Alton Towers is certainly one of our favorite theme parks within the UK. It’s house to an amazing many rides and sights, 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 essentially the most out of your Alton Towers go to, from discovering your method across the park via to creating certain you get to trip all of the rides you need to trip, even on a busy day.
This information is targeted particularly on suggestions for visiting Alton Towers.
For those who’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 amazing deal extra element in regards to the park normally, while this information focuses particularly on sharing tricks to get essentially the most out of your go to.
15 Ideas 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 mates in search of a enjoyable day or two. For a lot of it’s also 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 offer suggestions and recommendation that can assist you benefit from your go to to Alton Towers and get essentially the most out of your day.
These embrace tips on the right way to 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 one of the best value for tickets, you’ll undoubtedly need to ebook your tickets prematurely on the official website right here.
Tickets purchased on-line are practically at all times considerably cheaper than shopping for them in particular person on website. Shopping for your tickets prematurely 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. For those who may be versatile along with your dates, you would possibly discover that selecting a distinct day in your go to can prevent some cash.
We additionally advocate buying parking prematurely if you’re not staying on website (parking is included for on-site lodge friends). While there’s no saving for doing so, it saves you having to pay for parking on website.
The Alton Towers Dungeon (situated inside the park however requires an additional ticket) tickets are additionally cheaper if booked prematurely than if bought in-person on the day. They’re at present £2 per particular person cheaper on-line than in particular person.
Make a Basic Route Plan for the Day
Alton Towers is unfold out over a big space, and it could 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 sights than strolling, it’s a good suggestion to have a common plan in your day on the park. Spending a while wanting on the park map both on the park’s web site or within the park’s app may also 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 numerous rides and sights. You possibly can be taught extra about all of the zones and particulars of each trip 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 youngsters, you might be possible 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 may be one thing like this “Buy tickets and parking prematurely. 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!).”
Nevertheless, if you’re visiting with youngsters and adults who meet all of the trip peak necessities, you’re possible 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 website may 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 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”.
In fact, relying on how busy the park is and whether or not or not you might 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 massive rides in a day. Conversely, on a quiet day or you probably have a Fastrack Go it is possible for you to to slot in extra rides.
If you’re wanting to go to the Alton Towers Dungeon (further ticket wanted), remember to enable about an hour for that.
Having an concept of which rides you need to do as a gaggle is a good begin in your go to. You possibly can then have a look at the map of the park and determine which areas it is advisable to go to.
It’s undoubtedly a good suggestion to trip all of the rides in a selected 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 quite than experiencing the sights.
For these with any sort of accessibility or incapacity situation, we extremely advocate studying the Alton Towers accessibility information, really helpful routes, and insurance policies. Journey Entry Passes must be utilized on-line and visits utilizing the move should be booked prematurely. In case you have any questions, ask them prematurely so you are 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 respectable, and a must have when visiting the park.
It has plenty of performance that can enhance your go to, from reside trip queue instances, to managing your trip images, to a helpful map and navigation function that can get you all over the place 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 among the data within the app may also simply be discovered within the park, different issues like trip 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 trip to go to subsequent.
The app may be downloaded right 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 might be on website, 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 essential to notice that while rides typically begin working at round 10am, the park itself truly opens at 9am. So you possibly can go into the park and be a 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 yr and day, the park usually closes at 4pm or 6pm (for particular occasions it could additionally keep open later than this). Nevertheless, this closing time is the final time you possibly can be a part of a trip queue, not the final time the trip runs. So if you’re nonetheless in a line after closing time, you need to nonetheless get to do the trip.
Now, if it is advisable to go away the park for any purpose, comparable to to go to your automobile or let the children have a nap, then you definitely simply must be sure you get a hand stamp from an admission workers member earlier than you exit so you possibly can reenter later. So you possibly can take a break and return. This makes essentially the most sense for these staying in a single day on the Alton Towers Resort.
We expect that profiting from your time at Alton Towers makes plenty of sense as you might 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 attributable to well being and security causes. A number of of the rides even have most peak restrictions.
If you’re visiting Alton Towers with anybody who may be affected by the trip peak restrictions, for instance youngsters or these over 6 ft tall, then it’s a good suggestion to do a little analysis prematurely 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 website right here.
This may keep away from you losing time going to rides that you would be able to’t all trip collectively. Understanding which rides your youngsters can and may’t trip may also help keep away from plenty of tears and disappointment.
Understanding which rides are appropriate for which members of your group may also can help you divide your group up if you want, so everybody will get to expertise the sights they need to, and no-one will get upset about lacking out or having to attend round.
Plan your First Journey
If you’re a thrillseeker and wish the get essentially the most out of your day at Alton Towers, it’s actually essential that you understand what you prefer to your first trip to be. We’d advocate selecting the trip which is more likely to have the longest strains because the day progresses.
While it may be arduous to know precisely which rides will likely be hottest on any given day, as a common 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 fashionable rides with lengthy wait instances. So if these rides are in your to-do listing, we advocate 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 instance, 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 instances have been over 2 hours for that trip.
For these targeted on the smaller rides and rides geared to youthful youngsters, lengthy strains are typically much less of a priority. However it could nonetheless be a good suggestion to begin with the rides your youngsters need to trip most.
Think about the Fastrack Passes
If you’re visiting Alton Towers on a busier day, comparable to a college 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 in style rides. The most well-liked rides are typically 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 strains by investing in a Fastrack Go. There are a number of Fastrack passes obtainable, that are named Bronze, Gold, Silver and Platinum.
The move you select will rely upon which rides you actually need to trip, in addition to your finances. It’s additionally attainable to purchase a single Fastrack move on a per trip foundation for lots of the rides, which could be a good technique to trip a selected trip rapidly in the event you don’t need to put money into a complete Fastrack move.
Aside from the Platinum Fastrack move, all the opposite passes enable you one entry to the particular Fastrack line for every trip that has Fastrack. The vast majority of rides do have Fastrack, except for 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 trip. It’s additionally the costliest, and actually aimed toward those that need to trip as many rides as attainable, a number of instances in a day.
We now 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 largely received onto rides in 5 or ten minutes. So for us it made an enormous distinction, which means as a substitute of using three or 4 rides within the day, we have been in a position to trip each trip within the park.
In fact, the Fastrack Passes gained’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 trip, wherein case a Fastrack Go makes much less sense.
You possibly can purchase Fastrack Passes prematurely of your go to right here. You can even purchase them in particular person on website, nevertheless you ought to be conscious that the Fastrack passes do come from a restricted pool and so they can promote out.
If you’re visiting throughout peak season and also you do need a Fastrack, then shopping for prematurely is a good suggestion to make sure you get the Fastrack Go you need.
Pack a Smartphone Charger
The possibilities are that you will be utilizing your smartphone lots at Alton Towers. You’ll be taking images and movies of your adventures, utilizing the Alton Towers app to test trip instances and discover your method round, and plenty extra moreover. And all that use goes to empty the battery.
While there are charging stations obtainable at Alton Towers for a charge, we expect a way more wise answer is simply to put money into a conveyable battery pack in your telephone. These can cost your telephone from flat a number of instances over (relying on the capability), and imply you’ll have the ability to maintain utilizing your telephone all day with out fear.
There are plenty of choices on the market, we at present use one like this which labored effectively to cost our telephones and our mates’ 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 prematurely, it’s also a good suggestion to consider what and the place you need to eat. Pondering forward can prevent money and time.
There are a variety of meals distributors and eating places within the park open through the day, from scorching 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 common plan for lunch so if there’s a particular place you need to eat, you may make your technique to that space for lunchtime.
Observe 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 troublesome 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 workers member on the bar from a bodily menu. I imagine they’ve to offer one for accessibility and inclusion causes even when they at first say you need to order on-line.
Now, in the event you 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 a number of completely different picnic areas, and you might be greater than welcome to convey your individual 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 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 will be doing plenty of strolling at Alton Towers, and it’s going to be a protracted day. So that you undoubtedly need to keep hydrated.
Quite than having to pay for drinks or purchase bottles of water, you possibly can 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.
If you’re planning to purchase delicate drinks within the park, you would possibly have the ability to get monetary savings by utilizing the Coca-Cola Refill stations all through the park.
To make use of these, it is advisable to 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 need to use the identical cup on future visits for a decrease per day price.
Keep In a single day
One actually good technique to benefit from your time at Alton Towers is to remain in a single day, both at one of many on-site lodges (see and ebook all of the choices right here) or at a close-by lodge.
We now have completed 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 house.
For those who solely select to remain one night time, we’d advocate making it the night time earlier than your go to. This fashion you’ll have the ability to enter the park at opening time and benefit from your day.
Lodging at Alton Towers
Staying on website at one of many Alton Towers resort lodges undoubtedly has its benefits. First, the lodges are all themed, so your total expertise will likely be prolonged. The theming extends from the principle areas via to every room, and there’s additionally leisure on provide within the lodge areas as effectively.
One other benefit of staying on website is that it offers 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 completed each of those when staying in a single day and assume they’re each price experiencing.
For those who keep on website, you additionally get free on-site parking, which is able to prevent a bit of cash if you’re driving to Alton Towers.
Lastly, one of many principal 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 listing, then you possibly can are available in early and be a part of the road for them earlier than anybody else.
It additionally means you don’t need to queue for the monorail, or stroll to the principle park entrance. On busy mornings the monorail queue may be 40 minutes lengthy, whereas the stroll to the principle park entrance from the lodges 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 lodge has to supply, see my full Alton Towers information.
You possibly can ebook the resort lodges as a part of a bundle together with your park entrance right here. They typically run gives via the yr, so do take a look at what’s on provide as you would possibly have the ability to avoid wasting cash in your go to.
Lodging close to Alton Towers
As a substitute of staying on website, you may as well keep at a close-by lodge. We now have additionally completed 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 received to trip Nemesis Reborn as one of many first riders with solely a brief wait, quite than the 2 hour wait that occurred in a while.
The primary 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 fashionable with households.
Each may be good choices that are effectively price contemplating in your Alton Towers go to. If you’re serious about a lodge, 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 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 amenities. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
- The Bay Tree – a really well-reviewed B&B with en-suite lodging and breakfast obtainable. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
- Peakstones Inn – This 3* lodge gives a variety 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 numerous self-contained flats, every with a small kitchen an en-suite rest room. There’s additionally a scorching tub and backyard for friends 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 spread 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 gives air-conditioned rooms with espresso machines and en-suite amenities. 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 variety of comfy rooms within the city of Ashbourne. There’s a restaurant and bar on website with meals obtainable. 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 personal 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 numerous vacation leases as effectively.
Make Meal Reservations if Staying In a single day
For those who determine to remain at one of many on-site lodges, it would be best to make meal reservations prematurely 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 the right way to ebook will likely be despatched to you as a part of your reserving affirmation.
The extra in style instances, comparable to round 7:00pm to 7.30pm for dinner and round 8am for breakfast, ebook up quick, so in order for you extra selection, we advise reserving effectively prematurely. You possibly can at all times change the time of your reservation in the event you change your thoughts, topic to availability.
Whilst you can nonetheless typically eat with no reserving at one of many lodges, it may be a protracted await 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 ebook these dinner reservations prematurely. This restaurant can typically be booked out a few weeks prematurely. For those who can’t get a reservation throughout your keep, attempt to go for lunch the place reservations are usually not required.
Think about the Digital Photograph Go
If you wish to have recollections of your time at Alton Towers, then we’d counsel investing in a Digital Photograph Go in your go to. While you possibly can clearly take images throughout the park, the one place the place pictures is strictly forbidden is on the rides.
The excellent news is that each one the rides have their very own pictures techniques in place, normally 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 photographs! Moreover, there are some particular sights with a photograph shoot ingredient, comparable to in CBeebies Land, the place you possibly can have extra images taken of your go to.
The Digital Photograph Go offers you entry to all of the trip images out of your day at Alton Towers, for you and anybody in your group. The images are all delivered digitally by way of the Alton Towers app, and you’ll then share them with mates digitally, or print them along with your most well-liked print service.
On a latest go to to Alton Towers as a gaggle of six (4 adults and two youngsters) we ended up with over 100 digital photographs between the six of us, which made the Digital Photograph Go greater than price it.
The primary tip I’d give could 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. For those who determine you just like the images, you possibly can pay to unlock increased decision variations with no watermark. In any other case, in the event you don’t like them, you don’t must pay.
The images keep within the app for 90 days after your go to, so you might have loads of time to determine. After getting bought, they then stay within the app for an extra yr, throughout which period you possibly can obtain them to your machine and maintain them perpetually.
You possibly can after all additionally purchase the Digital Photograph Go prematurely of your go to or throughout your go to. It’s usually offered as an possibility if you purchase your tickets.
Nevertheless, until you might be 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 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 advocate being ready for a variety of eventualities. We’d typically counsel contemplating packing the next, which you’ll alter relying on the time of yr you might be visiting:
Take Benefit of Free Reveals and Leisure
Alton Towers has much more to supply than thrilling rides. There are additionally numerous free reveals and different forms of leisure on provide, lots of that are excellent if you’re visiting the park with youthful youngsters.
These reveals could be a good technique to take a break and sit down while being entertained. Reveals range, however embrace reside motion reveals such because the Furchester Resort, Hey Duggee, Bluey, and Teletubbies reveals. Lots of the reveals additionally embrace the chance to take a photograph with the characters.
Moreover, there’s a reside stage arrange subsequent to the Alton Towers lake which frequently hosts performances. You’ll want to test the schedule if you arrive to see what’s on in your explicit day.
If you’re staying in one of many on-site lodges, then the occasion doesn’t cease if you get again for the night time. Every resort usually has reside performances every night time so that you can get pleasure from as effectively.
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 would possibly discover helpful.
- We now have a full information to visiting Alton Towers, which has every thing it is advisable to know. It contains data on all of the rides, lodges, actions and plenty extra.
- For wider UK journey planning, we now have prompt one week and two week UK itineraries
- We now have 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
- For those who’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 one of the best day journeys from Edinburgh to get you began. We even have a information to getting from London to Edinburgh.
- We now have a information to 10 of one of the best Stately Properties 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 might have something you’d add to the above, or a query about an upcoming go to? Simply tell us within the feedback beneath!
