Spent a fortune on Alton Towers and nearly everything was closed

[Foxy200]

Warning to anyone thinking of taking the kids to Alton Towers this Easter, AVOID it unless you have checked exactly what is open.

We drove all the way up yesterday, paid for a hotel last night and again for tonight, and arrived to find that nearly everything is shut. Only a handful of rides are actually open.

It is absolutely disgraceful to be charging full ticket prices when so much of the park is closed. After just an hour of walking around and seeing the reality of it, we asked for a refund and were told no.

The disappointment for the children has been awful, and to say I am angry is an understatement. We have spent a huge amount on tickets, travel and hotels for what has turned into a complete waste of money.

Families deserve to know before making the trip, this has completely ruined what was meant to be an Easter treat.

It’s terrible. Alton Towers’ days are numbered, it’s clear they’re massively struggling financially, as is the whole Merlin group. I know the Smiler accident was a huge financial and reputational blow but it’s really not on.

Years ago, you used to get reduced entry if you just wanted to explore the gardens and not go on rides.

Not really. The 2 water rides open in may- says on the website and app. (Although battle galleons is not really a ride). The cable car is never open and not a ride. Run away mine train is not a big ride

Runaway Mine Train is amazing though... "Choo choo!"

Some.of the theme parks in Europe absolutely put Merlin to shame. Reasonable prices, the rides downtown break down, efficient loading of rides, beautiful theming and upkeep and lots of great food options that don't break the bank. Rides are amazing! In particular Europa Park, Hansa Park and Phantasialand in Germany. We had 2 days at peak season in Europa park in August , and the longest queue was 40 minutes. It was hot but there were lots ice cream stands around the park ..3 euros for a cone and scoops of really good ice cream. Makes me frustrated to compare and see what Alton Towers could have been.

Haha I did miss the choo choo when I went last week!

How did that work? Did you get wristbands depending on what you paid?

My favourite!

Rip off bastards hope everybody posts a trip advisor review

Notoriously bad customer service. A few years ago we’d booked a weekend package and couldn’t go as youngest child came down with a sickness bug on the day we were meant to travel. I totally understood that I wouldn’t get the money back for the hotel but they were so difficult about swapping the park tickets to another day. What possible difference does it make to them to say ok we will exchange your tickets for another day in the next 6 months? In the end I left a bad tripadvisor review and off the back of that they got in touch with me. I would say they are very inflexible with their terms and conditions and it’s put me off going again. And before anyone says anything about insurance, their cancellation policy only covers you up until 3 days before you travel so if something comes up last minute (which is surely the whole point of insurance) you are also screwed. They are hardly a small business I don’t know why they have to be so difficult.

I’m old enough to remember going there as a kid and it was gardens with a couple of fairground type rides on the lawn outside the towers, along with rowing boats on the lake and ice cream stalls.

I don’t specifically remember how just the gardens entry worked later on, perhaps other poster can answer that one.

There’s a great thing nowadays called the internet and google!

Take that to its logical conclusion, any-one would be entitled to a refund even if the park is 90% or even 100% closed.

The point is that if you run an attraction like that advertising all the wonderful rides, there's an implied term that you are doing your very best to make sure everything is available all the time, with a regular maintenance and checking schedule. OK, it's accepted that there may be one or two unforeseeable problems, but again the expectation is that you have the staff and equipment on site to ensure those are minimised. Letting things deteriorate to the point when 50% of the attractions are out of commission is seriously bad management and, frankly, you deserve to go bust. Which AT will unless it gets its act together. Does anyone reading this thread feel motivated to book? And this is only one of a large number of similar stories about AT going around social media.

Google cannot tell you months in advance that 50% of the rides will be broken down and/or out of commission on a particular day in March.

Again - 50% of rides were not down. Google would tell you that the battle galleons and rapids open in may.

only runaway mine train was closed

With sympathies to the staff, it couldn't happen to a nicer company. Just remembered Merlin run Warwick Castle. When I went (approx 2014), it was heaving but the facilities were so sparse that mums were having to toilet their toddlers in the bushes as the loo queues were so long. Just pay to hire some portaloos in busy periods, you cheapskates!

But 50% off the rides weren't out of commission

What are you on about? If you book a non-refundable hotel and ticket package in January it doesn't tell you what rides are going to be broken in April.

This is right now. Just the main thrill rides, the small rides are worse.

It looks like this all day. They close rides for long periods which pushes up the queues on the things that are open. They don't put on the website that they're going to close Nemesis for 2 hours at lunchtime due to low staff but they do!

Agreed. We we were at Efteling again yesterday, from 9am to 6pm, longest queue was 25 mins for the big rollercoasters, we went on so much stuff, the food was great, the park was immaculate. Blows places like AT out of the water. Cheap flights/Eurostar and a Eurocamp to some of the Euro parks and it probably isn’t even much more expensive than the British parks and hotel.

We're going at half term. I'm so excited!

It’s wonderful, we love it there, you’ll have the best time!

I always Check their website to see what is open and closed before I book to go. Why didn't you do that OP? It's not as if they are hiding the closed rides. They put them on their website and display outside before you buy the tickets.

The OP booked this a few months ago. Bit late reading a sign outside when you arrive, no?

Alton Towers is a shadow of its former self. The rot started 20 years ago when they started charging you parking fees on top of the entrance ticket; it's not like you can park elsewhere or use public transport. Standard Parking (15-25 minutes walk to the park entrance) is £15 on the day or £13 online. Express Parking (1-3 minutes) is £25.

Used to go every year in the 80s and 90s and loved it. Last time I went was 2013 when Smiler opened and was surprised to see how expensive everything was and how unloved the place was starting to look.

I have friends who say it's really badly maintained now, almost to the point of deliberately letting it run down. It needs a huge investment but doubt Merlin will due to Universal.

Actually, Merlin was the worst thing to happen to Warwick Castle, too.