Spent a fortune on Alton Towers and nearly everything was closed

I have to admit, maybe it's because I'm not a billion miles away but even when Alton Towers was THE thing in the 80s or 90s, I'm not sure spending two nights in a hotel would have been worth it. That's a lot of expense.

But then it's so easy to do this in the holidays isn't it? I once took my son to London for the weekend to a special event at the Science Museum. He was so disappointed and so was I. The event itself wasn't that expensive but it was a lot less fun than it seemed on the ads. In the end the highlight of the weekend was a Thai restaurant we found 10 minutes walk from the museum.

Then he got in a grump and refused to go anywhere else and just wanted to hang out till our train (which I'd booked so we couldn't go early).

Sadly, planned activities in the UK in school holidays can often be a bit of a let down mostly because everyone has the same idea and everything was overpriced even before all the recent craziness. Even if it was the best day they could have done, it would have felt expensive and probably been cold.

The funny thing is my trip to London taught me something. I don't have to do "big" to have fun. We have some closer theme parks I'd go to in a heartbeat over Alton Towers. Are the rides as good (when they're running) no but they're cheaper, everyone has lower expectations and it's all just less hassle. Escape rooms can sometimes be pretty reasonable too (and you can often get online vouchers for discounts). It's a fun hour together even if you don't solve the puzzle.

So anyway. Maybe lesson learned?

Two of them don’t even open until May so you would have missed them anyway by going at this time of year. I’m sorry you had a bad day but I think you need to accept part of the responsibility. Before we book any tickets for theme parks we always check the website to see if there’s any planned maintenance.

I'd be furious too. No doubt they will just tell you that the closure information was on their website and you should have checked first, but it still sucks. The onus shouldn't have to be on the customer to go finding out what isn't available before you book.

All you can do is speak to their cusomer services team and ask for a refund or a voucher to return another time. Say that you will go out of your way to leave bad reviews absolutely everywhere possible, if they don't recompense you, including on MN, which obviously you have already done but can do again.

This is the school holidays so unless it was due to something unforeseen, like high winds and safety concerns, I can only imagine they must be struggling financially if loads of stuff is closed at what you would expect to be a busy time.

You could also threaten to take it up with one of the consumer programmes on the TV or radio as well because the exposure would be really bad for them.

We can't wait until our kids are old/tall enough to go on the big rides at Europa and Efteling.

We're cautiously excited for Universal as the kids will certainly be big enough by then. But Alton Towers is a nightmare to get to and rapidly becoming not worth the trek any more. Most of the rest of the Merlin owned parks are heading that way too to be fair.

I did the half marathon in November there. More was open then.

The monorail literally only takes people to the car park and back. Has no effect on the ride queues at all.

Theme parks (especially Merlin ones) are just awful. So much money for the 'pleasure' of a day of queuing with your bored, whiny children. Plus they're a wasp magnet, and the frustration of the experience makes people behave selfishly - thinking there of the lovely couple who left a nappy bag filled with nappy and shit in the middle of the table at Legoland Pizza Hut while everyone else was eating their (horrible) lunch.

YADNBU. Has this experience post Covid, loads of rides shut, far too many people in the park, and blamed it on the difficult times but it seems like a normal thing for theme parks these days. Time was, you could time your visit and have a great experience.

I watch Theme Park review videos and they have all said the same. Loads of the big rides were not fixed or maintained in the closed season and they are not being upfront about it. YANBU.

Edit - when you actually get there there are staff at ride entrances saying the ride is down. Sometimes they open for an hour, sometimes not at all. The entire back area of the park hasn't been opening until lunchtime.

Agree OP is exaggerating and clearly doesn't know AT. Skyride and mono rail aren't going to affect your dc.

You can't be expecting water rides at easter.

The only disappointment is oblivion and runaway mine train. And neither of them are that great. More time to go on nemesis and smiler. Personally I love hex!

We had this last year. I made a complaint and got my money back.

Can you go to the water park there instead, it's really good

The issues with oblivion are posted online, I can’t see it properly reopening again unless they rebuild it. If that’s the full list of closures I think it’s ok at this time of year, the water rides always open a bit further into the season don’t they?

This...worked for me in the past

Think oblivion is actually open again actually so only runaway mine train that's closed for the day

Rides do close temporarily so maybe OP had bad luck, but she hasn't clarified so it's difficult to respond

We went last year for my son's birthday and we got on 2 rides all day! They were closing rides left, right and centre.
We would queue for a ride for more than half an hour, get near the front and then they would shut it!

We stayed overnight in a hotel because it isn't just a day trip due to our location.

So disappointing for my son.

An absolute disgrace of a place.
We complained and they sent out tickets to return, but we won't be going back.

We went to Alton towers in the summer,cost over £200 but we only managed to get on 4 rides all day,the queue’s were that long,I think it would be best to pay per ride or something similar an no it wasn’t the school holiday either.

Are rides other than Oblivion and Runaway Mine Train closed?

Rita, Smiler, Toxicator, Nemesis Subterra, Nemesis Reborn, The curse, Wicker Man. Galactica, Thi3teen, Hex, Spinball Wizzer?

What about CBeebies land, the teacups and the pirate ship?

If any of those are closed but not listed as closed on the website - you may have an argument.

However, if they are all open and you are moaning about what is essentially two rides being closed (monorail and skyride are not rides as such and the Rapids and Battle Galleons never open until May) then you are being very unreasonable.

Even more so for using hyperbole and claiming 50% of rides are closed!

Sounds irritating but not something that would ruin the whole visit to me - as pp have said there are plenty of rides open. Having said that, Europapark is fantastic and surprisingly little-known in the UK. We had a brilliant trip a few years back and they have opened a water park since then too.

My 40 count wasn't including gift shops or food outlets, it was the attractions.

Even if 17 attractions for adults and older kids are left, 5 of which are closed, that still leaves 12. Sure, I'd be disappointed to not get to go on Oblivion, but there's plenty of others to choose from!

As someone else said - water rides closed until May (fair enough, weather is only just starting to improve this time of year) and I'd rather rides be closed for essential maintenance than risk a serious accident that could close the park completely!

Agree @bunsnroses1 Also Europa in Germany (near French border). Fantastic park- excellent value for money, decent food, small queues… We are shit at theme parks in this country. I don’t like them anyway so it’s no skin off my nose, but my kids like them and they LOVED Europa. We’ve been twice and they both said it was much better than Paris Disney (and waaaay cheaper).

There's plenty open...

Run away mine train and oblivion are the only rides closed.

The water rides are never open this time of year.

Yabu

That's not very accurate - If you ignore the monorail, food outlets, gift shops and snack concessions there are 36 "attractions".
Of those 36 attractions, 13 are in Cbeebies Land and 6 are "Young Fun and Imagination".
That leaves 17 actual rides for older kids and grown ups, of which 5 were shut. That's a bit shit really.

It’s not the school holidays yet for a lot of areas, maybe that’s it and they’re getting ready for the hols and Easter weekend? If a lot was actually closed and it impacted your day that much then they should have really given you an update beforehand.

Not really - the monorail and Skyride (cable cars) aren't rides as such - just ways of getting around the park

The rapids and battle galleons are water rides so don't open until May - that isn't unexpected and is clear on the website.

It is only Run Away Mine Train and Oblivion - both of which are older, generally less popular rides!