Suggestions for Visiting Alton Towers

Alton Towers is one in every of our favorite theme parks within the UK. It’s dwelling to an awesome many rides and points of interest, from the kid-friendly rides and reveals in CBeebies Land to the high-octane thrill rides such because the Smiler and Nemesis Reborn.

It’s the largest theme park within the UK, and we’ve have been fortunate sufficient to go to Alton Towers on many events.

On this information, we’re going to share you with all our ideas to assist make sure you get probably the most out of your Alton Towers go to, from discovering your approach across the park via to creating positive you get to journey all of the rides you need to journey, even on a busy day.

This information is targeted particularly on ideas for visiting Alton Towers.

If you happen to’re searching for extra particulars on the park, together with details about all of the rides, eating places, opening instances, ticket costs, our evaluations and extra, try our full information to visiting Alton Towers.

That information goes into an awesome deal extra element concerning the park on the whole, while this information focuses particularly on sharing tricks to get probably the most out of your go to.

15 Suggestions for Visiting Alton Towers

Alton Towers Resort is situated in central Staffordshire in England (about midway between Birmingham and Manchester) and is the biggest theme park within the UK. The Alton Towers theme park sits on over 550 acres of land, with the bigger resort space totaling 910 acres.

A go to to Alton Towers is commonly a particular journey with household and pals searching for a enjoyable day or two. For a lot of additionally it is a major funding of their hard-earned time and cash.

We’ve visited Alton Towers a number of instances through the years and we wished to supply ideas and recommendation that can assist you take advantage of your go to to Alton Towers and get probably the most out of your day.

These embody tips on plan forward, save time, get monetary savings, keep away from surprises, and hopefully assist keep away from any tantrums!

 

Purchase Tickets & Parking in Advance

If you wish to get the most effective worth for tickets, you’ll positively need to e book your tickets upfront on the official web site right here.

Tickets purchased on-line are almost all the time considerably cheaper than shopping for them in individual on web site. Shopping for your tickets upfront additionally means you may go straight to the turnstile and skip any line for the ticket workplace.

It’s additionally price noting that Alton Towers operates a dynamic pricing system, so on busier peak days tickets are typically dearer, and on quieter days tickets might be cheaper. If you happen to might be versatile along with your dates, you may discover that selecting a unique day in your go to can prevent some cash.

We additionally suggest buying parking upfront if you’re not staying on web site (parking is included for on-site lodge visitors). While there’s no saving for doing so, it saves you having to pay for parking on web site.

The Alton Towers Dungeon (situated inside the park however requires an additional ticket) tickets are additionally cheaper if booked upfront than if bought in-person on the day. They’re at the moment £2 per individual cheaper on-line than in individual.

 

Make a Basic Route Plan for the Day

Alton Towers is unfold out over a big space, and it may well take some time (generally so long as half an hour) to stroll from one journey to a different. So it’s a good suggestion to plan out your basic day and have a basic route plan for what you need to go to and in what order.

Because you presumably need to spend extra time having fun with the rides and points of interest than strolling, it’s a good suggestion to have a basic plan in your day on the park. Spending a while trying on the park map both on the park’s web site or within the park’s app might help you intend your route and prevent time on the day.

Alton Towers is specified by completely different zones, every of which has a unique theme and every of which comprises quite a lot of rides and points of interest. You possibly can be taught extra about all of the zones and particulars of each journey in my detailed Alton Towers information.

Relying in your group, you might or might not find yourself visiting all of the zones. For instance, if you’re visiting with youthful children, you’re seemingly going to spend extra time in CBeebies Land and The World of David Walliams and never a lot time within the X-Sector and the Darkish Forest.

So a basic plan is likely to be one thing like this “Buy tickets and parking upfront. Arrive at park at 9:30am, begin in CBeebies Land, break to have a packed snack, then go to World of David Walliams, stroll to Mutiny Bay and purchase lunch there, spend the remainder of day cut up between Mutiny Bay and Katanga Canyon (save water rides for final!).”

Nonetheless, if you’re visiting with youngsters and adults who meet all of the journey peak necessities, you’re seemingly going to be heading for the larger rides.

A basic plan for Alton Towers if visiting the bigger rides and staying in a single day on web site is likely to be as follows.

“Have breakfast in lodge at round 8am and head over to park for 9am opening with pre-booked tickets. Use visitor lodge entrance. Be part of queue for most well-liked journey in Forbidden Valley, then do remaining Forbidden Valley Rides. Head to Darkish Forest for the joys rides then have lunch at Woodcutter Grill. After lunch head to Wicker Man, then end the day at X-Sector”.

After all, relying on how busy the park is and whether or not or not you may have Fastrack Passes you’ll have to alter your schedule. On very busy days with out Fastrack passes you may not have the ability to do greater than 3 or 4 large rides in a day. Conversely, on a quiet day or when you’ve got a Fastrack Move it is possible for you to to slot in extra rides.

In case you are wanting to go to the Alton Towers Dungeon (additional ticket wanted), make sure to permit about an hour for that.

Having an concept of which rides you need to do as a bunch is a superb begin in your go to. You possibly can then have a look at the map of the park and work out which areas it’s essential go to.

It’s positively a good suggestion to journey all of the rides in a particular space that you simply need to do earlier than shifting on to a brand new space. In any other case you’re going to spend extra time strolling between areas somewhat than experiencing the points of interest.

For these with any form of accessibility or incapacity situation, we extremely suggest studying the Alton Towers accessibility information, beneficial routes, and insurance policies. Journey Entry Passes have to be utilized on-line and visits utilizing the move have to be booked upfront. You probably have any questions, ask them upfront so you are ready on the day of your go to.

 

Obtain the Alton Towers App

While I’m nonetheless not satisfied that all the things on the earth wants an app, I’ve to say that the Alton Towers app is fairly first rate, and essential when visiting the park.

It has a whole lot of performance that can enhance your go to, from reside journey queue instances, to managing your journey pictures, to a helpful map and navigation characteristic that can get you in every single place within the park you need to go.

There’s free WiFi throughout Alton Towers, so that you don’t want to fret about knowledge utilization. The app can also be free to obtain and use.

While a number of the data within the app may simply be discovered within the park, different issues like journey queue instances are a lot simpler to search out within the app. Having all the knowledge in your pocket can actually assist when deciding which journey to go to subsequent.

The app might be downloaded right here.

 

Arrive Early / Go away Late

To take advantage of your time at Alton Towers you must plan to reach early after which ideally keep till the park closes. The longer you’re on web site, the extra it is possible for you to to see and do, and the extra worth you’re going to get out of your ticket.

It’s necessary to notice that while rides usually begin working at round 10am, the park itself really opens at 9am. So you may go into the park and be part of the queue for the primary journey you need to go on. Or simply seize a espresso or wander the gardens.

For closing, relying on the time of 12 months and day, the park usually closes at 4pm or 6pm (for particular occasions it may well additionally keep open later than this). Nonetheless, this closing time is the final time you may be part of a journey queue, not the final time the journey runs. So if you’re nonetheless in a line after closing time, you must nonetheless get to do the journey.

Now, if it’s essential depart the park for any purpose, corresponding to to go to your automobile or let the youngsters have a nap, then you definitely simply must ensure you get a hand stamp from an admission workers member earlier than you exit so you may reenter later. So you may take a break and return. This makes probably the most sense for these staying in a single day on the Alton Towers Resort.

We expect that taking advantage of your time at Alton Towers makes a whole lot of sense as you may have invested a good bit of cash into your go to, so ought to get the utmost worth from it.

 

Perceive any Journey Restrictions

Most theme park rides have minimal peak restrictions for riders on account of well being and security causes. A number of of the rides even have most peak restrictions.

In case you are visiting Alton Towers with anybody who is likely to be affected by the journey peak restrictions, for instance kids or these over 6 ft tall, then it’s a good suggestion to do a little analysis upfront as to which rides are going to be appropriate for the entire group. You possibly can see all of the journey peak restrictions on the official web site right here.

This may keep away from you losing time going to rides that you would be able to’t all journey collectively. Figuring out which rides your children can and may’t journey might help keep away from a whole lot of tears and disappointment.

Figuring out which rides are appropriate for which members of your group may even mean you can divide your group up if you want, so everybody will get to expertise the points of interest they need to, and no-one will get upset about lacking out or having to attend round.

 

Plan your First Journey

In case you are a thrillseeker and wish the get probably the most out of your day at Alton Towers, it’s actually necessary that you understand what you want to your first journey to be. We’d suggest selecting the journey which is more likely to have the longest traces because the day progresses.

While it may be arduous to know precisely which rides will probably be hottest on any given day, as a basic rule of thumb the newer extra thrilling rides are likely to have the longest traces.

For instance, the Smiler and Nemesis Reborn are usually very talked-about rides with lengthy wait instances. So if these rides are in your to-do record, we suggest heading to these rides as quickly as you arrive and becoming a member of the road. This could get you onto these rides shortly.

For example, on a latest go to to Alton Towers I joined the road for Nemesis Reborn at 9.30am and was driving by 10.10am, solely 10 minutes after the journey opened. Later within the day, journey wait instances had been over 2 hours for that journey.

For these targeted on the smaller rides and rides geared to youthful kids, lengthy traces are usually much less of a priority. However it may well nonetheless be a good suggestion to begin with the rides your children need to journey most.

 

Think about the Fastrack Passes

In case you are visiting Alton Towers on a busier day, corresponding to a faculty vacation or a weekend, then the queue lengths for lots of the rides are more likely to be pretty lengthy.

By pretty lengthy, we imply 1 – 2 hours wait time for the extra common rides. The most well-liked rides are usually the joys rides and massive themed rides, however even the smaller rides can have lengthy wait instances on a busy day (or if they’re new to the park).

The excellent news is that you would be able to skip nearly all of the traces by investing in a Fastrack Move. There are a number of Fastrack passes accessible, that are named Bronze, Gold, Silver and Platinum.

The move you select will rely on which rides you actually need to journey, in addition to your finances. It’s additionally attainable to purchase a single Fastrack move on a per journey foundation for lots of the rides, which is usually a good approach to journey a particular journey shortly if you happen to don’t need to put money into a complete Fastrack move.

Apart from the Platinum Fastrack move, all the opposite passes permit you one entry to the particular Fastrack line for every journey that has Fastrack. The vast majority of rides do have Fastrack, excluding the CBeebies Land rides and a number of the different smaller rides.

The Platinum Fastrack move is the one move which lets you use the Fastrack line as many instances as you need for every journey. It’s additionally the most costly, and actually geared toward those that need to journey as many rides as attainable, a number of instances in a day.

Now we have visited Alton Towers on a really busy day, and the wait time for lots of the rides was effectively over an hour, with many rides having two hour wait instances. With our Fastrack passes, we principally obtained onto rides in 5 or ten minutes. So for us it made an enormous distinction, which means as an alternative of driving three or 4 rides within the day, we had been capable of journey each journey within the park.

After all, the Fastrack Passes received’t make sense for everybody. We’ve visited Alton Towers on quiet days the place wait instances are normally not more than 20 minutes for a journey, during which case a Fastrack Move makes much less sense.

You possibly can purchase Fastrack Passes upfront of your go to right here. You can too purchase them in individual on web site, nonetheless you have to be conscious that the Fastrack passes do come from a restricted pool and so they can promote out.

In case you are visiting throughout peak season and also you do need a Fastrack, then shopping for upfront is a good suggestion to make certain you get the Fastrack Move you need.

 

Pack a Smartphone Charger

The probabilities are that you will be utilizing your smartphone lots at Alton Towers. You’ll be taking pictures and movies of your adventures, utilizing the Alton Towers app to examine journey instances and discover your approach round, and much extra moreover. And all that use goes to empty the battery.

While there are charging stations accessible at Alton Towers for a price, we expect a way more wise answer is simply to put money into a transportable battery pack in your cellphone. These can cost your cellphone from flat a number of instances over (relying on the capability), and imply you’ll have the ability to maintain utilizing your cellphone all day with out fear.

There are a whole lot of choices on the market, we at the moment use one like this which labored effectively to cost our telephones and our pals’ telephones on a latest go to to Alton Towers.

 

Make a Meals Plan

Along with making a basic plan about what rides and attraction you need to go to upfront, additionally it is a good suggestion to consider what and the place you need to eat.  Considering forward can prevent money and time.

There are a selection of meals distributors and eating places within the park open through the day, from sizzling canine and ice cream stands to sit down down eateries just like the Woodcutter’s Bar and Grill and the Rollercoaster Restaurant. Count on typical theme park costs.

It may be a good suggestion to take a look at the park map and have a basic plan for lunch so if there’s a particular place you need to eat, you may make your approach to that space for lunchtime.

Notice that because the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of the sit down eating places at Alton Towers are asking folks to order meals along with your smartphone after scanning a QR code. We had a tough time getting this to work on two completely different events on the Woodcutter’s Bar & Grill.

The second time we went, we ended up having to order with an individual after a number of failed makes an attempt to get it to work. If you happen to don’t need to order by way of a smartphone app, you may need to simply say you don’t have a smartphone and order with a workers member on the bar from a bodily menu. I consider they’ve to supply one for accessibility and inclusion causes even when they at first say you must order on-line.

Now, if you happen to don’t need to pay theme park costs for meals and also you need to get monetary savings (and doubtless a while), think about bringing alongside your individual meals and snacks.

Alton Towers has just a few completely different picnic areas, and you’re greater than welcome to convey your individual meals to the park. This may be a good way to economize in your go to, particularly if you’re visiting as a bunch or household, as meals prices for just a few folks can shortly add up.

We all know some households prefer to pack their very own meals, however then splurge on one thing like ice cream or candyfloss for the youngsters.

 

Convey a Refillable Water Bottle

You’re going to be doing a whole lot of strolling at Alton Towers, and it’s going to be a protracted day. So that you positively need to keep hydrated.

Fairly than having to pay for drinks or purchase bottles of water, you may convey your individual refillable water bottle after which use the water refill stations that are dotted all through the park. We use these water bottles by Klean Kanteen, however there are heaps to select from.

In case you are planning to purchase delicate drinks within the park, you may have the ability to get monetary savings by utilizing the Coca-Cola Refill stations all through the park.

To make use of these, it’s essential buy one of many refillable Coke Freestyle cups (priced at £15 throughout our final go to) after which you may drink as a lot as you want. You should utilize the identical cup on future visits for a decrease per day price.

 

Keep In a single day

One actually good approach to take advantage of your time at Alton Towers is to remain in a single day, both at one of many on-site lodges (see and e book all of the choices right here) or at a close-by lodge.

Now we have accomplished each, and so they every have their execs and cons.

Staying two nights could make it simpler to get there early and keep till closing the park with out worrying about heading dwelling.

If you happen to solely select to remain one evening, we’d suggest making it the evening earlier than your go to. This fashion you’ll have the ability to enter the park at opening time and take advantage of your day.

 

Lodging at Alton Towers

Staying on web site at one of many Alton Towers resort lodges positively has its benefits. First, the lodges are all themed, so your total expertise will probably be prolonged. The theming extends from the principle areas via to every room, and there’s additionally leisure on supply within the lodge areas as effectively.

One other benefit of staying on web site is that it provides you time to take pleasure in a number of the different points of interest on web site that you simply may not in any other case have time to take pleasure in.

These embody the Splash Landings water park and the park themed Mini Golf. We’ve accomplished each of those when staying in a single day and suppose they’re each price experiencing.

If you happen to keep on web site, you additionally get free on-site parking, which can prevent a bit of cash if you’re driving to Alton Towers.

Lastly, one of many predominant benefits of staying in one of many on-site lodges is that you would be able to enter the park by way of the lodge visitor solely entrance, which is close to the lodge monorail cease.

This entrance brings you into the park proper subsequent to Galactica and Nemesis Reborn. If these rides are in your to-do record, then you may are available early and be part of the road for them earlier than anybody else.

It additionally means you don’t should queue for the monorail, or stroll to the principle park entrance. On busy mornings the monorail queue might be 40 minutes lengthy, whereas the stroll to the principle park entrance from the lodges is round 20 minutes. So you may skip all that and be straight into the park as an alternative.

For extra data and an in depth breakdown of what every lodge has to supply, see my full Alton Towers information.

You possibly can e book the resort lodges as a part of a package deal together with your park entrance right here. They typically run presents via the 12 months, so do try what’s on supply as you may have the ability to avoid wasting cash in your go to.

 

Lodging close to Alton Towers

As an alternative of staying on web site, you can even keep at a close-by lodge. Now we have additionally accomplished this, staying round 10 minutes drive away on the evening earlier than our go to.

This allow us to arrive early and meant I obtained to journey Nemesis Reborn as one of many first riders with solely a brief wait, somewhat than the 2 hour wait that occurred in a while.

The principle benefit of staying exterior the park is that you simply get a wider selection of lodging, it may be higher worth, and it’s going to be a extra conventional lodge expertise. Relying on the lodge, it could even be a little bit of a quieter and extra enjoyable expertise because the on-site lodges are very talked-about with households.

Each might be good choices that are effectively price contemplating in your Alton Towers go to. In case you are occupied with a lodge, listed below are some suggestions within the space, sorted by approximate driving distance from the resort:

• The White Hart – a well-liked inn within the village of Alton, providing a variety of en-suite rooms. 7 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
• The Laurel’s B&B – It is a well-rated B&B which serves breakfast. Rooms are en-suite with tea/espresso making services. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
• The Bay Tree – a really well-reviewed B&B with en-suite lodging and breakfast accessible. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
• Peakstones Inn – This 3* lodge presents a variety of en-suite rooms and there’s an on-site restaurant and bar. Breakfast is obtainable. 10 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
• Heywood Corridor – This property presents quite a lot of self-contained flats, every with a small kitchen an en-suite lavatory. There’s additionally a sizzling tub and backyard for visitors use. 12 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
• Whiston Corridor – A former nineteenth century corridor which has been transformed into a contemporary mid-range lodge with its personal golf course. A variety of en-suite rooms can be found, and breakfast is obtainable. We loved our keep right here and the meals specifically was superb. 13 minutes’ drivee from Alton Towers.
• The Duncombe Arms – This pub/lodge is present in Ellastone and presents air-conditioned rooms with espresso machines and en-suite services. Breakfast is obtainable and there’s a restaurant and bar for different meals. 13 minutes drive from Alton Towers
• The Royal Oak – This inn presents a variety of snug rooms within the city of Ashbourne. There’s a restaurant and bar on web site with meals accessible. 19 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
• YHA Ilam Corridor – This youth hostel is present in a gothic corridor set in 84 acres of parkland. There’s an on-site breakfast, kitchen for self-catering, and a selection of shared or non-public lodging. 22 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.

After all, there are heaps extra choices to think about. You possibly can see a full vary of lodging choices close to Alton Towers on Reserving.com right here, which incorporates quite a lot of vacation leases as effectively.

 

Make Meal Reservations if Staying In a single day

If you happen to resolve to remain at one of many on-site lodges, you’ll want to make meal reservations upfront of your go to. This contains breakfast and dinner mealtimes.

The lodge eating places get busy, so reservations are required to ensure that them to have the ability to guarantee everybody has a great expertise. Reservations are free, and detailed details about e book will probably be despatched to you as a part of your reserving affirmation.

The extra common instances, corresponding to round 7:00pm to 7.30pm for dinner and round 8am for breakfast, e book up quick, so if you’d like extra selection, we advise reserving effectively upfront. You possibly can all the time change the time of your reservation if you happen to change your thoughts, topic to availability.

Whilst you can nonetheless typically eat and not using a reserving at one of many lodges, it may be a protracted anticipate a desk otherwise you may not get your selection of a restaurant.

If you wish to eat on the Rollercoaster Restaurant (situated within the park however strolling distance from lodges), you additionally must e book these dinner reservations upfront. This restaurant can generally be booked out a few weeks upfront. If you happen to can’t get a reservation throughout your keep, attempt to go for lunch the place reservations should not required.

 

Think about the Digital Photograph Move

If you wish to have recollections of your time at Alton Towers, then we’d counsel investing in a Digital Photograph Move in your go to. While you may clearly take pictures throughout the park, the one place the place pictures is strictly forbidden is on the rides.

The excellent news is that every one the rides have their very own pictures methods in place, normally positioned to seize a key second through the journey the place you’re looking most excited or terrified. Naturally these could make for some memorable photographs! Moreover, there are some particular points of interest with a photograph shoot factor, corresponding to in CBeebies Land, the place you may have extra pictures taken of your go to.

The Digital Photograph Move provides you entry to all of the journey pictures out of your day at Alton Towers, for you and anybody in your group. The pictures are all delivered digitally by way of the Alton Towers app, and you’ll then share them with pals digitally, or print them along with your most well-liked print service.

On a latest go to to Alton Towers as a bunch of six (4 adults and two children) we ended up with over 100 digital photographs between the six of us, which made the Digital Photograph Move greater than price it.

The principle tip I’d give can be to have all of the pictures taken and added to the app, after which on the finish of the day you may resolve if you wish to pay for them. Earlier than you pay for them they are often previewed in a small model with a watermark. If you happen to resolve you just like the pictures, you may pay to unlock larger decision variations with no watermark. In any other case, if you happen to don’t like them, you don’t must pay.

The pictures keep within the app for 90 days after your go to, so you may have loads of time to resolve. After you have bought, they then stay within the app for an extra 12 months, throughout which era you may obtain them to your machine and maintain them endlessly.

You possibly can in fact additionally purchase the Digital Photograph Move upfront of your go to or throughout your go to. It’s usually introduced as an choice once you purchase your tickets.

Nonetheless, except you’re 100% sure you’re going to need the pictures, our advice is to attend till you see all of them earlier than deciding to purchase.

 

Be Ready for Solar & Rain

The climate in England is notoriously fickle, even within the peak of summer season. We’ve had experiences the place we visited Alton Towers throughout two days, with the primary day being pouring rain and the second day being gloriously sizzling sunshine.

So that you simply by no means know fairly what you’re going to get, and the climate forecast isn’t all the time going to get it proper. So we suggest being ready for a variety of eventualities. We’d usually counsel contemplating packing the next, which you’ll alter relying on the time of 12 months you’re visiting: