Alton Towers midweek in school holidays

[TheBiggestNumber]

I’m just wondering how busy it will be midweek at the start of the school holidays (late July 2025).

Despite living in the midlands for over 20 years, I’ve never been and thought I’d take the children for a short break who are teens and almost teens. I was looking at the woodland lodges and thought we’d do one day in the theme park itself and one day in the water park.

Has anyone been? Will it be hideously crowded? I’m not a massive fan of theme parks but I thought if we’re on site, we can always go back to the cabin for a few hours to relax.

Otherwise if anyone has suggestions for a short stay less than 2 hours drive from north Birmingham, I’m all ears. Not centre parcs. Not camping. Perhaps a farm stay?

We went last year in late July, it was busy but fine. Longest queue was 45 minutes, most were 20 - 30 minutes. Did everything & had a brilliant time.

We stayed 3 nights & had 2 days in the park which gave us early entry (1 hour). Didn't need to go back to the accommodation during the day but sat in the shade whilst having lunch etc for a rest. Did about 25k steps each day with lots of uphill walking so wear comfortable shoes!

Not an exact science, but queue times website has crowd predictions for the months ahead https://queue-times.com/parks/1/calendar/2025/07 It can vary greatly unfortunately, amd weather plays a part.

We stayed at Black Hall Lodges a few years ago on the Welsh border, had a lovely time. But, very different to alton towers! Are the kids keen on a themepark?