A mum who visited Alton Towers' water park with her toddler felt like she had "swallowed fire" as guests complained of irritation to their eyes and throats.
Sammi Bristow was visiting the Splash Landings attraction on Monday, March 2, with her ex partner, Joe, and their son, Kye, to celebrate the toddler's second birthday.
But what was supposed to be a fun family day out ended abruptly when Ms Bristow and other guests fell ill.
The 31-year-old said: "I booked the day off work and we went to Splash Landings.
"We were hoping to make a day of it and get some food.
"We got there at 10am and at about 12.15pm we were getting out of the pool to get the little one some dinner.
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"All of a sudden, I felt really dizzy and sick and my throat was burning so much I desperately needed a drink.
"It felt like I was swallowing fire.
"It smelt [the venue] a bit like turps, as if someone had been painting.
"The smell was awful. I turned to Joe and said 'we need to go home – I don't feel right'.
"When I was getting ready to leave, I saw some people speaking to lifeguards, but didn’t think anything of it.
"I just felt that I was coming down with something.
"But then people were being told to get out of the pool."
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Ms Bristow, who is a care assistant, said she "thought she was going to be sick" all the way home.
She said: "I got home and went straight to bed.
"I didn't even know anything had gone on until the evening, when my phone started going mad.
"People had seen I tagged myself at Splash Landings on Facebook , so they were worried about us.
"I didn’t have any eye irritation like other people, but I was wearing my glasses, so I don’t know if that helped.
"Luckily, Kye was okay, but I was really worried he was going to get ill in the night.
"If Kye had been ill I'd have been a lot more angry and upset, but he seemed okay and had a nice time while we were there."
Ms Bristow, who lives in Stretton said the illness ruined her day and cut her son's birthday short.
She said: "I feel better now but I still don’t feel 100 per cent.
"I'm going to give it until tomorrow night and if I'm still not feeling right I'm going to go to the doctors. I just feel lousy.
"It ruined my day because I had so much to do in preparation for Kye's birthday and it wrote me off.
"His birthday was cut short because I wasn’t feeling well.
"I spoke to someone from Alton Towers on Tuesday night and they still didn’t know what caused it."
A spokesman for Alton Towers apologised to anyone affected by the problem on Monday.
She said: "Unfortunately, the water park will remain closed today and tomorrow, Thursday, March 5.
"For guests staying in our hotels, we are opening rides and attractions in the Mutiny Bay area of the theme park, including Sharkbait Reef by SeaLife.
"Additional entertainment will also be offered in CBeebies Land Hotel.
"Day guests with pre-booked tickets for the water park on these dates will be offered a return ticket or refund.
"We apologise to our guests for any inconvenience this may cause."
Towers bosses said earlier today the cause of the incident was still being investigated.
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