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Quick Questions
Bowser
TS Member
Out of interest, does anyone know where the best place to have a sit-down meal (or at very least, something more substantial than a sandwich) at Alton Towers is these days?
I only ask because me, my parents and my grandad are going for the Alton After Dark day next Saturday (23rd March), and due to us staying in the park later (we want a Wicker Man night ride!), we won't be eating an evening meal in the local Premier Inn like we normally would. So we have to have 2 meals in the park itself; one of those will be our normal packed lunch, but we'll have to find something more substantial at some point during the day to replace our evening meal. Me and my mum were discussing it earlier, and we were really struggling to think of places in Alton Towers that actually serve substantial meals, so to speak.
My first thought was the Rollercoaster Restaurant, but my mum vetoed that, as she found it "awful" last time we went there in June 2022...
Does anyone have any recommendations? It's absolutely years since I've eaten hot food from a park restaurant during a day at Alton Towers, and I'm honestly not sure if I can ever remember having a proper sit-down meal during a day at Alton Towers... I feel like I vaguely remember going to the Pizza/Pasta buffet when I was about 12, but other than that, I have absolutely no memories of ever having had a sit-down meal there in the 15 years I've been visiting annually for...
I’m in the same boat. We’ve previously eaten at the burger place by The Dungeons, which is basically a substandard Burger King but at least ticks the “substantial” box and is usually very quiet too due to its location.
jon81uk
TS Member
Woodcutters by dark forest is the other place with plated meals. But do if you want to get night rides in then you’ll probably want to try and eat at 5pm so you can start queuing at 6pm for rides in the dark. Or if happy to eat later there are a few pubs in Alton village.Out of interest, does anyone know where the best place to have a sit-down meal (or at very least, something more substantial than a sandwich) at Alton Towers is these days?
I only ask because me, my parents and my grandad are going for the Alton After Dark day next Saturday (23rd March), and due to us staying in the park later (we want a Wicker Man night ride!), we won't be eating an evening meal in the local Premier Inn like we normally would. So we have to have 2 meals in the park itself; one of those will be our normal packed lunch, but we'll have to find something more substantial at some point during the day to replace our evening meal. Me and my mum were discussing it earlier, and we were really struggling to think of places in Alton Towers that actually serve substantial meals, so to speak.
My first thought was the Rollercoaster Restaurant, but my mum vetoed that, as she found it "awful" last time we went there in June 2022...
Does anyone have any recommendations? It's absolutely years since I've eaten hot food from a park restaurant during a day at Alton Towers, and I'm honestly not sure if I can ever remember having a proper sit-down meal during a day at Alton Towers... I feel like I vaguely remember going to the Pizza/Pasta buffet when I was about 12, but other than that, I have absolutely no memories of ever having had a sit-down meal there in the 15 years I've been visiting annually for...
Skyscraper
TS Member
Still only Smiler I think.Which rides have single rider queue this year please? (if any!)
Just the smiler i think?
Always seemed short sighted to me to not have them anywhere else but i guess when you have a normal, fasttrack, RAP and non-ambulant RAP sticking another queue in just takes up too much space. Imagine trying to squeeze another set of queue in for Rita
Always seemed short sighted to me to not have them anywhere else but i guess when you have a normal, fasttrack, RAP and non-ambulant RAP sticking another queue in just takes up too much space. Imagine trying to squeeze another set of queue in for Rita
Bowser
TS Member
Yes, Smiler and Oblivion would be closed with winds of that speed.
Why only those two?
AT86
TS Member
I believe they are more open to the elements and so impacted by wind more due to their locations.
Oblivion more because of the difficulty of an evacuation from the top of the ride if it were to become necessary and Smiler because it’s prone to stalling in high winds, and we all know what that can cause.
Oblivion more because of the difficulty of an evacuation from the top of the ride if it were to become necessary and Smiler because it’s prone to stalling in high winds, and we all know what that can cause.
Bowser
TS Member
I believe they are more open to the elements and so impacted by wind more due to their locations.
Oblivion more because of the difficulty of an evacuation from the top of the ride if it were to become necessary and Smiler because it’s prone to stalling in high winds, and we all know what that can cause.
Everything else likely to stay open?
GooseOnTheLoose
TS Member
Difficult to say this early out. For comparison purposes, here's the Met Office's forecast for Saturday at Alton Towers. The wind speed is slower, the temperature is lower and there's less of a chance of rain.Everything else likely to stay open?

It's really not an exact science. Weather services don't agree with each other and things will change between now and Saturday, heck, they'll even change on Saturday. I know it's anxiety inducing and a bit stressful that you can't plan, but as we get closer to Saturday we'll start to see more of a weather consensus.
Bowser
TS Member
Difficult to say this early out
Sure but I mean if the prediction is accurate, is there an official threshold per ride?
BBC forecasts are often exaggerated in my experience anyway, think MET has a better accuracy rating.
Alix
TS Member
There will be, but a quick google shows me Towers don’t share it somewhere easy to find. Thorpe do though, so you might like to extrapolate (but I’d not recommend it) - https://www.thorpepark.com/plan-your-visit/resort-information/ride-availability-weather/Sure but I mean if the prediction is accurate, is there an official threshold per ride?
BBC forecasts are often exaggerated in my experience anyway, think MET has a better accuracy rating.
Bowser
TS Member
That is gust predictions, typical speeds will be less, but yes, there is a large weather system coming in at the weekend.
Never let a bad forecast alter your plans, shorter queues, faster wheels, waterproof skin.
Fine with bad weather but my disabled son will only go on a few rides so if there’s a high probability they’d all be closed I don’t want to go as he won’t understand what is happening. Plus need to cancel accommodation in advance to get a refund.
Sorry, I always look from a solo thoosie perspective.Fine with bad weather but my disabled son will only go on a few rides so if there’s a high probability they’d all be closed I don’t want to go as he won’t understand what is happening. Plus need to cancel accommodation in advance to get a refund.
Bowser
TS Member
Sorry, I always look from a solo thoosie perspective.
No worries pal

BBC has already updated to much lower wind too so if those Thorpe Park figures posted earlier represent a similar scenario then should be fine hopefully.
Otherwise it’s Gangster Granny After Dark.
Hi so I was trying to book a rap pass for daughter for April but apparently they are all sold out how can this be . Do they have a limit for these passes . Spoke to someone over twitter just to be told better of changing my dates and itsbto keep the queue lines down but I can go and buy fast track for all the rides .. go figure