What is Alton towers like?

[Bellesdream]

Off to Alton Towers tomorrow, slightly worried...

[Floridadreams]

We went on a cold and wet Friday a few weeks ago and had a great time! It’s not even slightly comparable to Blackpool! But be prepared for lots of walking and hills! Our two thrill seekers (ts) went on Oblivion first - 90 minutes wait. Me and my nephew went on what seemed like a kids ride between that and Smiler - it’s not a kids ride! It was good but completely out of my comfort zone. That queue was 90 minutes too. Then our ts went on The Smiler - using the single rider and got straight on nearly. We did quite a few other rides - can’t remember the order but included Gangsta Granny (which is a fabulous area and almost makes you feel like you’re in Florida but cold!), Nemisis, Haunted House, Wicker Man, some pirate boat thing where I got soaked, the river rapids where I didn’t get soaked, and a few others. We had a greatday, despite the rain. Get there early, prepare to leave late! Enjoy x

[YorkshireT]

I had a wonder around the gardens last time I went (we went for Blue Card day 2019, great £15 in very small queues).

[Floridarules]

Miles better than Blackpool!

It’s a great place and I’m sure (provided covid hasn’t changed things) that you can purchase fast track passes too as like anywhere popular, gets busy with long wait times.
It has different areas for different ages including the Sealife centre. The rollercoaster restaurant is great too.
We always paid extra for premium parking as the walk to the standard car park after a busy day with kids can be a nightmare but there are lots of disabled parking options too. 👍

[ScoopsAhoy]

We are driving back from Drayton manor atm, we were meant to go and then stay in a hotel but the place was an absolute dive!
You’d think covid had disappeared, most rides were down or had 120 min queues, lots of food places shut and little cleaning of the ones that were open.
Have decided to drive the 2 and a half hours home instead.

[shack69]

With Alton towers remember the queue lines close at the time quoted. So I generally head to nemasis and Air (galatica) at the end of the day. The other reason is they open the back entrance to allow hotel guests access to the rollercoaster resturaunt and you can go out that way directly into the car park.

[cornishfrogboy]

We went last summer and stayed overnight. We really enjoyed the park and would certainly go again, we’re it not so far from West Cornwall.

We stayed in their accommodation (Splash landings hotel) and I would describe it as a little shabby, but ok. We had the buffet evening meal and to be honest, it was lousy.. sort of Cici standard. I guess that we kind of got what we paid for. We would upgrade and go for different accommodation next time.

The gardens and site as a whole are really impressive, likewise the castle/ Manor House.

[Jakey Neverland]

Lots better, we go quite a lot ( at least once or twice a month) If you can stay the whole day the last hour they are open it is practically walk on.

Also plan, we always start with eithet Air the Nemisis or Thirteen & Rita and work our way around the park in a circle. Agree with the tip above too get there early x

[Bellesdream]

We were there Friday and Saturday. There was a LOT of downtime on Friday especially for the big rides, Saturday (yesterday) the weather was awful! Rained pretty much all day but we did get in thirteen 3 times before 10.30 😂😂 managed the wickerman but that was over an hour queuing in the rain.
Didn't manage some of the bigger coasters as they were down a lot and the rain.
Rainy day guarantee was activated but I've just gone on to book and there's only 8 or 10 day days to choose from! We're not local and they are school days, 😭

[mrsmickey]

We’ve been a few times. In my view it’s one of the best all round parks in the U.K. and the best of the merlin parks. They look after the place, the gardens are well worth a wander and they do try with extra entertainment (albeit not exactly Disney standards!). If you’ve got adults do go around Halloween as they have extra events. We went when they had Mardi Gras on in May half term and there was a lot of extra food stalls that were good. Queues can get long; I’ve generally found the wait times on the app a solid estimate and have as others have said the end of the day can be pretty good. Don’t expect to go on all the coasters in a day and I’ve generally found people to be fairly respectful when we have a child with us (eg hold back the swearing). Oh, and Splash landings is the cheapest of the hotels for a reason!