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.
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.