Best themed area at Alton Towers

[Ian]

Alton Towers is, in my opinion, the best park in the UK for well themed and atmospheric areas.

Ignorning the quality of rides in each area, which area do you think is best themed? I've put some images up for those who have never visited.

Cloud Cuckoo Land
Bright and tacky family area.

Dark Forest
Home to Rita and Turdteen. It's themed to a spooky forest with scaffolding and fibreglass trees.

Forbidden Valley
Nemesis, Air, SubTerrible and Blade. I'm not sure what the area is supposed to be. Some kind of monster infested valley with no overall theme...except for Nemesis.

Gloomy Wood
A (very small) haunted, gothic style village where Duel rules supreme. Graveyards and bats.

Katanga Canyon
A wild west style canyon with an overgrown lake. The rapids and runaway mine train are found here.

Mutiny Bay
Like something from Robin Hood. A quaint Medieval English village with game stalls, a pub and a few pirate themed rides.

Old MacDonald's Farmyard
Full of barn yards and tame, child-friendly rides.

X-Sector
An industrial area with rides such as Smiler and Oblivion that supposedly play with your mind!

If anybody wants to use this topic to reminisce about older themed areas, such as Ugland, feel free.

 

[furie]

The farmyard area is actually the most consistent and extensively themed. After that, Katanga Canyon is next and is as well landscaped as it is themed.

Gloomy Wood works well with Haunted Hollow and the Duel buildings look great.

Forbidden Valley is a mess these days, but it's still better than Dark Forest, which is just cramped and nasty, and nothing like a forest.

Cloud Cuckoo Land has just had a ton of theming chucked at it, and it proof that less is more

Mutiny Bay looks haphazard. Nothing really fits properly, but it's kind of done well, it's just very "RCT".

Finally, X-Sector is just crap. Kind of. Oblivion works well and even with The Smiler, there's a kind of consistency, but it's very lazy. Make it grey and concrete and it's industrial.

Some great photos by the way, and some sexy people in them

 

[CookieCoasters]

The nicest bits of AT i would say are the bits like the gardens and the massive field area near the entrance. I also really like the haunted hollow walk.

Out of the themed areas with rides i would put them in this order:

1) Katanga Canyon: Really nicely landscaped and very pleasant.
2) Forbidden Valley Mainly for the bit round Nemesis
3) Gloomy Wood: Small, but nice.
4) Dark Forest: It's just okay
5) Mutiny Bay: Same as above
6) Adventure Land: Used to be better (you forgot this from your poll)
7) X-Sector: Eughhhh! vile area

I haven't been in cloud cuckoo land or the farm area for a while now, so i couldn't compare, but from memory they were okay.

 

[Serena]

I voted for X-Sector because its' theme is consistent among all of the rides it has. The theme is very stark in comparison to other areas in A.T. - which probably makes it easier to maintain coherency; but also the simplicity of concrete, black track and one secondary colour per ride works well with the bare, slightly oppressive atmosphere they've tried to create.
Looking deeper, I'm not quite sure whether it's meant to be futuristic, industrial, Orwellian or cosmic/other worldly - but this is where the subtlety of X-Sector works, in that it allows imagination to fill in the gaps of what is going on in here.
It's also the only area of A.T. that carries a sense of completeness of theme once you step in, which is aided by the fact that it's situated in a corner of the park - it's not possible to simply walk through X-Sector, like you could Kantaga Canyon or Dark Forest, just to get to somewhere else. Therefore once you're walking around in X-Sector, there are no scenery changes, no glimpses of other rides of the park - this makes it more immersive. Once I step into X-Sector, I'm not thinking about anywhere else in the park - I can't say this for most of the other areas now.

If it were an option though, I would have voted for Forbidden Valley in the 90s - pre-Air. Not to sound like another harper for 'Altons Glory Days'; but because when Forbidden Valley was consistent - with red/black everywhere and objects such as overturned buses turned food-outlets, it was absolutely amazing. A real test for a darkly-themed area of a park for me, is whether it can carry the same moody atmosphere in daylight; and Forbidden Valley in the 90's really could. The addition of Nemesis Sub Terra has helped bring some of that alien-horror vibe back in my opinion; but Air still detracts from Forbidden Valleys atmosphere by being a big floaty blue sore thumb.

 

[ATTACKHAMMER]

If it was not for Air I would say Forbidden Valley. I think Dark Forest because although the themeing isn't great it is consistent with trees, statues and scaffolding.

 

[owentaylor121]

I would have said Dark Forest, but now with Rita's new 'tunnel' the place just looks vile.

I have to say X-sector now with The Smiler, has a great feel to place and the marmaliser. <3 <3 <3

 

[Screaming Coasters]

Katanga Canyon by far!!! Anything Tussauds built is so dramatic and authentic. Everything Merlin has touched lately has been turned to poo.

 

[FaceYourNemesis]

Katanga Canyon beats any other area as far as themeing is concerned. The huge lagoon and carefully selected foliage really create an atmosphere, and then you have the interaction of the Mine Train and Rapids <3 Even now the theme tune still fills me with great excitement.

Other areas in order:
Forbidden Valley
The area is supposed to be themed around a post-apocalyptic world due to the destruction of some alien thing in a pit. It's pretty cheesy as far as themes go, but is still one of the best areas of the park. The rides actually look grand and play a part the main story, although Air still looks out of place at the far end of the Valley.

X Sector
It's difficult to decide if this area is worthy of second place or not. X Sector looks so much better now with the addition of the Smiler. The themeing is outstanding in all areas, although a touch of the grey paint wouldn't go a miss.

Dark Forest
Just gross TBH! One side is a row of fast food cabins, the other side is endless cattlepens and one hideous Intamin accelerator. It takes more than a few fake vines and resin statues to make me feel like I'm in a forest. This is easily the worst theme ever to embrace the area in general. Festival Park and UgLand were stunning for their time.

 

[furie]

6) Adventure Land: Used to be better (you forgot this from your poll)

It doesn't really exist any more though. It's just a gateway to a manky worm and Sonic Spinball. It kind of merges into the farmyard area too - it's a difficult one as there's so little to it these days.

If it were an option though, I would have voted for Forbidden Valley in the 90s - pre-Air. Not to sound like another harper for 'Altons Glory Days'; but because when Forbidden Valley was consistent - with red/black everywhere and objects such as overturned buses turned food-outlets, it was absolutely amazing. A real test for a darkly-themed area of a park for me, is whether it can carry the same moody atmosphere in daylight; and Forbidden Valley in the 90's really could. The addition of Nemesis Sub Terra has helped bring some of that alien-horror vibe back in my opinion; but Air still detracts from Forbidden Valleys atmosphere by being a big floaty blue sore thumb.

While your thoughts on X-Sector are clearly some kind of mental derangement, you're spot on here.

The rotted double decker kebab shop was my favourite, but the entire place had the post apocalyptic vibe that was stunning. It was like walking into Mad Max mixed with Pitch Black. Brilliant and it;s just a shadow of its former self

Katanga Canyon beats any other area as far as themeing is concerned. The huge lagoon and carefully selected foliage really create an atmosphere, and then you have the interaction of the Mine Train and Rapids <3 Even now the theme tune still fills me with great excitement.

My biggest issue with Katanga Canyon is the tunnel. It's just so obviously "concrete tunnel". I don't know what they could have done to make it less so, but it's just a let down considering how extensively themed the rest of the area is. Fortunately, it's dark and you're through it quickly on RMT

 

[Pierre]

Gloomy Wood. Always had a soft spot for Duel and that little area. I think its the music that really helps it, especially in the later months of the year.

I dont know if they still use this music?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvSvA4NaS-8[/youtube]

I **** hate 'Mutiny Bay' - it was such a cheap transformation from Merry Old England or whatever the hell it was called.

X-Sector to me doesn't really have a theme...

Dark Forest is quite good, I like the ridiculous amount of vines/trees and the sound effects of vines growing extensively. Although I did like the music that used to be played in Rita's queueline before it changed to Dark Forest better.

Katanga Canyon is actually quite fab but could do with some TLC these days.

 

[FaceYourNemesis]

Katanga Canyon beats any other area as far as themeing is concerned. The huge lagoon and carefully selected foliage really create an atmosphere, and then you have the interaction of the Mine Train and Rapids <3 Even now the theme tune still fills me with great excitement.

My biggest issue with Katanga Canyon is the tunnel. It's just so obviously "concrete tunnel". I don't know what they could have done to make it less so, but it's just a let down considering how extensively themed the rest of the area is. Fortunately, it's dark and you're through it quickly on RMT

Agreed there! I've never liked that tunnel, it just has that lazy feel about it...

 

[Dan1989]

I would actually say Towers Street just as you walk in. With the stunning view of the towers on the other side of the lake, with practically no rides in view. The atmosphere it creates for the rest of the day. Like your stepping into another world. I always get a surge of excitement at the gates