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Visiting 29th October 2021 - Any hints or tips?

77JT77

TS Member
Hi there,
Deliberately set up an account on here to ask some questions as the Alton Towers official online chat has a waiting time longer than Wickerman.....
So, I'm visiting with 3 younger ones on Friday (all above 140cm) and I was hoping some of you good folk could offer some advice as to be honest I'm a bit worried having read some of the recent reviews of the place...I used to be a regular but not been for about 5 years now....
1. Park opens at 10am but can you actually get in before then to queue for a ride?
2. I managed to get Bronze Fast Track tickets in advance ( that's all they had left ). Only one barcode though for 4 rides - does anyone know how they differentiate between rides?
3. I pre-booked Fast Track Solo rides for The Smiler as it wasn't on the Bronze list. Looks like it's going to be closed when we visit if recent weeks are to go by - can I get a refund? If so, how? Or can they simply move my solo fast track to another ride?
4. See question 1......but any thoughts on best order to ride? My initial thought was that everyone goes to Wickerman first and then the hotel guests might be at Nemesis/Galactica so maybe Rita/13 first (plus they're not on the fast track bronze package) and get there before 10 to join a hopefully short queue and tick them both off?
Any thoughts/comments/tips/hints/shortest toilet queue advice appreciated!
 
Hi there,
Deliberately set up an account on here to ask some questions as the Alton Towers official online chat has a waiting time longer than Wickerman.....
So, I'm visiting with 3 younger ones on Friday (all above 140cm) and I was hoping some of you good folk could offer some advice as to be honest I'm a bit worried having read some of the recent reviews of the place...I used to be a regular but not been for about 5 years now....
1. Park opens at 10am but can you actually get in before then to queue for a ride?
2. I managed to get Bronze Fast Track tickets in advance ( that's all they had left ). Only one barcode though for 4 rides - does anyone know how they differentiate between rides?
3. I pre-booked Fast Track Solo rides for The Smiler as it wasn't on the Bronze list. Looks like it's going to be closed when we visit if recent weeks are to go by - can I get a refund? If so, how? Or can they simply move my solo fast track to another ride?
4. See question 1......but any thoughts on best order to ride? My initial thought was that everyone goes to Wickerman first and then the hotel guests might be at Nemesis/Galactica so maybe Rita/13 first (plus they're not on the fast track bronze package) and get there before 10 to join a hopefully short queue and tick them both off?
Any thoughts/comments/tips/hints/shortest toilet queue advice appreciated!
You can get in at 9am to start queueing, I would usually do Thirteen, Rita, Galactica, Nemesis + rest of Forbidden Valley, but queues are building up so quickly at Scarefest that the advice about which order to do rides is pretty much redundant during this time of year. If there's anything you're desperate to ride then do that first - probably for a ride thats not on your fast track ticket.
 
In terms of whether you can queue for rides before 10am; I believe you can. I know we certainly did on our last visit in September.

I’m unsure on your questions about Fastrack, sorry; I’m not a frequent user of it. (In fact, I think we only ever bought a One Shot Smiler Fastrack once, back in 2014)

In terms of where to start; I’d personally recommend Dark Forest. It’s towards the back of the park, where not many will be headed, and Rita in particular has a tendency to rack up a pretty long queue later on in the day, so that’s certainly where I’d recommend, personally. That strategy has always worked well for us, anyway!
 
Hello and welcome @77JT77
Park opens at 10am but can you actually get in before then to queue for a ride?
The park turnstiles usually open before the opening time so you can go to the ride you want to ride first and often queue's forms outside the ride entrance. Queue lines don't officially open until the specific opening time.
I managed to get Bronze Fast Track tickets in advance ( that's all they had left ). Only one barcode though for 4 rides - does anyone know how they differentiate between rides?
I don't know i've never used fastrack however I suspect the system can tell the difference.
I pre-booked Fast Track Solo rides for The Smiler as it wasn't on the Bronze list. Looks like it's going to be closed when we visit if recent weeks are to go by - can I get a refund? If so, how? Or can they simply move my solo fast track to another ride?
I don't know but I imagine if you ask Alton Towers directly they'll sort it out. You may also be able to go to the box office on your visit and they can probably sort it out for you.
See question 1......but any thoughts on best order to ride? My initial thought was that everyone goes to Wickerman first and then the hotel guests might be at Nemesis/Galactica so maybe Rita/13 first (plus they're not on the fast track bronze package) and get there before 10 to join a hopefully short queue and tick them both off?
I'd suggest going to dark forest to do Rita and thirteen first. Your right about hotel guests in forbidden valley. I used to always start there but since the hotel guest entrance opened that no longer works. Wicker Man gets quiet early afternoon. As people are usually in the middle fo the park by then. People tend to do Wicker Man as there first or last ride as its close to the park entrance.
Hope that helps and sorry I can't be more helpful with fasttrack. Have a nice visit!
 
Thanks all for your responses. Very useful. Alton Towers Chat came back to me and said I can automatically transfer my Solo Fast Tracks onto another ride in the event Smiler doesn't open so my tentative plan would be to get there early, start queuing for Rita and hopefully tick that and 13 off early doors. Head over to Galactica and use the Smiler fast tracks on that one. I'm no fan of Fast Tracks and think it's unfair but we went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach in the summer and we felt we had to buy some while we were there as otherwise we'd have only got on 3 or 4 rides all day maximum. Queues were 2 hours + for everything and it was horrendously busy. Wanted to avoid the same here but seems like everyone has the same idea nowadays. The cost is eye-watering, I feel very short changed and I haven't even arrived yet!! Hopefully the magic is still there!
 
feel very short changed and I haven't even arrived yet!! Hopefully the magic is still there!

If you get lost looking for the magic, just head down to the highlighted area as dusk turns to night. You'll find it there:

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Wicker Man gets quiet early afternoon.
Not on peak Scarefest days unfortunately. It was busy all day yesterday.

Also @77JT77, if you want to do Mixtape do it early as it has a reduced capacity if arms are out of use. 4 were closed off yesterday and it took me an hour to get on when the posted wait time was 0 mins. Duel can also get a big queue because of several cars being out of use, and beware that your group may be split between multiple cars even if you have 5 or less people (my group of 5 was split between three cars yesterday). That's another one to do early or late. :)
 
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It depends what we're talking about quiet actually being here? I'd consider under an hour in the mid afternoons for Wickerman not too bad at the moment and if Dark Forest opens at 10, getting it finished before 11 is pretty decent as well I'd say and that's also achievable. Nemesis and Galactica have genuinely been quiet late evenings, sometimes walk on. If all the stars align, then DF first, FV at the end of the day, mazes when they first open and Wickerman, Oblivion and Spinball some time mid afternoon does seem to be the best strategy.

I wouldn't just see it as a coaster tick box excercise either, there's mazes and entertainment to enjoy as well as the spectacular gardens walkthrough which I wouldn't advise anyone to miss.

If your last visit was 5 years ago (2016) and you managed to find any semblance of "magic" during that terrible year, I wouldn't worry about this year. Park was at rock bottom 2016 - 17.
 
It depends what we're talking about quiet actually being here? I'd consider under an hour in the mid afternoons for Wickerman not too bad at the moment and if Dark Forest opens at 10, getting it finished before 11 is pretty decent as well I'd say and that's also achievable. Nemesis and Galactica have genuinely been quiet late evenings, sometimes walk on. If all the stars align, then DF first, FV at the end of the day, mazes when they first open and Wickerman, Oblivion and Spinball some time mid afternoon does seem to be the best strategy.

I wouldn't just see it as a coaster tick box excercise either, there's mazes and entertainment to enjoy as well as the spectacular gardens walkthrough which I wouldn't advise anyone to miss.

If your last visit was 5 years ago (2016) and you managed to find any semblance of "magic" during that terrible year, I wouldn't worry about this year. Park was at rock bottom 2016 - 17.

Ha!! I think the "magic" I mention came from my earlier years there like most nostalgic memories. "Magic" for me in 2016 was getting on a ride without queuing for more than 30 minutes or the ride breaking down!
Again, thanks for the feedback. Always enjoyed the garden walkthrough so I'll be doing that again and hopefully I can change the kids' minds on the maze front too.
 
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