Any Alton Towers experts? I have some questions!

[Stinkyfeet]

I'm taking the ds's (11 and 8) for a couple of days next week and am trying to plan the best ways to do things. They are not particular thrill seekers and are both too small to go on most of the big rides, so we'll do mainly low key rides and potter around other stuff. We have Merlin passes so not too anxious about getting optimum value for money.

Are we better off getting there early (9ish) or would lunchtime be ok for the first day? Are queues for non thrill rides just as long? If we decide to also go to the waterpark and/or golf, can we get there from the main park, or do we have to/can we drive to a different carpark for those? We are well used to Legoland and Chessington on busy days - how does AT compare? Any other useful tips?

Thanks

Anyone?!

Hi Stinky.

The waterpark is at the hotel, next to the car park for the theme park, and next to the monorail for the car park, so very easy. The golf is next to it.

As Merlin passholders you can enter the main park an hour earlier than everyone else, and some rides will be open for you.

Alton Towers has changed a lot crowd-wise now that Cbeebies land has opened. It used to be that the small children's area was empty most of the time, but now it is packed and people queue an hour for a ride that used to be deserted before it was re-branded. I have found the whole park busier since Cbeebies land opened.

How tall are your children? There are quite a lot of rides that have pretty low minimum heights. Eg Thirteen and Spinball are only 120cm. The runaway mine train is only 110cm I think. This means that these rides are also popular with some kids who are still young enough to enjoy Cbeebies land.

The good thing about Alton Towers is that the place is huge, so even when it is busy it still doesn't feel crowded. A day and a half will probably be enough if you are not queuing for the big rides.

Thanks Anne, that's all really useful. The boys are both around 128, so there'll be plenty they can go on. We will completely avoid Cbeebies - I think they would be disgusted if I even suggested it!

So is it easy enough to go back to the car to dump picnic stuff, and grab swimming stuff to then go to the waterpark?

Yes it is. The Monorail runs from the main park back to the car park all day, and the waterpark is less than a minute's walk from the monorail car park station. Go past the giant birthday cake you will see from the monorail exit and you are there.

It's a monorail ride to the car park, 5 or 10 mins. The water park is great but the actual rides/water slides have very long queues, though there's lots to do without going on them.

The monorail is no longer than 3 minutes max!

Lovely, this is all good so far.

IME of other theme parks, if we arrive at 10 we will sit in a queue of traffic for half an hour just to park, but if we arrive closer to 12 it's usually quicker, even though we'll have park further away - is this the case at Alton Towers?

Yes, arrive for 9am and you will go straight through, no queue, and as a Pass holder you will be allowed in. Around ten you will queue for the monorail. After 11 you will go straight through again.

I live about 25 minutes away and go all the time, and often just go for the afternoon.

We also have merlin passes and go there quite frequently, 6 times this year already:/ the best advice I have is use your parking pass but pay 10 extra to park right by the entrance. No long ques for the mono rail at te end of the day. Also it's the wye that shits at 5:30 not the ride itself. Our dc are over 7 all bar one so they all go single rider now which is muchuch quicker and they often still all get on the same time, sometimes same row. Ours love the pirate show in the courtyard by log flume, we've had to watch the bloody thing every time, it's funny for little ones though, water and fire effects.
We went in Saturday and it seemed quiet, my fav ride is air but hex I often overlooked but our dc like it.
You'll have a great time, but tired legs of course!

Blooming phone ques that shuts at 5:30 not shits!!:)

Thanks everyone.

I think we'll aim for lunchtime on first day (saves setting off at crack of dawn), then 9 on the second as we'll only be 30 mins away.