Alton Towers is one among 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 ideas 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 positive you get to journey all of the rides you need to journey, even on a busy day.
This information is concentrated particularly on ideas for visiting Alton Towers.
If you happen to’re in search of extra particulars on the park, together with details about all of the rides, eating places, opening instances, ticket costs, our evaluations and extra, try our full information to visiting Alton Towers.
That information goes into an awesome deal extra element in regards to the park basically, 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 positioned in central Staffordshire in England (about midway between Birmingham and Manchester) and is the most important 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 in search of a enjoyable day or two. For a lot of it’s also a big funding of their hard-earned time and cash.
We’ve visited Alton Towers a number of instances through the years and we wished to offer ideas and recommendation that will help you benefit from your go to to Alton Towers and get essentially the most out of your day.
These embody recommendations on how one can 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 most effective worth for tickets, you’ll positively need to e book your tickets prematurely on the official website right here.
Tickets purchased on-line are almost all the time considerably cheaper than shopping for them in individual 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 value noting that Alton Towers operates a dynamic pricing system, so on busier peak days tickets are usually dearer, and on quieter days tickets might be cheaper. If you happen to might be versatile together with your dates, you may discover that selecting a distinct day on 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 resort company). 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 prematurely than if bought in-person on the day. They’re presently £2 per individual cheaper on-line than in individual.
Make a Common Route Plan for the Day
Alton Towers is unfold out over a big space, and it might probably take some time (generally so long as half an hour) to stroll from one journey to a different. So it’s a good suggestion to plan out your 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 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 can assist you intend your route and prevent time on the day.
Alton Towers is specified by totally different zones, every of which has a distinct theme and every of which comprises various rides and sights. You possibly can study extra about all of the zones and particulars of each journey in my detailed Alton Towers information.
Relying in your group, it’s possible you’ll or could 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 is perhaps 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 break 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 top 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 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 journey in Forbidden Valley, then do remaining Forbidden Valley Rides. Head to Darkish Forest for the fun 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 have got Fastrack Passes you’ll have to modify 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 if in case you 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 bunch is a good begin on your go to. You possibly can then have a look at the map of the park and determine which areas you should go to.
It’s positively a good suggestion to journey all of the rides in a particular space that you simply need to do earlier than shifting on to a brand new space. In any other case you’re going to spend extra time strolling between areas moderately than experiencing the sights.
For these with any sort of accessibility or incapacity challenge, we extremely advocate studying the Alton Towers accessibility information, beneficial routes, and insurance policies. Experience 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 all the things on this planet wants an app, I’ve to say that the Alton Towers app is fairly respectable, and essential when visiting the park.
It has a whole lot of performance that may enhance your go to, from dwell journey queue instances, to managing your journey photographs, to a useful map and navigation characteristic that may 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 also be free to obtain and use.
While among the info within the app can even simply be discovered within the park, different issues like journey queue instances are a lot simpler to seek out within the app. Having all the knowledge in your pocket can actually assist when deciding which journey to move to subsequent.
The app might be downloaded right here.
Arrive Early / Go away Late
To benefit from your time at Alton Towers it’s best 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’ll get out of your ticket.
It’s necessary 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 part of the queue for the primary journey you need to go on. Or simply seize a espresso or wander the gardens.
For closing, relying on the time of 12 months and day, the park usually closes at 4pm or 6pm (for particular occasions it might probably 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’s best to nonetheless get to do the journey.
Now, if you should depart the park for any motive, akin to to go to your automotive or let the youngsters have a nap, you then simply have to ensure 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 benefiting from your time at Alton Towers makes a whole lot of sense as you have got 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 top restrictions for riders attributable to well being and security causes. A couple of of the rides even have most top restrictions.
If you’re visiting Alton Towers with anybody who is perhaps affected by the journey top 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 journey top restrictions on the official website right here.
This can keep away from you losing time going to rides you could’t all journey collectively. Figuring out which rides your youngsters can and may’t journey can assist keep away from a whole lot of tears and disappointment.
Figuring out which rides are appropriate for which members of your group can even will let 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 Experience
If you’re a thrillseeker and wish the get essentially the most out of your day at Alton Towers, it’s actually necessary that you recognize what you desire to your first journey to be. We’d advocate choosing the journey which is prone to have the longest traces because the day progresses.
While it may be exhausting to know precisely which rides will probably 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 instances. So if these rides are in your to-do record, 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 shortly.
For instance, on a current 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 journey opened. Later within the day, journey wait instances have been over 2 hours for that journey.
For these centered on the smaller rides and rides geared to youthful youngsters, lengthy traces are typically much less of a priority. However it might probably nonetheless be a good suggestion to begin with the rides your youngsters need to journey most.
Take into account the Fastrack Passes
If you’re visiting Alton Towers on a busier day, akin to a faculty vacation or a weekend, then the queue lengths for most of the rides are prone 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 fun rides and large 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 you could skip nearly all of the traces 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 on which rides you actually need to journey, in addition to your price range. It’s additionally attainable to purchase a single Fastrack move on a per journey foundation for most of the rides, which generally is a good option to journey a particular journey shortly when you don’t need to put money into an entire Fastrack move.
Apart from the Platinum Fastrack move, all the opposite passes enable you one entry to the particular Fastrack line for every journey that has Fastrack. The vast majority of rides do have Fastrack, except 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 need to journey as many rides as attainable, a number of instances in a day.
We have now visited Alton Towers on a really busy day, and the wait time for most of the rides was effectively over an hour, with many rides having two hour wait instances. With our Fastrack passes, we principally obtained onto rides in 5 or ten minutes. So for us it made an enormous distinction, that means as an alternative of using three or 4 rides within the day, we have been capable of 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, by which case a Fastrack Go makes much less sense.
You possibly can purchase Fastrack Passes prematurely 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 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 certain you get the Fastrack Go you need.
Pack a Smartphone Charger
The probabilities 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 journey instances and discover your method round, and much 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 transportable 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 have the ability to preserve utilizing your telephone all day with out fear.
There are a whole lot of choices on the market, we presently use one like this which labored effectively to cost our telephones and our pals’ telephones on a current 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. Considering 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 sit down down eateries just like the Woodcutter’s Bar and Grill and the Rollercoaster Restaurant. Anticipate 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 option to that space for lunchtime.
Notice that because the COVID-19 pandemic, among 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 troublesome time getting this to work on two totally different events on the Woodcutter’s Bar & Grill.
The second time we went, we ended up having to order with an individual after a number of failed makes an attempt to get it to work. If you happen to don’t need to order through a smartphone app, you may need to simply say you don’t have a smartphone and order with a workers member on the bar from a bodily menu. I imagine they’ve to offer one for accessibility and inclusion causes even when they at first say it’s important to order on-line.
Now, when you don’t need to pay theme park costs for meals and also you need to lower your expenses (and doubtless a while), think about bringing alongside your individual meals and snacks.
Alton Towers has just a few totally different picnic areas, and you might be greater than welcome to convey your individual meals to the park. This may be a good way to economize in your go to, particularly if you’re visiting as a bunch or household, as meals prices for just a few folks can shortly add up.
We all know some households prefer to pack their very own meals, however then splurge on one thing like ice cream or candyfloss for the youngsters.
Convey a Refillable Water Bottle
You will be doing a whole lot of strolling at Alton Towers, and it’s going to be an extended day. So that you positively need to keep hydrated.
Fairly 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 may have the ability to lower your expenses through the use of 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 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 e book all of the choices right here) or at a close-by resort.
We have now accomplished each, and so they every have their professionals and cons.
Staying two nights could make it simpler to get there early and keep till closing the park with out worrying about heading dwelling.
If you happen to solely select to remain one 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 motels positively has its benefits. First, the motels are all themed, so your general expertise will probably be prolonged. The theming extends from the primary areas via to every room, and there’s additionally leisure on provide within the resort 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 embody the Splash Landings water park and the park themed Mini Golf. We’ve accomplished each of those when staying in a single day and assume they’re each value experiencing.
If you happen to 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 foremost benefits of staying in one of many on-site motels is you could 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 record, 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 need to queue for the monorail, or stroll to the primary park entrance. On busy mornings the monorail queue might 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 an alternative.
For extra info and an in depth breakdown of what every resort has to supply, see my full Alton Towers information.
You possibly can e book the resort motels as a part of a package deal together with your park entrance right here. They typically run provides via the 12 months, so do try what’s on provide as you may 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 resort. We have now additionally accomplished 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 obtained to journey Nemesis Reborn as one of many first riders with solely a brief wait, moderately than the 2 hour wait that occurred in a while.
The primary benefit of staying outdoors 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 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 effectively value contemplating on your Alton Towers go to. If you’re concerned about 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 variety 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 obtainable. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
- Peakstones Inn – This 3* resort provides a variety of en-suite rooms and there’s an on-site restaurant and bar. Breakfast is on the market. 10 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
- Heywood Corridor – This property provides various self-contained flats, every with a small kitchen an en-suite lavatory. There’s additionally a scorching tub and backyard for company 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 variety of en-suite rooms can be found, and breakfast is obtainable. We loved our keep right here and the meals particularly was excellent. 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 services. Breakfast is on the market and there’s a restaurant and bar for different meals. 13 minutes drive from Alton Towers
- The Royal Oak – This inn provides 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 various vacation leases as effectively.
Make Meal Reservations if Staying In a single day
If you happen to resolve to remain at one of many on-site motels, you’ll want to make meal reservations prematurely of your go to. This consists of 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 great expertise. Reservations are free, and detailed details about how one can e book will probably be despatched to you as a part of your reserving affirmation.
The extra in style instances, akin to round 7:00pm to 7.30pm for dinner and round 8am for breakfast, e book up quick, so if you’d like extra selection, we advise reserving effectively prematurely. You possibly can all the time change the time of your reservation when you change your thoughts, topic to availability.
Whilst you can nonetheless typically eat with out a reserving at one of many motels, it may be an extended look ahead to a desk otherwise you may not get your selection 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 e book these dinner reservations prematurely. This restaurant can generally be booked out a few weeks prematurely. If you happen to can’t get a reservation throughout your keep, attempt to go for lunch the place reservations are usually not required.
Take into account the Digital Photograph Go
If you wish to have reminiscences of your time at Alton Towers, then we’d recommend investing in a Digital Photograph Go 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 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 ingredient, akin to in CBeebies Land, the place you possibly can have further photographs taken of your go to.
The Digital Photograph Go offers you entry to all of the journey photographs out of your day at Alton Towers, for you and anybody in your group. The photographs are all delivered digitally through 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 current go to to Alton Towers as a bunch of six (4 adults and two youngsters) we ended up with over 100 digital photos between the six of us, which made the Digital Photograph Go greater than value it.
The primary 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. If you happen to resolve you just like the photographs, you possibly can pay to unlock greater decision variations with no watermark. In any other case, when 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 have got loads of time to resolve. After you have bought, they then stay within the app for an extra 12 months, throughout which period you possibly can obtain them to your system and preserve 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 introduced as an choice while you purchase your tickets.
Nonetheless, except you might be 100% sure you’re going to need the photographs, 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 top 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 all the time going to get it proper. So we advocate being ready for a variety of eventualities. We’d typically recommend contemplating packing the next, which you’ll modify relying on the time of 12 months you might be visiting:
Take Benefit of Free Exhibits and Leisure
Alton Towers has much more to supply than thrilling rides. There are additionally various free exhibits and different forms of leisure on provide, lots of that are good if you’re visiting the park with youthful youngsters.
These exhibits generally is a good option to take a break and sit down while being entertained. Exhibits differ, however embody dwell motion exhibits such because the Furchester Lodge, Hey Duggee, Bluey, and Teletubbies exhibits. Most of the exhibits 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 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 social gathering 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 effectively.
Additional Studying
That’s it for our ideas 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 simply may discover helpful.
- We have now a full information to visiting Alton Towers, which has all the things you should know. It consists of info on all of the rides, motels, actions and much extra.
- For wider UK journey planning, now we have recommended one week and two week UK itineraries
- We have now 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
- If you happen to’re heading to Scotland, try our 2 day Edinburgh itinerary, our Glasgow and Loch Lomond itinerary, our information to the greatest day journeys from Glasgow, our information to issues to do in Edinburgh, our itinerary for Skye and the Highlands, our information to the greatest day journeys from Aberdeen, and our information to the most effective day journeys from Edinburgh to get you began. We even have a information to getting from London to Edinburgh.
- We have now a information to 10 of the most effective 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 have got something you’d add to the above, or a query about an upcoming go to? Simply tell us within the feedback under!
