From Curses to Grannies: A Guide to Alton Towers’ Dark Rides

I recently took my first ever visit to Alton Towers, and while the main motivation for the trip was their fantastic coaster lineup (check out our rankings of them), it turns out Alton Towers has a pretty great collection of Dark(ish) Rides. I’m putting four main attractions into the category of Dark Rides for the purposes of our guide: Gangsta Granny: The Ride, Nemesis Sub-Terra, Hex – The Legend
of the Towers, and The Curse at Alton Manor. 

While only two of them are traditional tracked dark rides, I think they all comfortably fall into that category where the theming, story, and effects are the main attractions. I didn’t know much about any of them going into the trip, so to help future first timers here’s the Coaster101 guide to the main dark rides of Alton Towers!

Gangsta Granny: The Ride

Gangsta Granny: The Ride is part of the World of David Walliams area of Alton Towers, one of the park’s two kid’s lands. The ride, which opened in 2021, is based on the first Gangsta Granny book written by Walliams, a British comedian and author. The ride is a modern 4D dark ride, with a mix of animated scenes matching the art style of the books and practical sets and effects. The ride starts with you going on a tour to see the Crown Jewels, but then you get recruited by Granny and her grandson Ben to help them steal the jewels.

It’s definitely a ride aimed at kids, with what I’d call a “deliberate” pace as you slowly move between different scenes. But, the animation is well done, and, despite not knowing the source material, the story was cute and some of the gags made us chuckle. I especially liked one scene that mimics the effects of the Bourne Stuntacular, with a stationary motorbike in front of a screen full of motion to make it look like the bike is actually moving.

Nemesis Sub-Terra

Nemesis Sub-Terra is basically an underground, haunted, drop tower. Originally opened in 2012, it closed shortly after in 2015. It then sat unused until it was refurbished and re-opened in 2023, tied to the 2024 Nemesis Reborn re-opening. I’ll warn you that of all of these it’s probably the best to go in spoiler free, so stop reading here if you want to avoid those.

Sub-Terra’s ride ties into the story of Nemesis, centering around the organization that is unearthing and trying to control the Nemesis alien, Phalanx. You’re a guest on a tour (again) to see one of the alien “Nemesis eggs”, which we’re told is safely contained.

You take an elevator down to the egg chamber, then board your seats around the egg, then things go wrong. Alarms blare, lights flash, and the creature escapes. 4D effects like an extra scary version of “Tough to be a Bug” poke and prod at you.

The actual drop is pretty mild, and there’s only one, but the sound and lighting, and the physical effects make it a pretty intense ride. Now, I’m a coward and still enjoyed it, but definitely a scary attraction!

Hex – The Legend of the Towers

The oldest of the major Alton Towers dark rides, Hex opened back in 2000. It’s a combination of a walkthrough attraction and a Vekoma Madhouse. The attraction is set within restored areas of the actual Alton Towers manor house, the historic building that was there long before the estate became a theme park.

The ride’s theme is based on an actual 700 year old legend in the region about the Chained Oak. In the story the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury is cursed by an old beggar woman.

The walkthrough sections of the ride tell that part of the Legend, and then add on a story that the Earl has been experimenting on the tree and branches in a hidden vault in the Tower, which was just recently discovered during renovation. These walkthrough scenes are all set in rooms in the actual tower, before you enter the Madhouse at the end.

The Madhouse itself is really well done, with great lighting effects and music in addition to the disorienting rotating sensation. Both the pre-show and ride reminded me a lot of the high quality of Efteling’s Villa Volta, one of my favorite rides there, but I might have liked the Hex even more. And the fact that it’s set within the actual Alton Towers and based on a real legend of the Tower just adds so much character. It’s a can’t miss attraction at the park.

The Curse at Alton Manor

The newest dark ride of lineup is The Curse at Alton Manor, which opened in 2023. Curse at Alton Manor is actually the third version of the attraction. The ride originally opened as “The Haunted House” back in 1992, then an interactive attraction called “Duel” in 2003 before becoming Curse at Alton Manor.

The story focuses on Emily Alton, a little Victorian girl neglected by her rich parents. During a New Years Eve party at the house in 1891, supernatural energy causes everyone to disappear except Emily, and she haunts the manor to this day.

Without too many spoilers, after an elaborate queue full of more effects (and the story, I think), you board a vehicle in a moving station. But unlike omnimovers, each car is independent, so it can slow down and speed up as the ride moves through a series of creepy scenes in the cursed manor. Emily talks to you throughout the ride, threatening you and tells you she just wants to play. True ghostly horror vibes!

The Curse at Alton Manor is full of fantastically detailed classic special effects, alongside more modern projection mapping. There are also tons of elaborate physical sets and animatronics, including some with really impressive scale. Apparently for Alton Towers experts it’s also full of Easter Eggs about defunct rides and past versions of the haunted house.

Overall, this is one of the creepiest rides I’ve ever been on, if not the creepiest. It’s not full of gore or jump scares like Haunt mazes (although there are some), but just really, really unsettling. And unlike Gangsta Granny, it has a pretty quick pace with things being thrown at you constantly. There’s so much going on that we noticed things on our second ride through that we completely missed on the first, and I imagine there’s a ton more we still didn’t catch.

I absolutely loved it. I think it was one of my top attractions at the park period, up there with the best roller coasters.

Alton Towers doesn’t really market itself on its dark rides, the major coasters like Nemesis and Wickerman get the marketing, but this collection genuinely holds its own. You’ve got something for every kind of visitor: a lighthearted family ride, an intensely atmospheric drop ride, a beautifully crafted madhouse, and one of the creepiest haunted houses I’ve ever encountered. And they’re all at a quality that rivals the best dark rides in North America. Whatever your appetite, don’t skip them. They might end up being some of your favorite things in the park.

If you’ve been to Alton Towers, let us know what your favorite Alton Towers dark ride is in the comments, and be sure to check out our ranking of Alton Towers coasters!