Went Alton Towers yesterday
Discussion
Probably about my 7th visit, (over the last 10 years), last year I took my younger brother, was great no queues, just jumped straight on all the big rides, nemesis we did 6 times in a row. Was great!
So this year, we decided to go on friday, thinking that everybody would be watching the royal wedding, and it was about this time last year we went, so thought it would be a good time to go, with both my brothers.
We were about a mile away from the entrance, when we hit traffic at 10.30am....hopefully just some temporary traffic lights..no wrong its a massive queue all going to the same place, Alton towers, :-(
By the time we got to car park J, it was 11.00am, not only that there was a sign saying £6.00 parking!! The cheek!!! Since when did they start charging for parking??? Anyway with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth we made the walk to monorail. So we get to the monorail, and the queues are big,took 15 minutes to get on monorail which takes you to the Alton Towers entrance.
So its 11.30 am as we get off the monorail. So what do you think we do next?
Yes that's right! we queue again for another half hour to get our tickets,
So by 12.00am we have got our tickets, queued for another 10 minutes to go through the electronic styles,and we are finally in Alton Towers, hungry and a just little bit pissed off. Looking at the waiting times of 70 minutes for oblivion and nemesis also Rita, 40 to 50 minutes for some off the smaller rides.
By 4.20pm we have managed a ride on nemesis, oblivion and thirteen, we decide to get one last go on nemesis while we still have time left, decide to go in the single rider queue. After waiting 20 minutes in the queue for the nemesis, an announcement is made informing us that Nemesis is temporarily down, and will be back up shortly asking for our patience. By this time we had all had enough of it, we made our way back to the exit and decided to get back to the car, hopefully before the queues started to get out of this place. Not quite that easy..remember the parking fee of £6.00? that's right.. get in the queue for another 10minutes...so it's get on the monorail to take us back to the car park....yes join the queue for the monorail again.
10 minutes later still waiting to get on the monorail,and another announcement, the monorail is experiencing technical issues....enough is enough, so we decide to walk what seems like 2 miles and took us half hour back to the car.
If this had been by first experience of Alton Towers, I would seriously tell everyone not to bother as what we experienced was an expensive con. Luckily even though we only got on three rides, we had a great day (was good just to spend some time with my younger brothers), the weather was nice but the Alton Tower experience was nil. Hopefully next time we will time it right, as if I ever go again and experience this I can tell you I will never ever go again.
So this year, we decided to go on friday, thinking that everybody would be watching the royal wedding, and it was about this time last year we went, so thought it would be a good time to go, with both my brothers.
We were about a mile away from the entrance, when we hit traffic at 10.30am....hopefully just some temporary traffic lights..no wrong its a massive queue all going to the same place, Alton towers, :-(
By the time we got to car park J, it was 11.00am, not only that there was a sign saying £6.00 parking!! The cheek!!! Since when did they start charging for parking??? Anyway with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth we made the walk to monorail. So we get to the monorail, and the queues are big,took 15 minutes to get on monorail which takes you to the Alton Towers entrance.
So its 11.30 am as we get off the monorail. So what do you think we do next?
Yes that's right! we queue again for another half hour to get our tickets,
So by 12.00am we have got our tickets, queued for another 10 minutes to go through the electronic styles,and we are finally in Alton Towers, hungry and a just little bit pissed off. Looking at the waiting times of 70 minutes for oblivion and nemesis also Rita, 40 to 50 minutes for some off the smaller rides.
By 4.20pm we have managed a ride on nemesis, oblivion and thirteen, we decide to get one last go on nemesis while we still have time left, decide to go in the single rider queue. After waiting 20 minutes in the queue for the nemesis, an announcement is made informing us that Nemesis is temporarily down, and will be back up shortly asking for our patience. By this time we had all had enough of it, we made our way back to the exit and decided to get back to the car, hopefully before the queues started to get out of this place. Not quite that easy..remember the parking fee of £6.00? that's right.. get in the queue for another 10minutes...so it's get on the monorail to take us back to the car park....yes join the queue for the monorail again.
10 minutes later still waiting to get on the monorail,and another announcement, the monorail is experiencing technical issues....enough is enough, so we decide to walk what seems like 2 miles and took us half hour back to the car.
If this had been by first experience of Alton Towers, I would seriously tell everyone not to bother as what we experienced was an expensive con. Luckily even though we only got on three rides, we had a great day (was good just to spend some time with my younger brothers), the weather was nice but the Alton Tower experience was nil. Hopefully next time we will time it right, as if I ever go again and experience this I can tell you I will never ever go again.
I went last summer and didn't really have to stand in line for anything, other than Nemesis at lunch time for about 15 minutes. By half 2 I'd done everything I wanted to do (twice or more) so I went home. The queues were actually shorter in Disneyland Paris in November, but they are right up there in terms of efficiency of getting people through the attractions.
Completely wrong time of year to go IMO.
I went in september last year, it was just after all the kids had gone back to school, and a week before Uni started so it was freshers week.
No one there at all, there was no queues longer than 5 minutes for any rides and the weather was perfect.
So if you want a decent run at alton towers, go on a weekday between 19th and 25th of September.
I went in september last year, it was just after all the kids had gone back to school, and a week before Uni started so it was freshers week.
No one there at all, there was no queues longer than 5 minutes for any rides and the weather was perfect.
So if you want a decent run at alton towers, go on a weekday between 19th and 25th of September.
Not been for a while but you are nuts to consider it on a Public holiday, royal wedding or not.
Best time to go is the week kids go back to school after a holiday period. Never queued for more than 20mins.
That said didn't know they'd started charging for the carparks I'd of been pissed at that.
Best time to go is the week kids go back to school after a holiday period. Never queued for more than 20mins.
That said didn't know they'd started charging for the carparks I'd of been pissed at that.
4 of us went a couple of weeks ago. The ticketing is a bit confusing (you can buy tickets to beat the queues but they are split down into specific rides which have different height restrictions so you have to know what rides you want to go on, etc. plus it would have been handy to be able to measure the kids at the entrance to be able to make informed decisions about which rides we wanted queue jumping tickets for, but hey ho.
Adult ticket was £39. We had a great day (kids loved it!) - On the way out we decided to upgrade to the Merlin Annual Pass (another £57 per person but that permits access to 29 places around the UK).
As we already had a visit planned to London we were able to take in the London Eye (booked before buying the Annual Pass - refund given on the day no problem at all), London Dungeon, Madam Tussaad's, etc.
So we've had them about 2 weeks now and have already saved loads of entrace fees. We are going to hit Blackpool in a couple of weeks (Madam Tussaad's opens there in September) plus there is now a Legoland Manchester.
There are some restrictions in terms of when you can access but you could upgrade to a slightly higher level of card for another £30 - Also gives free car parking.
It depends how often you get out and about. We are trying to get away at least every other weekend ATM.
Overall a big thumbs-up from us.
and I upgraded one
Adult ticket was £39. We had a great day (kids loved it!) - On the way out we decided to upgrade to the Merlin Annual Pass (another £57 per person but that permits access to 29 places around the UK).
As we already had a visit planned to London we were able to take in the London Eye (booked before buying the Annual Pass - refund given on the day no problem at all), London Dungeon, Madam Tussaad's, etc.
So we've had them about 2 weeks now and have already saved loads of entrace fees. We are going to hit Blackpool in a couple of weeks (Madam Tussaad's opens there in September) plus there is now a Legoland Manchester.
There are some restrictions in terms of when you can access but you could upgrade to a slightly higher level of card for another £30 - Also gives free car parking.
It depends how often you get out and about. We are trying to get away at least every other weekend ATM.
Overall a big thumbs-up from us.
and I upgraded one
everyone who has ever worked for merlin (company that owns tussauds/chessie/Thorpe/Alton etc) knows when the best and worse times to go are.
As such we all go just after the kids go back to school for a few days and nights. Everything is walk on for the most part and early admission due to being in the hotel.
I have been to a thorpe once on a real Peak day (because not every peak day is busy) and it's only due to knowing a high percentage of platformers that we got on all the rides we wanted to do. Never again though.
I can understand the shafted feeling though. All I can say is avoid theme parks like the plague during bank holidays and Hot days during school breaks. Weekends are alway 10x worse then weekdays.
As such we all go just after the kids go back to school for a few days and nights. Everything is walk on for the most part and early admission due to being in the hotel.
I have been to a thorpe once on a real Peak day (because not every peak day is busy) and it's only due to knowing a high percentage of platformers that we got on all the rides we wanted to do. Never again though.
I can understand the shafted feeling though. All I can say is avoid theme parks like the plague during bank holidays and Hot days during school breaks. Weekends are alway 10x worse then weekdays.
We've been the last three years in a row (free tickets from The Sun) and they always charged for parking, although the last two years it was £5, now it's £6.
I'll be honest, it really pisses me off they've got their hand in your pocket right up until the moment you leave. I guess £40 a ticket isn't enough for them. For future reference, don't bother buying a ticket for the car park. Just queue up and then when you get to the gate tell them you forgot to buy one. We started doing this last year and they just let you through. They used to take cash off you at the gate but they must have stopped doing that.
What also tsakes the piss is the Fast Track (which is a contradiction of their 'no queue jumping policy'). My understanding was you paid an extra £10 to go on a selection of three rides faster. Except no, you pay that £10 to jump the queue on each of those three rides just once. If you want 'unlimited Fast Track' that's another £30. Each. almost the price of another ticket!
Then there's the food; £4 for a Hot Dog, £9 for a Burger King meal. I know they're a business but with the visitor numbers they get I don't think it's necessary to rape the customers so much.
I'll be honest, it really pisses me off they've got their hand in your pocket right up until the moment you leave. I guess £40 a ticket isn't enough for them. For future reference, don't bother buying a ticket for the car park. Just queue up and then when you get to the gate tell them you forgot to buy one. We started doing this last year and they just let you through. They used to take cash off you at the gate but they must have stopped doing that.
What also tsakes the piss is the Fast Track (which is a contradiction of their 'no queue jumping policy'). My understanding was you paid an extra £10 to go on a selection of three rides faster. Except no, you pay that £10 to jump the queue on each of those three rides just once. If you want 'unlimited Fast Track' that's another £30. Each. almost the price of another ticket!
Then there's the food; £4 for a Hot Dog, £9 for a Burger King meal. I know they're a business but with the visitor numbers they get I don't think it's necessary to rape the customers so much.
We got stuck on the cable car for 30 minutes as one of the cars hadn't attached to the cable properly. We were stuck in there, suspended above a swamp, with a family of morons that talked over all announcements on the intercom (so we had no idea why we were stuck) and then decided to swing the car from side to side as they got bored!
Our first visit to Alton Towers a couple of years ago had me nearly catatonic with rage, at the idiotic way the sign posting is set up. When you know which way to go it is fairly straightforward, but when you've never been before it is farcical. Of course, SWMBO had decided to go on a Saturday morning, during a school holiday.......
After entering the place once we then drove back out and back in the wrong gate, due to some car park moron attendant inside telling us to 'go back out and turn left' when they really meant go a few yards and turn left. And from then it deteriorated into mayhem.
The water park was not sign posted properly, the car parks were guesswork, and the staff were retards. The directed us to park so close to another vehicle my wife could not get out the door, then they parked a van on my side too, so we were more or less trapped in our car.
After shouting out my window to get the parking morons attendant, and being studiously ignored, I floored the throttle, straight at the attendant, with spinning wheels, and came damn close to killing him I think. Then I parked on our own, away from any other car, and threatened him with physical violence when he ordered me to move.
When we got to the water park place they refused to accept the discount cards we had been sent, so we had to pay full price to get in. That amused me even further.
Looking back I really can't remember why I got so mad initially, but it just sort of fed on itself with fvckup after managerial fvckup, and I remember making phone calls and complaints after we arrived home I was so infuriated about the whole thing. Their response was that they were 'sending some of their staff for retraining'.
After entering the place once we then drove back out and back in the wrong gate, due to some car park moron attendant inside telling us to 'go back out and turn left' when they really meant go a few yards and turn left. And from then it deteriorated into mayhem.
The water park was not sign posted properly, the car parks were guesswork, and the staff were retards. The directed us to park so close to another vehicle my wife could not get out the door, then they parked a van on my side too, so we were more or less trapped in our car.
After shouting out my window to get the parking morons attendant, and being studiously ignored, I floored the throttle, straight at the attendant, with spinning wheels, and came damn close to killing him I think. Then I parked on our own, away from any other car, and threatened him with physical violence when he ordered me to move.
When we got to the water park place they refused to accept the discount cards we had been sent, so we had to pay full price to get in. That amused me even further.
Looking back I really can't remember why I got so mad initially, but it just sort of fed on itself with fvckup after managerial fvckup, and I remember making phone calls and complaints after we arrived home I was so infuriated about the whole thing. Their response was that they were 'sending some of their staff for retraining'.
ShiggyBiggs said:
On a similar note, universal studios in Orlando is completely empty in January. Could go on rides, get off and walk straight back on again. And it was warm enough for shorts...
Don't bank on the weather - January last year it was literally freezing. This year it was unusally warm.The theme parks in Florida all charge around $10 for car parking.
Having experienced US theme parks, I can't do the UK ones - everything about ours is just embarrassingly s
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