Has anyone been to Alton Towers alone, What is it like?

[Alexsniff7]

(whoop first post hello everyone!!! :3)

So basically I want to do more trips to towers but my only theme park enthusiast friend can't go all the time which leaves me going alone.

I want to know what it is like to go alone, any tips to make the day better and are there any rides which you can't do alone?

Thanks again and I am so happy to be a towers street member now XD

 

[Thameslink Rail]

Welcome to Towers Street
There are definitely pros and cons to going solo
The biggest perk is the single rider queue for the Smiler, this can slash your wait time by filling gaps left by the main queue.
There are no rides that you can't do alone (assuming you are over 1.3m tall).
The downside I find is queues feel longer as you can't chat through them so make sure you've got some good games and books on your mobile!

 

[Alexsniff7]

Welcome to Towers Street
There are definitely pros and cons to going solo
The biggest perk is the single rider queue for the Smiler, this can slash your wait time by filling gaps left by the main queue.
There are no rides that you can't do alone (assuming you are over 1.3m tall).
The downside I find is queues feel longer as you can't chat through them so make sure you've got some good games and books on your mobile!

Oh I use smiler single rider all the time anyway (bring back single rider on everything please)

 

[Matt N]

I’ve never visited Alton Towers specifically alone, but I have spent 2 solo days at Thorpe Park and a solo day at Drayton Manor, and I have to say that while it is a very different type of visit to going in a group, and your first solo visit may feel like a bit of a leap to take, I really enjoy a solo visit in many ways!

I always feel slightly ashamed to admit it, as I mostly go to theme parks with other people, but there are definite pros to going alone, in my view, including:

• Where applicable, you can use single rider queues without the contentious issue of splitting your group up. These often reduce your queueing time and mean that you can get more rides in.
• You are your own boss. You are the sole dictator of what you go on, where you eat, when you go to the toilet, when you enter, when you leave etc; everything can happen on your own terms without needing to compromise and cater to the wants and needs of anyone else.
• Solo trips can often be more efficient in terms of ride count and traversing the park, from my experience. This isn’t necessarily a criticism of group visits, but you’d be very surprised by just how much faffing you cut out by going solo. Particularly if you visit parks in a large group, visiting with others adds more faff, more waiting around and you often traverse the park more slowly and get on less.

The lack of company is a clear downside to going on your own, and on some ride types (I’m thinking of the more “social” ride types like rapids rides), it can sometimes feel a bit weird riding without others, but in the queues in particular, I thought that it felt far less weird than I expected. I found that having a phone or something to occupy me in line made the time whiz by, and even waiting on my own without this wasn’t nearly as strange as I expected. Admittedly, I’m more of an introvert and much happier in my own company, so being on my own probably bothers me less than it does some, but I find that queueing and traversing the park on my own doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

Overall, I would recommend trying a solo park visit. It’s undeniably a very different type of visit, but it can open many doors for you!

 

[NuttySquirrel]

(whoop first post hello everyone!!! :3)

So basically I want to do more trips to towers but my only theme park enthusiast friend can't go all the time which leaves me going alone.

I want to know what it is like to go alone, any tips to make the day better and are there any rides which you can't do alone?

Thanks again and I am so happy to be a towers street member now XD

I went by myself about 10 days ago, albeit not for an entire day but for an afternoon (I was staying with my parents who live locally and they had a prior commitment). It's actually pretty liberating, I obviously enjoy visiting the park with friends but if you're by yourself you can just pick and choose whatever you feel like doing, make use of all the single rider queues Smiler's single rider queue and wander around exploring. I headed down into the gardens as it was such a nice afternoon and took random paths until I deliberately got lost, had a friendly chat with another single guest in the front row of Thirteen, and sat out some downtime in the Wickerman queue by perching on a step in the queue line and getting my e-reader out!

A couple of downsides: rather unexplicably as it was walk-on I was batched with a family of three on Spinball, so was sat rather awkwardly next to a random teenager; given how quiet it was I would have thought a single rider might be given their own row. And I didn't do any non-coaster rides - things like Congo River Rapids, Marauder's Mayhem, Battle Galleons would be a bit odd to do by yourself I think. I could have done Alty Mans but decided not to as I knew I'd be doing it with a group the following day. Anything in CBeebies land is probably ruled out.

Can definitely recommend it in general though - especially if you're going to focus on coasters, you'll have a great time!

 

[rob666]

Done it many times over many years...going right back to when mobiles didn't exist, and queues were actually social occasions, with many people chatting to many strangers, for fun!
Those were the days.
Go where you like, when you like, eat what you want, when you want, ride what you fancy, and go home when you have had enough.
Don't forget that really nice sit down in the gardens for ten minutes in the middle of the day.
And find the stepping stones.

 

[Katy]

As others have said really, so if you find a ride you like with no queue there's nobody stopping you spending an hour re-riding. I try to go on quieter days if I'm on my own, so there's less time spent stood in queues. Most of my visits to most parks are on my own (I'm going to Parc Asterix on my own next week) as all my coaster friends live a long way away and we all suck at planning.

 

[jon81uk]

Only park I've ever done solo was the Magic Kingdom at Disneyworld and it was great.
Can decide what you want to do, if you want to ride something can just go for it whereas with a group there will often be people who don't want to do certain things. If you want to spend time just chilling in Sea Life, or riding the Smiler 20 times in a row you can make your own choices.

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

I haven’t done Alton Towers alone but I have done I other UK and European parks solo and have always had a great time. As others have said you get to be your own boss and do exactly what rides and attractions you want at whatever pace you like.

However I’d also say that if you happen to be in a queue and see an enthusiast wearing an interesting park shirt or hoodie don’t be afraid to say hello to them. On a solo trip to Chessington recently I got chatting to a Dutch enthusiast who was also on a solo trip and we actually buddied up for bit and hit some rides together whilst talking about parks and coasters, it was pretty fun.

 

[Livin’ the coaster life]

Yes I went on my own the other week.

I was a bit nervous about it but actually, I really enjoyed it! I could go at my own pace, ride what I wanted to ride and as many times as I wanted as well as eating when I felt like it. The only problem I had was that I rode too much and made myself a bit queezy .

 

[Ethan]

So basically I want to do more trips to towers but my only theme park enthusiast friend can't go all the time which leaves me going alone.

Majority of my trips have been solo this year and have to say its still great fun. Rides are just the same the only difference is that queueing on your own can be quite tedious but I've got used to it and I don't mind it now. You need to be strong willed because walking around on your own all day and not being able to talk to anyone can get to you. The more you do it the better you'll get at it

 

[Leigh]

I've done towers a few times solo this year, and actually went across and did Plopsaland de Panne and Bellewaerde solo in August. Honestly, I actually found it less stressful than many of my visits with some of my non-enthusiast friends. Can go at my own pace, which in my case is "bolt around and do everything as quickly as possible ", and not have to worry about what others do or don't want to do. At Plopsa and Towers I also ended up chatting with other solo people in various queues which was quite interesting (a guy I spoke to from Kent in the Ride to Happiness queue was saying he hopped across to Plopsa once or twice a month solo with an AP as it was easier to get to than Towers and more enjoyable than Thorpe/Chessington!)

It isn't a substitute for visiting parks with others (especially with other idiots also into this hobby of ours), but you can have some great solo days at any major park and you 100% won't be the only one doing it either. Although maybe try to steer clear of the kiddie creds if you're solo as you might get some looks...

 

[caffeinesplash]

I go mostly on my own, I can only echo what others have said.
It's great fun, even if I don't go all day I end up doing 20-25k steps, which wouldn't be likely if I wasn't alone. It does me good!

 

[Jb85]

What I would say, is there is likely to be a member of the forum on site at any time, so maybe see about hooking up if you want the social aspect?

 

[Ethan]

What I would say, is there is likely to be a member of the forum on site at any time, so maybe see about hooking up if you want the social aspect?

This is true. I go like every week so if you're there at the same time as me I wouldn't be surprised

 

[ScottishChris]

I’ve never visited Alton Towers specifically alone, but I have spent 2 solo days at Thorpe Park and a solo day at Drayton Manor, and I have to say that while it is a very different type of visit to going in a group, and your first solo visit may feel like a bit of a leap to take, I really enjoy a solo visit in many ways!

I always feel slightly ashamed to admit it, as I mostly go to theme parks with other people, but there are definite pros to going alone, in my view, including:

• Where applicable, you can use single rider queues without the contentious issue of splitting your group up. These often reduce your queueing time and mean that you can get more rides in.
• You are your own boss. You are the sole dictator of what you go on, where you eat, when you go to the toilet, when you enter, when you leave etc; everything can happen on your own terms without needing to compromise and cater to the wants and needs of anyone else.
• Solo trips can often be more efficient in terms of ride count and traversing the park, from my experience. This isn’t necessarily a criticism of group visits, but you’d be very surprised by just how much faffing you cut out by going solo. Particularly if you visit parks in a large group, visiting with others adds more faff, more waiting around and you often traverse the park more slowly and get on less.

The lack of company is a clear downside to going on your own, and on some ride types (I’m thinking of the more “social” ride types like rapids rides), it can sometimes feel a bit weird riding without others, but in the queues in particular, I thought that it felt far less weird than I expected. I found that having a phone or something to occupy me in line made the time whiz by, and even waiting on my own without this wasn’t nearly as strange as I expected. Admittedly, I’m more of an introvert and much happier in my own company, so being on my own probably bothers me less than it does some, but I find that queueing and traversing the park on my own doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

Overall, I would recommend trying a solo park visit. It’s undeniably a very different type of visit, but it can open many doors for you!

I know this is an old post - so sorry for dredging it up. But I will continue...

I've done a few parks solo, and generally enjoy being able to just do what I want instead of having to come to a 'consensus' . Lots of people ride solo, be it because they are at the park alone, or because their group don't want to do that ride - so you never feel particularly odd. Up until recently, Pleasure Beach ride ops were actually great at chatting to solo riders which was nice - that was until the standards of service dropped off a cliff.

Going to what you mention about being batched with families or groups... that can be awkward. Well, in the UK at least. I done Europa Park solo a few years back when a friend dropped out. Everyone I was batched with, although predominantly German (obvs) wanted to chat. One group even tried to get me to join them for the day. They were all in their early 20's and I was in my mid-30's so as much as I appreciated the offer I declined as it felt a bit odd! A family on the Rapids asked about every question imaginable - they were lovely and sociable, but a tad intense. I think they wanted to try out their English.

 

[Matt.GC]

It's quite a journey to Towers for me. I didn't do it this year because of other things happening in my personal life, but a late March mid-week solo visit is a staple of mine. I put some political podcasts on in the car, leave early to avoid traffic around Bristol and Birmingham and usually one of the first cars in the car park and on the first monorail of the day after grabbing a coffee in Splash. I like my own company and its one of the few times I can take a break from both my roles at work and at home.

Because the kids, including my own, tend to be at school, the park is quiet and it's a chance to explore things that you can't do when you're trying to please other people in your party. When I had a MAP and a field based role at work, I dipped in and out of Merlin parks quite a bit on my own. A couple of times on the way back home from Bradford on a Friday night, I carried on down the M1 and popped into to Towers for a few night rides at Scarefest. I got cought in traffic on the M25 one evening outside Thorpe so popped in there solo also and lapped Stealth a few times after park close as they let me stay on whilst all the staff took in a few rides.

You still do strike up conversations with people, probably more so I'd say when you're alone. The family got tired at PA in the summer so I did a few hours in Ferrari Land solo. I ended up striking up a bit of a friendship with a couple of German blokes. We struck up a conversation about queue jumping when they noticed we were the only ones in the queue who seemed culturally at odds with all this activity. Turns out they go all over Europe visiting parks. We talked about Europa, Phantasialand, Efteling, Energylandia, how crap Chessington is ("zat nu B unt M looks rubbish ya?") and how excited we all where for Nemesis to reopen. We had great time.