Alton Towers is considered one of our favorite theme parks within the UK. It’s house to an ideal many rides and points of interest, from the kid-friendly rides and reveals in CBeebies Land to the high-octane thrill rides such because the Smiler and Nemesis Reborn.
It’s the largest theme park within the UK, and we’ve have been fortunate sufficient to go to Alton Towers on many events.
On this information, we’re going to share you with all our suggestions to assist make sure you get essentially the most out of your Alton Towers go to, from discovering your approach across the park via to creating certain you get to trip all of the rides you wish to trip, even on a busy day.
This information is targeted particularly on suggestions for visiting Alton Towers.
In case you’re searching for extra particulars on the park, together with details about all of the rides, eating places, opening occasions, ticket costs, our opinions and extra, take a look at our full information to visiting Alton Towers.
That information goes into an ideal deal extra element concerning the park usually, 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 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 associates searching for a enjoyable day or two. For a lot of it is usually a major funding of their hard-earned time and cash.
We’ve visited Alton Towers a number of occasions over time and we wished to supply suggestions and recommendation that can assist you profit from your go to to Alton Towers and get essentially the most out of your day.
These embrace tips on the best 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 the very best worth for tickets, you’ll positively wish to e book your tickets prematurely on the official web site right here.
Tickets purchased on-line are almost all the time considerably inexpensive than shopping for them in individual on web site. Shopping for your tickets prematurely additionally means you may 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 typically costlier, and on quieter days tickets will be inexpensive. In case you will be versatile along with your dates, you would possibly discover that selecting a unique day in your go to can prevent some cash.
We additionally suggest buying parking prematurely if you’re not staying on web site (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 web site.
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 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 might take some time (generally so long as half an hour) to stroll from one trip 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 points of interest than strolling, it’s a good suggestion to have a basic plan in your day on the park. Spending a while trying on the park map both on the park’s web site or within the park’s app can assist you propose your route and prevent time on the day.
Alton Towers is specified by totally different zones, every of which has a unique theme and every of which incorporates plenty of rides and points of interest. You’ll be able to be taught extra about all of the zones and particulars of each trip in my detailed Alton Towers information.
Relying in your group, you could or could not find yourself visiting all of the zones. For instance, if you’re visiting with youthful youngsters, you might be doubtless going to spend extra time in CBeebies Land and The World of David Walliams and never a lot time within the X-Sector and the Darkish Forest.
So a basic 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 trip peak necessities, you’re doubtless going to be heading for the larger rides.
A basic plan for Alton Towers if visiting the bigger rides and staying in a single day on web site is perhaps 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 popular trip 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”.
After all, relying on how busy the park is and whether or not or not you will have Fastrack Passes you’ll have to regulate your schedule. On very busy days with out Fastrack passes you may not have the ability to do greater than 3 or 4 large rides in a day. Conversely, on a quiet day or if in case you have a Fastrack Move it is possible for you to to slot in extra rides.
In case you are wanting to go to the Alton Towers Dungeon (further ticket wanted), make sure you permit about an hour for that.
Having an thought of which rides you wish to do as a gaggle is a superb begin in your go to. You’ll be able to then have a look at the map of the park and determine which areas that you must go to.
It’s positively a good suggestion to trip all of the rides in a particular space that you just 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 fairly than experiencing the points of interest.
For these with any sort of accessibility or incapacity subject, we extremely suggest studying the Alton Towers accessibility information, really useful routes, and insurance policies. Experience Entry Passes should be utilized on-line and visits utilizing the move should be booked prematurely. In case you have any questions, ask them prematurely so you’re ready on the day of your go to.
Obtain the Alton Towers App
While I’m nonetheless not satisfied that all the things on the earth wants an app, I’ve to say that the Alton Towers app is fairly first rate, and a must have when visiting the park.
It has loads of performance that may enhance your go to, from reside trip queue occasions, to managing your trip photographs, to a useful map and navigation function that may 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 knowledge utilization. The app can be free to obtain and use.
While among the info within the app may simply be discovered within the park, different issues like trip queue occasions are a lot simpler to seek out within the app. Having all the data in your pocket can actually assist when deciding which trip to go to subsequent.
The app will be downloaded right here.
Arrive Early / Depart Late
To profit 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 web site, 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 really opens at 9am. So you may go into the park and be part of the queue for the primary trip you wish 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 might additionally keep open later than this). Nonetheless, this closing time is the final time you may be 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 that you must depart the park for any purpose, equivalent to to go to your automotive or let the children have a nap, then you definately simply have to be sure you get a hand stamp from an admission workers member earlier than you exit so you may reenter later. So you may take a break and return. This makes essentially the most sense for these staying in a single day on the Alton Towers Resort.
We predict that profiting from your time at Alton Towers makes loads of sense as you will have invested a good bit of cash into your go to, so ought to get the utmost worth from it.
Perceive any Experience Restrictions
Most theme park rides have minimal peak restrictions for riders because of well being and security causes. A number of of the rides even have most peak restrictions.
In case you are visiting Alton Towers with anybody who is perhaps affected by the trip peak restrictions, for instance kids or these over 6 toes 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’ll be able to see all of the trip peak restrictions on the official web site right here.
This may keep away from you losing time going to rides which you could’t all trip collectively. Figuring out which rides your youngsters can and may’t trip can assist keep away from loads of tears and disappointment.
Figuring out which rides are appropriate for which members of your group may even can help you divide your group up if you want, so everybody will get to expertise the points of interest they wish to, and no-one will get upset about lacking out or having to attend round.
Plan your First Experience
In case you are a thrillseeker and need the get essentially the most out of your day at Alton Towers, it’s actually necessary that what you want to your first trip to be. We’d suggest choosing the trip which is more likely to have the longest strains because the day progresses.
While it may be onerous to know precisely which rides will probably be hottest on any given day, as a basic rule of thumb the newer extra thrilling rides are likely to have the longest strains.
For instance, the Smiler and Nemesis Reborn are usually highly regarded rides with lengthy wait occasions. So if these rides are in your to-do record, we suggest heading to these rides as quickly as you arrive and becoming a member of the road. This could get you onto these rides shortly.
For example, on a latest go to to Alton Towers I joined the road for Nemesis Reborn at 9.30am and was using by 10.10am, solely 10 minutes after the trip opened. Later within the day, trip wait occasions had been over 2 hours for that trip.
For these centered on the smaller rides and rides geared to youthful kids, lengthy strains are typically much less of a priority. However it might nonetheless be a good suggestion to start out with the rides your youngsters wish to trip most.
Take into account the Fastrack Passes
In case you are visiting Alton Towers on a busier day, equivalent to a faculty vacation or a weekend, then the queue lengths for lots of the rides are more likely to be pretty lengthy.
By pretty lengthy, we imply 1 – 2 hours wait time for the extra standard rides. The most well-liked rides are typically the fun rides and massive themed rides, however even the smaller rides can have lengthy wait occasions on a busy day (or if they’re new to the park).
The excellent news is which you could skip nearly all of the strains by investing in a Fastrack Move. There are a number of Fastrack passes obtainable, that are named Bronze, Gold, Silver and Platinum.
The move you select will depend upon which rides you actually wish to trip, in addition to your price range. It’s additionally potential to purchase a single Fastrack move on a per trip foundation for lots of the rides, which generally is a good approach to trip a particular trip shortly should you don’t wish to put money into an entire Fastrack move.
Aside from the Platinum Fastrack move, all the opposite passes permit you one entry to the particular Fastrack line for every trip 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 occasions as you need for every trip. It’s additionally the costliest, and actually geared toward those that wish to trip as many rides as potential, a number of occasions in a day.
Now we have visited Alton Towers on a really busy day, and the wait time for lots of the rides was properly over an hour, with many rides having two hour wait occasions. With our Fastrack passes, we largely 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 had been capable of trip each trip within the park.
After all, the Fastrack Passes received’t make sense for everybody. We’ve visited Alton Towers on quiet days the place wait occasions are often not more than 20 minutes for a trip, during which case a Fastrack Move makes much less sense.
You’ll be able to purchase Fastrack Passes prematurely of your go to right here. You can too purchase them in individual on web site, nevertheless you have to be conscious that the Fastrack passes do come from a restricted pool they usually can promote out.
In case you are 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 Move you need.
Pack a Smartphone Charger
The possibilities are that you will be utilizing your smartphone rather a lot at Alton Towers. You’ll be taking photographs and movies of your adventures, utilizing the Alton Towers app to examine trip occasions and discover your approach round, and plenty extra in addition to. And all that use goes to empty the battery.
While there are charging stations obtainable at Alton Towers for a price, we expect a way more smart answer is simply to put money into a transportable battery pack in your cellphone. These can cost your cellphone from flat a number of occasions over (relying on the capability), and imply you’ll have the ability to preserve utilizing your cellphone all day with out fear.
There are loads of choices on the market, we at present use one like this which labored properly to cost our telephones and our associates’ telephones on a latest go to to Alton Towers.
Make a Meals Plan
Along with making a basic plan about what rides and attraction you wish to go to prematurely, it is usually 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 in the course of 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 basic plan for lunch so if there’s a particular place you wish to eat, you may make your approach to that space for lunchtime.
Be aware that because the 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 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. In case you don’t wish to order through a smartphone app, you would possibly wish 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 supply one for accessibility and inclusion causes even when they at first say it’s a must to order on-line.
Now, should you don’t wish to pay theme park costs for meals and also you wish to get monetary savings (and doubtless a while), take into account 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 carry 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 gaggle or household, as meals prices for just a few individuals can shortly 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 loads of strolling at Alton Towers, and it’s going to be a protracted day. So that you positively wish to keep hydrated.
Reasonably than having to pay for drinks or purchase bottles of water, you may carry your individual refillable water bottle after which use the water refill stations that are dotted all through the park. We use these water bottles by Klean Kanteen, however there are tons to select from.
In case you are planning to purchase gentle drinks within the park, you would possibly have the ability to get monetary savings through the use of the Coca-Cola Refill stations all through the park.
To make use of these, that you must buy one of many refillable Coke Freestyle cups (priced at £15 throughout our final go to) after which you may drink as a lot as you want. You should utilize the identical cup on future visits for a decrease per day price.
Keep In a single day
One actually good approach to profit from your time at Alton Towers is to remain in a single day, both at one of many on-site accommodations (see and e book all of the choices right here) or at a close-by lodge.
Now we have performed 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 house.
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 have the ability to enter the park at opening time and profit from your day.
Lodging at Alton Towers
Staying on web site at one of many Alton Towers resort accommodations positively has its benefits. First, the accommodations 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 lodge areas as properly.
One other benefit of staying on web site is that it provides you time to take pleasure in among the different points of interest on web site that you just may not in any other case have time to take pleasure in.
These embrace the Splash Landings water park and the park themed Mini Golf. We’ve performed each of those when staying in a single day and assume they’re each value experiencing.
In case you keep on web site, 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 fundamental benefits of staying in one of many on-site accommodations is which you could enter the park through the lodge visitor solely entrance, which is close to the lodge monorail cease.
This entrance brings you into the park proper subsequent to Galactica and Nemesis Reborn. If these rides are in your to-do record, then you may are available early and be part of the road for them earlier than anybody else.
It additionally means you don’t should queue for the monorail, or stroll to the primary park entrance. On busy mornings the monorail queue will be 40 minutes lengthy, whereas the stroll to the primary park entrance from the accommodations is round 20 minutes. So you may skip all that and be straight into the park as an alternative.
For extra info and an in depth breakdown of what every lodge has to supply, see my full Alton Towers information.
You’ll be able to e book the resort accommodations as a part of a bundle together with your park entrance right here. They typically run affords 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 an alternative of staying on web site, you may as well keep at a close-by lodge. Now we have additionally performed 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 trip Nemesis Reborn as one of many first riders with solely a brief wait, fairly than the 2 hour wait that occurred in a while.
The primary benefit of staying exterior the park is that you just get a wider alternative of lodging, it may be higher worth, and it’s going to be a extra conventional lodge expertise. Relying on the lodge, it could even be a little bit of a quieter and extra enjoyable expertise because the on-site accommodations are highly regarded with households.
Each will be good choices that are properly value contemplating in your Alton Towers go to. In case you are all for a lodge, listed here are some suggestions within the space, sorted by approximate driving distance from the resort:
- The White Hart – a well-liked inn within the village of Alton, providing a spread of en-suite rooms. 7 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
- The Laurel’s B&B – It is a well-rated B&B which serves breakfast. Rooms are en-suite with tea/espresso making amenities. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
- The Bay Tree – a really well-reviewed B&B with en-suite lodging and breakfast obtainable. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
- Peakstones Inn – This 3* lodge affords a spread of en-suite rooms and there’s an on-site restaurant and bar. Breakfast is out there. 10 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
- Heywood Corridor – This property affords plenty of self-contained flats, every with a small kitchen an en-suite toilet. 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 affords air-conditioned rooms with espresso machines and en-suite amenities. Breakfast is out there and there’s a restaurant and bar for different meals. 13 minutes drive from Alton Towers
- The Royal Oak – This inn affords a spread of snug rooms within the city of Ashbourne. There’s a restaurant and bar on web site 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 alternative of shared or non-public lodging. 22 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
After all, there are tons extra choices to contemplate. You’ll be able to 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 resolve to remain at one of many on-site accommodations, you’ll want 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 very good expertise. Reservations are free, and detailed details about the best way to e book will probably be despatched to you as a part of your reserving affirmation.
The extra standard occasions, equivalent to round 7:00pm to 7.30pm for dinner and round 8am for breakfast, e book up quick, so in order for you extra alternative, we advise reserving properly prematurely. You’ll be able to all the time change the time of your reservation should you change your thoughts, topic to availability.
When you can nonetheless typically eat with no reserving at one of many accommodations, it may be a protracted await a desk otherwise you may not get your alternative of a restaurant.
If you wish to eat on the Rollercoaster Restaurant (situated within the park however strolling distance from accommodations), you additionally have to e book these dinner reservations prematurely. This restaurant can generally be booked out a few weeks prematurely. In case you can’t get a reservation throughout your keep, attempt to go for lunch the place reservations will not be required.
Take into account the Digital Picture Move
If you wish to have recollections of your time at Alton Towers, then we’d recommend investing in a Digital Picture Move in your go to. While you may clearly take photographs 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 programs in place, often positioned to seize a key second in the course of the trip the place you’re looking most excited or terrified. Naturally these could make for some memorable photographs! Moreover, there are some particular points of interest with a photograph shoot factor, equivalent to in CBeebies Land, the place you may have further photographs taken of your go to.
The Digital Picture Move provides you entry to all of the trip photographs out of your day at Alton Towers, for you and anybody in your group. The photographs are all delivered digitally through the Alton Towers app, and you may then share them with associates digitally, or print them along with your most popular 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 Picture Move greater than value it.
The primary tip I might give can be to have all of the photographs taken and added to the app, after which on the finish of the day you may resolve if you wish to pay for them. Earlier than you pay for them they are often previewed in a small model with a watermark. In case you resolve you just like the photographs, you may pay to unlock larger decision variations with no watermark. In any other case, should 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 will have loads of time to resolve. Upon getting bought, they then stay within the app for an extra yr, throughout which era you may obtain them to your system and preserve them endlessly.
You’ll be able to in fact additionally purchase the Digital Picture Move prematurely of your go to or throughout your go to. It’s usually introduced as an possibility whenever you purchase your tickets.
Nonetheless, except you might be a hundred percent sure you’re going to need the pictures, our advice is to attend till you see all of them earlier than deciding to purchase.
Be Ready for Solar & Rain
The climate in England is notoriously fickle, even within the peak of summer season. We’ve had experiences the place we visited Alton Towers throughout two days, with the primary day being pouring rain and the second day being gloriously scorching sunshine.
So that you simply by no means know fairly what you’re going to get, and the climate forecast isn’t all the time going to get it proper. So we suggest being ready for a spread of eventualities. We’d typically recommend contemplating packing the next, which you’ll regulate relying on the time of yr you might be visiting:
Take Benefit of Free Exhibits and Leisure
Alton Towers has much more to supply than thrilling rides. There are additionally plenty of free reveals and different varieties of leisure on provide, a lot of that are excellent if you’re visiting the park with youthful kids.
These reveals generally is a good approach to take a break and sit down while being entertained. Exhibits fluctuate, however embrace reside motion reveals such because the Furchester Lodge, 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 regularly hosts performances. You’ll want to examine the schedule whenever you arrive to see what’s on in your explicit day.
In case you are staying in one of many on-site accommodations, then the celebration doesn’t cease whenever you get again for the night time. Every resort usually has reside performances every night time so that you can take pleasure in 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 just a few of our different guides that you just would possibly discover helpful.
- Now we have a full information to visiting Alton Towers, which has all the things that you must know. It contains info on all of the rides, accommodations, actions and plenty extra.
- For wider UK journey planning, we’ve got advised one week and two week UK itineraries
- Now we 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, recommendations on a weekend in York, recommendations on 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.
- Now we have a information to 10 of the very 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 will have something you’d add to the above, or a query about an upcoming go to? Simply tell us within the feedback under!
