Alton Towers is one in every of our favorite theme parks within the UK. It’s dwelling to an amazing 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 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 means of 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 ideas for visiting Alton Towers.
When you’re in search of extra particulars on the park, together with details about all of the rides, eating places, opening instances, ticket costs, our evaluations and extra, take a look at our full information to visiting Alton Towers.
That information goes into an amazing deal extra element concerning the park on the whole, while this information focuses particularly on sharing tricks to get probably the most out of your go to.
15 Suggestions for Visiting Alton Towers
Alton Towers Resort is positioned in central Staffordshire in England (about midway between Birmingham and Manchester) and is the biggest theme park within the UK. The Alton Towers theme park sits on over 550 acres of land, with the bigger resort space totaling 910 acres.
A go to to Alton Towers is usually a particular journey with household and mates in search of a enjoyable day or two. For a lot of additionally it is a big funding of their hard-earned time and money.
We’ve visited Alton Towers a number of instances over time and we wished to offer ideas and recommendation that can assist you benefit from your go to to Alton Towers and get probably the most out of your day.
These embrace tips on find out how 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 most effective worth for tickets, you’ll undoubtedly wish to ebook your tickets prematurely on the official web site right here.
Tickets purchased on-line are practically all the time considerably cheaper than shopping for them in particular person on web site. Shopping for your tickets prematurely additionally means you possibly can go straight to the turnstile and skip any line for the ticket workplace.
It’s additionally price noting that Alton Towers operates a dynamic pricing system, so on busier peak days tickets are typically dearer, and on quieter days tickets will be cheaper. When you will be versatile together with your dates, you may discover that selecting a distinct day in your go to can prevent some cash.
We additionally suggest buying parking prematurely in case you are not staying on web site (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 web site.
Make a Common Route Plan for the Day
Alton Towers is unfold out over a big space, and it could actually 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 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 wanting on the park map both on the park’s web site or within the park’s app will help you propose your route and prevent time on the day.
Alton Towers is specified by completely different zones, every of which has a distinct theme and every of which incorporates numerous rides and points of interest. You possibly can study extra about all of the zones and particulars of each trip in my detailed Alton Towers information.
Relying in your group, chances are you’ll or might not find yourself visiting all of the zones. For instance, in case you are visiting with youthful children, you’re seemingly going to spend extra time in CBeebies Land and The World of David Walliams and never a lot time within the X-Sector and the Darkish Forest.
So a basic plan is perhaps one thing like this “Buy tickets and parking prematurely. Arrive at park at 9:30am, begin in CBeebies Land, break to have a packed snack, then go to World of David Walliams, stroll to Mutiny Bay and purchase lunch there, spend the remainder of day cut up between Mutiny Bay and Katanga Canyon (save water rides for final!).”
Nevertheless, in case you are visiting with youngsters and adults who meet all of the trip peak necessities, you’re seemingly going to be heading for the larger rides.
A basic plan for Alton Towers if visiting the bigger rides and staying in a single day on web site is perhaps as follows.
“Have breakfast in resort at round 8am and head over to park for 9am opening with pre-booked tickets. Use visitor resort entrance. Be a part of queue for most well-liked trip in Forbidden Valley, then do remaining Forbidden Valley Rides. Head to Darkish Forest for the joys rides then have lunch at Woodcutter Grill. After lunch head to Wicker Man, then end the day at X-Sector”.
After all, relying on how busy the park is and whether or not or not you may have Fastrack Passes you’ll have to modify your schedule. On very busy days with out Fastrack passes you may not have the ability to do greater than 3 or 4 huge rides in a day. Conversely, on a quiet day or in case you have a Fastrack Move it is possible for you to to slot in extra rides.
Having an thought of which rides you wish to do as a bunch is a superb begin in your go to. You possibly can then have a look at the map of the park and work out which areas it’s essential to go to.
It’s undoubtedly a good suggestion to trip all of the rides in a selected space that you simply wish to do earlier than shifting on to a brand new space. In any other case, you’re going to spend extra time strolling between areas slightly than experiencing the points of interest.
For these with any sort of accessibility or incapacity concern, we extremely suggest studying the Alton Towers accessibility information, beneficial routes, and insurance policies. Trip Entry Passes have to be utilized on-line and visits utilizing the go have to be booked prematurely. When you’ve got 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 pieces 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 plenty of performance that can enhance your go to, from reside trip queue instances, to managing your trip pictures, to a helpful map and navigation characteristic 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 also be free to obtain and use.
While a few of the data within the app may also simply be discovered within the park, different issues like trip queue instances 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 move to subsequent.
The app will be downloaded right here.
Arrive Early / Depart Late
To benefit from your time at Alton Towers it is best to plan to reach early after which ideally keep till the park closes. The longer you’re on 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 essential to notice that while rides usually 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 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 actually additionally keep open later than this). Nevertheless, this closing time is the final time you possibly can be part of a trip queue, not the final time the trip runs. So in case you are nonetheless in a line after closing time, it is best to nonetheless get to do the trip.
Now, if it’s essential to go away the park for any motive, equivalent to to go to your automobile or let the children have a nap, you then simply must ensure 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 predict that profiting from your time at Alton Towers makes plenty of sense as you may have invested a good bit of cash into your go to, so ought to get the utmost worth from it.
Perceive any Trip Restrictions
Most theme park rides have minimal peak restrictions for riders as a result of well being and security causes. A number of of the rides even have most peak restrictions.
If you’re visiting Alton Towers with anybody who is perhaps affected by the trip peak restrictions, for instance youngsters 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 possibly can see all of the trip peak restrictions on the official web site right here. We additionally listing them in our full Alton Towers information.
This may keep away from you losing time going to rides that you would be able to’t all trip collectively. Understanding which rides your children can and might’t trip will help keep away from plenty of tears and disappointment.
Understanding which rides are appropriate for which members of your group may also 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 Trip
If you’re a thrillseeker and need the get probably the most out of your day at Alton Towers, it’s actually essential that you understand what you want to your first trip to be. We’d suggest selecting the trip which is more likely to have the longest traces because the day progresses.
While it may be exhausting to know precisely which rides shall be hottest on any given day, as a basic rule of thumb the newer extra thrilling rides are likely to have the longest traces.
For instance, the Smiler and Nemesis Reborn are usually very talked-about rides with lengthy wait instances. So if these rides are in your to-do listing, 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 instance, on a latest go to to Alton Towers I joined the road for Nemesis Reborn at 9.30am and was driving by 10.10am, solely 10 minutes after the trip opened. Later within the day, trip wait instances have been over 2 hours for that trip.
For these centered on the smaller rides and rides geared to youthful youngsters, lengthy traces are usually much less of a priority. However it could actually nonetheless be a good suggestion to start out with the rides your children wish to trip most.
Think about the Fastrack Passes
If you’re visiting Alton Towers on a busier day, equivalent to a faculty vacation or a weekend, then the queue lengths for most 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 usually the joys 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 that you would be able to skip the vast majority of the traces by investing in a Fastrack Move. There are a number of Fastrack passes out there, 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 most of the rides, which could be a good approach to trip a selected trip shortly when you don’t wish to put money into an entire Fastrack go.
Aside from the Platinum Fastrack go, 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, aside from the CBeebies Land rides and a few of the different smaller rides.
The Platinum Fastrack go is the one go which lets you use the Fastrack line as many instances as you need for every trip. It’s additionally the most costly, and actually aimed toward those that wish to trip as many rides as doable, a number of instances in a day.
We’ve got visited Alton Towers on a really busy day, and the wait time for most of the rides was nicely over an hour, with many rides having two hour wait instances. With our Fastrack passes, we principally bought onto rides in 5 or ten minutes. So for us it made an enormous distinction, which means as an alternative of driving three or 4 rides within the day, we have been in a position to trip each trip within the park.
After all, the Fastrack Passes gained’t make sense for everybody. We’ve visited Alton Towers on quiet days the place wait instances are often not more than 20 minutes for a trip, through which case a Fastrack Move makes much less sense.
You possibly can purchase Fastrack Passes prematurely of your go to right here. You too can purchase them in particular person on web site, nonetheless you ought to be conscious that the Fastrack passes do come from a restricted pool they usually can promote out. Nearly all of Fastrack passes are additionally barely cheaper when purchased on-line prematurely.
If you’re visiting throughout peak season and also you do need a Fastrack, then shopping for prematurely is a good suggestion to make sure you get the Fastrack Move you need at a cheaper price.
Pack a Smartphone Charger
The possibilities are that you’re going to be utilizing your smartphone quite a bit at Alton Towers. You’ll be taking pictures and movies of your adventures, utilizing the Alton Towers app to verify trip instances and discover your approach round, and much extra in addition to. And all that use goes to empty the battery.
While there are charging stations out there 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 instances over (relying on the capability), and imply you’ll have the ability to hold utilizing your cellphone all day with out fear.
There are plenty of choices on the market, we presently use one like this which labored nicely to cost our telephones and our mates’ 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, additionally it is a good suggestion to consider what and the place you wish to eat. Pondering forward can prevent money and time.
There are a selection of meals distributors and eating places within the park open through the day, from sizzling canine and ice cream stands to sit down down eateries just like the Woodcutter’s Bar and Grill and the Rollercoaster Restaurant. Count on typical theme park costs.
It may be a good suggestion to take a look at the park map and have a basic 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.
Be aware that for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic, a few of 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 completely different events on the Woodcutter’s Bar & Grill.
The second time we went, we ended up having to order with an individual after a number of failed makes an attempt to get it to work. When you don’t wish to order through a smartphone app, you may wish to simply say you don’t have a smartphone and order with a employees member on the bar from a bodily menu. I imagine they’ve to offer one for accessibility and inclusion causes even when they at first say you must order on-line.
Now, when 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 a couple of completely different picnic areas, and you’re greater than welcome to convey your individual meals to the park. This may be a good way to save cash in your go to, particularly in case you are visiting as a bunch or household, as meals prices for a couple of 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 children.
Carry a Refillable Water Bottle
You will be doing plenty of strolling at Alton Towers, and it’s going to be an extended day. So that you undoubtedly wish to keep hydrated.
Quite than having to pay for drinks or purchase bottles of water, you possibly can convey your individual refillable water bottle after which use the water refill stations that are dotted all through the park. We use these water bottles by Klean Kanteen, however there are heaps to select from.
If you’re planning to purchase mushy drinks within the park, you may have the ability to get monetary savings by utilizing the Coca-Cola Refill stations all through the park.
To make use of these, it’s essential 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 use the identical cup on future visits for a decrease per day price.
Keep In a single day
One actually good approach to benefit from your time at Alton Towers is to remain in a single day, both at one of many on-site lodges (see and ebook all of the choices right here) or at a close-by resort.
We’ve got finished each, they usually every have their execs and cons.
Staying two nights could make it simpler to get there early and keep till closing the park with out worrying about heading dwelling.
When 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 benefit from your day.
Lodging at Alton Towers
Staying on web site at one of many Alton Towers resort lodges undoubtedly has its benefits. First, the lodges are all themed, so your total expertise shall be prolonged. The theming extends from the principle areas by means of to every room, and there’s additionally leisure on provide within the resort areas as nicely.
One other benefit of staying on web site is that it provides you time to get pleasure from a few of the different points of interest on web site that you simply may not in any other case have time to get pleasure from.
These embrace the Splash Landings water park and the park themed Mini Golf. We’ve finished each of those when staying in a single day and suppose they’re each price experiencing.
When you keep on web site, you additionally get free on-site parking, which is able to prevent a bit of cash in case you are driving to Alton Towers.
Lastly, one of many primary benefits of staying in one of many on-site lodges is that you would be able to 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 listing, 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 should queue for the monorail, or stroll to the principle park entrance. On busy mornings the monorail queue will be 40 minutes lengthy, whereas the stroll to the principle park entrance from the lodges is round 20 minutes. So you possibly can skip all that and be straight into the park as an alternative.
For extra data and an in depth breakdown of what every resort has to supply, see my full Alton Towers information.
You possibly can ebook the resort lodges as a part of a package deal together with your park entrance right here. They usually run presents by means of the 12 months, so do take a look at 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 resort. We’ve got additionally finished 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 bought to trip Nemesis Reborn as one of many first riders with solely a brief wait, slightly than the 2 hour wait that occurred afterward.
The primary benefit of staying exterior the park is that you simply get a wider alternative of lodging, it may be higher worth, and it’s going to be a extra conventional resort expertise. Relying on the resort, it could even be a little bit of a quieter and extra stress-free expertise because the on-site lodges are very talked-about with households.
Each will be good choices that are nicely price contemplating in your Alton Towers go to. If you’re excited by a resort, listed below 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 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 amenities. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
- The Bay Tree – a really well-reviewed B&B with en-suite lodging and breakfast out there. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
- Peakstones Inn – This 3* resort presents 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 presents numerous self-contained residences, 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 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 specifically was superb. 13 minutes’ drivee from Alton Towers.
- The Duncombe Arms – This pub/resort is present in Ellastone and presents air-conditioned rooms with espresso machines and en-suite amenities. 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 presents a variety of comfy rooms within the city of Ashbourne. There’s a restaurant and bar on web site with meals out there. 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 heaps extra choices to think about. You possibly can see a full vary of lodging choices close to Alton Towers on Reserving.com right here, which incorporates numerous vacation leases as nicely.
Make Meal Reservations if Staying In a single day
When you resolve to remain at one of many on-site lodges, it would be best to make meal reservations prematurely of your go to. This contains breakfast and dinner mealtimes.
The resort eating places get busy, so reservations are required to ensure that them to have the ability to guarantee everybody has a superb expertise. Reservations are free, and detailed details about find out how to ebook shall be despatched to you as a part of your reserving affirmation.
The extra standard instances, equivalent to round 7:00pm to 7.30pm for dinner and round 8am for breakfast, ebook up quick, so if you’d like extra alternative, we advise reserving nicely prematurely. You possibly can all the time change the time of your reservation when you change your thoughts, topic to availability.
When you can nonetheless usually eat and not using a reserving at one of many lodges, it may be an extended 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 lodges), you additionally must ebook these dinner reservations prematurely. This restaurant can typically be booked out a few weeks prematurely. When you can’t get a reservation throughout your keep, attempt to go for lunch the place reservations will not be required.
Think about the Digital Photograph Move
If you wish to have reminiscences of your time at Alton Towers, then we’d recommend investing in a Digital Photograph Move in your go to. While you possibly can clearly take pictures throughout the park, the one place the place pictures is strictly forbidden is on the rides.
The excellent news is that every one the rides have their very own pictures programs in place, often positioned to seize a key second through the trip the place you’re looking most excited or terrified. Naturally these could make for some memorable photographs! Moreover, there are some particular points of interest with a photograph shoot ingredient, equivalent to in CBeebies Land, the place you possibly can have further pictures taken of your go to.
The Digital Photograph Move provides you entry to all of the trip pictures out of your day at Alton Towers, for you and anybody in your group. The pictures are all delivered digitally through the Alton Towers app, and you’ll then share them with mates digitally, or print them together with your most well-liked print service.
On a latest 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 price it.
The primary tip I’d give could be to have all of the pictures 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. When you resolve you just like the pictures, you possibly can pay to unlock larger decision variations with no watermark. In any other case, when you don’t like them, you don’t must pay.
The pictures keep within the app for 90 days after your go to, so you may have loads of time to resolve. Upon getting bought, they then stay within the app for a further 12 months, throughout which era you possibly can obtain them to your system and hold them eternally.
You possibly can after all additionally purchase the Digital Photograph Move prematurely of your go to or throughout your go to. It’s usually introduced as an possibility if you purchase your tickets.
Nevertheless, except you’re 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 sizzling 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 suggest being ready for a variety of eventualities. We’d usually recommend contemplating packing the next, which you’ll be able to modify relying on the time of 12 months you’re visiting:
Take Benefit of Free Exhibits and Leisure
Alton Towers has much more to supply than thrilling rides. There are additionally numerous free reveals and different sorts of leisure on provide, lots of that are good in case you are visiting the park with youthful youngsters.
These reveals could be 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. Most 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. It would be best to verify the schedule if you arrive to see what’s on in your explicit day.
If you’re staying in one of many on-site lodges, then the social gathering doesn’t cease if you get again for the night time. Every resort usually has reside performances every night time so that you can get pleasure from as nicely.
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 a couple 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 pieces it’s essential to know. It contains data on all of the rides, lodges, actions and much extra.
- For wider UK journey planning, we have now steered 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, recommendations on a weekend in York, recommendations on Visiting Oxford on a Day Journey, and issues to do in Cambridge
- When you’re heading to Scotland, take a look at 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’ve got a information to 10 of the most effective 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 may have something you’d add to the above, or a query about an upcoming go to? Simply tell us within the feedback beneath!
