Alton Towers - can kids wait to the side on the big rides?

Taking a 12 year old who is not interested in rollercoasters to AT to just spend all day queing up for rides they don't even want to go on is just mean. What a shit day out that is.

Leave the 12 year old at home or with grandparents/whatever and just go with the 9 year old. Plenty of rides for a day to keep that age occupied and parents can sneak in a ride or 2 on the 1.4s at various points.

Have you had children of this age or are you speaking from the perspective of a parent of very young children?
It really isn't normal to wait until children are 15 before allowing them these freedoms.
School trips go abroad every year where children as young as 12 are allowed to go off in small groups without an adult.
What exactly do you think is going to happen if children are exposed to strangers. We all meet strangers every single day and nothing terrible happens.

Children of 11 and 12 negotiate travelling to school every day on public transport across cities. Why on earth would they not be capable of going round a theme park until they were 14 or 15.
If they were there with school tbey would be going round without adults as well.

Alton Towers has school trips all the time along with scouts, guides etc. These groups don't all go around together with teachers or leaders. They break off into small groups of anything from 2 to 6 friends and go off on their own with a pre arranged meeting point and time. It si perfectly okay for a 12 and 9 year old to go around together and go on some rides with regular check ins from parents.

@ItShouldntHappenToMeYet but you have argued that people shouldn’t let 12yo be on their own, regardless of whether they would be in charge of a 9yo

Thanks for posting this
The vitreol I have received for thinking it is wrong to allow a 12 yr old to supervise a 9yr old in such a place is quite fascinating.
Good to know it's not allowed!

So your children won't leave your side of have any independent existence until the age of 14 or 15? That's going to be pretty shit for them. At 12 I was cycling to school and out most of the day at the weekends with my friends.

I'd never leave young kids alone at alton towers!

That's a stupid idea.

I agree with others that alton tiers is not the best place for a thrill seeker that is under 1.4m.

Try drayton or chessington.

Are you serious? It's not a random rule for no reason it's a safety restriction!

Do you want a smaller child falling out of the restraints while upside down at 60 mph because you put them in platform shoes and fluffed their hair up? Jesus.

Could you buy some platform shoes for the 9 year old so that they meet the 1.4m criteria?

Or fluff their hair up?

For a 9 year old daredevil that's not yet 1.4, Alton Towers wouldn't be my first choice. Basically 13, spin ball, wicker man and smaller rides at that size.

There's upside down coasters with lower restrictions at a few theme parks in the UK now - Fantasy Island, Chessington, Drayton Manor, Blackpool - and all of those have more interesting options for shorter kids generally.

Then there'll be more you and hubby can do with 9 year old, and 12 year old is able to do their own thing if wanted.

The answer is no.

It's in their terms and conditions that a child under 12 must be under the supervision and control of a person over the age of 18 at all times.

I got a bollocking from security for leaving a ten year old for 5 minutes while I went on a ride they were too small for.

Oh yes, I forgot about them - my husband had a lovely time in Chessington going repeatedly on one of the rides while we went on the Gruffalo ride or some such, as the single rider queue was so short. So if they have them at Alton towers you may be better off queuing separately anyway. Perhaps with the bigger rides there you get more single riders though.

Neither did I.
I said alone in public.

Some have single rider queues that are supposedly quicker, I don't think you should be leaving a 9 year old with a 12 year old to queue and they won't allow the 9 year old to be in the queue

Okay...

Yes I agree - surely this is a wind up?

@ItShouldntHappenToMeYet if you choose to share stuff then people are going to respond.

You don't get to dictate what people think about your posts.

I didn't say they weren't allowed out in public - it is the situation and context that should guide decisions

You do not know if I have kids
You don't know if I have lost a kid to illness or trauma
So please keep your 'sympathy' to yourself.

Not allowed out alone in public until at least 14?! And we wonder why there's so many teens experiencing mental health and resilience crisis these days.

@ItShouldntHappenToMeYet there isn't a single person on this thread who agrees with your viewpoint 🤷‍♀️

And yes, I will feel sorry for your kids if you don't allow them any freedoms like going to a theme park unaccompanied.

You can get parent queue at alton towers which allows parents to take it in turns to fastrack

This is unbelievable! You plan to take your kids to Alton Towers, so they can spend half the day standing in queues for rides they can’t go on, then stand around some more while you and your husband go on the rides? That’s like waking your kids up at 5am on Christmas Day to watch you and your husband opening presents, while not having any themselves!

Can I make a suggestion? Why don’t you and your husband take a day off work and go to Alton Towers while the kids are at school. It’ll be much quieter, you’ll be able to go on endless thrill rides, and your kids won’t have to stand there waiting for you.