Alton Towers hints and tip

[dreamadream]

Hey there. As per the title I am after hints and tips for Alton Towers next week. Its been about 20 years since we last went!
We can only do a day trip, which is 5 hr round trip, hoping to get there first thing and leave late.
I did look at paying for the extra fast tickets to skip cues but gosh, almost as much as a day ticket for WDW!
Family of 4 with 2 teens. We aren't the biggest roller coaster riders but hoping to brave a few ready for Florida. We love BTM type rides.
Thanks x

[minimum77]

What day are you planning on going? We went last Thursday when the Halloween night wasnt on. It was open 10 til 4 but managed to get on everything but I know Halloween nights are really busy although open until 9pm. If you go onto ridetimes.co.uk you can check wait times. One tip would be to arrive about 40 minutes before opening as they start running the monorail before opening and if you purchase tickets online then you can miss out the queue for that, You can also park in express car park which misses out monorail but costs £18, £6 for normal car park. If you are using a 2 for 1 voucher then you need to queue up at one of the sides to purchase, that's what we done but there was only 2 people in front of us, then you join the queue for entering which you just scan your to let and moves quickly.

[DisneyF1rstT1me]

My tactic, pre-kid days when I could go on the big rollercoaster rides - has usually been, once in the park, get straight on the cable car and head to the sector with Galactica, Nemesis and whatever else they have in there and leave the sector with Oblivion and Smiler in until nearer the end of the day. My theory was that the majority of people start with the Oblivion sector first and so by the end of the day hopefully it's emptier. How accurate my theory is I don't know but I was always able to ride all of the rides I wanted, often more than once for those first thing in the morning.

However, that being said, I think these days if I was there and ready for the turnstiles opening I'd reverse my usual plan and hotfoot it to Smiler, Oblivion etc as if you can get there with just a few people ahead of you that would be a good result . If you then head straight to the Nemesis area straight after you've done Smiler etc (Sector X?), you might find the queues are still fairly low at just 30-45 minutes.

I go to Alton Towers a fair bit but with young kids, I've not really done a day involving all of the big rides in over 12 years myself!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by dreamadream

Hey there. As per the title I am after hints and tips for Alton Towers next week. Its been about 20 years since we last went!
We can only do a day trip, which is 5 hr round trip, hoping to get there first thing and leave late.
I did look at paying for the extra fast tickets to skip cues but gosh, almost as much as a day ticket for WDW!
Family of 4 with 2 teens. We aren't the biggest roller coaster riders but hoping to brave a few ready for Florida. We love BTM type rides.
Thanks x

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If you are going on a weekend you will not get on everything without fastpasses (or really knowing the park) there will be too many people there - it's been like that for the last 10 or so years in the late October fright days.

We live just round the corner so I've been going since I was about 7 and I'm now way into my 40s.

The best (and only advice) is to do the following:

Make sure you are in the park entry queue 30 minutes before opening

If you arrive at the car park any later than 45 minutes before opening don't bother with the monorail (it will be rammed) it's only a 15 minute walk (at most) to the entrance

When you get in do one of two things

A) go straight to wicker Man and brave the queue - it's the newest ride and by midday will have over a 2 hour wait
B) walk (the cable cars don't start until 12) across the gardens to nemesis/Galactica (air) and do those - until lunchtime because it's a fair walk most people don't go over there.

Plan to stay late and probably most importantly don't plan to have lunch or dinner at the "usual" times. Ride times drop massively at 12:30 for an hour and again at 5:30 as everyone goes to eat

Of course if you had been going on a weekday at the beginning of October (like I did 3 weeks ago) none of this would matter as it was so empty everything was walk on with the biggest queue being 4 minutes for the smiler

[Guest]

Originally Posted by DisneyF1rstT1me

My tactic, pre-kid days when I could go on the big rollercoaster rides - has usually been, once in the park, get straight on the cable car and head to the sector with Galactica, Nemesis and whatever else they have in there and leave the sector with Oblivion and Smiler in until nearer the end of the day. My theory was that the majority of people start with the Oblivion sector first and so by the end of the day hopefully it's emptier. How accurate my theory is I don't know but I was always able to ride all of the rides I wanted, often more than once for those first thing in the morning.

However, that being said, I think these days if I was there and ready for the turnstiles opening I'd reverse my usual plan and hotfoot it to Smiler, Oblivion etc as if you can get there with just a few people ahead of you that would be a good result . If you then head straight to the Nemesis area straight after you've done Smiler etc (Sector X?), you might find the queues are still fairly low at just 30-45 minutes.

I go to Alton Towers a fair bit but with young kids, I've not really done a day involving all of the big rides in over 12 years myself!

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Until last year I would have agreed but with the latest 2 changes it doesn't work quite so well anymore

1) wickerman is by the canyons/log flume and so people get drawn to that before heading on to Rita/oblivion etc so that makes oblivion less busy first thing

2) cable cars usually don't open until midday now (they open earlier if they need to get the crowds out of the x-sector area) so people now don't tend to head over to nemesis until the afternoon

Ultimately, like WDW, what works one day will fail miserably the next...

[minimum77]

Cable cars were off all day last Thursday 17th Oct. Don't know if it was just this day or not. It wasn't too quiet, 40 minute queues at smiler, wicker man and rita Air, Oblivion and Nemesis were between 10 and 15 most of the day. I found half the crowd headed left to wicker Man and other half headed up to the Smiler. We headed to Wicker Man but attendant then told us it would be off until lunchtime, it eventually came on about 11:45. I wouldn't suggest the walk if you are unfit, My husband thought it was fine but my legs were done by midday lol

[Beth_Disney]

Some great advice already but I don’t think anyone had mentioned downloading the Alton Towers app. There’s a park map on there and live queue times.

We tend to go clockwise round the park - Mine Train, Wicker Man, Duel, Nemesis, Galactica, cable car to Rita, thirteen, then over to Oblivion and Smiler. We’ll sometimes go on Hexx and Spinball Wizzer too.

We’ve been plenty of times so if a ride has a huge queue or isn’t working then we don’t usually go back to it. Once you’ve got your bearings then it’s easy to find your way round.

We like to go on the front row if possible and the front rows of Wicker Man, Nemesis, Galactica and Rita are fab.

[dreamadream]

Thanks everyone, lots of useful advice that now needs googling! I know nothing of any of the rides!
We are going Wednesday. It seems half the country is on half term and half aren't, so hopefully not too bad.
I am a little confused about the screamfest. Even with the normal bog standard tickets we can still stay til 9? not that we will last that long lol

[Moorlandman]

I live near Alton Towers and visit frequently - you will have a great time.

It will be busy next week and because you are making a special trip, I would recommend you do the following:

- Pay £18 to park next to the entrance
- Arrive before 9.30am
- Pay for some fast passes and use them in the afternoon when it is busy

Your standard ticket means you can stay until the end

[Procrastinator]

The website mentions, but nott too clearly that as well as the fp bundles you can also buy single shot fp for £6 each on the day.

I doubt you will still get round all the rides but maybe a couple of the onshot fp for the afternoons will help you get more out of the day.

WickerMan is an awesome ride. Love the wooden coasters.