Alton Tower

[MrsRandom123]

I know there will be people who feel the need to post and say “don’t go” “it’s terrible” “save your money” etc but i’m not interested in that - we ARE going regardless as like everywhere there will be people who will have good and bad experiences.

we’re doing 3 nights (so 2 days in the park and one in waterpark) expecting it to be busy as it’s a weekend in July but before the school holidays so maybe people will hold off lol (we’re in Scotland) 13th birthday treat for our daughter.

Anyone any tips in park order to do rides in?

am i likely to need fast track? (£140 so thinking not buy them see how first day goes and if possible buy for 2nd or buy individual ride ones which would be £16 per ride if we can)

how far is enchanted woodland from park / hotels (for entertainment) anyone stayed there?

what like is the entertainment?

how is food? Not expecting much in terms of quality and standard for a place like that but is breakfast any good? Rollercoaster restaurant worth the novelty?

we have realistic view it’ll he hell on earth 🤣 but have accepted it is what is is and just looking for tips / advice / feedback to make the most of it and make it the best we can. We know it’ll be busy & it’s not a luxury break so we know what to expect but i want to hear positive stories to try to get the most out of it as my daughter is buzzing & been wanting to go for years. We’ve stayed in Havens, Butlins, blackpool etc before so it shouldn’t be a shock to the system in terms of how “bad” it’ll be like some previous posts on here i’ve read make out it def will be!

happy thoughts only please

I absolutely love Alton towers. You will have a fantastic time.
I don't think you need to pay for fast track. Get the app and watch the queue times. Most people start with the rides at the front so I suggest starting from the back. I have been there in a bank holiday weekend and got all of the big rides done in a day. Don't waste time sitting down to eat.
Food is expensive, standard theme park stuff but not too bad. If it's warm buy a refillable cup. You can also get a single day pass for all ride photos which isn't bad value. About £22 I think, and they are all digital downloads.

Yes it will be crazy busy. Weekends in July truly will be at capacity.

Food - we loved rollercoaster restaurant for the novelty. You get a bit fed up of "theme park food" fter 3 days though. We do "tesco meal deals" to take in and then eat a main meal in the park.

As ever get in early (before the rides start) and stay late as the queue are a bit shorter then.

However if you can afford it the queue jump tickets will be worth it as the queues can be over an hour and it is draining. Especially as its hot. Its a lovely park though so you can plan some rest by the lake times.

You won't do it all in 2 days without some form of queue jump pass anyway so focus on what you definitely don't want to miss and plan your route rou d the park as the areas are quite spaced out.

We've had merlin passes so been quite a bit but not stayed in the enchanted bit so can't feedback on that.

We eally like Alton Towers - you will have a fab time!

Hi

All the big rides will get bigger queues as the day goes on. So I would split them up to do as soon as the park opens on each day.

The food in the park is terrible. Long queues. Terrible quality. The kiosks often run out by end of lunch so it’s hard to find something at 2.00 of you’ve been queueing. Expensive.

The park is huge and you have to walk a long way between sections and rides, so make sure you have super comfy shoes.

We’ve only been to the water park once. We were the first time slot and were in there an hour before the whole place closed due to a poo in the pool. Because it’s all interlinked, they have to close the whole place and flush all the water through. It’s not uncommon either. So get in early just in case!

Yes we've done the refillable drink too which is good!

I'd do day 1 and then decide if you want to use passes for some of the big hits.

We went the day before half term and managed all of the big rides in one day with just buying fast tracks for smiler.
The app is brilliant for planning routes between rides and for monitoring queue times.
The refillable drinks are worth every penny we had one between two or three of us and refilled loads.

Oh you’ve made me nostalgic for Alton towers, haven’t been in over 20 years!
did a few school trips there as a kid leaving at 5:30am - it’s about 4 hours from us 😂
we also used to, as a whole family (grandparents aunts uncles cousins) hire a minibus and do an annual day trip, we still laugh about grandad going on the black hole totally unaware of what it was!
we are close to Thorpe park,
chessington and legoland though and they drive me nuts, it’s just a day of queuing and it makes me too mad to enjoy it after spending £200 to go in meaning to make it worth it you need to pay for fast track and then you’ve spent £500 for a day out… grumble grumble!!
Anyway, sorry for the tangent, you’re there for a few days so you’ll have the time to queue up, go for the big ticket ones first thing and then just prioritise what else you really want to go on.
I hate wasting time stopping and eating in parks, it’s an hour you could have been queueing for but people will need to eat!

I'd see if you can book the roller coaster restaurant for when the park closes. As is one you can do without "wasting" queuing time.

However I do need a break in the day so we don't worry about that as much. The rollercoaster cafe did used to get booked up early though so it is worth seeing what slots are available.

Although I hate AT I have been there on school trips with teens several times. Kids who've been before make a bee line for Oblivion and Smiler before the queues get too big. There is universal love for Rita (queue moves quite quickly), the Mine Train (makes 'em nostalgic and they all talk about going on it when they were younger) the Rapids thing (ditto the nostalgia) and, more recently, Wicker Man.
To chill out they go on Hex, which is more than enough to terrify me.
Picnic in the gardens is nice if you don't want to sell a kidney to feed everyone in the burger bar.
If you're going to buy the photos of you on rides, be prepared to wear a fixed grin and keep your eyes open the whole time. I can never remember where the cameras are and I always look like a gibbon in pain in my in-ride pics.
Have fun!

I don't think you'll need queue jumping passes if you're there for two days although it's been a few years since I've been. Avoid Rita, it just hurts. Get there early and you'll get on two rides before it gets busy. You'll have a great time!

Thanks everyone!

will keep an eye on the app for queue times and keep an eye on the weekends before we go - not accurate as such but will give us an idea and will plan a “route” about the park. Not been in 20 odd years and i remember it being big but was only a few of the bigger rides back then.

hoping we can do one 1st thing each day, one mid day and one last thing and see in between. My younger 2 can go on wicker man and 13 so theres some we’ll do together then split up for my eldest - if the 1st day is terrible we’ll book the fast track or book individual ones for any rides we can’t get on.

have breakfast booked for 8am each morning so ready for park gates opening & we won’t have to rush away at the end. Rollercoaster restaurant is booked have did 5.30 so park is still open but i’ve booked an extra night so no rushing. Plan is travel down, check in, try to do a game of golf you get “free” & then dinner. Park 2 days then water park on the day we check out as we’ll head straight from there. Means we can park at the hotel so not got to deal with that & straight into the park when gates open

food not expecting much but usually when we are away if we have a big breakfast and are eating at night we don’t tend to bother with lunch & don’t want them eating much when they are going on big rides so i’ll just take snacky things & can eat them on the go and maybe get the refillable drinks.

other than that we’ll just have to see when we get there. Doing woodland lodges as think they’ll be a bit different not sure how far from the park? Have seen between 10 mins & 30 online?! We can walk up for entertainment in the hotels which i’m hoping my younger 2 like & can apparently get pizza etc delivered from onsite. It’s only a few days so accept we won’t be eating the best but when we go away thats a novelty for the kids as well. Looking forward to it & hoping it’s not a complete disaster but even if my daughter only gets on 4 rides a day as long as we tick of the big ones she’ll be happy.

i’ve been on nemis, oblivion, galactica and rita previously - the smiler doesn’t look as appealing now i’m older but my husband in his old age isn’t great with rides that spin (puked after the waltzers last year) so i have a feeling it’ll be me suffering the rides & trying to be brave argh!

anything else i’ve not thought on?

We’re just back from a break, went last year too.

Are you staying in Splash Landings hotel? If so the breakfast is good, buffet style with cereals, continental selection, yoghurts and hot full English. It’s ok for dinner too, the food is really nice, selection is ok but it is expensive for what it is.

I always buy fast track, but if you’re there for two days see how you go on the first day and then buy them the second day if you feel the need to. The waterpark is fab, but absolutely red hot inside - easily 40 degrees when we went. Have a great time!

Smiler is my favourite!

Rollercoaster restaurant is cool, even my 17/18 yr olds still agree ;-) They also enjoyed Gangster Granny!

Power banks for your mobiles would be helpful in case of party splitting up...

We just stayed in the enchanted lodges last week and they are so cute. There is a restaurant there called the crooked spoon which was ok. The Alton towers hotel restaurant did great food but service was absolutely crap.

I think it was about 20 mins walk from the park to the enchanted lodges. We didn’t bother with the monorail, the queue was huge! Definitely go in through the accommodation entrance - we went in that way (it’s at the back) and I walked straight on to Galactica. Most other stuff nearby also didn’t have a queue and we weren’t even in early, didn’t get in til about 10:45. The food wasn’t great but wasn’t horrendous either to be fair. Can’t comment on fast passes as we didn’t have them but we had a really lovely day! Hope you enjoy.

Are you staying in the enchanted forest?
You can walk a short distance and get the monorail or walk about 15/20 minutes to get to the park

My younger brother went with school on a weekday in April, they only managed 2 of the rides all day. If fast track is in your budget I'd definitely consider it, don't underestimate how busy a weekend in July will be.

Hi, we go many times as its one of the few places my ds is comfortable (he has sen). Enchanted woodland is near the hotels, I think it's closer to the main AT hotel. In the woodland area there are little play areas which are nice if it's nice weather and you just want to sit with a bottle of wine or any drink and watch the kids play. You can watch any of the entertainment in the AT hotel or splash landings hotel. The AT hotel usual has singer's on the 'boat' on the bottom floor and the kids dance around it. Splash landings has more entertainment like a kids magic show followed by disco followed by family quiz followed by a disco.

Rollercoaster restaurant is expensive, we werent too kean on the food but love the experience. Woodcutter is nice in the park and there are loads of burger kitchens, a kebab place (in mutiny bay), waffle stand and nachos near Wickerman. There's a little cafe near cbeebies that does sandwiches etc. There's a new icecram place near duel (can't think of it's new name/ it's the haunted house).

In the hotels There's an all you can eat buffet in splash landings, the secret garden in AT hotel and the bar opposite used to do food too. I noticed the other week you could order pizza's to your room but we weren't staying in enchanted woods doni don't know if they'll bring them over there. There is a restaurant in the enchanted woods area- the crooked spoon.

There's an entrance to the park for onsite guests near the golf, it brinks you onto the park near Galactica, only open for a few hours around opening/ closing. You can get the monorail too but this is easier.

There's a walkway between the two hotels so if it's raining or you fancy exploring do that.

They do 'pop badges' for kids to collect which mske nice little momentous ask at the receptions or guest services and say you don't own any to swap. The idea is that kids can swap them with staff for interaction.

You'll need change for the lockers in the swimming pool, I think it's 20p but could be wrong. They have bigger family changing rooms which are worth looking out for. They also hire out towels if you want to save on packing.

There's a Facebook page for merlin pass holders which maybe worth a look, there's slways hints and tips on there.

You'll have a great time, enjoy x

Sorry about all the typos

Just thought with the rollercoaster rest. We've been in and just ordered ice-cream before now- if you want to experience it but don't want to have a full meal there.

Also make sure you tell them you're there for your daughters bday, they'll leave a note in the room for her. They do birthday cakes and packages too to buy x

Go straight to Wickerman and then runaway train and Congo rapids. Then to gangsta granny with the younger while the older queues for smiler.

Queues for galactica, thirteen and Rita will get smaller as the day goes on.

The app is pretty accurate we found. Use the sky ride but don't attempt to get on at the middle stop by blade. You'll queue forever.

Enchanted wood is lovely. Are you eating in the crooked spoon? We enjoyed our food there

def get the app. And take a power/battery pack because you’ll probably use all your battery especially if you have to split up.

you can get individual fast tracks on the app now on the day. I have been this year and got ones for wicker man. I think they were a tenner each but it was only me and dd and the queue was 90 mins. All other queues were much quieter.

recently a lot of rides seem to be not working for a period of time which is annoying because it makes the queues on the other rides longer. Going for 2 days though should mean you get on everything.

the best rides (in my opinion) are smiler, wicker man and Rita. My 11 year old thinks galactica is the best. I also think spin ball whizzer is amazing

new ghost train is not worth a long q and nor is gangsta granny in my opinion so only go there when the queue is small

and my last but best tip is that the queues close at 6pm not the rides. So as long as you get in the queue by 6, even if it’s an hour queue, you will get on the ride. Usually the queues are way smaller by this time.

Don't underestimate the wasps. There's thousands of the vicious buggers!

Fab thanks!

@Cuckoosheep thanks so much lots of help to consider as well. Might look into rollercoaster and just ice cream etc as it’s purely for novelty value we’d go in but expensive.

we are staying in the lodges in enchanted forest so its crooked spoon we have to use for breakfast but can book meals anywhere else if we want.

good to know where entrance brings you in so might be a plan to start at Galactica.

my oldest wants to do smiler, oblivion, galactica, rita, nemesis, thirteen, wickerman and spinball one - anything else will be a bonus if we can get those done in 2 days. Youger ones the last three and mine train and i’ve heard gangsta granny meant to be good? Will leave fast tracks the first day as hoping we can do a big one first thing and last thing each day. 3 are ones we’ll all go on and we’ll buy fastrack on 2nd day (if we pay individually its £8 each for £16 per ride rather than £140 upfront) so will see how it goes.

didn’t know about the skyride (don’t remember it from before) think that scares me more than the rollercoasters!

Thanks! Yes enchanted wood / crooked spoon so thats good to know. What like is breakfast e.g is it buffet / self service or sit down and order?

good tips thanks. Thats the plan with the fast track. On day 2 we’ll purchase 2 individual ones for what we don’t get on on day 1 (younger ones too small for the really big ones so only need to buy 2 at a time for my daughter & probably me!)

It’s been a few years now since we went (Just after it all opened again post-covid!), stayed in the enchanted lodges and loved it. Found it somewhat like a mini centre parcs

even with it being covid time it was buffet so assume it’s still the same. Takes about 10 minutes walk if the back entrance for hotel guests is open - otherwise another fifteen to twenty minutes to walk around the front