Yeah baby, ALTON TOWERS

[SenselessUbiquity]

So, wise women of mumsnet, hit me up with your tips and tricks for Alton Towers with a 10 year old and an 8 year old. I haven't been for SO LONG and I want to know what pitfalls to avoid, etc

Thank you!

Don’t go:

Their blatant disregard for the safety of the public, the lack of maintainance on rides and the actions (and ommissions) of many that resulted in children sustaining life changing injuries has put me off Merlin attractions for life.

Keep an eye on the ride times on the app and throughout the park to decide which ride to go on next.
Decent shoes are a must, lots of walking even more so if taking the scenic route through the woods to cross the park.
Take your own water bottles there are refill stations and if you decide to go for the free fizzy refills (when you buy a cup) ypu can share between yourselves by decanting into your own cup, obviously not in tbe rules but they are expensive otherwise.
If eating in the park, checkout times as often kids are free after 3.
Ive not been this year so some things may have changed but have been many times before.

When you get there ask the staff in the ticket booths if they expect it to be busy and if it's worth buying fasttrack(queue jump) tickets for the big rides. If they say it is - then definitely get them!

Everytime I've been to Alton Towers of Thorpe Park I've always asked for advice on this and they're very honest. There was even a time where I asked to buy some fast track tickets and the man serving me said I won't need them, so didn't sell them to us! They've never steered me wrong, and I've never regretted splashing out the tickets

Get on the ride time apps -sometimes a walk across the park can save you ages in queue times

The sky rider isn't always a time saver as it stops frequently

Get some good shoes/trainers

Don't have a fixed leave time booked -if it's busy it frequently stays open longer than advertised

At the end of the day avoid the queues for the toilet by the entrance and go in the centre of the park

Pay for parking early, don't leave it until the end of the day

I absolutely love Alton Towers! Been going decades, since it only had one proper ride (the lovely Corkscrew) and went again this year and i still love it.

Remember the ride close time (which may vary from advertised time due to weather/busy-ness of park) is really the QUEUE close time - so it's worth going to your favourite ride, or the busiest, at the end of the day - and getting into the queue at 5 minutes to close of ride time.

Coach-trips tend to leave before the end of the day so it might get quieter for the last hour or so...

Th1rteen is our favourite ride - pleasant motion in an attractive woodland, and just thrilling enough for me - with a fun 'punchline' to it - not too fierce, with no inversions, which I won't do these days because they make me feel a bit dizzy. An 8 and 10 year old would be a good age for it.

Wicker Man is fun but I found it a bit uncomfortable.

Use the Skyride cleverly, alongside the map, to plan to cut out some of the inevitable walking which will waste ride time, though if you all enjoy gardens there are very beautiful, and these days usually under-appreciated, areas of the park (let's face it though, mostly kids and adults are just keen to get on the rides.)

Try NOT to give in to requests to do the 'skill games' - people do win and you will see them walking round the park with huge stuffed animals etc - but it's really hard to make the ball stay in the bin or whatever. If you do have a go, try to hit the rim of the bucket/barrel so the ball runs around it and drops in, or try to put a bit of backspin on it (it's never worked for me but that's the advice I've read.)

Hopefully you'll have a wonderful day!

I went earlier this week.

Check the heights of your children before they go, you might be surprised how limited they are in terms of rides. Under 140cm can’t do the big thrill rides; Nemesis, Galactica, Oblivion, Smiler, Rita. I bought gold fast passes where you can go on 14 rides once without queuing. This worked well for me but was £60 each. Without that on a weekday queues for wicker man were often up to 5O minutes. At the box office on site they were selling fast passes just for Wickerman for £10 which I hadn’t seen online.
Definitely download the app, get there early, comfy shoes. I got the Digipass for unlimited digital photos for £15 for 4 people and thought that was good value.

Good shoes.

Get there as the park opens.

Use the app for ride times.

Fill up your own water bottles.

The rides nearest to the entrance are often busy at the start and end of the day, so if you want to do those try avoiding those times.

A picnic in the garden can be just what you need half way through the day

Thanks!
So if I leave our picnic in the car, will I be able to go back and get it? Or is it too far?

I would advise asking for a wristband for your children if they have just reached a certain height, it saves them being measured at every ride. You can get them at customer services or from the ride assistants. My just 1.4m DS is always glad of it!

I wouldn't leave a picnic in the car, if you are at the other end of the park or if the monorail isn't running, it would be quite a walk, not impossible, just time consuming. A lot of Alton Towers rides are spread apart so it's a lot of walking anyway.

No don’t t leave picnic in car unless you pay for premium parking, you have to take a tram from the car park.

We don’t tend to take the monorail as it’s usually quicker to walk at busy times but it’s a 20 minute walk each way and that’s from the exit.

I’d take the picnic in a shopping trolley or a couple of small rucksacks.