Ideas for Visiting Alton Towers

Alton Towers is considered one of our favorite theme parks within the UK. It’s residence to an excellent 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 suggestions to assist make sure you get probably the most out of your Alton Towers go to, from discovering your manner across the park by way of to creating positive you get to trip all of the rides you need to trip, even on a busy day.

This information is concentrated particularly on suggestions for visiting Alton Towers.

For those who’re on the lookout for extra particulars on the park, together with details about all of the rides, eating places, opening occasions, ticket costs, our evaluations and extra, try our full guide to visiting Alton Towers.

That information goes into an excellent deal extra element in regards to the park normally, while this information focuses particularly on sharing tricks to get probably the most out of your go to.

15 Ideas for Visiting Alton Towers

Alton Towers Resort is positioned 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 usually a particular journey with household and pals on the lookout for a enjoyable day or two. For a lot of additionally it is a major funding of their hard-earned time and money.

We’ve visited Alton Towers a number of occasions through the years and we wished to supply suggestions and recommendation that can assist you benefit from your go to to Alton Towers and get probably the most out of your day.

These embody tips on methods to plan forward, save time, lower your expenses, keep away from surprises, and hopefully assist keep away from any tantrums!

 

Purchase Tickets & Parking in Advance

If you wish to get the very best value for tickets, you’ll undoubtedly need to book your tickets in advance on the official site here.

Tickets purchased on-line are practically all the time considerably cheaper than shopping for them in individual on web site. Shopping for your tickets upfront additionally means you possibly can 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 usually costlier, and on quieter days tickets might be cheaper. For those who might be versatile together with your dates, you would possibly discover that selecting a special day on your go to can prevent some cash.

We additionally suggest purchasing parking in advance in case you are not staying on web site (parking is included for on-site resort company). While there’s no saving for doing so, it saves you having to pay for parking on web site.

The Alton Towers Dungeon (positioned 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 present £2 per person cheaper online than in individual.

 

Make a Common Route Plan for the Day

Alton Towers is unfold out over a big space, and it could actually take some time (typically so long as half an hour) to stroll from one trip to a different. So it’s a good suggestion to plan out your common day and have a common 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 common plan on your day on the park. Spending a while wanting on the park map both on the park’s website or within the park’s app may help you intend your route and prevent time on the day.

Alton Towers is specified by completely different zones, every of which has a special theme and every of which accommodates a lot of rides and points of interest. You possibly can study extra about all of the zones and particulars of each trip in my detailed Alton Towers guide.

Relying in your group, it’s possible you’ll or might not find yourself visiting all of the zones. For instance, in case you are visiting with youthful children, you’re doubtless 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 common plan is perhaps 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 break up between Mutiny Bay and Katanga Canyon (save water rides for final!).”

Nevertheless, in case you are visiting with youngsters and adults who meet all of the trip peak necessities, you’re doubtless going to be heading for the larger rides.

A common plan for Alton Towers if visiting the bigger rides and staying in a single day on web site is perhaps as follows.

“Have breakfast in resort at round 8am and head over to park for 9am opening with pre-booked tickets. Use visitor resort entrance. Be part of queue for most popular trip 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 won’t be capable of do greater than 3 or 4 huge rides in a day. Conversely, on a quiet day or in case you have a Fastrack Cross 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), you should definitely enable about an hour for that.

Having an concept of which rides you need to do as a gaggle is a superb begin on your go to. You possibly can then have a look at the map of the park and work out which areas you could go to.

It’s undoubtedly a good suggestion to trip all of the rides in a selected space that you just 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 fairly than experiencing the points of interest.

For these with any type of accessibility or incapacity challenge, we extremely suggest studying the Alton Towers accessibility guide, beneficial routes, and insurance policies. Experience Entry Passes have to be utilized on-line and visits utilizing the go have to be booked upfront. When you’ve got 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 the whole lot 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 loads of performance that can enhance your go to, from dwell trip queue occasions, to managing your trip photographs, to a helpful map and navigation characteristic that can get you in all places within the park you need to go.

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

While a number of the info within the app also can simply be discovered within the park, different issues like trip queue occasions are a lot simpler to seek out within the app. Having all the data in your pocket can actually assist when deciding which trip to go to subsequent.

The app might be downloaded here.

 

Arrive Early / Go away Late

To benefit from your time at Alton Towers you need to 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 vital to notice that while rides usually begin working at round 10am, the park itself really opens at 9am. So you possibly can go into the park and be part of the queue for the primary trip 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 could actually additionally keep open later than this). Nevertheless, this closing time is the final time you possibly can be part of a trip queue, not the final time the trip runs. So in case you are nonetheless in a line after closing time, you need to nonetheless get to do the trip.

Now, if you could depart the park for any motive, comparable to to go to your automotive or let the children have a nap, you then simply have to be sure to get a hand stamp from an admission employees member earlier than you exit so you possibly can reenter later. So you possibly can take a break and return. This makes probably the most sense for these staying in a single day on the Alton Towers Resort.

We predict that profiting from your time at Alton Towers makes loads 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 Experience Restrictions

Most theme park rides have minimal peak restrictions for riders resulting from 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 perhaps affected by the trip 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 trip peak restrictions on the official site here.

This may keep away from you losing time going to rides which you can’t all trip collectively. Figuring out which rides your children can and might’t trip may help keep away from loads of tears and disappointment.

Figuring out which rides are appropriate for which members of your group will even permit you to 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 Experience

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

While it may be laborious to know precisely which rides can be hottest on any given day, as a common rule of thumb the newer extra thrilling rides are inclined to have the longest traces.

For instance, the Smiler and Nemesis Reborn are usually very fashionable rides with lengthy wait occasions. 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 rapidly.

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

For these targeted on the smaller rides and rides geared to youthful kids, lengthy traces are usually much less of a priority. However it could actually nonetheless be a good suggestion to start out with the rides your children need to trip most.

 

Take into account the Fastrack Passes

In case you are visiting Alton Towers on a busier day, comparable 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 fashionable rides. The most well-liked rides are usually the joys rides and large themed rides, however even the smaller rides can have lengthy wait occasions on a busy day (or if they’re new to the park).

The excellent news is which you can skip nearly all of the traces by investing in a Fastrack Pass. There are a selection of Fastrack passes out there, that are named Bronze, Gold, Silver and Platinum.

The go you select will rely on which rides you actually need to trip, in addition to your price range. It’s additionally potential to purchase a single Fastrack go on a per trip foundation for lots of the rides, which is usually a good option to trip a selected trip rapidly in case you don’t need to put money into an entire Fastrack go.

Apart from the Platinum Fastrack go, all the opposite passes enable you one entry to the particular Fastrack line for every trip that has Fastrack. Nearly all of rides do have Fastrack, aside from the CBeebies Land rides and a number of the different smaller rides.

The Platinum Fastrack go is the one go which lets you use the Fastrack line as many occasions as you need for every trip. It’s additionally the costliest, and actually geared toward those that need to trip as many rides as potential, a number of occasions in a day.

Now we have visited Alton Towers on a really busy day, and the wait time for lots of the rides was nicely over an hour, with many rides having two hour wait occasions. With our Fastrack passes, we principally acquired onto rides in 5 or ten minutes. So for us it made an enormous distinction, that means as a substitute of using three or 4 rides within the day, we had been capable of trip each trip 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 occasions are often not more than 20 minutes for a trip, wherein case a Fastrack Cross makes much less sense.

You possibly can buy Fastrack Passes in advance of your visit here. You too can purchase them in individual on web site, nonetheless you need 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 sure you get the Fastrack Cross you need.

 

Pack a Smartphone Charger

The possibilities are that you’re going to be utilizing your smartphone loads at Alton Towers. You’ll be taking photographs and movies of your adventures, utilizing the Alton Towers app to verify trip occasions and discover your manner round, and much extra in addition to. And all that use goes to empty the battery.

While there are charging stations out there at Alton Towers for a price, we expect a way more wise resolution is simply to put money into a conveyable battery pack on your cellphone. These can cost your cellphone from flat a number of occasions over (relying on the capability), and imply you’ll be capable of preserve utilizing your cellphone all day with out fear.

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

 

Make a Meals Plan

Along with making a common 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.  Pondering 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 take a seat 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 have a look at the park map and have a common plan for lunch so if there’s a particular place you need to eat, you can also make your option to that space for lunchtime.

Observe that because the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of the sit down eating places at Alton Towers are asking folks to order meals together 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. For those who don’t need to order by way of a smartphone app, you would possibly need to simply say you don’t have a smartphone and order with a employees 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 it’s important to order on-line.

Now, in case you don’t need to pay theme park costs for meals and also you need to lower your expenses (and possibly 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 carry your individual meals to the park. This may be a good way to save cash in your go to, particularly in case you are visiting as a gaggle or household, as meals prices for just a few folks can rapidly add up.

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

 

Carry a Refillable Water Bottle

You’ll be doing loads of strolling at Alton Towers, and it’s going to be a protracted day. So that you undoubtedly need to keep hydrated.

Moderately than having to pay for drinks or purchase bottles of water, you possibly can carry 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 tons to select from.

In case you are planning to purchase mushy drinks within the park, you would possibly be capable of lower your expenses through the use of the Coca-Cola Refill stations all through the park.

To make use of these, you could buy one of many refillable Coke Freestyle cups (priced at £15 throughout our final go to) after which you possibly can drink as a lot as you want. You need to use the identical cup on future visits for a decrease per day value.

 

Keep In a single day

One actually good option to benefit from your time at Alton Towers is to remain in a single day, both at one of many on-site motels (see and book all the options here) or at a close-by resort.

Now we have executed 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 residence.

For those who solely select to remain one night time, we’d suggest making it the night time earlier than your go to. This fashion you’ll be capable of enter the park at opening time and benefit from your day.

 

Lodging at Alton Towers

Staying on web site at one of many Alton Towers resort hotels undoubtedly has its benefits. First, the motels are all themed, so your general expertise can be prolonged. The theming extends from the principle areas by way of to every room, and there’s additionally leisure on supply within the resort areas as nicely.

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 just won’t 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 executed each of those when staying in a single day and suppose they’re each price experiencing.

For those who keep on web site, you additionally get free on-site parking, which can prevent a bit of cash in case you are driving to Alton Towers.

Lastly, one of many most important benefits of staying in one of many on-site motels is which you can enter the park by way of the resort visitor solely entrance, which is close to the resort 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 possibly can are available in early and be part of the road for them earlier than anybody else.

It additionally means you don’t must 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 motels is round 20 minutes. So you possibly can skip all that and be straight into the park as a substitute.

For extra info and an in depth breakdown of what every resort has to supply, see my full Alton Towers guide.

You possibly can guide the resort motels as a part of a bundle together with your park entrance here. They typically run provides by way of the 12 months, so do try what’s on supply as you would possibly be capable of avoid wasting cash in your go to.

 

Lodging close to Alton Towers

As a substitute of staying on web site, you can even keep at a close-by resort. Now we have additionally executed this, staying round 10 minutes drive away on the night time earlier than our go to.

This allow us to arrive early and meant I acquired to trip Nemesis Reborn as one of many first riders with solely a brief wait, fairly than the 2 hour wait that occurred afterward.

The principle benefit of staying outdoors the park is that you just get a wider alternative of lodging, it may be higher worth, and it’s going to be a extra conventional resort expertise. Relying on the resort, it could even be a little bit of a quieter and extra stress-free expertise because the on-site motels are very fashionable with households.

Each might be good choices that are nicely price contemplating on your Alton Towers go to. In case you are desirous about a resort, 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 spread 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 amenities. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
• The Bay Tree – a really well-reviewed B&B with en-suite lodging and breakfast out there. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
• Peakstones Inn – This 3* resort provides a spread of en-suite rooms and there’s an on-site restaurant and bar. Breakfast is out there. 10 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
• Heywood Hall – This property provides a lot of self-contained flats, every with a small kitchen an en-suite toilet. There’s additionally a sizzling tub and backyard for company use. 12 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
• Whiston Hall – A former nineteenth century corridor which has been transformed into a contemporary mid-range resort 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 particularly was superb. 13 minutes’ drivee from Alton Towers.
• The Duncombe Arms – This pub/resort is present in Ellastone and provides air-conditioned rooms with espresso machines and en-suite amenities. Breakfast is out there and there’s a restaurant and bar for different meals. 13 minutes drive from Alton Towers
• The Royal Oak – This inn provides a spread of comfy rooms within the city of Ashbourne. There’s a restaurant and bar on web site with meals out there. 19 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
• YHA Ilam Hall – 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 alternative of shared or personal lodging. 22 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.

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

 

Make Meal Reservations if Staying In a single day

For those who resolve to remain at one of many on-site motels, it would be best to make meal reservations upfront of your go to. This contains breakfast and dinner mealtimes.

The resort eating places get busy, so reservations are required to ensure that them to have the ability to guarantee everybody has an excellent expertise. Reservations are free, and detailed details about methods to guide can be despatched to you as a part of your reserving affirmation.

The extra fashionable occasions, comparable to round 7:00pm to 7.30pm for dinner and round 8am for breakfast, guide up quick, so if you’d like extra alternative, we advise reserving nicely upfront. You possibly can all the time change the time of your reservation in case you change your thoughts, topic to availability.

When you can nonetheless typically eat with no reserving at one of many motels, it may be a protracted look ahead to a desk otherwise you won’t get your alternative of a restaurant.

If you wish to eat on the Rollercoaster Restaurant (positioned within the park however strolling distance from motels), you additionally have to guide these dinner reservations upfront. This restaurant can typically be booked out a few weeks upfront. For those who can’t get a reservation throughout your keep, attempt to go for lunch the place reservations will not be required.

 

Take into account the Digital Photograph Cross

If you wish to have reminiscences of your time at Alton Towers, then we’d counsel investing in a Digital Photo Pass on your go to. While you possibly can clearly take photographs throughout the park, the one place the place images is strictly forbidden is on the rides.

The excellent news is that each one the rides have their very own images programs in place, often positioned to seize a key second through the trip the place you’re looking most excited or terrified. Naturally these could make for some memorable photos! Moreover, there are some particular points of interest with a photograph shoot component, comparable to in CBeebies Land, the place you possibly can have extra photographs taken of your go to.

The Digital Photograph Cross provides you entry to all of the trip photographs out of your day at Alton Towers, for you and anybody in your group. The photographs are all delivered digitally by way of the Alton Towers app, and you’ll then share them with pals digitally, or print them together with your most popular print service.

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

The principle tip I might give could be to have all of the photographs taken and added to the app, after which on the finish of the day you possibly can 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. For those who resolve you just like the photographs, you possibly can pay to unlock increased decision variations with no watermark. In any other case, in case you don’t like them, you don’t have to pay.

The photographs keep within the app for 90 days after your go to, so you may have loads of time to resolve. Upon getting bought, they then stay within the app for an extra 12 months, throughout which era you possibly can obtain them to your gadget and preserve them eternally.

You possibly can after all additionally purchase the Digital Photograph Cross upfront of your go to or throughout your go to. It’s usually introduced as an possibility whenever you purchase your tickets.

Nevertheless, until you’re 100% sure you’re going to need the pictures, our suggestion 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 time. 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 spread of eventualities. We’d usually counsel contemplating packing the next, which you’ll be able to alter relying on the time of 12 months you’re visiting:

 

Take Benefit of Free Reveals and Leisure

Alton Towers has much more to supply than thrilling rides. There are additionally a lot of free shows and different sorts of leisure on supply, a lot of that are excellent in case you are visiting the park with youthful kids.

These reveals is usually a good option to take a break and sit down while being entertained. Reveals range, however embody dwell motion reveals such because the Furchester Resort, Hey Duggee, Bluey, and Teletubbies reveals. Lots of the reveals additionally embody the chance to take a photograph with the characters.

Moreover, there’s a dwell stage arrange subsequent to the Alton Towers lake which regularly hosts performances. You’ll want to verify the schedule whenever you arrive to see what’s on in your specific day.

In case you are staying in one of many on-site motels, then the get together doesn’t cease whenever you get again for the night time. Every resort usually has dwell performances every night time so that you can take pleasure in as nicely.

 

Additional Studying

That’s it for our suggestions for visiting Alton Towers! We hope you discovered it helpful.

Earlier than you go, we wished to share just a few of our different guides that you just would possibly discover helpful.

• Now we have a complete guide to visiting Alton Towers, which has the whole lot you could know. It contains info on all of the rides, motels, actions and much extra.
• For wider UK journey planning, we’ve prompt one week and two week UK itineraries
• Now we have guides to many different cities in England. See our information to things to do in Manchester,  things to do in Stratford upon Avon,  things to do in Bristol,  things to do in Portsmouth, tips about a weekend in York, tips about Visiting Oxford on a Day Trip, and things to do in Cambridge
• For those who’re heading to Scotland, try our 2 day Edinburgh itinerary, our Glasgow and Loch Lomond itinerary, our information to the best day trips from Glasgow, our information to things to do in Edinburgh, our itinerary for Skye and the Highlands, our information to the best day trips from Aberdeen, and our information to the very best day trips from Edinburgh to get you began. We even have a information to getting from London to Edinburgh.
• Now we have a information to 10 of the best Stately Homes in England, a few of which aren’t that removed from Alton Towers

And that’s it! Have you ever ever visited Alton Towers? Do you may have something you’d add to the above, or a query about an upcoming go to? Simply tell us within the feedback under!