Oblivion, Submission and a dose of Air - Alton Towers

[Guest]

How was the extra hour, were you able to get lots done during that time?
We only managed two rides - Oblivion and Thirteen (twice). When we got to Oblivion they were still testing so that wasted 15 minutes. Rita wasn't running - snapped launch cable.
We are staying at Splash Landings so will have that extra hour too, but are wondering if we will need to buy Fast Track tickets for the few rides that are not open at that time. I'd judge it on the day. You can buy later in the day rather than first thing. There are various combinations so study carefully.
Was the park heaving? No - surprisingly and we were there on a Friday. I thought it would be packed with school kids but it wasn't. It was all quite manageable.
We are going on Monday, but not going into the park until Tuesday & Wednesday. We were going to do the big rides during the extra hour, aiming to be at the back of the park for when it actually opens, and then work our way forward, is that a good plan? I'd say "Yes" - hope you have a good time. If you plan to have ride photos get the USB wristband. It comes with one free photo and cost £10. Then buy the £20 pound - 5 token booklet. That gives you photos at £4 instead of £5. Also note that up to 3 o clock you can have all purchases sent to the big shop by the entrance. saves lugging stuff around with you.

[Jammy31]

"The river no longer runs with blood red water like it used to though!"

I literally went up only a week ago and it had blood red water?

[JoJo88]

Originally Posted by geoffa

How was the extra hour, were you able to get lots done during that time?
We only managed two rides - Oblivion and Thirteen (twice). When we got to Oblivion they were still testing so that wasted 15 minutes. Rita wasn't running - snapped launch cable.
We are staying at Splash Landings so will have that extra hour too, but are wondering if we will need to buy Fast Track tickets for the few rides that are not open at that time. I'd judge it on the day. You can buy later in the day rather than first thing. There are various combinations so study carefully.
Was the park heaving? No - surprisingly and we were there on a Friday. I thought it would be packed with school kids but it wasn't. It was all quite manageable.
We are going on Monday, but not going into the park until Tuesday & Wednesday. We were going to do the big rides during the extra hour, aiming to be at the back of the park for when it actually opens, and then work our way forward, is that a good plan? I'd say "Yes" - hope you have a good time. If you plan to have ride photos get the USB wristband. It comes with one free photo and cost £10. Then buy the £20 pound - 5 token booklet. That gives you photos at £4 instead of £5. Also note that up to 3 o clock you can have all purchases sent to the big shop by the entrance. saves lugging stuff around with you.

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That's great Geoffa, thanks for your time. We have two days in the park itself so hopefully we'll have enough time to get everything done - and we are going to the water park on the Monday so making the most of it

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Jammy31

"The river no longer runs with blood red water like it used to though!"

I literally went up only a week ago and it had blood red water?

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Certainly wasn't last Friday - it was clear and I have 5 witnesses. Maybe they'd run out of dye.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by JoJo88

That's great Geoffa, thanks for your time. We have two days in the park itself so hopefully we'll have enough time to get everything done - and we are going to the water park on the Monday so making the most of it

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Don't miss the Ice Age 4D. it's a nice sit down for 20 minutes in air conned conditions.

[dee slack]

We were just there this past weekend and we were also pleasantly suprised that it wasn't heaving (we've never been on a weekend day before). What a shame Rita wasn't working for you - we were very lucky that it was up and running for us after reading what happened. We got a good deal with a newspaper voucher - 2 for 1 with a 2nd day for £1 per person, so on the Sunday we just went back for about 3 hours. We only live about 50 mins away but we timed it that SIL was renting a holiday barn only 4 miles away so stopped with them on Sat night .
We got to the park gates around 9:45 both days and they let us in Over the day and a bit, we rode Thirteen twice, Rita twice (opened about 10:30 on Sat morning), Oblivion twice, Ice Age 4, Enterprise, Submission, Charlie, Duel, Runaway Mine, Nemesis (no red water), Air, Hex and Sub Terra (what a laugh people watching! ), walked thru the wooded area and a couple of rides on the cable cars so pretty pleased with what we managed to do in peak time. We started to watch the pirate 'show' but not impressed so left after a few mins, and we even had time to go back to the car for a picnic! The only thing we didn't go on was Sonic as it was 25-45 mins wait time and we don't have much patience!
I thought it was about 6 years since our last visit, but it's actually 10 YEARS so there were quite a few new things for us to experience and we loved it.
We are also going back for the Scarefest as I loooooove Halloween but will be in Japan this year so at least I'll get my fix!

[Jammy31]

Originally Posted by geoffa

Certainly wasn't last Friday - it was clear and I have 5 witnesses. Maybe they'd run out of dye.

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How strange! Glad you all had a great time though Loved the information you've given to everyone

[Guest]

Great report. I absolutely love the Nemesis, I can't wait to go to Alton Towers again. Though, we just got back from Orlando and unfortunately Oblivion isn't a patch on SheikRa .

Still, it's a great day out and there's such a wide range of things to do there now. Highly recommended for the holidays!

Hotel looks great as well, worth noting for the future.

[Orlando 2004]

We were at Alton Towers thurs-sat for DD's 7th Birthday. Stayed at
Splash Landings & had a great time. DD is a real daredevil & was so
pleased to get on Thirteen. She rode it Thursday & again Friday first
thing but when she went to go straight back on they said she wasn't
tall enough Think she was lucky to have ridden it though as we knew she was borderline even with her wedge heeled Sketchers on but she'll
def be riding it again next year.

We stayed the same time last year & again were quite surprised by
how quiet the park was being summer holidays. Admittedly we didn't
bother with some of the bigger rides this time (I don't do big rides
anyway) but even if DH had wanted to go on them the queues weren't
bad early in the day & we rode the rapids & the log flume with hardly any queue. Ice Age 4d was really good & we did that 2 days.

DD enjoyed the kids entertainment & although the hotels can seem expensive I think they're worth the money as Splash Landings is so child friendly. She had her face painted for free at the kids club & also
got on stage for Happy Birthday song at magic show. We did eat at. Flambos the first night & although the food was nice I'm not sure it was really worth it for us as we don't eat loads. If you book a table before 6.30 they have kids eat free offer.

To sum it up we had a lovely break & I expect we'll be returning next
year. It's not Disney/Florida but it helps the countdown do go quicker! DH & I are like big kids in the waterpark soaking people with buckets of water. Only real low was being woken by the fire alarm in hotel going off but thankfully it stopped before we left the room & it was 6.30am so we were about to wake anyway.

Glad you had a good trip too

[Glee Fan]

I haven't been to Alton Towers for about 20 years and it did make me giggle when you said about the gardens as my mum always loved that bit too! I also remember a Chinese Pergoda type thing in one of the gardens too - is any of that still there?

I think I will look into going at some point, perhaps October half term, but will have to check if my tall 9 year old twins are tall enough for the rides otherwise it wouldn't be a great day if they couldn't go on anything!

Great report, full of detail as always, and am very keen on the accommodation - anywhere that welcomes you with a pot of tea and a victoria sandwich can't be beaten in my book!