Looking to go to Alton Towers any advise

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Caroline H

Would be best to stay in Alton Towers hotel although that would be pretty expensive. I would email them and ask about transfers to/from airport as well as price of rooms.

Alton towers is huge so start the day early, expect to queue at all times of the year. However I would avoid end of June to mid September as this is the British school holiday period and you will spend more time queueing than on the rides. end of september is good though, schools are back and site is quieter.

Food is very expensive and fast food. Take a packed lunch with you, you can always hire a buggy to push it around. Wear comfortable shoes and make sure you have a rainjacket...you can never trust the weather.

apart from that, it is a great place to visit...hope you enjoy it:)

iBac

I have stayed in the Alton Towers Hotel and Splash Landings and both are great. The hotels are costly but it depends what time you go (sometimes they have deals on). The hotels are amazingly themed, the whole place is truely magical. Those who stay at either hotel are given ERT, 'Early Ride Time' which allows them to ride Nemesis and Air half an hour before the park opens. Staying in the hotel will also grant you priority passes to a selection of rides.

If you stay in a themed suite in the Alton Towers Hotel (these are expensive) you can receive an X-Cellerator pass which grants you priotity entrance to all the rides on the park (no queueing), these can also be purchased from guest services at the entrance for Â£60 (although they are limited). But as I said, if you go at a quiet time I doubt you'll need it as a lot of the rides will be walk on (no queue).

The hotels around Alton Towers are also very good and probably work out as being cheaper than staying in the hotels.

When thinking about going to the themepark, I would recommend going straight for Rita (unless you're taking advantage of the hotel ERT, in which case, head to Rita after), this rides queue gets extremely large very quickly. Avoid having lunch at lunch time as the restaurants are rammed and the rides are usually quieter at this time.

If you're planning on staying at the Alton Towers hotel you need to take into consideration a variety of things in order to get value for money. Check what deals they have on at any one time (or the time you plan to stay). You can do this by going to http://www.altontowers.com/ and going through the booking form. If you place your criteria in it will give you the best option at the best price. Each package will vary (for example room only, room only with themepark entrance, room only with themepark and waterpark entrance etc). If you can get room only it's likely to work out cheaper if you take advantage of cheaper tickets either online or through newspapers etc. (I know Tesco are doing a promotion at the moment, I've won a few Â£15 entries into Alton Towers). If you can get cheap tickets, do so and only get room only at the Alton Towers Hotel (normally room only is about Â£99). So if you share with 4 it's only Â£25 each.

Alton Towers do something where if you return the next day it's only Â£10 (when you show the ticket from the previous day). However, doing this may not enable you to take advantage of the ERT in the morning.

I've said a lot, I hope it's helped. Sorry if I'm too confusing.

MISS ******

Re-mortgage your house and take a folding chair for the queues. Enjoy!

Jon

I have been there loads and if you go during the week the queues are much shorter. Ive never been in a queue for 3 hours like some people have said. Stay in one of the alton towers hotel. There are a number of bonuses with this (like getting into the park earlier, access to the new swimming place thing which looks great).

wont_cook

i deliver there and would recommend the Alton Towers Hotel itself. The reason being is that the Park it is situated out in the country side not really surrounded by anything much, their Hotel is in the grounds itself. The best time is definitely during the week, queueing time is down to about 20 minutes a ride or shorter but at the weekend can be 1-1.5 hours per ride.
whatever you choose.... have a smashing time

Zakir H

hellow hai all the best caryon your jerney
pray god

ash_griff1

last time i went you could buy these tickets in advance.
these tickets allow you to skip queues
what you do is put them into a small machine by the queue and it tells you a time to come back then you come back at that time go down a much smaller queue for only those with those tickets and you get to go on the rides quicker
i don't know if they still have them or not though.
by the way bring food, drink... it is a rip off in there because it is in the middle of no where so they can charge you any thing because you can't go any where else

sling it bird

Don't bother it is crap, queueing for a ride for 3 hours is not my idea of fun.

If you do go, take your own food.

montenapoleone

Depends really on how long you want to spend at Alton Towers. The hotels there are apparently good. Or you could have a day trip from Manchester. Virgin trains have a deal where you buy a combined ticket with train fare, shuttle bus and entry.

star

best to stay in stoke and theres no best time as its always busy

blonde_jessica_simpson

alton has it is near to alton towers go thursday 4 a great weekend i did and it was great

I think Alton Towers do a package deal where you stay at one of the hotels and get entry into the Theme Park. email them for charges and tarrifs. but beware it can be very expensive.

scooby.doo

the travel agent would help you.

Sitting Still

the Alton Towers themed hotels are great, the advantages are many (eg getting into the park one hour before the gates open) a boon during busy weekend periods. Get there late Friday evening for a more complete weekend.
Hope you have a great time- I certainly did!

Barneyboy

Don't go it is horrendous like been trapped in a computer game, there is no alcohol, you can't smoke and there is a good chance it will rain all day. Get some culture instead.

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Looking to go to Alton Towers any advise - Please read on?