Alton Towers is one in all our favorite theme parks within the UK. It’s house to an awesome many rides and points of interest, from the kid-friendly rides and exhibits in CBeebies Land to the high-octane thrill rides such because the Smiler and Nemesis Reborn.
It’s the largest theme park within the UK, and we’ve have been fortunate sufficient to go to Alton Towers on many events.
On this information, we’re going to share you with all our ideas to assist make sure you get probably the most out of your Alton Towers go to, from discovering your means across the park via to creating certain you get to journey all of the rides you wish to journey, even on a busy day.
This information is targeted particularly on ideas for visiting Alton Towers.
In the event 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 opinions and extra, try our full information to visiting Alton Towers.
That information goes into an awesome deal extra element in regards to the park basically, while this information focuses particularly on sharing tricks to get probably 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 buddies in search of a enjoyable day or two. For a lot of additionally it is a major funding of their hard-earned time and money.
We’ve visited Alton Towers a number of instances through the years and we needed to supply ideas and recommendation that will help you take advantage of 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 one of the best worth for tickets, you’ll positively wish to e book your tickets upfront on the official web site right here.
Tickets purchased on-line are almost 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 price noting that Alton Towers operates a dynamic pricing system, so on busier peak days tickets are usually costlier, and on quieter days tickets might be cheaper. In the event you might be versatile along with your dates, you would possibly discover that selecting a distinct day to your go to can prevent some cash.
We additionally suggest buying parking upfront in case you are not staying on web site (parking is included for on-site resort visitors). 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 upfront than if bought in-person on the day. They’re presently £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 will possibly take some time (typically so long as half an hour) to stroll from one journey 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 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 may also 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 accommodates numerous rides and points of interest. You may be taught extra about all of the zones and particulars of each journey in my detailed Alton Towers information.
Relying in your group, it’s possible you’ll or could not find yourself visiting all of the zones. For instance, in case you are visiting with youthful children, you’re 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 likely to be 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!).”
Nevertheless, in case you are visiting with youngsters and adults who meet all of the journey 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 likely to be 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 journey 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 will have Fastrack Passes you’ll have to modify your schedule. On very busy days with out Fastrack passes you won’t be capable of do greater than 3 or 4 huge rides in a day. Conversely, on a quiet day or if in case you have a Fastrack Cross it is possible for you to to slot in extra rides.
If you’re wanting to go to the Alton Towers Dungeon (additional ticket wanted), you should definitely enable about an hour for that.
Having an thought of which rides you wish to do as a gaggle is a good begin to your go to. You may 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 journey 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 relatively than experiencing the points of interest.
For these with any form of accessibility or incapacity situation, we extremely suggest studying the Alton Towers accessibility information, advisable routes, and insurance policies. Trip Entry Passes should be utilized on-line and visits utilizing the go have to be booked upfront. When you’ve got any questions, ask them upfront so you’re ready on the day of your go to.
Obtain the Alton Towers App
While I’m nonetheless not satisfied that every part 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 a whole lot of performance that can enhance your go to, from reside journey queue instances, to managing your journey pictures, to a useful map and navigation characteristic that can 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 information utilization. The app can be free to obtain and use.
While among the info within the app can even simply be discovered within the park, different issues like journey queue instances are a lot simpler to seek out within the app. Having all the knowledge in your pocket can actually assist when deciding which journey to go to subsequent.
The app might be downloaded right here.
Arrive Early / Go away Late
To take advantage of your time at Alton Towers you need 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 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 journey 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 will possibly additionally keep open later than this). Nevertheless, this closing time is the final time you possibly can be part of a journey queue, not the final time the journey runs. So in case you are nonetheless in a line after closing time, you need to nonetheless get to do the journey.
Now, if it is advisable to depart the park for any purpose, resembling to go to your automobile or let the children have a nap, then you definately simply have to be sure to 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 whole lot 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 Trip Restrictions
Most theme park rides have minimal peak restrictions for riders because of well being and security causes. Just a few of the rides even have most peak restrictions.
If you’re visiting Alton Towers with anybody who is likely to be affected by the journey peak 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 may see all of the journey peak restrictions on the official web site right here.
This can keep away from you losing time going to rides that you would be able to’t all journey collectively. Understanding which rides your children can and may’t journey may also help keep away from a whole lot of tears and disappointment.
Understanding 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 Trip
If you’re a thrillseeker and need the get probably the most out of your day at Alton Towers, it’s actually vital that you recognize what you want to your first journey to be. We’d suggest selecting the journey which is prone to have the longest traces because the day progresses.
While it may be exhausting to know precisely which rides will likely 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 fashionable rides with lengthy wait instances. So if these rides are in your to-do checklist, 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 journey opened. Later within the day, journey wait instances have been over 2 hours for that journey.
For these targeted on the smaller rides and rides geared to youthful youngsters, lengthy traces are usually much less of a priority. However it will possibly nonetheless be a good suggestion to begin with the rides your children wish to journey most.
Take into account the Fastrack Passes
If you’re visiting Alton Towers on a busier day, resembling a college vacation or a weekend, then the queue lengths for most of the rides are prone to be pretty lengthy.
By pretty lengthy, we imply 1 – 2 hours wait time for the extra in style rides. The preferred 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 nearly all of the traces by investing in a Fastrack Cross. There are a selection of Fastrack passes obtainable, that are named Bronze, Gold, Silver and Platinum.
The go you select will rely on which rides you actually wish to journey, in addition to your finances. It’s additionally potential to purchase a single Fastrack go on a per journey foundation for most of the rides, which could be a good method to journey a selected journey shortly should you don’t wish to put money into a complete Fastrack go.
Aside from the Platinum Fastrack go, all the opposite passes enable you one entry to the particular Fastrack line for every journey that has Fastrack. Nearly all of rides do have Fastrack, aside from the CBeebies Land rides and among 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 journey. It’s additionally the costliest, and actually aimed toward those that wish to journey as many rides as potential, 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 properly over an hour, with many rides having two hour wait instances. 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 have been capable of journey each journey within the park.
In fact, the Fastrack Passes received’t make sense for everybody. We’ve visited Alton Towers on quiet days the place wait instances are often not more than 20 minutes for a journey, through which case a Fastrack Cross makes much less sense.
You may purchase Fastrack Passes upfront of your go to right here. You too can purchase them in individual on web site, nonetheless try to be conscious that the Fastrack passes do come from a restricted pool and so they can promote out.
If you’re visiting throughout peak season and also you do desire a Fastrack, then shopping for upfront is a good suggestion to make sure you get the Fastrack Cross 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 pictures and movies of your adventures, utilizing the Alton Towers app to examine journey instances and discover your means round, and much extra apart from. And all that use goes to empty the battery.
While there are charging stations obtainable at Alton Towers for a charge, we predict a way more wise resolution is simply to put money into a conveyable battery pack to your telephone. These can cost your telephone from flat a number of instances over (relying on the capability), and imply you’ll be capable of preserve utilizing your telephone all day with out fear.
There are a whole lot of choices on the market, we presently use one like this which labored properly to cost our telephones and our buddies’ 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 upfront, additionally it is a good suggestion to consider what and the place you wish to eat. Considering forward can prevent money and time.
There are a variety of meals distributors and eating places within the park open in the course of 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. Anticipate typical theme park costs.
It may be a good suggestion to have 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 method to that space for lunchtime.
Be aware that for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic, among the sit down eating places at Alton Towers are asking individuals to order meals along with your smartphone after scanning a QR code. We had a troublesome time getting this to work on two completely different events on the Woodcutter’s Bar & Grill.
The second time we went, we ended up having to order with an individual after a number of failed makes an attempt to get it to work. In the event you don’t wish to order by way of a smartphone app, you would possibly 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 must order on-line.
Now, should you don’t wish to pay theme park costs for meals and also you wish to lower your expenses (and doubtless a while), think about bringing alongside your individual meals and snacks.
Alton Towers has just a few completely different picnic areas, and you’re greater than welcome to carry your individual meals to the park. This may be a good way to economize in your go to, particularly in case you are 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.
Deliver a Refillable Water Bottle
You will be doing a whole lot 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 possibly can 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 heaps to select from.
If you’re planning to purchase smooth drinks within the park, you would possibly be capable of 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 would like. You need to use the identical cup on future visits for a decrease per day value.
Keep In a single day
One actually good method to take advantage of your time at Alton Towers is to remain in a single day, both at one of many on-site resorts (see and e book all of the choices right here) or at a close-by resort.
We’ve got executed each, and so they every have their execs and cons.
Staying two nights could make it simpler to get there early and keep till closing the park with out worrying about heading house.
In the event 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 be capable of enter the park at opening time and take advantage of your day.
Lodging at Alton Towers
Staying on web site at one of many Alton Towers resort resorts positively has its benefits. First, the resorts are all themed, so your general expertise will likely be prolonged. The theming extends from the principle areas via to every room, and there’s additionally leisure on supply within the resort areas as properly.
One other benefit of staying on web site is that it provides you time to get pleasure from among the different points of interest on web site that you simply won’t 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 executed each of those when staying in a single day and suppose they’re each price experiencing.
In the event 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 fundamental benefits of staying in one of many on-site resorts is that you would be able to enter the park by way of 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 checklist, 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 might be 40 minutes lengthy, whereas the stroll to the principle park entrance from the resorts is round 20 minutes. So you possibly can skip all that and be straight into the park as an alternative.
For extra info and an in depth breakdown of what every resort has to supply, see my full Alton Towers information.
You may e book the resort resorts as a part of a bundle together with your park entrance right here. They usually run presents via the 12 months, so do try what’s on supply as you would possibly be capable of avoid wasting cash in your go to.
Lodging close to Alton Towers
As a substitute of staying on web site, you can even keep at a close-by resort. We’ve got additionally executed this, staying round 10 minutes drive away on the night time earlier than our go to.
This allow us to arrive early and meant I obtained to journey Nemesis Reborn as one of many first riders with solely a brief wait, relatively than the 2 hour wait that occurred afterward.
The primary benefit of staying outdoors the park is that you simply get a wider selection of lodging, it may be higher worth, and it’s going to be a extra conventional resort expertise. Relying on the resort, it could even be a little bit of a quieter and extra enjoyable expertise because the on-site resorts are very fashionable with households.
Each might be good choices that are properly price contemplating to your Alton Towers go to. If you’re excited by a resort, listed here are some suggestions within the space, sorted by approximate driving distance from the resort:
- The White Hart – a preferred inn within the village of Alton, providing a spread of en-suite rooms. 7 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
- The Laurel’s B&B – This can be a well-rated B&B which serves breakfast. Rooms are en-suite with tea/espresso making services. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
- The Bay Tree – a really well-reviewed B&B with en-suite lodging and breakfast obtainable. 8 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers
- Peakstones Inn – This 3* resort presents 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 presents numerous self-contained flats, every with a small kitchen an en-suite lavatory. There’s additionally a sizzling tub and backyard for visitors 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 services. 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 presents 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 selection of shared or personal lodging. 22 minutes’ drive from Alton Towers.
In fact, there are heaps extra choices to contemplate. You may see a full vary of lodging choices close to Alton Towers on Reserving.com right here, which incorporates numerous vacation leases as properly.
Make Meal Reservations if Staying In a single day
In the event you determine to remain at one of many on-site resorts, it would be best to make meal reservations upfront of your go to. This consists of breakfast and dinner mealtimes.
The resort eating places get busy, so reservations are required to ensure that them to have the ability to guarantee everybody has a very good expertise. Reservations are free, and detailed details about methods to e book will likely be despatched to you as a part of your reserving affirmation.
The extra in style instances, resembling round 7:00pm to 7.30pm for dinner and round 8am for breakfast, e book up quick, so in order for you extra selection, we advise reserving properly upfront. You may at all times change the time of your reservation should you change your thoughts, topic to availability.
When you can nonetheless usually eat with out a reserving at one of many resorts, it may be a protracted anticipate a desk otherwise you won’t get your selection of a restaurant.
If you wish to eat on the Rollercoaster Restaurant (situated within the park however strolling distance from resorts), you additionally have to e book these dinner reservations upfront. This restaurant can typically be booked out a few weeks upfront. In the event you can’t get a reservation throughout your keep, attempt to go for lunch the place reservations aren’t required.
Take into account the Digital Picture Cross
If you wish to have recollections of your time at Alton Towers, then we’d counsel investing in a Digital Picture Cross to your go to. While you possibly can clearly take pictures throughout the park, the one place the place images is strictly forbidden is on the rides.
The excellent news is that each one the rides have their very own images programs in place, often positioned to seize a key second in the course of the journey the place you’re looking most excited or terrified. Naturally these could make for some memorable photos! Moreover, there are some particular points of interest with a photograph shoot component, resembling in CBeebies Land, the place you possibly can have further pictures taken of your go to.
The Digital Picture Cross provides you entry to all of the journey pictures out of your day at Alton Towers, for you and anybody in your group. The pictures are all delivered digitally by way of the Alton Towers app, and you may then share them with buddies digitally, or print them along with your most well-liked print service.
On a latest go to to Alton Towers as a gaggle of six (4 adults and two children) we ended up with over 100 digital photos between the six of us, which made the Digital Picture Cross greater than price it.
The primary tip I might give can be to have all of the pictures 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. In the event you determine you just like the pictures, you possibly can pay to unlock greater decision variations with no watermark. In any other case, should you don’t like them, you don’t have to pay.
The pictures keep within the app for 90 days after your go to, so you will have loads of time to determine. After you have bought, they then stay within the app for an extra 12 months, throughout which era you possibly can obtain them to your machine and preserve them without end.
You may in fact additionally purchase the Digital Picture Cross upfront of your go to or throughout your go to. It’s usually offered as an possibility if you purchase your tickets.
Nevertheless, until you’re 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 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’re going to get, and the climate forecast isn’t at all times going to get it proper. So we suggest being ready for a spread of eventualities. We’d usually counsel contemplating packing the next, which you’ll modify relying on the time of 12 months you’re visiting:
Take Benefit of Free Reveals and Leisure
Alton Towers has much more to supply than thrilling rides. There are additionally numerous free exhibits and different forms of leisure on supply, a lot of that are good in case you are visiting the park with youthful youngsters.
These exhibits could be a good method to take a break and sit down while being entertained. Reveals range, however embrace reside motion exhibits such because the Furchester Resort, Hey Duggee, Bluey, and Teletubbies exhibits. Lots of the exhibits 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 if you arrive to see what’s on in your explicit day.
If you’re staying in one of many on-site resorts, 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 properly.
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 just a few of our different guides that you simply would possibly discover helpful.
- We’ve got a full information to visiting Alton Towers, which has every part it is advisable to know. It consists of info on all of the rides, resorts, actions and much extra.
- For wider UK journey planning, we have now prompt 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
- In the event you’re heading to Scotland, try our 2 day Edinburgh itinerary, our Glasgow and Loch Lomond itinerary, our information to the finest day journeys from Glasgow, our information to issues to do in Edinburgh, our itinerary for Skye and the Highlands, our information to the finest day journeys from Aberdeen, and our information to one of the best day journeys from Edinburgh to get you began. We even have a information to getting from London to Edinburgh.
- We’ve got a information to 10 of one of the best 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 will have something you’d add to the above, or a query about an upcoming go to? Simply tell us within the feedback under!
