Alton Towers - can kids wait to the side on the big rides?

[HappyBrite]

We're going to Alton Towers this year. We have a 12 year old and a 9 year old.

The 9 year old is a daredevil but is just under the required 1.4m for the main thrill rides, the 12 year old is tall enough but is not a thrillseeker in the slightest.

In the past, DH and I have taken it in turns to go on the "big" rides but this means double the queuing which is often not feasible so I end up losing out and go off with the kids on the tamer ones.

Now the kids are a bit older I was wondering if they could queue with us and wait off to the side until we've been on the ride. Does anyone know if this is possible at Alton Towers?

DH has suggested we chain them up outside like a bike but I think that might be frowned upon.

You can't compare Alton Towers with flamingo land!!

It's a shame there's not a simple emoji to say 'don't be so fucking stupid'

They don't have the height restriction for shits and giggles. They have them because it's not safe for a smaller person to be on that ride. There's restraints aren't adequate for someone that small not to fly out of the ride and be killed.

Jesus wept

It wasn't serious! 😂

And yet schools let them do just that every single year...

well i think it’s poor parenting and foolish to let kids wander about a very large theme park on their own especially when you, as a parent are there with them. Nothing to do with being capable it’s about safety so it’s not really great advice to give. Just because you deem it a normal thing for 10 year olds to be expected to do. I’d personally deem it lazy parenting

So would you not allow your child to go with the school or an activity group tbey belong to?

at 13 / 14 (only secondary does those trips) when they would be going about in a group with others the same age. I wouldn’t let them
do it on on their own at 13 & certainly not with a younger sibling.

There are staff all over. Maps available. Paths that go everywhere in the garden, but eventually lead you back to somewhere you’ll be able to ask for directions. Dangerous places are fenced off. There are no vehicles except super slow maintenance carts.

What do you think is unsafe about it?

What? Why not?! They're both large theme parks

I've been shot down in flames mostly, so it's good to know I am not the only apparent 'killjoy'!

potentially other people - lots of groups of teenagers etc & we saw some fights in queues.
You can’t convince me it is safe for a couple of 9 & 11 year olds (or kids of similar ages) to wander about a park that size on their own. Your kids your choice & my kids my choice but i wouldn’t encourage other parents to do it.

School trips (as mentioned by a pp) aren’t the same thing. If you are there with your children then it is lazy not walking about & with them & if you’re leaving them to wander about unsupervised so you can go on rides without them thats not just lazy it’s selfish. Some of the queues were over 2 hours long when we were there so it’s a lot of time to leave kids.

flamingoland is not large.

I thought you were going to say you were going alone with 2 kids and one of the kids couldn’t get on so he would wait at the side. It’s batshit crazy that you would make your two kids queue and then wait for you and your husband to go on a ride by yourselves!! Just go on your own with your husband and no kids if you want to go on all the rides .

Other people aren’t particularly dangerous at Alton Towers. There are very few incidents - I see fewer than I do around most schools - and there are staff around.

There’s nothing industrious about keeping your kids with you for the sake of it. Helicoptering around them might assuage your anxieties but it isn’t good for them if they’re ready for more independence and places like Alton Towers - enclosed, well staffed, limited activities, etc. and if you’re there they can always get hold of you if they need you.

It’s a pretty good place to let your kids practice independence if they don’t have much exposure elsewhere. If they aren’t used to it, then building it up in stages rather than sending them off for hours as soon as you get in the gate would be sensible, but seeing somewhere like Alton Towers as dangerous is pretty skewed risk assessment.

I do agree with you that making them do something they aren’t interested in - whether that’s keeping them with you or sending them off - so you can go on rides they can’t seems pretty selfish at Alton Towers.

Secondary starts at 11 years old.

I respect that we all have different views but this paranoia is not the norm! Most 12 year olds definitely wander around a village, town, shopping centre, theme park, get a bus/ train by themselves or with peers! As everyone else said- school trips let them loose in year 7 at such places. All perfectly safe.

irrelevant as they don’t do the trips here until 3rd year

Completely different scenarios to theme parks. My 14 year old has never been on a bus or train herself as no need but even if she had she still wouldn’t be wandering about a theme park alone

Why take the kids on a day out to a theme park if they don't enjoy the age appropriate rides on offer? Just do a zoo or a dy at the beach or something.

Why take your kids on a trip of you can’t be arsed spending time with them? Jazz up you lazy parenting under the pretence of “independence” and criticise others who view the safety of their kids as more of an importance than some
kid free time at a theme park. Ok then…..

How is it irrelevant?

I remember going to Alton Towers at 12 with the school and there was no adult supervision whatsoever except for "signing in" at lunchtime.

I take my kids on trips so we can all enjoy them. We do that both together and apart. My kids really like running off to do things without us for a while and then joining back up to do things together. Wouldn’t send them off if they wanted to be with us. There’s nothing lazy about making sure everyone is having a good time.

I view my kids safety as important. Important enough to put effort into making sure they have the skills they need to get around places independently. It’s lazy not to do this. My job as a parent is to develop capable adults, not pretend I’m indispensable for as long as possible to give my life meaning.

It is a completely different scenario. A theme park is a significantly safer environment than a town or shopping center.

It’s irrelevant as you said would i not be happy letting my kids go on a school trip and i said at 13/14 which is the age they go here. It was also the same age i went at. At 11 no, i probably wouldn’t let them go but thats not a decision i have to consider. I also think school trips in groups is a completely different scenario to a 9 & 11 year old, couple of 10 year olds or a 10 & 12 year old wandering the park on their own as their parents can’t be bothered walking with them

I’d judge a small shopping centre much safer than a massive theme park. Especially when i’m
dropping her and picking her up.