Alton Towers superfan and teacher marks reopening of haunted house he has ridden 15,000 times by hosting class trip

An Alton Towers enthusiast and teacher who visits the theme park every weekend celebrated the reopening of their haunted house attraction earlier this month – which he estimates he has been on 15,000 times – by racking up 35 rides on opening weekend and even bringing his class of students along.

Michael Eley, 51, a primary schoolteacher, lives next door to Alton Towers and is so dedicated to the theme park’s haunted house ride, named The Curse at Alton Manor, he estimates he has been on the attraction around 15,000 times in his life.

Michael, who moved to Alton village, Staffordshire, to be closer to the theme park in 2013, lives with his wife, Caroline, 50, a Tesco worker, and has three children, Jamie, 29, Charlie, 23, and Sonny, 20, said: “It all started with my brother dragging me on ghost trains as a kid, I always wanted to go on the rides he liked with him and that sparked a lifelong love of them.

Michael’s love of Alton Towers dates back to 1976, after going on a family outing with his mum and older brother.

He said: “Back then, it didn’t have the big rollercoasters and the attractions were more like fairground rides.

“My dad would take us to fairgrounds, and I became fascinated by the haunted houses, the set-up and decoration of them, and how the experiences were designed.”

In 1992, Alton Towers opened their classic Haunted House ride, which became a firm favourite for Michael.

“I would take my girlfriend, who then became my wife, on days out to Alton Towers in the 90s. We would drive there regularly and it was just escapism, getting away from the humdrum life and doing something fun,” he said.

A handful of park visits a year soon became twice a week after Michael and his family relocated from Doncaster to Alton in 2013, to be just minutes away from the theme park.

He said: “My dad had always dreamed of living in Spain, which never happened. After he passed away, it sparked something within me to actually do as much as I could now to live my life to the full.”

“My wife and I had always talked about how beautiful Alton village is every time we had visited, so around 10 years ago we finally decided to make the move.

“I’ll pop down to the theme park in the afternoons on Saturday and Sunday, and then if I’m off work during school holidays, then I’ll head over most days.

He added: “I’ve always loved how the park looked and the feeling of being there when you walk through those gates. It’s a magical place where you forget your troubles and everyone can enjoy themselves. It has a really happy vibe about it.”

This month, Michael’s favourite attraction has had a revamp as the original Haunted House, most recently known as Duel, has been updated into The Curse at Alton Manor and Michael made sure to be in line to be one of the first to try out the new ride.

Luckily for Michael, when opening day came, he was in attendance and says he was blown away by the revamp.

“All I could think was, ‘wow’. I went on 35 times that weekend and since then, I’ve been on a total of 86 times.”

The haunting experience at Alton Towers Resort takes guests on a hair-raising journey of spectacular twists and turns through an abandoned and cursed Manor.

Alton Towers reached out to Michael and offered for him to bring his students to check out the new ride and, last week, he took a year six class on a school trip to try out the family-friendly attraction.

He added: “The kids loved it, and it was great to see them experience it.”

Michael has also poured his love of the Alton Towers haunted ride into a book called Smoke and Mirrors: The Haunted House of Alton Towers.

Self-published with Amazon in 2013, the dad-of-three is now in talks with Alton Towers to sell it in their gift shop.

“He was three years older than me and was always very kind and caring about me. Unfortunately, he passed away when he was 18 so we never got to make memories as adults together.

“Going on those rides feels very nostalgic and brings back those memories of being on the ghost train with my brother or having my dad take us to local fairgrounds and me being fascinated by the haunted houses there.

“It’s a childhood passion that I never grew out of and is very much my happy place.”