UK theme park Alton Towers has signed a deal with The Cloud to offer all of its guests free Wi-Fi. The Staffordshire home of the hugely popular rollercoasters Oblivion, Nemesis and Th13teen will offer the unlimited service across its entire 500-acre site.

Visitors will be able to access site information through the wireless internet connection, and email and surf the web to their hearts' content. However, it is the access to social networks that may well see the most dominant use of the new service. Guests can post pictures and experiences they have from the site itself.

Merlin Entertainments, which owns Alton Towers, along with Thorpe Park, Madame Tussauds and many other tourist attractions, has already rolled out The Cloud Wi-Fi access to the London Eye earlier this year, and Katherine Duckworth, the park's head of consumer marketing believes that the free internet access will improve the overall visitor experience.

"The rapid growth in the use of smartphones and tablets has fundamentally changed how many of us use the internet and has increased people’s demand for internet access wherever they are, which is why we want to offer free WiFi access to guests of Alton Towers Resort," she said.

"The Resort is all about having fun and creating lasting memories, which people naturally want to tell their friends about on social networks and even share photos and videos throughout their day with us. The new WiFi offering lets them do all this and more, making it a more personal and interactive experience."

Alton Towers has yet to reveal the exact date that its free Wi-Fi service will start, but it does promise that it will go live "this summer".

Pic: (cc) Mrs TeePot