Alton towers trip advice please

[Dedodedo]

Hi all, im looking to book a short stay for me and 13 year old son to visit alton towers in the easter holidays,were on quite a tight budget but id like to take him,he loves theme parks! And it would just be nice to have a 1 or 2 night break together as hes turning into typical teenager not wanting to do much etc but hed definately be up for this! I dont drive and coming from south west london, ive been looking at the trains from waterloo to uttoexter, from what ive seen we wont make the bus from uttoexeter to alton towers as only runs twice a day? So we would get a taxi/cab from uttoexter to alton, is it easy to be able to get a cab and rough price and also on the way back to the station too as wouldnt want to miss our return train? Is there anything like restaurants/food places within walking distance from alton towers to go to in the evening once we leave the park at 6? Would you do 1 night and 2 days, we wont get there the first day until around 11.30/12 , stay over, then leave the next night after park closes, or would you stay an extra night and travel back the next morning? Anyone been recently is it good? I normally take him thorpe park as we dont live too far which he likes but weve been a lot now so would like to take him here, what are the food options and prices like inside the park? Thanks for any advice

There’s not a great deal around Alton towers, just the small village of Alton. Taxis to anywhere will be expensive as it’s fairly remote. Uttoxeter is 10 miles away.
How about the Alton towers hotel or splash landings?
For a non-driver it’s pretty much the only option tbh.

Yes we are staying on site at alton towers, i was looking at the pods,dont have great reveiws but is only 1 or 2 nights, but i still need to get from uttoexter station to alton towers and then back again on the return, i have seen online there is only one bus in the am and one in the pm but im not sure if thats correct, so we will probably have to get a cab for the last bit,google says around 20 pounds but im not sure when that was written or if its remote is it going to be easy to get a cab cab

You'd need to ring a local taxi firm and pre-book one. It was about £25 last time I did it (last August), but if you call they'll give a quote.

It's a bit of a PITA without a car (I was visiting my DM, had tickets and then the car packed up!).

It's very expensive to eat like any theme park.

If you're on a budget, I'd stay close to the station in a guest house the night before, eat in Uttoxeter, then get the bus the following morning to Alton Towers, bus back that evening to the station. Stay in guest house, then bus again the next morning to Alton Towers, bus back and then train back home.

Can't you get the train to Stoke-on-Trent station? There are more buses to/from there to Alton Towers than from Uttoxeter:

http://www.dgbus.co.uk/assets/32%2c32a%2c32x_2023-03-18.pdf

Have you looked into National Holidays coach trips? We went to Alton Towers that way last summer. I thought beforehand that it was an expensive way to do it but actually it was ace. Hotel, evening meal, breakfast and two days' entry into the park. I think there's an option to pay in instalments too.

Oh thanks i will definately look at both of those options, ive got the week off so wanted to do a little trip, more for him than me as not really my idea of fun 😂 i think its best to do 2 nights, its a lot of travelling and also its tiring going round the park/queing to do in 2 days and 1 night, so may stay the extra night and travel back in the daytime rather than late at night, what are stoke on trent or uttoexter station areas like? Incase we have few hours wait, is there places to have lunch or see and things like that?

Nothing much neither either station tbh. Uttoxeter is a smallish market town with a small train station, Stoke on Trent is obviously a city with a larger station on the mainline but the station is not in the city centre, you would need to hop on a bus.

The pods are fine, like a travel lodge room. The food is very expensive and not good on the site and it is tough without a car.

Uttoxeter is a really small local station. Stoke is main line there isn’t a huge amount in Stoke but I’d reccomend The Quarter at Potbank (Old Spode Works) for food.

Ive looked at the coach holiday options, they are all departing from midlands or further north,were london so think thats a no go, i think best option is train from london to uttoexter which is coming in around 100 for both of us return, then a 25 ish cab to alton towers, if we got train to stoke on trent its similar price but double the journey in a cab and the buses take a while and are infrequent so will lose time in the park which makes it not really worth it, is it definatly adviseable to prebook a cab from utoexter? Not used to this! In london we have lots of cabs/ubers/buses and trains often so thats what is stressing me a bit, if its really remote dont want to be stranded 10 miles away 😂 i guess best is to pre book cab for when we get off train

The pods are fine, a bit like glamping with on-site showers etc and you can have food delivered from the in house food places. Food is quite expensive and typical theme park quality. We booked two nights which gave us a full day at the park without travel on either side and a second day, we travelled home at the end of the second day - there’s enough going on to justify two days especially if you’re doing the bigger rides.

You will struggle without a car to go out anywhere to eat from Alton Towers. There is the Ramblers Retreat at the bottom of the hill, but that is a fair walk up a very steep hill.
Any public transport is really difficult from Uttoxeter itself [ I live here so do know ]. Trains are only once an hour. There are always cabs waiting around the station, but if lots of people are going to AT, you may have a wait. You will need to pre book a cab to take you back to the station, and get it early enough to make sure you get your train on time. It can get really, really busy coming from AT.
Uttoxeter is a very small station, no ticket office or waiting room. Nothing there really. Just a short walk from there is Tesco, Waitrose, Lidl. You can walk into the town itself as it's not far.

Are you going in school holidays? If so, you really want to be getting there as soon as it opens. I waited over 2 hours - I think it was actually closer to 3, for mine to get on and off Smiler at one point... Wicker Man was over 90 mins. I was a broken woman by the time we got on 😫

With Nemesis being closed, the other rollercoasters will likely have longer queues.

As others have said it's really quite remote so if you don't have a car, stay on site and once you're in, you're in. On site rstaurants will be expensive for subpar food, take snacks.

Thanks everyone, im defintley going to pre book the cabs and leave enough time to make sure we make it! I know, i would prefer to get there for 10, not 11.30 but its around 3 hours from london, then the cab journey around 25 minutes i believe, and i have to get to waterloo/euston/st pancreas from mine which all are around 40 minutes away plus 10 minute walk to my station,so say a hour, so would mean leaving around 5 am, i also need to check what time the first train is into london, lot more complicated than i first thought! Thankyou though everyone

Honestly, with the amount of money it’s going to cost you, I wouldn’t do it. We went to Alton Towers last summer and it was hell on earth, ridiculously long queues for everything and everyone was tired and pissed off.

My son is a bit theme park mad and its one he hasnt been to and really wants to, i do drive i just dont have a car at the moment so i could see if i could borrow my mums and go on the insurance for a few days or if its going to end up more hassle and expense when it started as a little treat for easter holidays as hes done really well with some things and i know hed be quite excited for this and seems little adventure just us 2 going away for a night or 2

Mate, it's in the middle of fucking nowhere. By the time you've got rid of your bags it'll be peak queuing time of 1 or 2pm and you'll only have until 6. That's Smiler and Rita if you're lucky. It'll cost you a fortune. Have you got a friend or family member that drives. You could pay for them and for the petrol.

It would honestly be cheaper and quicker to fly to Verona and take him to Lake Garda. Walking distance from Gardaland (also Merlin) has the same sort of rides and opens til 11pm (with Legoland waterpark inside to cool off).

Oh. You drive? Hire a car then. Obviously 🤣

Hiring a car for a few days is likley to be cheaper and easier than public transport.

Hire a car and stay in a Premier Inn.

I can only reiterate, the queues can be truly horrendous so you need to get there early. We stayed nearby and left our hotel too late in the morning. We had an hours single lane traffic just to get to the entrance...

In your shoes I’d book two night, travel up on the first day with no intention of doing the park, sleep over and start the next day, sleep over and do the park again the following day and travel home late afternoon. That way you’re there for opening both days so better chance at the bigger rides, your well rested on both days rather than being knackered and you get good use of your tickets. No point in paying for a full day access to the park when you won’t arrive til near lunch.

Just another add. The drive to Alton towers from Uttoxeter can be really slow with AT traffic. Once you get out of Rocester and driving to AT the roads are narrow and winding. It can take well over an hour from Uttoxeter to get to AT. These are rural roads around here, and if you aren't used to driving them you may well find them difficult.

Yeah im going to have to look at borrowing a car and going on the insurance or hiring a car i think, i know the ques are awful 😭 thorpe park is the same, as i said its not really my idea of fun 😂 especially with travelling on top,but it is his idea of a good time! At least if the trip advisor of the pods is correct i wont actually care as ill be so tired ill be fast asleep lol

These Google Earth images should give you an idea of how remote it is compared to Thorpe park like you're used to. There is absolutely nothing around Alton Towers and it will be busy.

This!

Even getting from the car park to the entrance feels like an episode of SAS Who Dares Wins.