Alton Towers is considered one of our favorite theme parks within the UK. It’s residence to an excellent 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 ideas to assist make sure you get probably the most out of your Alton Towers go to, from discovering your approach across the park by to creating certain you get to trip all of the rides you wish to trip, even on a busy day.
This information is concentrated particularly on ideas for visiting Alton Towers.
When you’re on the lookout for extra particulars on the park, together with details about all of the rides, eating places, opening occasions, ticket costs, our opinions and extra, try our full information to visiting Alton Towers.
That information goes into an excellent deal extra element in regards to the park normally, while this information focuses particularly on sharing tricks to get probably the most out of your go to.
15 Ideas for Visiting Alton Towers
Alton Towers Resort is positioned in central Staffordshire in England (about midway between Birmingham and Manchester) and is the biggest theme park within the UK. The Alton Towers theme park sits on over 550 acres of land, with the bigger resort space totaling 910 acres.
A go to to Alton Towers is usually a particular journey with household and buddies on the lookout for a enjoyable day or two. For a lot of it’s also a major funding of their hard-earned time and money.
We’ve visited Alton Towers a number of occasions over time and we needed to supply ideas and recommendation that will help you profit from your go to to Alton Towers and get probably the most out of your day.
These embrace recommendations on methods to plan forward, save time, lower your expenses, keep away from surprises, and hopefully assist keep away from any tantrums!
Purchase Tickets & Parking in Advance
If you wish to get the perfect value for tickets, you’ll positively wish to guide your tickets upfront on the official web site right here.
Tickets purchased on-line are practically at all times considerably cheaper than shopping for them in individual on web site. Shopping for your tickets upfront additionally means you possibly can go straight to the turnstile and skip any line for the ticket workplace.
It’s additionally value noting that Alton Towers operates a dynamic pricing system, so on busier peak days tickets are typically dearer, and on quieter days tickets could be cheaper. When you could be versatile along with your dates, you may discover that selecting a special day to your go to can prevent some cash.
We additionally advocate buying parking upfront if you’re not staying on web site (parking is included for on-site lodge company). While there’s no saving for doing so, it saves you having to pay for parking on web site.
The Alton Towers Dungeon (positioned inside the park however requires an additional ticket) tickets are additionally cheaper if booked upfront than if bought in-person on the day. They’re at the moment £2 per individual cheaper on-line than in individual.
Make a Basic Route Plan for the Day
Alton Towers is unfold out over a big space, and it could possibly 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 wish to go to and in what order.
Because you presumably wish to spend extra time having fun with the rides and sights than strolling, it’s a good suggestion to have a common plan to 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 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 special theme and every of which incorporates a lot of 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, it’s possible you’ll or might not find yourself visiting all of the zones. For instance, if you’re visiting with youthful children, you might be seemingly going to spend extra time in CBeebies Land and The World of David Walliams and never a lot time within the X-Sector and the Darkish Forest.
So a common plan is perhaps one thing like this “Buy tickets and parking upfront. Arrive at park at 9:30am, begin in CBeebies Land, break to have a packed snack, then go to World of David Walliams, stroll to Mutiny Bay and purchase lunch there, spend the remainder of day cut up between Mutiny Bay and Katanga Canyon (save water rides for final!).”
Nonetheless, if you’re visiting with youngsters and adults who meet all of the trip top necessities, you’re seemingly going to be heading for the larger rides.
A common plan for Alton Towers if visiting the bigger rides and staying in a single day on web site is perhaps as follows.
“Have breakfast in lodge at round 8am and head over to park for 9am opening with pre-booked tickets. Use visitor lodge entrance. Be a part of queue for most popular trip in Forbidden Valley, then do remaining Forbidden Valley Rides. Head to Darkish Forest for the joys rides then have lunch at Woodcutter Grill. After lunch head to Wicker Man, then end the day at X-Sector”.
In fact, relying on how busy the park is and whether or not or not you could 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 large rides in a day. Conversely, on a quiet day or when you’ve got 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 (additional ticket wanted), make sure to enable about an hour for that.
Having an concept of which rides you wish to do as a bunch is a good begin to your go to. You possibly can then have a look at the map of the park and work out which areas it is advisable to go to.
It’s positively a good suggestion to trip all of the rides in a particular space that you simply wish to do earlier than shifting on to a brand new space. In any other case you’re going to spend extra time strolling between areas fairly than experiencing the sights.
For these with any sort of accessibility or incapacity difficulty, we extremely advocate studying the Alton Towers accessibility information, advisable routes, and insurance policies. Trip Entry Passes must be utilized on-line and visits utilizing the go have to be booked upfront. In case you have any questions, ask them upfront so you are ready on the day of your go to.
Obtain the Alton Towers App
While I’m nonetheless not satisfied that all the things 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 a variety of performance that can enhance your go to, from reside trip queue occasions, to managing your trip photographs, to a useful map and navigation function that can get you in every single 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 a number of the info within the app may also simply be discovered within the park, different issues like trip queue occasions 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 could 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’re going to get out of your ticket.
It’s vital to notice that while rides usually begin working at round 10am, the park itself really opens at 9am. So you possibly can go into the park and be part of the queue for the primary trip you wish to go on. Or simply seize a espresso or wander the gardens.
For closing, relying on the time of 12 months and day, the park usually closes at 4pm or 6pm (for particular occasions it could possibly additionally keep open later than this). Nonetheless, this closing time is the final time you possibly can 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 it is advisable to go away the park for any cause, reminiscent of to go to your automotive or let the children have a nap, you then simply must be sure you get a hand stamp from an admission employees member earlier than you exit so you possibly can reenter later. So you possibly can take a break and return. This makes probably the most sense for these staying in a single day on the Alton Towers Resort.
We expect that taking advantage of your time at Alton Towers makes a variety of sense as you could have invested a good bit of cash into your go to, so ought to get the utmost worth from it.
Perceive any Trip Restrictions
Most theme park rides have minimal top restrictions for riders as a result of well being and security causes. A number of of the rides even have most top restrictions.
In case you are visiting Alton Towers with anybody who is perhaps affected by the trip top restrictions, for instance youngsters or these over 6 toes tall, then it’s a good suggestion to do a little analysis upfront as to which rides are going to be appropriate for the entire group. You possibly can see all of the trip top restrictions on the official web site right here.
It will keep away from you losing time going to rides that you may’t all trip collectively. Understanding which rides your children can and may’t trip can assist keep away from a variety of tears and disappointment.
Understanding which rides are appropriate for which members of your group can even permit you to divide your group up if you want, so everybody will get to expertise the sights they wish to, and no-one will get upset about lacking out or having to attend round.
Plan your First Trip
In case you are a thrillseeker and wish the get probably the most out of your day at Alton Towers, it’s actually vital that what you desire to your first trip to be. We’d advocate choosing the trip 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 likely to have the longest traces.
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 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 trip opened. Later within the day, trip wait occasions have been over 2 hours for that trip.
For these targeted on the smaller rides and rides geared to youthful youngsters, lengthy traces are usually much less of a priority. However it could possibly nonetheless be a good suggestion to begin with the rides your children wish to trip most.
Contemplate the Fastrack Passes
In case you are visiting Alton Towers on a busier day, reminiscent of a college vacation or a weekend, then the queue lengths for lots of the rides are prone to be pretty lengthy.
By pretty lengthy, we imply 1 – 2 hours wait time for the extra common rides. The preferred rides are usually the joys rides and large themed rides, however even the smaller rides can have lengthy wait occasions on a busy day (or if they’re new to the park).
The excellent news is that you may skip nearly all of the traces by investing in a Fastrack Move. There are a selection of Fastrack passes accessible, that are named Bronze, Gold, Silver and Platinum.
The go you select will rely upon which rides you actually wish to trip, in addition to your price range. It’s additionally doable to purchase a single Fastrack go on a per trip foundation for lots of the rides, which generally is a good approach to trip a particular trip shortly when you don’t wish to spend money on an entire Fastrack go.
Apart from the Platinum Fastrack go, all the opposite passes enable you one entry to the particular Fastrack line for every trip that has Fastrack. The vast majority of rides do have Fastrack, except the CBeebies Land rides and a number of the different smaller rides.
The Platinum Fastrack go is the one go which lets you use the Fastrack line as many occasions as you need for every trip. It’s additionally the costliest, and actually geared toward those that wish to trip as many rides as doable, a number of occasions in a day.
We’ve got 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 occasions. With our Fastrack passes, we principally 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 capable of trip each trip 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 occasions are often not more than 20 minutes for a trip, during which case a Fastrack Move makes much less sense.
You possibly can purchase Fastrack Passes upfront of your go to right here. You may as well purchase them in individual on web site, nonetheless you have to be conscious that the Fastrack passes do come from a restricted pool and so they can promote out.
In case you are visiting throughout peak season and also you do desire a Fastrack, then shopping for upfront is a good suggestion to make sure you get the Fastrack Move you need.
Pack a Smartphone Charger
The probabilities are that you’re going to be utilizing your smartphone lots at Alton Towers. You’ll be taking photographs and movies of your adventures, utilizing the Alton Towers app to examine trip occasions and discover your approach round, and much extra apart from. And all that use goes to empty the battery.
While there are charging stations accessible at Alton Towers for a charge, we expect a way more wise answer is simply to spend money on a conveyable battery pack to 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 maintain utilizing your cellphone all day with out fear.
There are a variety of choices on the market, we at the moment use one like this which labored effectively to cost our telephones and our buddies’ 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 wish to go to upfront, it’s also a good suggestion to consider what and the place you wish to eat. Pondering forward can prevent money and time.
There are a selection of meals distributors and eating places within the park open throughout the day, from sizzling canine and ice cream stands to take a seat 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 have a look at the park map and have a common plan for lunch so if there’s a particular place you wish to eat, you can also make your approach to that space for lunchtime.
Word that because the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of 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. When you don’t wish to order by way of a smartphone app, you may wish to simply say you don’t have a smartphone and order with a employees member on the bar from a bodily menu. I consider they’ve to supply one for accessibility and inclusion causes even when they at first say you need to order on-line.
Now, when you don’t wish to pay theme park costs for meals and also you wish to lower your expenses (and doubtless a while), contemplate bringing alongside your personal meals and snacks.
Alton Towers has a number of totally different picnic areas, and you might be greater than welcome to deliver your personal meals to the park. This may be an effective way to save cash in your go to, particularly if you’re visiting as a bunch or household, as meals prices for a number of individuals can shortly add up.
We all know some households prefer to pack their very own meals, however then splurge on one thing like ice cream or candyfloss for the children.
Deliver a Refillable Water Bottle
You’re going to be doing a variety of strolling at Alton Towers, and it’s going to be a protracted day. So that you positively wish to keep hydrated.
Slightly than having to pay for drinks or purchase bottles of water, you possibly can deliver your personal refillable water bottle after which use the water refill stations that are dotted all through the park. We use these water bottles by Klean Kanteen, however there are tons to select from.
In case you are planning to purchase mushy 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, 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 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 inns (see and guide all of the choices right here) or at a close-by lodge.
We’ve got performed each, and so they every have their execs and cons.
Staying two nights could make it simpler to get there early and keep till closing the park with out worrying about heading residence.
When you solely select to remain one evening, we’d advocate making it the evening 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 inns positively has its benefits. First, the inns are all themed, so your general expertise will probably be prolonged. The theming extends from the primary areas by to every room, and there’s additionally leisure on provide within the lodge areas as effectively.
One other benefit of staying on web site is that it provides you time to take pleasure in a number of the different sights on web site that you simply 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.
When 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 primary benefits of staying in one of many on-site inns is that you may 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 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 must queue for the monorail, or stroll to the primary park entrance. On busy mornings the monorail queue could be 40 minutes lengthy, whereas the stroll to the primary park entrance from the inns is round 20 minutes. So you possibly can skip all that and be straight into the park as a substitute.
For extra info and an in depth breakdown of what every lodge has to supply, see my full Alton Towers information.
You possibly can guide the resort inns as a part of a bundle together with your park entrance right here. They usually run presents by 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 web site, you may as well keep at a close-by lodge. We’ve got additionally performed this, staying round 10 minutes drive away on the evening 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, fairly than the 2 hour wait that occurred in a while.
The principle benefit of staying outdoors the park is that you simply get a wider alternative of lodging, it may be higher worth, and it’s going to be a extra conventional lodge expertise. Relying on the lodge, it might even be a little bit of a quieter and extra stress-free expertise because the on-site inns are highly regarded with households.
Each could be good choices that are effectively value contemplating to your Alton Towers go to. In case you are enthusiastic 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 accessible. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
- Peakstones Inn – This 3* lodge presents 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 presents a lot of self-contained flats, every with a small kitchen an en-suite rest room. There’s additionally a sizzling 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 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 presents 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 presents a variety of snug rooms within the city of Ashbourne. There’s a restaurant and bar on web site with meals accessible. 19 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
- YHA Ilam Corridor – This youth hostel is present in a gothic corridor set in 84 acres of parkland. There’s an on-site breakfast, kitchen for self-catering, and a alternative of shared or non-public lodging. 22 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
In fact, there are tons 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 a lot of vacation leases as effectively.
Make Meal Reservations if Staying In a single day
When you determine to remain at one of many on-site inns, it would be best to make meal reservations upfront of your go to. This consists of 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 methods to guide will probably be despatched to you as a part of your reserving affirmation.
The extra common occasions, reminiscent of round 7:00pm to 7.30pm for dinner and round 8am for breakfast, guide up quick, so if you would like extra alternative, we advise reserving effectively upfront. You possibly can at all times change the time of your reservation when you change your thoughts, topic to availability.
Whilst you can nonetheless usually eat with out a reserving at one of many inns, it may be a protracted look forward to a desk otherwise you may not get your alternative of a restaurant.
If you wish to eat on the Rollercoaster Restaurant (positioned within the park however strolling distance from inns), you additionally must guide these dinner reservations upfront. This restaurant can typically be booked out a few weeks upfront. When you can’t get a reservation throughout your keep, attempt to go for lunch the place reservations should not required.
Contemplate the Digital Photograph Move
If you wish to have reminiscences of your time at Alton Towers, then we’d counsel investing in a Digital Photograph Move to your go to. While you possibly can 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 techniques in place, often positioned to seize a key second throughout 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 component, reminiscent of in CBeebies Land, the place you possibly can have further photographs taken of your go to.
The Digital Photograph 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 by way of the Alton Towers app, and you’ll then share them with buddies digitally, or print them along with your most popular print service.
On a current go to to Alton Towers as a bunch of six (4 adults and two children) we ended up with over 100 digital photographs between the six of us, which made the Digital Photograph Move greater than value it.
The principle tip I’d give can be to have all of the photographs 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. When you determine you just like the photographs, you possibly can pay to unlock increased decision variations with no watermark. In any other case, when you don’t like them, you don’t must pay.
The photographs keep within the app for 90 days after your go to, so you could have loads of time to determine. After getting bought, they then stay within the app for an extra 12 months, throughout which period you possibly can obtain them to your system and maintain them endlessly.
You possibly can in fact additionally purchase the Digital Photograph Move upfront of your go to or throughout your go to. It’s usually offered as an choice once you purchase your tickets.
Nonetheless, until you might be a hundred percent sure you’re going to need the pictures, our suggestion is to attend till you see all of them earlier than deciding to purchase.
Be Ready for Solar & Rain
The climate in England is notoriously fickle, even within the 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 sizzling sunshine.
So that you simply by no means know fairly what you’re going to 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 usually counsel contemplating packing the next, which you’ll alter 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 a lot of free reveals and different forms of leisure on provide, lots of that are good if you’re visiting the park with youthful youngsters.
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 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 examine the schedule once you arrive to see what’s on in your specific day.
In case you are staying in one of many on-site inns, then the get together doesn’t cease once you get again for the evening. Every resort usually has reside performances every evening so that you can take pleasure in 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 needed to share a number of of our different guides that you simply may discover helpful.
- We’ve got a full information to visiting Alton Towers, which has all the things it is advisable to know. It consists of info on all of the rides, inns, actions and much extra.
- For wider UK journey planning, we’ve got recommended one week and two week UK itineraries
- We’ve got 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
- When you’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 perfect day journeys from Edinburgh to get you began. We even have a information to getting from London to Edinburgh.
- We’ve got a information to 10 of the perfect 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 could have something you’d add to the above, or a query about an upcoming go to? Simply tell us within the feedback beneath!
