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

We have merlin passes and go every month , I'm not a fan going upside down and spinning really doesn't suit me but last time I took a pack of kwells and they really helped me , so I would recommend them for your DH.Be at the gates when they open and head to the back of the park . Oh if you go on Battle Galleons I would take some waterproofs , you can get absolutely soaked ! Have a brill time !

@AgathaSpencerGregson

Yes absolutely do get the ride access pass then as that is game changing for the day.

Do you have an "access card"? You can apply for one online pretty quick if not.

You will need to act quickly though as it has to be precooked in advance.

It really makes SUCH a difference to managing the day with an autistic child though. Mine could never have managed the queues.

Just a word of warning that the Sky Ride (cable cars) to get around the park has been closed for months, as they're waiting for a part. It may be open by July but just be prepared to have to walk all the way!

Don’t bother with the sky ride. There’s a cut through from by wickerman to the back of the park- near Nemesis.
there’s fun statues to see in the cut through as well. 🙂

Aim to go to the back first.

There’s a small sealife centre that the little ones may like too 🙂

If the sky ride is open then definitely use it to get to or from the far part of the park. Your little ones will thank you! Just don't get on at the middle stop.

It's Monday morning and the park has been open an hour, most big rides not open yet and queues for smiler and oblivion are over an hour. On day 2 I would definitely head straight over to that area (they're next to each other) while the little one does go jetters or runaway mine train.

Awful day at Alton towers. Only 3 thrill rides open and the decent family rides like Gangsta granny and the river rapids are off too!

Just saw that today actually. Nothing online to let people know though

Thanks!

Thanks. Will hope for the best on the first day but fully expect to need them at least for the 2nd just don’t want to fork out £140 for one ride on each (can’t justify £220 on platiumum) especially when some of the rides my others would be queuing for anyway. Best thing i think is get through what we can on day 1 for the rides we can all go on and fast track smiler and any others (one fast track would be £16 so could buy 3 and still save money)

we might avoid sub terra than i just assumed it was actual nemesis and that was a bit to get to it 🙈 they hate “scary” things were people jump out etc and i know none of them will want to do the curse so if thats not a big ride / scary we won’t waste time on it making the main ones we need to do
smiler, rita, gallactica, oblivion for my oldest & thirteen, wickerman, spinball for us all. I’ve downloaded the app and will have a look and plan best route but will aim for wickerman on day 1 and rides round about there and try to get a plan rather than going and wondering around. I know it’ll be busy and know we could be queueing over an hour which is why me and her will split up for a bit as they aren’t tall enough but can hopefully add fast track through the app. I can afford the fastracks for 2 but just think given theres 5 of us and it covers some of the rides we’d have to queue for anyway then individual for the big ones might be best. On day 1 i’ll see how the day goes and can always buy them on that day to make sure she gets on then day 2 could be more chilled but i’d hope to get on the main ones over 2 days one way or another especially if we head 1st thing and join another before queue closes which is why are staying over and why i’ve took the extra night so no stressing about traffic etc on the arrival day making us late.

Yes, yes, yes to FastTrack passes! Makes a huge difference when it’s busy. You can get away with two passes (so you have two people together on a ride) and swap between you if needed.

@MrsRandom123

There are so many wonderful places to stay very close by, better quality and value so I wouldn't stay on site
Also from there Scotland you easily get to Netherlands and efteling and everything there including the accmd is amazing.

thanks but not interested in anywhere else - as i said at the start we are going & it’s for my daughters birthday & we are staying on site so looking for tips / advice regardlng that.

we’ve been to efteling before

going to see how 1st day goes and buy individual ride ones on 2nd day if needed

Plan plan plan.

Memorise the map. Download the app. Be prepared to walk 20k steps a day. The big rides are very spread out.

Pick your 2 favourite rides and do them first both days.

Don't waste time eating. Take a packed lunch you can eat in the 90 min queues. Resign yourself for min 1 hour queues for all the big rides.

Dont expect to get on more than 4 big rides in a day.

We go and love it but if you dawdle like the beginners you'll miss out and be miserable.

If a ride closes when you are in the queue STAY in that queue. It will reopen sooner than you'll get on another ride.

When coming from the hotels you get in the back entrance at Galactica. So try that/Nemesis nearby first.

On your first day aim to arrive in the car park min 45 mins before opening.

Rita and 13 are next to each other as are oblivion and smiler. Plan accordingly. It can take 10+ mins walk from one ride to another. Wear clothes you don't mind sitting on the ground in. Dont worry about bringing bags- they give you a space to store them while on rides. Have zipped pockets for phones.

If you have people wanting different rides split up rather than staying as a group.

Thanks! Thats what i’m going to & hoping with realistic expectations of queues and how busy it will be it won’t be too much of a disappointment. Don’t have to worry about car parking as we’re arriving on the Friday but park tickets for the Saturday and Sunday so no rushing or faffing. We’ll park when we arrive and thats us til we leave - just have to have an early breakfast and get to that back entrance early (can hopefully check thqt out the day before so know where we are headed to)

You'll need to check what evidence they ask for as I can't remember off hand. They ask you to register for an Access Card. There's a free version just for AT or one for £15 (I think) that you can use at other places too.

It doesn't stop all queues completely but it really does help. There's a quiet room too I believe but we've never used it.

I remember queuing for hours to get on Smiler, only for it to be shut for half an hour while they dealt with some “Tummy tears” aka vomit 😂

It will be crazy busy, all the private schools plus all of Leicestershire schools are out, any weekdays will have school trips.

I would go straight to the back of the park unless you are front of the queue in which case go on the very first ride), there's lots of smaller ones that don't have massive queues typically. I haven't been since they brought in the queue jumping, and it was never that bad. Food is pretty rubbish and expensive, we took lots of snacks and made do, but that was one day, not sure I'd manage a second. We did everything in one day

Just something else to mention - depending on which fast pass you want they can sell out before the day, maybe just buy them for the second day anyway if you can? I think individual ones are less than £10 for the big ones like smiler and wicker man x

I think i might do it in advance for smiler then try to get the other bigger ones at the start and end of the day then see what we can get in between. Hoping we’ll be ok over 2 days

Also for some rides, you may be better off going in the single rider queue. My friends and I have done that regularly and ended up on the same ride 🙂

I absolutely LOVE Alton Towers. Been many times. A couple of my personal tips when I go :

Save money on food by bringing your own and having a lovely picnic in the beautiful gardens. They are so peaceful and so many do not bother when visiting. Food there is expensive and when it's busy it's hellish waiting for a table at a restaurant or queuing for ages waiting for food.

Fast-track is worth it as it will probably be manic. But they can sell out when you are there. I recommend buying them online the day before. I think if I remember there are different levels and packages available.

If you haven't already, you can try and get cheaper tickets online (I've used Ebay in the past) and also Yazoo drinks were doing promotional offers on tickets.

Don't pay for parking if you are staying at the hotel. It's free - or it was the last time I was there.

The Waterpark is amazing. You can stay all day in there (but during Covid they were only doing timed slots). All the hotels will serve food - but Alton village itself has some wonderful places to eat - my personal fave being the bridge restaurant and hotel.

I'm very jelly - I hope you have an awesome time!

Thanks.

parking is free at the village & we have our tickets included so hoping to get in fairly quickly each day. Breakfast is booked each morning & rollercoaster restaurant 1st night (not a park day) hoping the novelty makes up for the expense & lack of quality so 2 nights to find & will likely eat in room pizza or something & hopefully avoid lunches if we have a big breakfast & eat snacks.

water park dreading the heat but think kids will love it. Thats our last day after we check out so can stay as long as we want and no rushing again like our arrival day (plan to arrive, check in, play golf, have a wander, eat dinner, see some entertainment & up early for breakfast / park opening) & def going to look at individual fast track if day 1 is a complete nightmare

Looked at fast track last night £70 each for 2 but its only one ride on each & unlimited is £110 i would want those but can’t really justify £550.
looks about £8 a ride so for spinball me & kids £32 as husband wouldn’t go on. Smiler £16 as just the two of us & thirteen £40 for all of us if need be. If we could get wickerman done 1st thing & galactica later as it quietens down then it’s just rita to fit in over 2 days then all the other ones mine train, ghanster granny, retro rides we can all go on we’ll queue together. Thats £88 so i’m going to book those for day 1 to make sure we get round them all as that at least gets us a shot & means on day 2 we can go on what we don’t get on or queue for extra shots (or pay another £88 which is still cheaper than full passes) if my other 2 were over 1.4m i’d have budgeted £500 for the passes but i think doing it like that might be best for us & can chill out a wee bit and not stress knowing we are at least getting on everything hopefully with the 2 days & anything more than once is a bonus. Now just have to plan a route & book dinner for the last night (expense, poor quality, waits etc all to be expected so realistic about that too)

I hope your little ones are brave because there's nothing that would get even the big ones here on spinball whizzer. It looks awful.

I don't think you need fast pass OP. You've 2 days in the hotel. You'll get 2 big rides at the start of each day and 1 at the end. You've hours to fit everything else in. As long as you're in a queue at 6pm then you are getting on that ride.

Box off smiler and Wickerman as your first rides of the day and the rest will be easy.