.

[99] John Wardley rode the Arrow Dynamics prototype of their pipeline coaster, but stated "it was very slow and rather boring",[100] as well as the requirement for such a high lift hill being unsuitable for the park's planning restrictions.

[101] The naming convention was briefly dropped while the Tussauds Group changed ownership under Dubai International Capital, before being continued by Merlin Entertainments beginning with the Thirteen rollercoaster in 2010.

The Scarefest event has been running since 2007, although the park started celebrating Halloween with decoration several years before and has operated the Terror of the Towers scaremaze since 2002.

For the final few days of the season, Alton Towers host firework shows, which have been running annually since the 1990s on the Great Lawns.

[112] During the subsequent court case, Merlin retracted their statement and pleaded guilty to a breach of health and safety law.

[122] The couple were later granted permission to bring an injunction hearing against the park to enforce the order in November 2011, however there is no record of the case going ahead.