To ask how busy Alton towers is on an October weekday?

7 replies

Zara87 · 05/10/2018 23:23

Sorry for posting this here, but me and dh have a day off work without the dc around (YAY) this month and want to do something fun. We used to love Alton Towers but don't want to go if we're going to spend the entire day queuing. We would be going on a Thursday.
Has anyone been recently on a weekday and is it hellish or okay?
And will any schools be on half term that week?
Thanks!

OP posts:

Pinkstars2501 · 05/10/2018 23:28

We went on a Thursday in September, it wasn’t packed but wasn’t dead either. Longest queue we waited in was about 15/20 mins. I did find the queue time signs inaccurate, along with the app ones, they said longer than we were actually queuing. It was rain forecast that day so that could be why it wasn’t busy, but it was ok until about 2pm when it honestly threw it down for hours, the place was flooded. Still didn’t close the rides though....

swapsicles · 05/10/2018 23:30

Two things to check, is it open? They don't open every day at this time of year. There's a calendar on the website.
Also check when the local schools are off more than any near you, always a bit quieter then.

Notso · 05/10/2018 23:30

We went a week ago and it was quite quiet. The longest queue was 45 mins.

JollyAndBright · 05/10/2018 23:36

We have just been, the longest queues were for wickerman and Rita, they were 30-40 minutes most had virtually no queue.

Now is the idea time to go, most people are waiting for scarefest towards the end of the month so it’s reasonably quite.

manicinsomniac · 05/10/2018 23:36

I go with a school trip on the 3rd Sunday in October every year.

It's usually busy-ish but by that I mean queues of about an hour on the big rides.

I would imagine a Thursday is much quieter.

If you're talking about this Thursday coming I doubt it's half term anywhere. Ours is the week after and I know some are the week after that.

Original poster

Zara87 · 06/10/2018 08:05

Thanks guys that's really useful. We will book it today :-)

OP posts:

Xenia · 06/10/2018 08:32

I canm't remember if it was Alton Towers or another one but my son went with friends in the summer - drove an hour there and they left in under an hour as the queues were totally unacceptable. They went back in September on a week day once schools had gone back and had a lovely time (I have never in over 30 years of being a mother been there as it is not my thing but been happy to pay for the teenagers to go and I used to like the annual fairground as a child).

If you avoid half term week - any school's half term that is - you should be fine.

Flip