Alton Towers is certainly one of our favorite theme parks within the UK. It’s dwelling to an awesome many rides and sights, from the kid-friendly rides and exhibits 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 method across the park via to creating certain you get to journey all of the rides you wish to journey, even on a busy day.
This information is targeted particularly on suggestions for visiting Alton Towers.
In case you’re in search of extra particulars on the park, together with details about all of the rides, eating places, opening instances, ticket costs, our critiques and extra, take a look at our full information to visiting Alton Towers.
That information goes into an awesome deal extra element in regards to the park usually, 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 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 commonly a particular journey with household and pals in search of 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 over time and we wished to supply suggestions and recommendation that can assist you profit from your go to to Alton Towers and get probably the most out of your day.
These embrace recommendations on learn how 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 positively wish to guide your tickets upfront on the official website right here.
Tickets purchased on-line are practically at all times considerably cheaper than shopping for them in individual on website. 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 typically costlier, and on quieter days tickets may be cheaper. In case you may be versatile along with your dates, you may discover that selecting a distinct day on your go to can prevent some cash.
We additionally suggest buying parking upfront if you’re not staying on website (parking is included for on-site resort visitors). While there’s no saving for doing so, it saves you having to pay for parking on website.
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 the moment £2 per individual cheaper on-line than in individual.
Make a Normal Route Plan for the Day
Alton Towers is unfold out over a big space, and it may take some time (typically 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 wish to go to and in what order.
Because you presumably wish to spend extra time having fun with the rides and sights than strolling, it’s a good suggestion to have a basic plan on 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 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 distinct theme and every of which accommodates plenty of rides and sights. 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 could not find yourself visiting all of the zones. For instance, if you’re visiting with youthful youngsters, 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 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 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 website 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 a part of queue for most popular 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”.
In fact, relying on how busy the park is and whether or not or not you may have Fastrack Passes you’ll have to modify your schedule. On very busy days with out Fastrack passes you may not be capable of do greater than 3 or 4 massive rides in a day. Conversely, on a quiet day or if in case you have a Fastrack Move it is possible for you to to slot in extra rides.
If you’re wanting to go to the Alton Towers Dungeon (additional ticket wanted), be sure you permit about an hour for that.
Having an thought of which rides you wish to do as a gaggle is a good begin on your go to. You possibly can then have a look at the map of the park and work out which areas you should go to.
It’s positively a good suggestion to journey all of the rides in a selected space that you simply wish 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 slightly than experiencing the sights.
For these with any type of accessibility or incapacity situation, we extremely suggest studying the Alton Towers accessibility information, beneficial routes, and insurance policies. Trip Entry Passes should be utilized on-line and visits utilizing the move should be booked upfront. When you have any questions, ask them upfront so you’re ready on the day of your go to.
Obtain the Alton Towers App
While I’m nonetheless not satisfied that every thing on this planet wants an app, I’ve to say that the Alton Towers app is fairly first rate, and essential when visiting the park.
It has quite a lot of performance that can enhance your go to, from dwell journey queue instances, to managing your journey images, to a helpful map and navigation characteristic that can get you all over the place within the park you wish 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 among 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 move to subsequent.
The app may be downloaded right here.
Arrive Early / Go away Late
To profit from your time at Alton Towers it is best to plan to reach early after which ideally keep till the park closes. The longer you’re on website, the extra it is possible for you to to see and do, and the extra worth you’ll get out of your ticket.
It’s essential 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 journey you wish 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 additionally keep open later than this). Nonetheless, this closing time is the final time you possibly can be part of a journey queue, not the final time the journey runs. So if you’re nonetheless in a line after closing time, it is best to nonetheless get to do the journey.
Now, if you should go away the park for any purpose, similar to to go to your automobile 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 expect that taking advantage of your time at Alton Towers makes quite a 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 Trip Restrictions
Most theme park rides have minimal peak restrictions for riders as a result of well being and security causes. Just a few of the rides even have most peak restrictions.
If you’re visiting Alton Towers with anybody who is perhaps affected by the journey peak restrictions, for instance youngsters or these over 6 ft tall, then it’s a good suggestion to perform a little research 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 website right here.
This may keep away from you losing time going to rides which you can’t all journey collectively. Understanding which rides your youngsters can and may’t journey may help keep away from quite a lot of tears and disappointment.
Understanding which rides are appropriate for which members of your group will even assist you to divide your group up if you want, so everybody will get to expertise the sights they wish to, and no-one will get upset about lacking out or having to attend round.
Plan your First Trip
If you’re a thrillseeker and need the get probably the most out of your day at Alton Towers, it’s actually essential that you already know what you want to your first journey to be. We’d suggest selecting the journey which is prone to have the longest strains because the day progresses.
While it may be arduous to know precisely which rides shall be hottest on any given day, as a basic rule of thumb the newer extra thrilling rides are inclined to have the longest strains.
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 checklist, 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 current 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 youngsters, lengthy strains are usually much less of a priority. However it may nonetheless be a good suggestion to begin with the rides your youngsters wish to journey most.
Contemplate the Fastrack Passes
If you’re visiting Alton Towers on a busier day, similar to a college vacation or a weekend, then the queue lengths for lots of the rides are prone to be pretty lengthy.
By pretty lengthy, we imply 1 – 2 hours wait time for the extra well-liked rides. The preferred 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 which you can skip the vast majority of the strains by investing in a Fastrack Move. There are a selection of Fastrack passes accessible, that are named Bronze, Gold, Silver and Platinum.
The move you select will depend upon which rides you actually wish to journey, in addition to your finances. It’s additionally potential to purchase a single Fastrack move on a per journey foundation for lots of the rides, which could be a good method to journey a selected journey shortly in case you don’t wish to put money into an entire 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. Nearly all of rides do have Fastrack, apart from the CBeebies Land rides and among 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 costliest, and actually aimed toward those that wish to journey as many rides as potential, a number of instances in a day.
We’ve visited Alton Towers on a really busy day, and the wait time for lots of the rides was properly over an hour, with many rides having two hour wait instances. With our Fastrack passes, we largely acquired onto rides in 5 or ten minutes. So for us it made an enormous distinction, which means as a substitute of driving three or 4 rides within the day, we had been in a position to journey each journey within the park.
In fact, 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, through which case a Fastrack Move makes much less sense.
You possibly can purchase Fastrack Passes upfront of your go to right here. It’s also possible to purchase them in individual on website, nonetheless you have to be conscious that the Fastrack passes do come from a restricted pool they usually can promote out.
If you’re 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’re going to be utilizing your smartphone lots at Alton Towers. You’ll be taking images and movies of your adventures, utilizing the Alton Towers app to verify journey instances and discover your method round, and much extra in addition to. 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 smart resolution is simply to put money into a conveyable battery pack on your telephone. These can cost your telephone from flat a number of instances over (relying on the capability), and imply you’ll be capable of preserve utilizing your telephone all day with out fear.
There are quite a lot of choices on the market, we at the moment use one like this which labored properly to cost our telephones and our pals’ telephones on a current go to to Alton Towers.
Make a Meals Plan
Along with making a basic plan about what rides and attraction you wish to go to upfront, additionally it is a good suggestion to consider what and the place you wish to eat. Pondering forward can prevent money and time.
There are a selection of meals distributors and eating places within the park open throughout the day, from scorching 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 basic plan for lunch so if there’s a particular place you wish to eat, you can also make your method to that space for lunchtime.
Be aware that for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic, among the sit down eating places at Alton Towers are asking individuals 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. In case you don’t wish to order through a smartphone app, you may wish to simply say you don’t have a smartphone and order with a employees member on the bar from a bodily menu. I imagine they’ve to supply one for accessibility and inclusion causes even when they at first say you need to order on-line.
Now, in case you don’t wish to pay theme park costs for meals and also you wish to lower your expenses (and possibly a while), take into account bringing alongside your personal meals and snacks.
Alton Towers has a number of completely different picnic areas, and you’re greater than welcome to convey your personal meals to the park. This may be an effective way to economize in your go to, particularly if you’re visiting as a gaggle or household, as meals prices for a number of individuals 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 children.
Deliver a Refillable Water Bottle
You’ll be doing quite a lot of strolling at Alton Towers, and it’s going to be a protracted day. So that you positively wish to keep hydrated.
Somewhat than having to pay for drinks or purchase bottles of water, you possibly can convey your personal 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.
If you’re planning to purchase gentle drinks within the park, you may be capable of lower your expenses by utilizing the Coca-Cola Refill stations all through the park.
To make use of these, you should 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 would like. You should use the identical cup on future visits for a decrease per day value.
Keep In a single day
One actually good method to profit from your time at Alton Towers is to remain in a single day, both at one of many on-site motels (see and guide all of the choices right here) or at a close-by resort.
We’ve achieved each, they usually 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.
In case you 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 profit from your day.
Lodging at Alton Towers
Staying on website at one of many Alton Towers resort motels positively has its benefits. First, the motels are all themed, so your general expertise shall be prolonged. The theming extends from the primary areas via to every room, and there’s additionally leisure on supply within the resort areas as properly.
One other benefit of staying on website is that it provides you time to get pleasure from among the different sights on website that you simply may not in any other case have time to get pleasure from.
These embrace the Splash Landings water park and the park themed Mini Golf. We’ve achieved each of those when staying in a single day and assume they’re each price experiencing.
In case you keep on website, 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 important benefits of staying in one of many on-site motels is which you can enter the park through 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 checklist, then you possibly can are available 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 primary park entrance. On busy mornings the monorail queue may be 40 minutes lengthy, whereas the stroll to the primary 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 data and an in depth breakdown of what every resort has to supply, see my full Alton Towers information.
You possibly can guide the resort motels as a part of a bundle together with your park entrance right here. They usually run gives via the 12 months, so do take a look at what’s on supply as you may be capable of avoid wasting cash in your go to.
Lodging close to Alton Towers
As an alternative of staying on website, you can even keep at a close-by resort. We’ve additionally achieved 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 journey Nemesis Reborn as one of many first riders with solely a brief wait, slightly than the 2 hour wait that occurred afterward.
The principle benefit of staying outdoors the park is that you simply 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 might even be a little bit of a quieter and extra enjoyable expertise because the on-site motels are very talked-about with households.
Each may be good choices that are properly price contemplating on your Alton Towers go to. If you’re all for a resort, listed here are some suggestions within the space, sorted by approximate driving distance from the resort:
- The White Hart – a preferred inn within the village of Alton, providing a spread of en-suite rooms. 7 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
- The Laurel’s B&B – This can be 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* resort gives a spread of en-suite rooms and there’s an on-site restaurant and bar. Breakfast is offered. 10 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
- Heywood Corridor – This property gives plenty of self-contained residences, every with a small kitchen an en-suite rest room. There’s additionally a scorching 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 resort with its personal golf course. A spread of en-suite rooms can be found, and breakfast is obtainable. We loved our keep right here and the meals specifically was excellent. 13 minutes’ drivee from Alton Towers.
- The Duncombe Arms – This pub/resort is present in Ellastone and gives air-conditioned rooms with espresso machines and en-suite services. Breakfast is offered and there’s a restaurant and bar for different meals. 13 minutes drive from Alton Towers
- The Royal Oak – This inn gives a spread of snug rooms within the city of Ashbourne. There’s a restaurant and bar on website 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 alternative of shared or non-public lodging. 22 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
In fact, there are heaps extra choices to contemplate. You possibly can see a full vary of lodging choices close to Alton Towers on Reserving.com right here, which incorporates plenty of vacation leases as properly.
Make Meal Reservations if Staying In a single day
In case you determine 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 a superb expertise. Reservations are free, and detailed details about learn how to guide shall be despatched to you as a part of your reserving affirmation.
The extra well-liked instances, similar to round 7:00pm to 7.30pm for dinner and round 8am for breakfast, guide up quick, so in order for you extra alternative, we advise reserving properly upfront. You possibly can at all times change the time of your reservation in case you change your thoughts, topic to availability.
Whilst you can nonetheless usually eat with out a reserving at one of many motels, it may be a protracted look forward to a desk otherwise you may not 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. In case you can’t get a reservation throughout your keep, attempt to go for lunch the place reservations will not be required.
Contemplate the Digital Picture Move
If you wish to have reminiscences of your time at Alton Towers, then we’d recommend investing in a Digital Picture Move on your go to. While you possibly can clearly take images throughout the park, the one place the place images is strictly forbidden is on the rides.
The excellent news is that every one the rides have their very own images techniques in place, normally positioned to seize a key second throughout the journey the place you’re looking most excited or terrified. Naturally these could make for some memorable photos! Moreover, there are some particular sights with a photograph shoot component, similar to in CBeebies Land, the place you possibly can have further images taken of your go to.
The Digital Picture Move provides you entry to all of the journey images out of your day at Alton Towers, for you and anybody in your group. The images are all delivered digitally through the Alton Towers app, and you may then share them with pals digitally, or print them along with your most popular print service.
On a current go to to Alton Towers as a gaggle of six (4 adults and two youngsters) we ended up with over 100 digital photos between the six of us, which made the Digital Picture Move greater than price it.
The principle tip I might give can be to have all of the images taken and added to the app, after which on the finish of the day you possibly can determine if you wish to pay for them. Earlier than you pay for them they are often previewed in a small model with a watermark. In case you determine you just like the images, you possibly can pay to unlock greater decision variations with no watermark. In any other case, in case you don’t like them, you don’t have to pay.
The images keep within the app for 90 days after your go to, so you may have loads of time to determine. After you have bought, they then stay within the app for an extra 12 months, throughout which era you possibly can obtain them to your machine and preserve them endlessly.
You possibly can in fact additionally purchase the Digital Picture Move upfront of your go to or throughout your go to. It’s usually introduced as an possibility while you purchase your tickets.
Nonetheless, until you’re a hundred percent 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 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 scorching sunshine.
So that you simply by no means know fairly what you’ll get, and the climate forecast isn’t at all times going to get it proper. So we suggest being ready for a spread of eventualities. We’d usually recommend contemplating packing the next, which you’ll modify 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 plenty of free exhibits and different kinds of leisure on supply, lots of that are excellent if you’re visiting the park with youthful youngsters.
These exhibits could be a good method to take a break and sit down while being entertained. Reveals range, however embrace dwell motion exhibits such because the Furchester Lodge, Hey Duggee, Bluey, and Teletubbies exhibits. Most of the exhibits additionally embrace the chance to take a photograph with the characters.
Moreover, there’s a dwell stage arrange subsequent to the Alton Towers lake which frequently hosts performances. It would be best to verify the schedule while you arrive to see what’s on in your specific day.
If you’re staying in one of many on-site motels, then the get together doesn’t cease while you get again for the night time. Every resort usually has dwell performances every night time so that you can get pleasure from as properly.
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 a number of of our different guides that you simply may discover helpful.
- We’ve a full information to visiting Alton Towers, which has every thing you should know. It contains data on all of the rides, motels, actions and much extra.
- For wider UK journey planning, we’ve got advised one week and two week UK itineraries
- We’ve guides to many different cities in England. See our information to issues to do in Manchester, issues to do in Stratford upon Avon, issues to do in Bristol, issues to do in Portsmouth, tips about a weekend in York, tips about Visiting Oxford on a Day Journey, and issues to do in Cambridge
- In case you’re heading to Scotland, take a look at our 2 day Edinburgh itinerary, our Glasgow and Loch Lomond itinerary, our information to the finest day journeys from Glasgow, our information to issues to do in Edinburgh, our itinerary for Skye and the Highlands, our information to the finest day journeys from Aberdeen, and our information to the very best day journeys from Edinburgh to get you began. We even have a information to getting from London to Edinburgh.
- We’ve a information to 10 of the very best Stately Houses 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 beneath!
