Alton Towers is set well into the Staffordshire countryside amongst the ruins of the famous Alton Towers stately home. In this guide, I aim to give my own tips and suggestions of how to get the most out of a day at Alton Towers, from arriving at the park, to food options and advice!
Arriving
There are two main ways to get to the park, by car and public transport. No matter how you arrive at the park, I would definitely suggest getting there between 9:00 and 9:30. This gives you time to do toilet breaks before you enter the park, go through security checks before the main gates and get into the park.
Arriving by Car
The park is accessed via road through the village of Alton or Farley and has a lot of twisting country roads, some of these can be quite tight so take your time. You’ll have 2 car park options, the first of which is right by the front gates called express parking, but costs a bit more than standard. The second is using the general car park which is cheaper, but does require a 15 minute walk up to the front gates, or waiting for the parks Monorail, which starts running at 9am. (Though it can sometimes start running late so the walk can be quicker)
Car parking charges are as follows:
- Standard car parking is £7 (free if you hold a gold (previously premium) or platinum Merlin Annual Pass)
- Express Car Parking is £19 (but is reduced to £12 for passholders)
- Blue Badge Disabled parking is also charged at £7 but is located next to the express car park (included with Gold or Platinum passes too)
Public Transport
The other way to access the park is by public transport. This is unfortunately something I have never done as we live too far away for it to be a viable way to get there. There is a bus stop on site right by the main entrance and has buses that go between Stoke on Trent, Nottingham, and Derby.
Taken from the Alton Towers website, you’ll want the X41 if travelling from between Stafford – Uttoexeter – Alton Towers, 32X which is between Hanley – Cheadle and Alton Towers, or the X52 which runs from Nottingham, Derby and the Alton Towers Resort.
The closest train station is Uttoexeter, but there is also Derby and Stoke on Trent which are well connected too. Do take into account that you’ll need about 30 minutes if coming from Uttoexeter by bus, 1 hour if coming from Derby, and about 25 minutes from Stoke on Trent (though this would be by taxi).
Park Entrance, Turnstiles and Towers Street
The park entrance is home to the famous Corkscrew rollercoasters’ Corkscrews as a static welcoming display, as well as the monorail station, toilets in the corner and security.
It is advised to arrive with as little as needed, but I generally turn up with a bag full of cameras, food and supplies, and I get through security quite quickly. Once you’ve gotten through security, you’ll be getting to the turnstiles, here you’ll scan your pass or tickets and be into the a park!
The first area you’ll encounter is Towers Street and has a few food and beverage outlets towards the bottom. You’ll also find toilets, lockers guest services at the very top by the entrance to the right. Next down is the resort box office. Here you’ll be able to buy photo passes, ride fast passes and various upgrades to your visit. The box office tends to get very busy at the end of the day as people try to sort out photo passes and digital photos, where guest services gets very busy at the start of the day with ride access passes and queries.
Ride access passes are another element of Alton Towers, and the wider Merlin group, that I have no information about as I’ve never used them. Thought gist seems to be that they are designed for guests who need extra assistance or can’t queue for extended periods of time . This isn’t the same as fast passes though, so do take this into account. You’ll be given more information when you apply for it than I ever could so click here to find out more about it!
The final stop on Towers Street is Towers Trading, the resorts shop. Here you’ll find all sorts of merchandise, ranging from gloves and socks, to T-shirts, ride resins, pin badges, prints and more! I do advise visiting the shop early as they do allow you to leave your purchases behind to be picked up later on which will save a lot of time as the stop gets busy as the park closes. You’ll need to leave a few details and keep your receipt too!
Planning your day
There are a fair few themed areas with attraction in each.
- Towers Street with shops and guest services
- Forbidden Valley where Nemesis (closed for 2023), The Blade, Funk n’ Fly and Galactica reside.
- Dark Forest with Rita and Th13teen.
- X Sector is home to The Smiler and Oblivion, Twistotron and Spinjam
- CBeebies land has all the childrens rides.
- Gloomy wood is a walk through area that connects The Curse at Alton Manor(the parks dark ride) to Mutiny Bay.
- Mutiny Bay is home to Wicker Man, Heave Ho and Marauders Mayhem
- Katanga Canyon, home to Runaway Mine Train and Congo River Rapids.
- The World of David Walliams is where you’ll find Gangsta Granny The Ride, Raj’s Bouncy Bottom Burp and Flavio’s Fabulous Fandango.
Assuming you’ve arrived early and gotten through the gates by around 9:30 or so, head straight to either Wicker Man or the Dark Forest. When we go, I usually get to Wicker Man first as the queue starts to form before the rides open at 10am (something in the enthusiast community known as a rope drop). Beating the rope drop means you’ll start waiting for a ride before the ride opens, lessening your time used during park opening hours, if that makes sense?
The reason I suggest Wicker Man and Dark Forest is because Wicker Man gets busy and stays busy all day, so less time lost waiting for it, is more time trying other attractions. Dark Forest on the other hand is a good walk away from the entrance so not many people head there, meaning you’ll be able to ride Th13teen and Rita without waiting much at all.
If you started at Wicker Man, your next best stop would be Katanga Canyon, then The Curse at Alton Manor, then onto Forbidden Valley. If you started in the Dark Forest, then you’d be better going to The World of David Walliams, then using the Sky Ride to get over to Forbidden Valley.
The Sky Ride usually opens around 11am and will take you from Towers Street to Forbidden Valley, and then to Dark Forest, and back again.
The rides that tend to have lower queues throughout the day are:
- Hex (more on this later)
- Heave Ho (a rocking tug boat ride in Mutiny Bay)
- Marauders Mayhem (themed tea cups in Mutiny Bay)
- Battle Galleons (a splash battle ride which can get busy if the weather is warm and dry)
- Flavio’s Fabulous Fandango (a twister ride in The World of David Walliams)
- The Royal Carousel (a carousel set in The World of David Walliams)
- Raj’s Bouncy Bottom Burp (A junior frog hopper ride also in The World of David Walliams)
Most of CBeeBies land is busy until around dinnertime when it starts to quiet down, so if you’re heading there, I’d wait until later on in the day. Notable rides here are Octonauts, Postman Pats Parcel Post, Get Set Go Treetop Adventure and In the Night Garden Magical Boat Ride (all of which can be enjoyed by anyone, not just the kids!)
All the main roller coasters will be busy during the day, though The Smiler and Wicker Man usually have the longer lines. Galactica is hit and miss as to whether that gets too busy, though it will be alone in Forbidden Valley for the 2023 season so it might see more riders, therefore longer queues! Oblivion can also get busy, but usually runs many trains and therefore gets through guests quite quickly too.
Rita and Th13teen (if not done early) can get busy, usually around the 45 minute mark and Th13teen also won’t run in any rain at all, so it might be worth riding it early if you know rain is on the way. Finally there’s Runaway Mine Train, which has quite a high capacity, but can sometimes get very lengthy queues, especially if its running more than 2 laps of the track.
One of the biggest suggestions I have for visiting Alton Towers is making sure you’re not losing time by walking long distances back and forth between areas. The app will certainly help you here as it allows you to see what rides have what queues in real time so you can head to or avoid certain areas.
The Sky Ride is also a great transport option, so if you do start in Dark Forest, you can use it to get all the way back to Wicker Man and the Mutiny Bay area, or stop off at Forbidden Valley. The choice is yours as each day is different so its impossible to say for certain what an optimal route through the park will be every time you go.
One final thing to note is that queue lines close at the parks advertised closing time, but the rides don’t. So if you wanted to have a go on The Smiler buy have been waiting all day for a smaller queue, it might be worth waiting until last thing, joining the queue and guaranteeing a ride. For the last ride of the day, I do suggest Wicker Man or The Smiler due to their lengthy queues throughout the day and neither one should be missed if time allows!
On a side note, if you are reading this and just starting out as an avid thrill seeker, it’s worth mentioning that rides run differently depending on the time of day you ride them. They need to warm up, and a properly warmed up roller coaster will run slightly faster than one that’s taking its first circuit for the day. Wicker Man, The Smiler, Nemesis (when it reopens) and Rita are all worth a few different rides to see how they compare!
It might also be worth leaving Forbidden Valley until the end of the day as there’s a gate by Galactica’s portal that opens up straight to the car park saving you a long walk or waiting for the monorail.
Food Options
Alton Towers has plenty of different food options, ranging from takeaway hotdogs and snacks, to steaks, gourmet burgers and chicken.
We usually alternate between Burger Kitchen, which is at the back of the park by The World of David Walliams, Pizza and Pasta Buffet in Katanga Canyon and Just Chicken in X Sector. Though if you want to get as much done as possible, I would suggesting bringing your own food options and eating whilst in a queue to minimise downtime.
Last year we visited the park with a friend who has a vegan centric diet and we found that offerings were a bit thin on the ground, so it might be worth bringing your own if you have specific dietary needs. Each venue we looked at seemed to have 1 or 2 vegan/vegetarian options which might not suit everyone.
There is also Woodcutters Bar and Grill, which is aimed at healthier eating, and offers things like steaks, hunters chicken, halloumi, a good offering of non gluten meals as well as drinks too.
As I mentioned previously, it is worth bringing along your own food along if you want to get the most out of the day as you can easily lose an hour queing to buy food, then waiting for it to be made and of course eating it. If you do end up eating in the park, eat early or late as the restaurants get busy around the hours of 12 til around 2/3pm, at least from what we’ve seen!
Another thing to consider is if you are going to spend some time eating, it might be worth looking at the Rollercoaster Restaurant in Forbidden Valley (right next to Galactica). At the time I’m writing this, you can’t book for any time before 16:00 but if you’ve ridden all you want to and have worked up an appetite, then Rollercoaster Restaurant is a good stop.
It is the UKs only restaurant of its type and food is sent from the kitchens down tracks to each table. You order using a tablet and each table has a Lazy Susan to allow you to grab your food without getting up. It can be a little pricy, but it is a proper restaurant and worth trying at least once!
A quick overview of the bigger rides
If you’re just starting out as a thrillseeker, or you’re unsure of your ride tolerances, then the best starting ride would be Runaway Mine Train. It has a little force, but for the most part is quite gentle, and has great interaction between guests and the ride operators!
The next coaster up would probably be Th13teen. Though it does have a surprise element, it is best left as a secret and tried for the first time without knowing what’s coming. The ride itself is on the gentler side, but does have a few thrills too! It can’t run in the rain or even light mist as the lift hill uses drive tyres that don’t work as well when its wet.
Next on the thrill scale would be Spinball Whizzer. This is a spinning coaster so depending on your tolerance to spinning, it might be something to avoid at first. It doesn’t always spin very fast, sometimes barely spinning at all but it is a fun little ride and worth a visit! If you want to try it and have as little spinning as possible, try to ride it as a group of 4 where everyone weights about the same. The car will be evenly balanced and shouldn’t spin massively. On the other hand, if you want more spinning, try to put heaving guests on one side of the car and lighter on the other!
Wicker Man would be the next ride along as it is quite a loud and untamed wooden coaster. The theming and ride construction all add to the attraction, and the ride features a preshow to set up the story of the Beornen. If you feel like you want to start off in the middle ground, then Wicker Man is a great start as it offers good thrills and speed, lots of noise, no inversions and overall a good introduction to bigger rides.
Next up is Galactica. This is a very gentle giant and though it looks like a big and scary beast, it is quite the tame ride compared with the ones that follow! You’ll ride this one in a flying position, which sees you sitting down like a normal rollercoaster, but the seats will fold 90 degrees upwards so you’ll be looking at the ground to begin with. It is a unique feeling, especially in the UK but it will have you on your back for parts of the ride, so bare that in mind!
The next two I’d say are on equal footing depending on what you’re into/scared of. These are Rita and Oblivion. Rita is a launched coaster and manages to get from 0-62 in 2.5 seconds which is very thrilling. It’ll then navigate a series of turns before getting back to the station. It only last 55 seconds!
Oblivion on the other hand is all about fear of heights. Though not actually the tallest rollercoaster at Alton Towers, it does still have the a formidable 180ft drop into the ground. The ride will hold you at the top giving you a chance to look straight down into the abyss before letting you free fall. Much like Rita, once you’ve done the scary bit, the ride is pretty much done so it’s a good taste of what bigger drops will feel like. If you want to avoid seeing the drop, but still want to try out the ride, ask for a back row ride as you can’t really see anything as the train doesn’t move far enough over the drop to the holding brakes.
Finally, the last two are parks signature attractions, Nemesis and The Smiler. Much like Rita and Oblivion, these two are closely matched based on what you might be into.
The Smiler is the parks world record holding inversion machine. It’ll see you turned upside down 14 times and it’s a very thrilling ride. As mentioned earlier, this one always gets longer queues so it’s worth visiting when you have a bit of time spare or as your last ride of the day. The ride did suffer a nasty accident in 2015, as it was all over the news, but since that day, it hasn’t had a single issue at all and is perfectly safe, so don’t let that put you off this record breaker!
Finally there’s Nemesis. Currently this ride is closed for a major refurbishment so you’ll be unable to ride this I’m the 2023 season, but it’s worth knowing a bit about it before you go! The ride is an inverted coaster, so the track will be above you, unlike the other coasters at Alton Towers (except Galactica). The reason this one ties with The Smiler as top of the thrill chain is because of the forces the ride puts on you. It takes a lot of the elements with great speed and is also one of the very few rollercoasters from the UK to have acclaim abroad! We can’t wait until 2024 for it to reopen, and hopefully you’ll be able to join us there too!
I think I should mention some of the non rollercoaster attractions the park has too, with Hex being one of the most notable. Another ride that’s best tried without knowing what’s coming, this is a story based attraction with a ride section at the end, don’t spoil it for yourself, have a go yourself and enjoy, it’s really good fun!
The Curse At Alton Manor is new for 2023 and is a complete refresh for Duel, the parks interactive dark ride. The ride features a few jumps and scare and is quite family friendly, but may not be entirely suitable for smaller children or guests who fear the dark or don’t like jump scares. It must be tried at least once, as with Hex.
Heave Ho and Marauders Mayhem are both family rides in the Mutiny Bay section and are great for all ages as they are quite gentle and welcoming. Marauders Mayhem, being a themed tea cup ride, does allow you to manually spin your car so it can be quite forceful if you spin it a lot!
The park has 2 water rides, Battle Galleons and Congo River Rapids. Battle Galleons will get you fairly wet, where Congo River Rapids won’t so much. Though each ride does have dryers located next to their exits and have additional costs to use them. Though my advice here is to bring additional clothing if you do get soaked, and store it in a locker (or the car if you wanted to save money over saving time!)
Finally there the Retro Squad. These are a set of rides that Alton Towers brought in to help ride capacity. Currently there’s Funk n’Fly, a Super Trooper ride in Forbidden Valley, Spinjam is an Extreme model and Twistotron, a Trabant Style ride that both sit in X Sector. As for riding them, they are all run a lot slower than how they would be a funfairs so it might be better for some, and not for others!
Final few thoughts and tips
Fastrack tickets
This is a bit of a touchy subject with some folk, but I really don’t mind fast track tickets myself. The idea is that if you spend a bit extra, you can drastically shorten down the queue of a ride or multiple rides depending on the ticket you get. Each roller coaster has its own single use fast track ticket and costs £8 -£10 each.
They do also offer packages for the following:
- Bronze* is £30 and gets 4 fast tracks on Hex, The Curse at Alton Manor, Spinball Whizzer or Runaway Mine train
- Silver* is £50 and gets you 5 fast tracks on Wicker Man, Oblivion, Galactica, Rita, Th13teen or The Smiler
- Gold* is £70 and gets you 12 fast tracks on Wicker Man, The Smiler, Galactica, Oblivion, Rita, TH13TEEN, Marauders Mayhem, Battle Galleons, Congo River Rapids, Runaway Mine Train and Spinball Whizzer, Gangsta Granny, Hex and The Curse at Alton Manor.
- Platinum* is £110 and gets you on all the same rides as gold but as many times as you like during the day.
*Nemesis has since been removed from all packages and Gangsta Granny and The Curse at Alton Manor have been added.
Refillable drinks
The park offers a refillable drinks cup that costs £15 initially but drops to £8.50 if you bring back your cup and recharge it. There is also a hot drinks version too.
There is also a multi buy option that makes it cheaper the more cups you buy, which I can imagine is better for families. If you buy 2 or more, it’ll cost £14 per cup and 3+ will be £13. Not huge savings, but when a 500ml bottle of coke can cost around £2.80, these can be great value!
You can refill your drinks at any 1 of 16 machines throughout the park, these are located at the following:
- Towers Street
- Mutiny Bay – By the Welcome Inn opposite Wickerman
- Katanga Canyon – By Congo River Rapids
- The X sector – Behind Just Chicken
- The Dark Forest – Next to Rita’s Photography unit
- Forbidden Valley – By the Galactica Lift
Earlier I mentioned lockers and these are located at the very start of the park by the entrance and another set is located by Galactica in Forbidden Valley, some in X Sector and a final set are in Dark Forest. These are priced at
- £5 for a small one per day
- £10 for a large one per day
There’s also a first aid station located behind Towers Street before the skyride entrance, though this isn’t a facility I’ve ever had to use thankfully!
With that I think this mammoth guide has come to an end. I think I’ve covered everything you could possibly need to enjoy a decent day at Alton Towers! Don’t go with expectations of getting on every ride the first time around, this only happens of you’re very lucky and the park is quiet, but if you set realistic goals to ride the most important rides to you, anything over and above that is a bonus!
For context, the very first time we went to Alton Towers, we went in blind and managed Wicker Man, Nemesis, Galactica, Rita, Th13teen, Oblivion, The Smiler, Runaway Mine Train and Hex if I recall correctly. I did have a £25 fast pass which at the time got me on Nemesis, Galactica, The Smiler and Oblivion as Tracy wasn’t quite up to the big stuff just yet!
Cheat sheet for getting the most of your day
- Arrive at the park gates for around 9:30
- Head straight to Wicker Man or Dark Forest
- Plan next stop based on queue times of next area
- Wicker Man and The Smiler will be busy all day
- Th13teen can’t run during the rain
- Cbeebies land is quieter after 1pm
- Bring your own food and eat in queues
- Head to The Smiler just before queue lines close (unless it is quieter during the day)
- Use the Skyride optimally, if you’re heading to Dark Forest, do The World of David Walliams next
- It might be worth doing Forbidden Valley last as the park opens the Galactica gate for exiting to the car park (also the possibility of eating at the Rollercoaster Restaurant)
And there we have it. This has taken quite a while to write and I hope at least 1 person finds it useful! Feel free to reach out and contact me if you have any questions or suggestions around this guide!
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