Alton Towers Hotels & Water Park - are they worth the money ?

[PopsP]

We are thinking about staying overnight at one of the hotels for my sons birthday. Doing Alton Towers one day & the water park the next. Its seriously expensive, has anyone been and was it worth it.

The hotel is good because it gets you into Alton Towers early, half an hour before the main gates open and on the other side of the park -- so you can sprint round and do all the popular rides before the masses get there and with NO QUEUES!

So if I were doing your plan I'd be inclined to do the water park the first day and then AT itself on the second, taking advantage of the get-into-AT-early option.