• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

How Busy?

Olivus Prime said:
Can anyone give a heads up on how busy it generally is September weekends? Unfortunately myself and a group had to book for next Saturday rather than a weekday, because one of us works in a school and can't afford time off. We barely got on anything when we went during the summer two years ago - I'm hoping (and generally expecting) not to have a repeat of that.
Click to expand...
I would expect the park to be fairly busy but not as bad as the second half of the summer holidays perhaps highs of 60-75 minutes. Remember the park is open until 7pm and many people will go home early so expect the queues to die down towards the end.
 
Hi Guys, I'm going on a college trip to alton towers on Friday This week, I'd like to get as many ride as possible can while I'm there, so what are your Guys advice when going this Friday? Will it be Busy, what areas should I do first, etc, etc.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Hi Guys, I'm going on a college trip to alton towers on Friday This week, I'd like to get as many ride as possible can while I'm there, so what are your Guys advice when going this Friday? Will it be Busy, what areas should I do first, etc, etc.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t like to guess how busy it’ll be, but in terms of where to start; I’d always support Dark Forest as a good starting point. It’s never overly busy in the morning, and the rides there are (or at least were last time I went) on the lower capacity side, so can get fair queues later on. On my last visit, I got 2 rides in on Rita within very quick succession, and would have done Thirteen as well within a very quick timeframe had it not been broken down!

Forbidden Valley is also very quiet in the morning, but the rides there are higher capacity, so I wouldn’t worry as much about when you do FV.
 
Matt N said:
I wouldn’t like to guess how busy it’ll be, but in terms of where to start; I’d always support Dark Forest as a good starting point. It’s never overly busy in the morning, and the rides there are (or at least were last time I went) on the lower capacity side, so can get fair queues later on. On my last visit, I got 2 rides in on Rita within very quick succession, and would have done Thirteen as well within a very quick timeframe had it not been broken down!

Forbidden Valley is also very quiet in the morning, but the rides there are higher capacity, so I wouldn’t worry as much about when you do FV.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the small advice Matt. I haven't done Th13teen since 2017 scarefest, same for Rita, but I'm a bit of a Chicken when it comes to Launch Coasters without countdowns XD.

I'll use your advise well though, cheers!!
 
Hope you have a nice time @Trooper Looper!

If you can, I’d try and get FV at the end of the day. Not least because the gate out of the park is apparently opened at the end of the day so that guests in FV don’t have to walk all the way back to the front entrance. I’ve never tested that theory before (for some reason, I almost invariably approach FV in the middle of the day), but I’ve known other people go out that way and say it works really well.

I reckon crowds won’t be too bad, as this season has been fairly quiet so far, and we’re not into typical school trip season yet. Late June to early July onwards is where the school trip season really gets busy, from experience of other UK parks.

Sorry to go off on a bit of a tangent, but this conversation reminds me of my school trip season experiences. I’ve had 2 school trip experiences at UK parks during the typical school trip season, and both were absolutely heaving relative to how those two parks normally are.

My first was to Oakwood, when I was 13. In fairness, I did get on 6 rides over the course of the 6-7 hour day, which is a decent count by any measure, but it should be noted that one of those was the teacups, another was Waterfall (which my group were very keen to do), and I waited possibly 90 minutes for Speed one time I did it and easily over an hour the other time. By comparison, my 2019 return visit (which was around this time of year, funnily enough; it was in May half term) saw me do 9 rides within about 2.5-3 hours, and that was with a stop for lunch that must have been approaching half an hour.

My second was to Thorpe Park, when I was 15. We had about 5-6 hours in the park (it took about an hour to get in, from memory), and I got on 2 rides. In fairness, it would have been 3 had Saw not broken down, and I did get to do Rush & Samurai for the first time, but Thorpe was very busy that day, for sure. Rush & Samurai had queues of an hour or so, and we waited over 2 hours for Saw only to have it break down when we reached the end of the queue. The people I was with vowed that we weren’t queueing more than an hour for anything… those were famous last words, and words we quickly went back on as the day progressed!

I still had a great day both times, but looking back, they weren’t some of my fonder theme park memories, for sure.

I’m sure you have nothing to worry about though; May isn’t typical school trip season, and it isn’t even half term on Friday, so crowds should hopefully be low! Don’t let my anecdotes scare you… they’re from the height of school trip season, so I’m sure you’ll get plenty of rides in.
 
If you're on park on time, WM first is fine. My usual go to as it's decent to tick off before it gets busy.
 
School trips are a pain mate I can't lie, especially if the coach turns up late! If you arrive on time, at around 9:45 or earlier, definitely head up to Dark Forest first like @Matt N and @Skyscraper said. If you arrive at like 10:30, check the app I'd say and maybe go to Forbidden Valley. But, do Wicker Man in the middle of the day/afternoon as it is always quietest then. With Wicker Man, the queue time advertised tends to actually be less, so knock 5-10 mins off with good operations. Utilise the Smiler's single rider queue if you can. Oblivion might be a bit quieter throughout the day but again, it depends. In May, I don't think it'd be too bad compared to End of June/July. Depends what other rides you want to do really, any more questions let me know! Enjoy most of all.
 
WickerWonder18 said:
School trips are a pain mate I can't lie, especially if the coach turns up late! If you arrive on time, at around 9:45 or earlier, definitely head up to Dark Forest first like @Matt N and @Skyscraper said. If you arrive at like 10:30, check the app I'd say and maybe go to Forbidden Valley. But, do Wicker Man in the middle of the day/afternoon as it is always quietest then. With Wicker Man, the queue time advertised tends to actually be less, so knock 5-10 mins off with good operations. Utilise the Smiler's single rider queue if you can. Oblivion might be a bit quieter throughout the day but again, it depends. In May, I don't think it'd be too bad compared to End of June/July. Depends what other rides you want to do really, any more questions let me know! Enjoy most of all.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the Advice Wicker :)

I'm aiming to do at least:

Smiler, Oblivion, Spinball Whizzer, Katanga Canyon, Duel, Forbidden Valley, Hex, and Th13teen.

Is this too many rides for a weekday?
 
Trooper Looper said:
Thanks for the Advice Wicker :)

I'm aiming to do at least:

Smiler, Oblivion, Spinball Whizzer, Katanga Canyon, Duel, Forbidden Valley, Hex, and Th13teen.

Is this too many rides for a weekday?
Click to expand...
You will probably manage most of that if you do it smartly, although I will say the Runaway Mine Train can sometimes get massive queue's that are just not worth it, same with the rapids. It will all depend on how busy the day is.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Thanks for the Advice Wicker :)

I'm aiming to do at least:

Smiler, Oblivion, Spinball Whizzer, Katanga Canyon, Duel, Forbidden Valley, Hex, and Th13teen.

Is this too many rides for a weekday?
Click to expand...
Definitely not, it's do-able if you plan the right way round it.
I'd cross Hex off straight away as it's been shut for about 2 months now, think it's waiting on a part.
Smiler is easily done with the single rider but, maybe around Lunchtime/early afternoon if you want to do it as a group. The same with Oblivion in terms of timings.
Spinball can get a big queue, just keep an eye on the app, late afternoon potentially.
Duel, anytime.
Forbidden Valley, start of the day or end really like I said.
13 at the start, maybe start with 13 then head straight to Forbidden Valley, do Duel on the way back as well as Katanga, then the rest.
Hope this helps, just keep an eye on the app and it depends on how busy it is.
 
WickerWonder18 said:
Definitely not, it's do-able if you plan the right way round it.
I'd cross Hex off straight away as it's been shut for about 2 months now, think it's waiting on a part.
Smiler is easily done with the single rider but, maybe around Lunchtime/early afternoon if you want to do it as a group. The same with Oblivion in terms of timings.
Spinball can get a big queue, just keep an eye on the app, late afternoon potentially.
Duel, anytime.
Forbidden Valley, start of the day or end really like I said.
13 at the start, maybe start with 13 then head straight to Forbidden Valley, do Duel on the way back as well as Katanga, then the rest.
Hope this helps, just keep an eye on the app and it depends on how busy it is.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for the help and advice mate!!

Shame Hex is closed as I went last scarefest and it then was also closed and still to this day have never gotten to experience it... :(

I'll let you know how i do on Friday
 
Hi, I’ll be making my first visit tomorrow for 2 days (31st and 1st). It’s through National Holidays, so I won’t be on park until about midday on both days (staying way off-site), plus it’s half term!

Do you have any advice for someone getting in at midday?

Would you just start at the entrance and work backwards, hoping that the crowds will have dissipated further to the back by then?

I’ve never been before so the only guide I have is the Alton Towers app for queue times!

Any advice for a first timer appreciated!

Regards
James
 
James5696 said:
Hi, I’ll be making my first visit tomorrow for 2 days (31st and 1st). It’s through National Holidays, so I won’t be on park until about midday on both days (staying way off-site), plus it’s half term!

Do you have any advice for someone getting in at midday?

Would you just start at the entrance and work backwards, hoping that the crowds will have dissipated further to the back by then?

I’ve never been before so the only guide I have is the Alton Towers app for queue times!

Any advice for a first timer appreciated!

Regards
James
Click to expand...
Hi James, I'm gonna try to help you as much a so can, but I'm pretty tired at the moment, so sorry if it's vague.

Go to wicker Man first if it isn't too busy, then Dark Forest. After doing dark Forest, use the skyride to Forbidden Valley, do Nemesis and Galactica there. Then make your way down to Gloomy Woods, and have a few rides on Duel, which is the park's interactive dark ride. I'd make the most of it, as it might be going soon, so have a good few rides on it. Then head to Katanga Canyon, if the Runaway Mine Train is under 20 minutes, give it a go, it's a fun ride, and do the Rapids if the queue time is low. Then when you're on your way back to wicker Man, if it has below 45 minutes wait, go on it. Try spinball Whizzer when going to X-sector, as that ride can get huge queues.

Then onto X Sector, if you're going on your own to the park, the Smiler has a single rider queue, which is located by the main entrance, meaning you get to skip most of the queue when on your own.

Oblivion queue never goes above an hour anymore, so you'll be fine with it.

End the day with Battle Galleons. Nothing like a good little soak.

On the second day, it's your choice, either do this all over again, or do it your own way.

I hope this helps out a lot. Sorry if its rushed. I hope my advice helps you to have a good time.
 
When i went to towers i did nemesis at 10am with 0 min queue, then galactica done by 10.10am with 0 min queue, the walked to dark forest and did rita by 10.30 with a 5 min queue and then did thirteen by 10.45 with a 5-10 min queue. 4 coasters in 45 mins. Then did oblivion by 11.30 it had a 15-20 min queue. Pretty good if you ask me!!
 
Trooper Looper said:
Hi James, I'm gonna try to help you as much a so can, but I'm pretty tired at the moment, so sorry if it's vague.

Go to wicker Man first if it isn't too busy, then Dark Forest. After doing dark Forest, use the skyride to Forbidden Valley, do Nemesis and Galactica there. Then make your way down to Gloomy Woods, and have a few rides on Duel, which is the park's interactive dark ride. I'd make the most of it, as it might be going soon, so have a good few rides on it. Then head to Katanga Canyon, if the Runaway Mine Train is under 20 minutes, give it a go, it's a fun ride, and do the Rapids if the queue time is low. Then when you're on your way back to wicker Man, if it has below 45 minutes wait, go on it. Try spinball Whizzer when going to X-sector, as that ride can get huge queues.

Then onto X Sector, if you're going on your own to the park, the Smiler has a single rider queue, which is located by the main entrance, meaning you get to skip most of the queue when on your own.

Oblivion queue never goes above an hour anymore, so you'll be fine with it.

End the day with Battle Galleons. Nothing like a good little soak.

On the second day, it's your choice, either do this all over again, or do it your own way.

I hope this helps out a lot. Sorry if its rushed. I hope my advice helps you to have a good time.
Click to expand...


Thank you very much for your advice! It’s very kind of you.

On another note, Nemesis was closed all day today and is looking to be closed tomorrow. So devastated, it was going to be my highlight! As I don’t drive it’ll be a fair few years until we book another trip to Alton so we won’t get to ride it any time soon, or before the retrack 🥲 it’s just one of them unforeseen things that are out of the parks control
 
James5696 said:
Thank you very much for your advice! It’s very kind of you.

On another note, Nemesis was closed all day today and is looking to be closed tomorrow. So devastated, it was going to be my highlight! As I don’t drive it’ll be a fair few years until we book another trip to Alton so we won’t get to ride it any time soon, or before the retrack 🥲 it’s just one of them unforeseen things that are out of the parks control
Click to expand...
Nemesis is a very reliable attraction, its more than likely thay it'll be open for tomorrow, so try not to worry yourself :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top