Quick Questions

[Thameslink Rail]

Could someone tell me what time standard day pass guests can enter the park? Is it 10am or do they allow access into the park before this? I know that hotel guests can enter from 0900 but I wasn’t sure about guests with just day passes.

In general they will open the turnstiles at around 9:15.

 

[CherryBerry17]

Hi! I'm going on Friday 11th, I don't want to spend all that money on a fast pass and I read that you can buy them for each ride at like £6 or £10 for one time use, is this true?

Also, how busy should I expect it to be? I live 2.5 hours away so I want to make sure I get there early enough, are there any tips to make the day easier or more time efficient?

Pretty much every time I've been the wait for Spin ball Whizzer and Smiler have been ridiculous, If I arrive around 9:30 will I be able to get in even though the park isn't open until 10:00? I've seen people saying it does open a little earlier, is this to que for rides or to actually be able to go on them?

 

[Thameslink Rail]

Welcome to TowersStreet @CherryBerry17
1. One shot Fasttrack tickets are available, enquire at the box office
2. Traffic can be pretty bad coming into the park on busy days, If you leave at 6:30 then by the time you get parked and walk or monorail to the gate it would probably be around 9:30
3. Turnstiles currently open at 9:15, usually queues will open around that time. If you are lucky enough to be one of the first guests in then you may be able to get a first ride on Smiler or Wicker Man shortly after rides open at 10, otherwise go to the back of the park and work forwards.
Edit: 4. Friday 11th I would expect to be about medium crowd level, there will probably be a fair number of year 11s and 13s.
I'm sure someone will correct me if I made any errors or omissions

 

[AT86]

You can buy one shot fastrack for individual rides via the park app. If you download it ahead of your visit you can see the option in the shop section and see the prices etc, they are either £8 or £10 for the biggest coasters.

The gates to the park will open around 9.15am so you can be waiting for your first ride of the day once they open at 10am. The car parks will open from around 8.30am so you can get parked and walk to the entrance in plenty of time. Dark Forest is a good place to start to get Rita and 13 done with little to no wait very early on.

 

[Steve74]

Hi! I'm going on Friday 11th, I don't want to spend all that money on a fast pass and I read that you can buy them for each ride at like £6 or £10 for one time use, is this true?

Also, how busy should I expect it to be? I live 2.5 hours away so I want to make sure I get there early enough, are there any tips to make the day easier or more time efficient?

Pretty much every time I've been the wait for Spin ball Whizzer and Smiler have been ridiculous, If I arrive around 9:30 will I be able to get in even though the park isn't open until 10:00? I've seen people saying it does open a little earlier, is this to que for rides or to actually be able to go on them?

You're going on the 11th - that should be quite quiet as it is a term time friday. So regarding fast tracks, I'd play it by ear and see how busy it is on the day.

I live 2 hrs away and get there for about 8.30. The monorail opens at 9 (well, did when I went). But you can still walk at anytime and get to the turnstiles earlier. Basically, aim to get to the turnstiles as early as possible after 8.30.

Start at the back and work forward, we did Rita first then Th13teen because if you get there for queue opening - ie before 10am ish, you'll be one of the first and the queue shouldn't be any more than 10 or 15 mins.

The Smiler will always be busy so you'll just have to bite the bullet and join the queue if you want to go on it. Spinball is the odd one - this year and last (ie during social distancing) this is the one ride that seems to have a fast moving queue. I may have just been lucky but I've never queued longer than 20 minutes for it during the day (not at opening or end of day) since social distancing was a thing!

 

[CherryBerry17]

Thanks so much! The journey is usually about 2 hours and 20 minutes on a pretty steady day, although I've done it in about 1 hour 50 before when the roads were really quiet, I tend to go the back road (From Mid wales, through Shrewsbury route)

Spinball, Smiler, Oblivion and Galactica are the ones that have always had the biggest que's when I'm there, although it has been just over 2 years since I last went. I've not managed to get on Rita the last few times either,

One I've wondered for a while, what is/happened with Nemesis Sub Terra? I last went and don't remember it being there, but I went on it back in maybe 2015? Never did figure out what happened with it.

 

[Steve74]

Thanks so much! The journey is usually about 2 hours and 20 minutes on a pretty steady day, although I've done it in about 1 hour 50 before when the roads were really quiet, I tend to go the back road (From Mid wales, through Shrewsbury route)

Spinball, Smiler, Oblivion and Galactica are the ones that have always had the biggest que's when I'm there, although it has been just over 2 years since I last went. I've not managed to get on Rita the last few times either,

One I've wondered for a while, what is/happened with Nemesis Sub Terra? I last went and don't remember it being there, but I went on it back in maybe 2015? Never did figure out what happened with it.

Whatever order you choose to do the rides in, I'd recommend leaving Wicker Man till last - it warms up considerably during the day and therefore can be one hell of a beast compared to riding it first thing in the morning!

Sub Terra is still there - the building and ride inside - but it isn't open. For the last few years it has been used for a Scare maze and each year the maze's outside theming has been left up. This year it has all been taken down and people have reported seeing staff in and around the ride, adding fuel to rumours of reopening. But who knows!

 

[CherryBerry17]

Sorry another question - what rides allow you take to a small over the body bag on with you? I'm wearing a jacket that has pockets which button for my phone when on the ride (I do this pretty much every time) but what rides are a little more relaxed on this, and where do most people put there phones and things?

 

[Steve74]

Sorry another question - what rides allow you take to a small over the body bag on with you? I'm wearing a jacket that has pockets which button for my phone when on the ride (I do this pretty much every time) but what rides are a little more relaxed on this, and where do most people put there phones and things?

Officially no 'big' rides do, the ride hosts will ask you to remove it and store it on the platform racks. The only ones I can think of where you could take a bag of any size on with you is the rapids, Hex, Duel and The Dungeons. Oh and Gangsta Granny too but not sure as haven't been on that yet

 

[PaulDmon]

Hi, im booked in at the Alton Towers hotel on friday 25th June for 1 night, Am i able to use the hotel entrance to the park on the friday and the saturday or just the saturday? & also i have booked fasttrack tickets aswell, is there a ticket booth near the hotel entrance to the park? I know there is one near main entrance... many thanks for your help i cant wait for my first ever visit to AT!!

 

[Danny]

Welcome to the forum @PaulDmon.

You will be able to use the hotel entrance on Friday as well as you'll have confirmation you are staying over; I don't believe they're overly fussy on the hotel gate. As for the ticket booth for fast tracks, there isn't one at the hotel entrance.

Hope you enjoy your first visit!

 

[djtruefitt]

I believe the only place to pick up fastrack is the box office on towers street. Unless you’ve got digital fastrack, but as I’ve never bought it I wouldn’t know how that works.

 

[Matt N]

I was just having a look through the app, and I noticed this under Spinball Whizzer’s restrictions list:

Guests under 1.95m high must be accompanied by an adult aged 16 or over

It seems like the sort of thing that would be a typo, as I was under the impression that 1.95m was Spinball’s max height restriction, but I was just going to ask; I take it this is a typo, because seeing as 1.95m is just under 6’5”, even the vast majority of adults 16+ will surely be below 1.95m (I know I’m certainly close to 20cm below that; I’m about 1.77m, I think. Well, whatever 5’9.5” is in metric, if I’m getting my metric to imperial conversion right)?

Is this a typo, or is it just a very weird restriction that no one has ever enforced? I only ask because on Thirteen’s, which also has a max height restriction, it simply says:

The maximum standing height restriction is 1.96m

 

[djtruefitt]

I was just having a look through the app, and I noticed this under Spinball Whizzer’s restrictions list:

It seems like the sort of thing that would be a typo, as I was under the impression that 1.95m was Spinball’s max height restriction, but I was just going to ask; I take it this is a typo, because seeing as 1.95m is just under 6’5”, even the vast majority of adults 16+ will surely be below 1.95m (I know I’m certainly close to 20cm below that; I’m about 1.77m, I think. Well, whatever 5’9.5” is in metric, if I’m getting my metric to imperial conversion right)?

The website doesn’t seem to mention anything about it. And yes 1.95m is maximum height for spinball.

 

[Matt N]

The website doesn’t seem to mention anything about it. And yes 1.95m is maximum height for spinball.

I thought it might be a typo, but I just wondered!

 

[rob666]

Funny that, I'm exactly 1.95 metres...never had my height checked once.
I have been checked on Infusion though, but only the once.
On infusion, it is a dangly feet issue apparently.

 

[Matt N]

Funny that, I'm exactly 1.95 metres...never had my height checked once.
I have been checked on Infusion though, but only the once.
On infusion, it is a dangly feet issue apparently.

Really? The Spinball team seem very hot on it, from my experience; my dad’s about 1.98m (whatever 6’6” is in metric), and whenever he’s tried to queue for Spinball, he’s been measured and booted off every time without fail!

It seems to be a bit inconsistent, because on Thirteen (max height restriction of 1.96m), he’s never been checked, and no one even bats an eyelid about him being over the limit, he’s always gotten on Swarm at Thorpe (max height of 1.95m) without anyone checking, and he was only ever booted off of Stealth at Thorpe (max height of 1.95m) once. The team on Spinball, though, seem very hot on the max height restriction, for some reason.

 

[rob666]

Not with sad, grey haired old men they are not.
I do spinball most visits, the only issue I've had was dippy chundering over my new adidas sambas.

 

[Matt N]

Another question; since when has Galactica had a minimum age restriction of 14? Was this from back when the VR existed?

It’s certainly never been enforced, as I did Galactica with VR when I was 13…

 

[AT86]

@Matt N if you are getting this info from the restrictions pages on the app don’t bother, it’s riddled with errors and isn’t worth your time looking at them, because by and large, it’s wrong.