One day at Alton towers (or similar) or annual pass to smaller local theme park with teens

[elliejjtiny]

Got some money for Christmas. Dc are aged between 19 and 11. 11 and 15 year olds have autism/adhd and struggle to sleep unless they have been properly worn out during the day.

I was thinking that an annual pass for somewhere with rides, a massive softplay and a huge outdoor playground would be best. But inlaws think the dc are too old for that and we should go for a one off trip to Alton towers instead. I think Alton towers is over priced and I don't think my 15 and 11 year olds would cope with the queues. Also if we spend all our money on one day we will have nothing left for the rest of the year. On the other hand I don't want to take the dc somewhere boring.

What do you think?

Well I wouldn’t imagine that an 11 + year old will want soft play and a playground so I’d go for AT or similar . Do your autistic children get DLA or something that will get you a priority / disabled pass for AT as that will help with the issue of queues

I would say alton towers yearly pass is a better option. You can get fast pass for alton towers if you have autism )unsure how) and they have lots of different options there from smaller rides to bigger ones and sea life center and the gardens to walk around ect. Where I live there isn't any soft play places that would cater to 11year olds

I think of the local place with the annual pass is somewhere your kids would enjoy, I’d do that. Bonus points if they can travel there independently and go without you (11yr old in the care of the 19yr old obviously) It would give them more independence.

One trip to Alton Towers would bring less enjoyment than the annual pass, if it’s somewhere they enjoy.

Or, you could ask the kids what they’d prefer and let them decide.

Thank you. They both get DLA but they would need a nimbus card to get a ride access pass for Alton towers and they don't have one of those.

What a lovely gift.

annual pass for Alton towers is a good idea, loads cheaper than a day too.

they do offer ride access passes but have a good read of the site on how to get & book one if you need it. They are notoriously difficult to obtain.

my DS has autism & struggles to wait, we plan for queues with fidget toys, snacks, and make use of the gardens, sealife etc there.

have a lovely time whatever you decide x

Most soft plays and playgrounds aren't really suitable or allowed for over 10 year olds. So I would check carefully if they suit your children.

ASD/ADHD or not -they won't enjoy something which is not suitable for a teen.

Isn't there any alternative? An annual pass for all and maybe a trip to AT for your older one separately? What are AT's rules for ND queues?

I don’t think OP is talking about an annual pass for Alton Towers - I think the money either covers 1 day at AT or an annual pass elsewhere

Thankyou. Unfortunately an annual pass to Alton towers is out of budget.

Most of the local theme parks have soft plays that let teens and adults play on the equipment. They are a lot bigger than the stand alone soft plays that are for up to 11 year olds.

My 2 with autism/adhd both get dla/pip but merlin attractions state you need a nimbus card to get a ride access pass and we don't have those.

Can't you apply? I just had a short look as DD has ASD/ADHD and wonder if a Nimbus card would be useful.

They are far too old for soft plays and playgrounds. Alton towers is much more age appropriate and a proper treat with something for all ages.

You can apply for a nimbus card.

The local place with more trips sounds like a no brainer to me, but I don't know exactly what is there and what your kids are into. I would cede to your judgement over GPs' judgement anyway.

If you haven't been for a few years, it might be worth paying for one day out at the local place and then deciding whether you want to upgrade to an annual pass. You might feel you've done it all for a year, but if you want to upgrade to an annual pass and do it there and then, they might well take off the price of the day tickets off the annual passes IYSWIM.

Don't forget there are loads of deals around on Merlin days out. You can usually get 2 for 1 or something similar. Our local smaller theme park is consistently more expensive than we ever pay for Thorpe Park in practice.

Thank you everyone. I asked the dc what they wanted and it was a tie between the two. I will apply for the nimbus cards and see if we get them. Does anyone know what the queues would be like if we didn't have the cards?

If you gave a random Inset day instead of school holidays or weekends the queues will be a lot more manageable.

We do that with the local trampoline park but dc are at different schools so have different inset days so a big expensive trip wouldn't work unfortunately.

Just wondering if a day at Alton towers would actually tire the 15 year old out ? As would be 3 hours each way in the car and then a lot of standing around queuing. He was up until 3am this morning and I am so tired. Also is there stuff to do for people who don't like rides? Just wondering as I don't like rides but the local theme parks have the shows and soft play etc too. The money is my Christmas present so I would like to actually benefit from it too, although if it means my 15 year old sleeps then it would be worth it.

They vary depending on the day but you get to know the system. Arrived early, hit the biggest rides first, and avoid Saturdays. We do Thorpe rather than Alton Towers mainly, and here Sundays tend to be much better. Summer term time weekdays can actually be super busy when they have a lot of school trips, inset days and post-GCSE & A level people in, so don't be afraid of summer hols weekdays and Sundays. Maybe be a bit afraid of summer hol Sats🤣. It is hugely weather dependent so going on a day that looks like rain can be a very good move. Quite often it's dry for most of the day anyway, and the queues are shorter all day, rain or shine.

We have autistic teens but no access passes. My understanding is you still need to wait the same time for the ride with a pass, you just don't have to physically queue in that time. For us having 50 mins or more to kill wandering round, several times over in a day, sounds worse than queuing. We tend to cap our queue times at about 50 mins. If anything is longer than that we usually just pick another ride.

The beauty of the annual pass, for us anyway, is it massively reduces the pressure to go on everything or stay until the park closes. This works so much better with our autistic DC than a one day ticket. We can just skip the busiest rides, or quit when anyone gets tired and dysregulated, knowing we can go back another day. We've usually left by 3pm. We usually try to go on everyone's favourite ride once each time, but if we don't, there's always next time. People who are queuing 2 hours for Hyperia will be mainly people who have only got a day ticket and HAVE to get it in today.

The water park at Alton Towers is also quite fun. I don't know if you have to buy tickets separately.

Mate... 3 hours each way driving to get there?

I take it all back. Don't even consider season tickets. You need to spend your weekends doing something less exhausting than 6 hours of driving on top of a full day out on your feet.

Playgrounds sound like a much better fit for your family. It seems to me that you need to target stuff that tires 15 year old out more than it tires you. Trampoline park maybe, ninja warrior, that kind of thing?

If your children qualify for DLA, they will qualify for a nimbus card.

However, Local attractions sound like the better option as Alton towers is so far away.

That‘s insane to contemplate. I would look for a weekend trip with overnight if that‘s something you want to spend money on. No point otherwise to do this.

Spend the money you have on something more local, a trip or two and just do it in the timeframe you all can handle.

What's your actual budget?

We did a short break at Alton towers last year as we're 6 hour journey away. It was soo so good! We went during our local May holiday so the queue times were really short, most rides were walk on. We got to enter from the back entrance to the park as we were staying on site so walked straight onto Nemesis, toxicator and Galactica. We rode all the big thrill coasters at least twice each day. We did about 35k steps each day as the sky ride was off.

We got a package that included stay in the enchanted village lodges, breakfast, round of mini golf and 1 day park tickets. The second day park tickets we used our Tesco clubcard vouchers, so free. We were £465 for 3 nights but being only 3hrs away you could easily do just one or two nights.

I can't comment on non-rider attractions as that's what we were there for, but there's a lovely aquarium, huge beautifully manicured gardens and some smaller teacup style rides. I believe the shows in the park have been cut but the hotels all had live shows in the evening that we were able to access as guests.

There is also the splash landings waterpark, but we didn't make use of this - it looked a bit too small for my thrill seekers.

Thankyou. Budget is £300. There are 7 of us but that includes 19 year old dc1 who is at uni some of the year.

What about Go Ape season tickets?

I also take back the Alton towers suggestion, 3 hours each way is too much. The sleepovers are great but I’m not sure if they would be out of budget.

whereabouts are you? Perhaps people can make some good recommendations?

Will look at go ape, thankyou.

@PuzzlingRecluse we are in the south west between Bristol and Exeter.