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Keith Sparks
Keith Henley Sparks was a British attraction designer and developer for theme parks around Europe; an early innovator of theme park attractions and dark rides in the United Kingdom (UK). He was known for his characteristic production style and attractions for Alton Towers, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and the Tussauds Group. Notable attractions he produced include Prof. Burp's Bubble Works, The Haunted House, and Around The World In 80 Days ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe .... References Amusement ride manufacturers Animatronic engineers 1936 births 2011 deaths {{UK-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Citizen
British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the UK's historical status as a colonial empire. The primary class of British nationality is British citizenship, which is associated with the United Kingdom itself and the Crown dependencies. Foreign nationals may naturalize as British citizens after meeting a minimum residence requirement (usually five years) and acquiring settled status. British nationals associated with a current British Overseas Territory are British Overseas Territories citizens (BOTCs). Almost all BOTCs (except for those from Akrotiri and Dhekelia) have also been British citizens since 2002. Individuals connected with former British colonies may hold residual forms of British nationality, which do not confer an automatic right of abode in the United Kingdom and gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alton Towers
Alton Towers Resort ( ) (often referred to as Alton Towers) is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments Group and incorporates a theme park, water park, spa, mini golf and hotel complex. Originally a private estate of the Earls of Shrewsbury, Alton Towers' grounds were opened to the public in 1860 to raise funds. In the late 20th century, it was transformed into a theme park and opened a number of new rides from 1980 onwards. In 2019, it was the second most visited theme park in the UK with 2,130,000 visitors which puts it after Legoland Windsor. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alton Towers was only open from July 4th until November with a limited capacity meaning only 670,000 visitors came to the park in 2020. The park has many attractions such as Congo River Rapids, Runaway Mine Train, Nemesis, Oblivion, Galactica, The Smiler, Wicker Man, Rita and TH13TEEN. It operates a total of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bubbleworks
Bubbleworks (originally named Prof. Burp's Bubble Works, then Imperial Leather Bubbleworks from 2006) was a dark ride, dark water ride opened in 1990 at Chessington World of Adventures Resort in Greater London, England. It took riders through animated scenes of a comical factory producing fizzy pop. The original ride closed, to be redesigned in 2006 with a sponsorship by Imperial Leather toiletries, with the majority of the animations removed. The new Bubbleworks then closed in September 2016 to be replaced by ''The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure''. History Prof. Burp's Bubble Works The ride was created as part of the second phase to regenerate Chessington Zoo into a popular theme park. The Transylvania area in Chessington World of Adventures was created in 1990, opening with the Vampire (roller coaster), Vampire and Prof. Burp's Bubble Works as its main attractions. Park developer John Wardley developed the concept of a magical factory following the making of Professor Burp's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back!
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in the late 18th century in England, duels were more commonly fought using pistols. Fencing and shooting continued to co-exist throughout the 19th century. The duel was based on a code of honor. Duels were fought not so much to kill the opponent as to gain "satisfaction", that is, to restore one's honor by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it, and as such the tradition of dueling was originally reserved for the male members of nobility; however, in the modern era, it extended to those of the upper classes generally. On occasion, duels with swords or pistols were fought between women. Legislation against dueling goes back to the medieval period. The Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215) o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amusement Park
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often featuring multiple areas with different themes. Unlike temporary and mobile funfairs and carnivals, amusement parks are stationary and built for long-lasting operation. They are more elaborate than city parks and playgrounds, usually providing attractions that cater to a variety of age groups. While amusement parks often contain themed areas, theme parks place a heavier focus with more intricately-designed themes that revolve around a particular subject or group of subjects. Amusement parks evolved from European fairs, pleasure gardens, and large picnic areas, which were created for people's recreation. World's fairs and other types of international expositions also influenced the emergence of the amusement park industry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dark Ride
A dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain Animatronics, animation, sound, music and Special effect#Live special effects, special effects. Appearing as early as the 19th century, such exhibits include tunnels of love, scary themes and interactive stories. Terminology In its most traditional form, the term ''dark ride'' refers to ride-through attractions with scenes that use black lights, whereby visible light is prevented from entering the space, and only show elements that fluoresce under ultraviolet light, ultraviolet radiation are seen by the riders. The size of each room containing a scene or scenes is thus concealed, and the set designer can use forced perspective, Pepper's ghost and other visual tricks to create the illusion of distance. Typically, these experiences also use a series of opaque doors between scenes to further control riders' views within a spa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is , with an estimated 2020 population of more than 67 million people. The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales, annexed in 1542) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 170 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Blackpool Pleasure Beach is an amusement park situated on Blackpool's South Shore, in the county of Lancashire, North West England. It operates as a secure facility, and has introduced epayments via smartphones for admission charges, replacing wristbands and Pleasure Beach Passes, and removing the need to attend the Ticket Centre. The park was founded in 1896 by A. W. G. Bean and his partner John Outhwaite and has been family owned and operated since its inception. The current managing director is Bean's great-granddaughter Amanda Thompson. The park is host to many records, including the largest collection of wooden roller coasters of any park in the United Kingdom with four: the Big Dipper, Blue Flyer, Grand National and Nickelodeon Streak. Many of the roller coasters in the park are record-breaking attractions. When it opened in 1994, The Big One was the tallest roller coaster in the world. It was also the steepest, with an incline angle of 65° and the second fastest w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tussauds Group
The Tussauds Group was an entertainment company which is now a part of Merlin Entertainments. It was based in Poole, Dorset from where it managed a portfolio of brands and over 50 attractions that included the Madame Tussauds waxworks, Legoland Theme Parks, Legoland Discovery Centres, Sea Life Centres, PortAventura Park in Spain, Gardaland in Italy, Heide Park Resort in Germany, The Dungeons, The London Eye, The Blackpool Tower attractions, The Orlando Eye, Warwick Castle, Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, and Chessington World of Adventures. Merlin Entertainments bought the company in 2007, thus becoming the world's second largest leisure group after Disney. History The 1700s The physician, Philippe Curtius began to create organs and biological structures from wax. After creating organs, Curtius went on to recreate notable people in society out of the medium too. Curtius put these models on display to the public in Berne, Switzerland where they caught the attention of the French r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the List of most visited websites, second most visited website, after Google Search. YouTube has more than 2.5 billion monthly users who collectively watch more than one billion hours of videos each day. , videos were being uploaded at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute. In October 2006, YouTube was bought by Google for $1.65 billion. Google's ownership of YouTube expanded the site's business model, expanding from generating revenue from advertisements alone, to offering paid content such as movies and exclusive content produced by YouTube. It also offers YouTube Premium, a paid subscription option for watching content without ads. YouTube also approved creators to participate in Google's Google AdSens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duel – The Haunted House Strikes Back
The Curse at Alton Manor is a dark ride at the Alton Towers theme park near the village of Alton in Staffordshire, opened in 2023. It originally opened in 1992 as The Haunted House. In 2003 it received an overlay as Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back! with the addition of interactive shooting and a zombie theme, before closing in 2022 to be redesigned. There is a minimum height restriction of 1.1 metres for younger riders unless accompanied by an adult. History The Haunted House was designed by The Sparks Group and John Wardley and was the largest haunted attraction in Europe at the time of opening. The bespoke ride transit system was built by MACK Rides and designed to allow a high throughput whilst leaving the cars to travel the ride separately, and at varying speeds in different areas. Opening in March 1992, The Haunted House gained much publicity and remained one of Alton Towers' major rides for many years. Duel – The Haunted House Strikes Back! By 2002, many of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Around The World In 80 Days (Alton Towers)
Around the World in 80 Days was an attraction in the Talbot Street (now David Walliams World) area of Alton Towers theme park, Staffordshire, England. The attraction opened around 1981 or 1982, one or two years after the park first opened. It was the first dark ride at Alton Towers, one of the largest in the UK at the time, and was produced by Keith Sparks for the park's owner John Broome. It was a 4-minute boat ride which followed the adventures of Phileas Fogg and was loosely based on Jules Verne's 1873 novel ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' and took riders through various different countries from around the world. Each boat could hold 9 people and there were 10 boats with 1,000 guests an hour. Each country had its own music and some animated characters. You could travel through London, Siam, Egypt, New York City, Venice, Greenland, Las Vegas, Vienna, Holland, Brazil, Paris, London Docks and Battersea. The ride station was themed around the London docks and featured an anim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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