Alton Towers has launched a new experience for the 2019 season. Called the Alton Towers Dungeon, the attraction takes guests on a thrilling journey through Staffordshire's darkest moments.

Located on the site of the former Charlie and the Chocolate Factory dark ride, the Alton Towers Dungeon utilises elements from the previous attraction, including the former chocolate river, which now features newly-themed vessels, to transport guests through eight immersive scenes, showcasing the area's dark and gory history.

To create the Dungeons, Merlin partnered with longtime collaborator Holovis, who previously worked on the park's stand out Wicker Man rollercoaster.

Designed to bring the attraction to life, the experiential design firm used multisensory immersive techniques, such as AV, lighting, audio, SFX and projection mapping, to create a sense of unease and discomfort in guests.

Peter Cliff, creative director at Holovis, said: "One of the highlights for me is the zonal audio, where during a blackout scene voices and whispers surround the guests and give the impression that live actors are right behind them, breathing down their necks.

"Audio is something that often isn't used to its full capability within projects so it's great to experience it being used as a key storytelling metric."

"Another striking feature is the talking heads where we've intricately projection mapped on to the three-dimensional theming to make it look like the head is really talking. Details like this make the experience stand out in the minds of guests, whilst the technology remains invisible and frictionless," he added.