Year 1980 - 1990
1982: A new attraction, A Royal Weekend Party 1898, opens at Warwick Castle
1983: Royalty and Railways opens at Windsor and Eton Central Station. Name changes in 1984 to Royalty and Empire. Exhibition sold in 1991
1986: Warwick Castle's Victorian Rose Garden, first laid down in1868, is restored to its original design and opened by HRH The Princess of Wales
1987: Chessington Zoo re-opens as Chessington World of Adventures following £18 million investment
1989: Madame Tussaud's Rock Circus opens on the upper floors of The London Pavilion, Piccadilly Circus
1990: Alton Towers is acquired for £60 million
Company name changes to The Tussauds Group Ltd
1991: A new Madame Tussaud's Amsterdam opens in a new location on Dam Square
1993: The Spirit of London dark ride finale opens at Madame Tussaud's
The Tussauds Group Studios move to new premises in West London
1994: The Tussauds Group's head office moves from Madame Tussaud's to Maple House, Tottenham Court Road, London
A new attraction: Kingmaker - A Preparation For Battle, opens at Warwick Castle
1995: Port Aventura opens in Spain. The Tussauds Group is the largest shareholder with 40% and manages the £300 million theme park; 2.7 million people visit in the first year
The London Planetarium re-opens following a seven month, £4.5 million renovation scheme
1996: £12 million Alton Towers Hotel opens – the first ever hotel to be designed and built by The Tussauds Group
New £1 million Chamber of Horrors opens at Madame Tussaud's
1997: The Ripsaw ride is launched at Alton Towers
Action Man's Critical Mission opens at Chessington World of Adventures
Madame Tussaud's Touring Attraction opens for a limited season in Melbourne, Australia
1998: Oblivion, the world's first vertical drop roller coaster, opens at Alton Towers
The Tussauds Group's parent company Pearson plc sells its 40.5% stake in Port Aventura, and The Tussauds Group ceases managing the park's operations
The Tussauds Group acquires Thorpe Park, the south east England based theme park
The Tussauds Group signs a lease to open a Madame Tussaud's exhibition in the new Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino, Las Vegas
Madame Tussaud's Touring Exhibition closes in Melbourne and moves on for a limited season in Sydney
After twenty years as part of Pearson plc, The Tussauds Group is acquired by Charterhouse Development Capital. Charterhouse, a leading private equity firm, specialises in backing experienced management teams in quality companies with growth potential
1999: Madame Tussaud's Rock Circus opens mid-March following a £ multi-million re-design
Madame Tussaud's Las Vegas opens at the new Venetian Hotel in July
Madame Tussaud's Touring Attraction moves from Sydney to Singapore
Pirates 4-D - the UK's first ever 4-D experience opened at Thorpe Park
