It was much the same on July 19th last year too. I'd flew over from Belfast to Birmingham that morning to collect a car in Burton on Trent so I took the kids with me, picked up the car and headed to AT before getting the overnight ferry home to Belfast from Birkenhead that evening.
The park was rammed, huge queues for everything, had to fork out for fast track as our time on park was limited. Was one of the hottest days of the year too, 33 degrees.
The Smiler broke down while we were on it and we ended up sitting in the blistering heat for around half an hour just outside the ride station as they released the harnesses with the battery packs. Wasn't a pleasant experience, the staff were great though and it couldn't have been an easy day for them working in the heat with impatient crowds of people to deal with.