Around the Park

If you can avoid taking a bag to Alton Towers, that is the best tip, and if you do have to have a bag with you, we recommend making it as small as possible. The less luggage you have with you on your visit, the easier your day will be.

Alton Towers run enhanced bag checks at the park entrance, so you may find that you have a slightly longer wait to get into the park, especially if you have a larger bag with you.

If you’re lucky enough to be staying at the resort hotels, you can avoid taking your bags into the park by taking advantage of free bag & luggage storage at the hotels on the day of your stay and the day after – just ask at your hotel reception for details.

Storing your bags with lockers

The park offers automated luggage lockers for storage of all items, big and small. There are a number of automated luggage locker points around the park, including:

• Towers Street (next to the toilets by the turnstiles)
• Dark Forest (by the Rita tunnel in the middle of the area)
• X-Sector (located just up from the entrance to Oblivion)
• Forbidden Valley (located in the shelter next to the Galactica lift hill)

These lockers are available in different sizes at different costs per hour period or per day. The rental cost is charged at the time of hiring, however if you take longer than paid for, you must pay the additional rental cost before your locker is released.

For the duration of the paid for rental period, you can open and close your locker as many times as you like at no additional cost. When you open your locker, you’ll be asked if you wish to keep it or not, if you have rental time remaining.

The lockers are secured with your date of birth and a colour you select when you hire the locker, so don’t forget these as you will need to contact Guest Services to access your locker otherwise.

Bags on rides & attractions

If you’re taking a bag with you on any of the parks rides, you do so at your own risk. No matter what bag storage is available, the resort is ultimately not responsible for any theft or loss, although staff do their best to monitor the baggage stores.

On some rides, you must take any bags on the ride with you, including all the park’s water rides. This means you might consider leaving them with a non rider or in a locker, particularly if you do not want to risk getting your belongings wet or damaged. On other rides, such as the Runaway Mine Train and The Blade, you will be asked to leave bags on the platform area.

Quite a few of the larger rides and coasters, which do not allow bags or loose articles on board, offer free baggage storage for you to stow your items whilst you are riding. Some rides may have a staffed bag store facility in the queue, where you’ll be given a wristband to collect the items after riding. Other rides offer a baggage cage or rack that you place your items into yourself when you board the ride. You then collect the items as you exit the ride.

Even if it’s forecast to be pouring with rain, you can still enjoy most Alton Towers’ attractions whatever the weather.

There are some rides and attractions that close in particularly inclement weather. For example, the rollercoasters will close when thunder and lightning is in the vicinity for your safety. High winds may close the Skyride for safety. Also, hail, thick fog, and very heavy rain may cause some rollercoasters to close temporarily for your comfort and safety – being launched by Rita into driving rain isn’t particularly pleasant, even for most die hard rollercoaster fans!

Rest assured though that rides will only remain closed for the duration of the inclement weather, and if the weather conditions improve, the chances are that the ride will reopen too.

Of course, whatever the weather, you can still enjoy many indoor and covered attractions. Rides and attractions like Hex: The Legend of The Towers, The Curse at Alton Manor, and Sharkbait Reef by SeaLife as well as several attractions in CBeebies Land all offer shade from the sun and shelter during bad weather.

Top tips for hot & sunny days

• Don’t forget to slap on your sun cream – you’ll be surprised how much sun exposure you get stood in queues and walking around, so always play it safe, even if you don’t burn easily.
• Keep hydrated! If you have your own water bottle with you, there are also water refill stations dotted around the park.
• Alton Towers also offer Coca-cola Freestyle, offering unlimited drinks refills from kiosks around the park, which can save you money on the bottled soft drinks.
• Get the water rides done nice and early – on hot days, most water rides get very busy during the afternoon – and if you do get soaked, you’ll have all day to dry out too.
• If you need a break from the sun, check out some of the cooler and shaded attractions like Sharkbait Reef, The Curse at Alton Manor, Big Fun Showtime and Hex: The Legend of the Towers. Or how about a wander through the shade of the Gardens.

Top tips for rainy days

• Be prepared! Even if you’re not expecting rain, try and pack yourself a good waterproof coat, even if you leave it in your car for the day. You can also purchase a re-usable poncho from most Alton Towers shops, if the worse comes to the worst. If you don’t want to pat Alton Towers prices for a poncho, if you think ahead you can also pick up similar rain ponchos from bargain shops in your local high street from as little as £1.
• Pack some spare clothing and trainers/shoes in your car or luggage. We can pretty much guarantee that despite your best efforts, you’re inevitably going to get wet somehow! If not from the weather, then maybe from one of the water rides.  Alton Towers does tend to have a rather large collection of puddles in the heavy rain, particularly in ride queue lines. So don’t forget your spare footwear – squelching trainers and shoes are never fun to travel home in.
• Umbrellas can also be useful, but don’t forget you’ll need to leave them with a non-rider or at baggage hold facilities for most rides. If you are taking an umbrella with you, best make it a small one that is easily stowed away.
• Avoid the water rides, unless you don’t mind getting even wetter. If that’s the case, then a rainy day is perfect for enjoying the water rides, as it’ll likely be very quiet with everyone trying to stay dry.
• If you don’t mind braving the rain, utilise Spinball Whizzer’s single rider queue. The ride operates on three people per car during wet weather, rather than the usual four. As people are more often than not in even group numbers, you’ll find you’re on the ride much quicker than if the ride was running at full capacity.