Cost - £250,000
Opened - 1986
Rethemed - 1996/1997
Attractions
Amazing Maze
Astroglide
Ball Pool
Biff n' Bash
Building Site
Cookie Mountain
Enchanted Parrots
Fireman's Pole
FreeFall and Tube Slides
Funbag
FunRun
Grimble's Clown-a-Round
Net Climb
Paddling Pool
Radio Models
Soft Play
Tarzan Run
Toddlers' Funbag
Trim Trail Obstacle Course
Tube Slides
Kiddies Kingdom
arrived at Alton Towers for the 1986 season, providing a much needed
area where kids could escape to the park's £250,000 new adventure
playground.
The kingdom boosted a
wide range of equipment aimed at a variety of ages, from the ball
pools and soft play for the very young through to attractions for
slightly older youngsters, such as the Trim Trail or Cookie
Mountain.
The entrance to the
area was housed under the somewhat iconic towers and bridges of the
FunRun, which ran along the entire front end of the area. Beyond
this sat the Net Climb and slides that dominated the area's central
arena, including the fear inducing Freefall slide and beneath the
lower of these structures was a room of punchbags known as Biff n'
Bash. The centre of the area also housed the Tarzan Run, Radio
Models and Amazing Maze.
Along the end of the
area nearest to Towers Street was the Trim Trail and two pagodas,
housing the Cookie Mountain and the Fun Bag (which was later
replaced by a Bouncy Castle). Finally the back of the area was
dedicated to Toddlers, with a large area covered by a tension
membrane, which housed the Soft Play and Ball Pool, as well as a
junior version of the FunBag, so no one missed out on the fun.
Sitting slightly away for this under their own pagodas was the
Building Site and Bouncy Castle, which sat next to the tented home
of the parrot show.
Area History
During the years John
Broome managed the park, Kiddie Kingdom remained much the same as it
was when it opened, with the only significant change being Grimble's
Clown-a-Round replacing the parrot show.
Tussauds however were
more proactive with the area and when they took over, the FreeFall
slide and Funbags were swiftly removed, surely much to the relief of
the park's Health and Safety officer. The FreeFall was replaced by a
second Astrodglide and third Tube Slide, whilst Bouncy Castle
replaced the FunBags.
When Storybook Land
opened for the 1996 season the Cookie Mountain and half the FunRun
was removed to make way for the station of the Squirrel Nutty Ride.
This coincided with area becoming known as Adventureland, however it
wasn't until the following year that the area changed significantly
with the removal of the Trim Trail, Amazing Maze, Radio Controlled
Models, Tarzan Run, Building Site and several of the slides and
Adventureland starting to become the area we see today.
Finding Kiddies
Kingdom
Looking at Adventure
Land today it's very difficult to imagine how such a small area
could hold so much, and to work out where everything sat back when
the area first came into existence.
Cookie Mountain
and FunBag - the pagodas which held these attractions were
removed at the end of 1995 to make way for the queueline of the
Squirrel Nutty Ride.
Trim Trail -
This was removed at the end of 1996 and replaced by the Beastie.
Free Fall and Net
Climb - The Free Fall was replaced by a Tube Slide and
Astroglide for the 1991 season. These remained until 2002 when they
were replaced by Space Adventures. The Net Climb was removed to make
way for the station to the Squirrel Nutty Ride for 1996.
Tube Slides, Biff
n' Bash, Radio Models and Astroglide - These were all removed
in 1996. The area was later home to Castle Adventures in 2002 and is
no the site of the Spinball Whizzer photo booth.
Amazing Maze and
Tarzan Run - These were replaced by the Gallopers Carousel in
1997 and the site is now the entrance area for Spinball Whizzer.
FunRun - One
end of this was removed to make way for the station of the Squirrel
Nutty Ride. the rest remained until the end of 2000. The area now
contains Refresh@ Spinball as well as the Immelman element of
Spinball Wizzer.
Building Site and
Bouncy Castle - The pagodas that contained these attractions
became part of the Hospitality Suite (which replaced the tent that
contained the Parrot Show). They were removed at the end of 2003 to
make way for Spinball Whizzer as they sat in the area where the
coaster's break run now is.
Ball Pool, Soft
Play and Toddler's FunBag - the FunBag was replaced by a bouncy
castle for the 1997 season. These attractions then remained in place
until 2002 when the high tension membrane that covered them
became home to Little Magic, a selection of play equipment, sand
pits and a bouncy castle. Little Magic and the membrane were removed
at the end of 2003 and the site is now home to the Station and Lift
Hill of Spinball Whizzer.
