In 2007, Alton Towers went ‘Dung-Ho’ with the opening of an adventure playground for younger children themed around the peculiarly British, and eternally fascinating, topic of ‘dung’. Interactive play areas included a Spider ‘Springy Cobweb Climbing zone’, a ‘Creepy Crawly Basharound’, Toxic Bog ‘Toadstool Boingupons’ and a Mushroom maze! Kids could also join in the Bug Chorus in the Soil Albug Hall, zip along on a silken zip wire, spring across a bog and even become a conductor in the trash can symphony, while parents watched from the trunk of a beanstalk.
The Dung Heap is due to take up the old paddocks by the Riverbank Eye-Spy, though currently it is more like a mud heap by the first bend.
From the Riverbank Eye-Spy bridge you can see over the duck pond to the middle of the construction site.
The site stretches all the way to the other end of the farm alongside the big top, near the windmill.
Construction continues on the Dung Heap. (That’s not it on the right, that’s more of a Soil Heap)
As the site is really starting to shape up now…
…and it’s quite large reaching all the way around the back of the Riverbank Eye Spy.
Old MacDonald had a Dung Heap –
E-I-E-I-O – and on that Dung Heap he had a…
Digger! E-I-E-I-O with a… umm… well a digger noise really. But what’s that over there?
Ooh… behind the pile of dirty we can see one of the old animal shelters which used to sit in the paddock which is now home to the Dung Heap. But what else is that is I see?
Oh look… it’s a crane… lifting into place the first piece of the playground.
Oh yes… the Dung Heap has gone vertical people! Head for the hills!
Just three days later and the framework for the first structure on the site is up.
A closer look at the pointed frame. Will this be the entrance building for the playground? We’ll have to wait and see.
The building is quite a dominant feature, seen here sticking out above the sheep paddock on the Riverbank Eye-Spy.
It is also visible over the duck pond in the middle of the Riverbank Eye-Spy.
Meanwhile in the middle of the site we can get an overview of what the playground will be like in a few months time.
It is now possible to see the far edges of the attraction, giving you an idea of the size.
Peeking though the Riverbank Eye-Spy fence, we can see some of the construction rubbish waiting to be taken away.
As the season begins, now is the best time to get construction shots of the Dung heap from Riverbank Eye Spy.
The Springy Cob-Web Climbing Zone is now up.
A closer look at the new climbing frame.
Beyond you can see a play area, which looks to be aimed at younger kids…
…complete with a small slide and balance beams.
In front of the climbing frame is the new zipwire.
The Silken Zip Wire runs almost the entire length of the playground.
By the entrance of the Dung Heap the structure seen in earlier shots has now begun to be themed.
It looks to be a giant ant hill, no doubt this will be Soil Albug Hall.
As the season has now begun, the park is advertising their new play area.
As the piles of earth start to subside, the old animal houses start to emerge once again.
At the same time the cow poops out the lower end of a zip wire.
The central climbing frame looks to be completed, but there seems to be two smaller frame which aren’t finished.
As you can see, fencing has started to go up to separate off the different areas.
Lots of work still to be done around the site…
…will it be ready for the 28th? It seriously doesn’t look like it.
Work has forged on with the Royal Albug Hall, it just needs painting now.
To finish we have a shot of the flies on the roof of Royal Albug Hall, silhouetted in the singing sun!
The sun rises over the Dung Heap on the rides opening day, but is it finished?
Well yes and no. The attraction is certainly open to the public, but is not yet completed.
Rather disappointingly, inside the ‘Soil Albug Hall’ there is no sign of the ‘Bug Chorus’ or the ‘trash can symphony’, only and interactive bug mat. (Which at this early stage isn’t so interactive)
The Mushroom Maze is looking more akin to the queue line the an attraction in it’s own right.
And the central viewing plaza is clearly unfinished, with the old Adventure Land benches in situ, not really fitting in with anything around them.
That having been said, the play equipment itself is all in place and open to the public, such as the climbing frame seen here in Cobweb Capers.