Alton Towers

[Easy 10]

Not my cup of tea at ALL, but its the boys birthday soon, so I think this trip will be on the cards in a few weeks. Will probably do an overnighter up there and go to the park itself first thing the next morning, but having never BEEN to this particular theme park, is there anything the good scribes of NSC feel I should KNOW about this place before I set foot within it's gaudy facade and submit myself to a day of noise, queues, fast-food and rip-of prices ?

 

[Gazwag]

Do you collect Tesco Clubcard points. Went to Chessington recently and its really cheap if you use you points to get the tickets. I assume Alton TOwers might be the same.

 

[Gazwag]

In fact £8-50 of tokens gets you a £34 entry so a £25-50 saving per person

 

[Easy 10]

Yup, I'm all Tesco'd up. Will check into that, thanks Gazwag.

 

[Dirty Dave]

I went the last Saturday of kids easter half term this year and the longest I had to queue for was 15 minutes.
Good idea to take your own lunch as they bump the prices up within the park.
I stayed over in a b&b, sorry can't remember the name, in Utoxter town centre just down the road from weatherspoons so no complaints there.

Might be worh noting that even though the park opens at 8.30, you wont get access to the rides until 9.30 unless you stay in their onsite hotels or a season ticket holder (not at the albion of course)

 

[Chicken Run]

Not my cup of tea at ALL, but its the boys birthday soon, so I think this trip will be on the cards in a few weeks. Will probably do an overnighter up there and go to the park itself first thing the next morning, but having never BEEN to this particular theme park, is there anything the good scribes of NSC feel I should KNOW about this place before I set foot within it's gaudy facade and submit myself to a day of noise, queues, fast-food and rip-of prices ?

If you do an over night there are some delightful b and bs in the village of Alton, Staffs, far better value than the park hotel

ALTON HOTELS ALTON GUEST HOUSES ALTON BED AND BREAKFAST ALTON FARMHOUSE ACCOMMODATION ALTON

 

[Dirty Dave]

with regards to tickets, have a look on e-bay as The Sun did a free ticket promo so there may be a few tickets going on there at a reduced price for the day your going

 

[Easy 10]

This is all good stuff. Thanks chaps.

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

Oh and don't go on anything too scary.

 

[Dirty Dave]

Easy,

I work at Tescos for a few hours on a Sunday morning and as part of the 'privilege' I have a "staff offer" for days outs valid until 31st August. There are various places but Alton Towers is one of them and the prices are as follows:

Adult: £8.25! (Usual price: £33.00)
Child: £5.75! (Usual price: £23.00)
Children 4 and under go FREE

so don't mind helping you out in that respect if you like

 

[cheshunt seagull]

Avoid Nemesis straight after lunch.

 

[Beach Hut]

Good fun but as most entrants are free they are trying to make you pay extra for fast track passes.

Be aware there are a lot of tacky £2 throw a basketball type crappy stalls as well.

Nemesis is still a beast in my mind of a roller coaster and finally be aware the park may open at 10:00 but some rides not till 11:00 and also Rita Queen of Speed kept breaking so we never went on it.

 

[Easy 10]

Easy,

I work at Tescos for a few hours on a Sunday morning and as part of the 'privilege' I have a "staff offer" for days outs valid until 31st August. There are various places but Alton Towers is one of them and the prices are as follows:

Adult: £8.25! (Usual price: £33.00)
Child: £5.75! (Usual price: £23.00)
Children 4 and under go FREE

so don't mind helping you out in that respect if you like

Blimey DD, that sounds good. We're going some time early August, 2 adults, a 12 year old and a 16 year old. How would that work then ?

 

[Dirty Dave]

child is age 4-11 so would be 4 adults unless you can get away with 3 adults and 1 child

 

[Easy 10]

4 adults then I guess, but at that kind of price I'm not fussed. Bargain !

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

Avoid Nemesis straight after lunch.

You experience the G spot for 4 seconds on that

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Don't try and blag a discount on yer meal if you eat in one of their restaurants by spinning a yarn about how there was summat wrong with the food - after you've wolfed the whole lot into yer fat face. Me daughter worked there as a student and reports that practically every lard-eating Northern family who ate there tried the same scam. None of them got a discount

 

[Brovion]

We went last year and stayed in a B&B about 15 minutes drive. We stayed both before and after so we had a full day without the driving from Brighton. Can't remember where but I booked it over the Internet. (There were loads). Like others we got a deal on the entry tickets, two for one, which softened the financial pain somewhat. I think this was some Nectar card promotion and the wife sorted it out so I can't tell you any more than that.

On the financial side expect to get ripped off. For me the one I'm still seething about is that, unlike Thorpe Park, they charge for car parking - as if you've got a choice. If you can all walk ok (i.e. no elderly or wheelchairs) don't take the £10 'special' car park as that just lets you park a bit nearer the entrance. Go to the cheaper one (about £5) and either take the monorail in or, if the queue is too long, walk. The entrance to the park is about 10/15 minutes walk from the main car park. This was the bit that threw me. My one and only previous visit to Alton Towers was in about 1985 and we were the first, and I mean VERY first car in the car park. This time it took about half an hour from arriving at the car park entrance to actually getting into the park itself.

We went on the first Sunday in August and to be honest the queues weren't THAT bad. I think about 40 minutes was the worst we had to wait and some rides we could walk straight onto. We all went on everything we wanted to - and we didn't use FastTrack.

I actually quite enjoyed the whole trip. (The B&B was LOVELY) Alton Towers itself isn't a place I'll be going back to in a hurry, but if you've got kids then like Death and Taxes a visit is inevitable.

 

[Gwylan]

Alton Towers itself isn't a place I'll be going back to in a hurry, but if you've got kids then like Death and Taxes a visit is inevitable.

One of the great advantages of not driving is that I have a ready-made excuse to avoid going to Alton Towers - it's a place that's completely inaccessible by public transport, so the kids have no chance.


I was staggered to see the prices though; I think our kids would have no chance of going there even if I could drive.

 

[Nemesis]

Avoid Nemesis straight after lunch.

Oi-I resent that.