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Merlin Parks & Attractions: Quick Questions.

Hi, not sure if this is the right place to post but after a trip to the towers yesterday I'm planning my next weekend break. either may half term or July 20th. Want to do Thorpe and Alton towers. Travel from home to Alton for a day there stay over and have a second day at the towers, then evening travel to Thorpe park and stay over. Any tips on where to stay? Never been since I was a small child. Also will one day at Thorpe be enough or will I need two? Open to suggestions and money saving tips.
 
How does qbot at Legoland work?

I'm not one for buying fast tracks etc but this is the place my youngest lad is really looking forward to so I''ll buy these for our visit as it will be a one off

What I'm wondering is if I reserve an attraction and the que is 30 minutes so I get in another que and that takes an hour

Will the reservation for the first ride be held or is there a time limit to get to it?
 
Not used Legoland's QBots, but I assume they work in the same way as others. If so, yep it will be held, and just keep moving back with the time until you use it or cancel it.
 
belongstothesmiler said:
Hi, not sure if this is the right place to post but after a trip to the towers yesterday I'm planning my next weekend break. either may half term or July 20th. Want to do Thorpe and Alton towers. Travel from home to Alton for a day there stay over and have a second day at the towers, then evening travel to Thorpe park and stay over. Any tips on where to stay? Never been since I was a small child. Also will one day at Thorpe be enough or will I need two? Open to suggestions and money saving tips.
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Glad you're hoping to branch out! Shame it happens to be to Thorpe Park ;-)

Just wanting to advise that Thorpe Park struggles considerably under any type of medium/high attendance day and you may wish to reconsider, if possible, your dates. I understand you may not be able to, so please do be prepared!!

It's quite the drive from ATR to TP, you're very brave. Presuming you have ATR accommodation sorted?

For Thorpe there's the on-site hotel "The Shark" which is situated next to the dome, or there's the fabulously located T5 Travelodge just off the M25, pretty much at the junction off to Thorpe. It's about 15 minutes away dependant on traffic! Have a nose around for Premier Inn/Holiday Inn using Thorpe's postcode, there'll be plenty of choice.

Hope that helps?
 
July 20th might not be too bad, aside from the private schools most of the state schools don't break up until the 21st and most Surrey schools have scrapped their trips to Thorpe this year due to costs, we tend to make our annual trip to Towers the next week for that reason, August is much worse, especially the further you get through, the more bored the kids get the more desperate parents get and they tend to shell out for theme parks as a last resort later in August more than they would in July.

May half term will be hit and miss, if the weather is crap it won't be too busy, if it's good then it'll be a nightmare, Monday or Tuesday of that week will be quietest, but still busy compared to Towers in July.
 
I've used the Travelodge in Chertsey a couple of times for Thorpe, pretty cheap and a pub crawl round Chertsey is fun after the rides.
Two days at Thorpe in peak season???
Were you very naughty in a former life?
 
Sazzle said:
It's quite the drive from ATR to TP, you're very brave. Presuming you have ATR accommodation sorted?


Hope that helps?
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I live 3 hours north of ATR so going there is sort of a half way point to break the journey and extend our trip. our ATR accommodation is usually either uttoxeter premier inn, trough ivy house b and b or splash landings if we can get a good half price deal.

limited with what days we can go as I work in a school so only have school holidays and weekends to go...open to suggestions on when the best time to visit is, nothing set in stone yet just trying to put some plans together for over the summer.

Judging by comments i'm gathering that TP is generally quite busy and queues get a lot bigger than AT during peak times? thought two days there purely because of the distance between my home and TP (around 5 hours).
 
I've heard that getting out of legoland at the end of a day can take a long time is this right?

We're visiting in 2 weeks and we're staying at thorpe parks Shark hotel on the night so driving there at the end of the day

I can't decide between leaving an hour or so early or staying for something to eat after closing time...does anybody know which would be the best option?
 
From experience, get food at the end of the day, Allows you to unwind as well, then meander up to the car park and don't hurry to join the queue. It's generally quicker to turn right at the bottom of the hill to head towards old windsor as otherwise you have to queue through Windsor town and all the way to the M4.
 
Question:

Has anyone ever stayed in Addlestone near Thorpe Park? Seen a new Premier inn being built there on the website and was wondering if its worth staying. Have made the mistake a few times of booking premier inn and it being in an awful place overrun with chavs and drunks - don't want it to happen again.
 
Done the Travelodge in Chertsey twice, had a good stay and it was very peaceful, only a five minute drive to the park.
It was off peak though.
Wouldn't want to do Thorpe on a busy day, sooner put my privates through the mangle.
 
belongstothesmiler said:
Question:

Has anyone ever stayed in Addlestone near Thorpe Park? Seen a new Premier inn being built there on the website and was wondering if its worth staying. Have made the mistake a few times of booking premier inn and it being in an awful place overrun with chavs and drunks - don't want it to happen again.
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Addlestone is fine. There is a big Tesco there and it has a nice high street, with various shops and fast food outlets. There is also a few nice restaurants there too.

Plus it is also home to my favourite vinyl record shop when I lived down south... :)
 
Planning on visiting Thorpe park and Chessington this Friday and Saturday. Does anybody have any tips on which way round I should do them? Heard that Thorpe can be bad at the weekend but my first time at both parks so any advice is appreciated :)
 
Don't go and re arrange for a later date?

If doing Thorpe get there early, turn left out of the dome and head for Colossus first, do that, Saw and Inferno then work your way to Swarm, most people who got the park normally run to Swarm because it's the first thing they see.

Same for Chessie, head for Vampire first aas it usually has awful queues after an hour or so.

The best advice I can give you is head up the M40 to Alton or go in September, as both Thorpe and Chessie will start to become warzones now. If you're insisting, I'd do Thorpe Friday.
 
Towerslover said:
Planning on visiting Thorpe park and Chessington this Friday and Saturday. Does anybody have any tips on which way round I should do them? Heard that Thorpe can be bad at the weekend but my first time at both parks so any advice is appreciated :)
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I'd personally do Thorpe Friday and Chessy Saturday. Chessington will still be evil on the Saturday I would have though but Thorpe probably has more of the rides you'd want to ride so you want to go on the quieter of the two days.
 
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