Alton Towers Theme Park is located in Staffordshire and is currently the largest and most visited theme park in the UK, featuring a wide variety of rides and attractions from children’s rides in Cbeebies Land to thrilling and famous roller coasters. It has more than just a theme park, it also has a series of hotels, a water park, a spa, and a mini-golf course so you can make it a whole weekend stay.
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Top Info
📅Open from March to November. Outside of this time the resort has special themed opening times, normally for the Christmas period and also for school half terms.
🕛Open 9am (rides open 10am). Closes 6pm during peak times and on weekends, and at 4pm on off-peak days.
🌍Farley Lane, Alton ST10 4DB
Read about our first time at Alton Towers with kids.
A day of laughter, screams, and me and my husband splitting up!
We arrived and started off at Cbeebies Land. After a couple of rides we soon realised our daughters were quite different regarding the rides they wanted to go on. Our 9 year old is brave when it comes to fairground rides but we knew she was too small for the big rides and maybe needed to work up to the mid range rides, starting with the smaller rides first. While my 12 year old was desperate to go on some of the bigger rides straight away and of course she was tall enough for everything.
So me and my husband split up taking a daughter each for the first part of the day.
I took our eldest, who is 12 and 142 cm tall.
My husband took our 9 year old, who is 133cm tall.
We had a slow start of the day, though, as the first ride we tried to get on " spinball wizard" broke down after being in the queue for 20 mins. So we left to go to "Runaway Minetrain" but that broke down when we were near the front. This was frustrating and just very bad luck, but it did mean it was already 11.30 am, and we hadn't been on good ride.
The day certainly improved. We joined the queue for The Wickerman, it was about 40 minutes but my daughter was so excited for her first big theme park ride at Alton Towers. We both absolutely loved Wicker Man, I was screaming my head off, and my daughter went round, shouting that she was loving it. From then on, we were both on a high. Ticking off rides and the wait time wasn't too bad. Checking the app regularly the queue times ranged between 25mins and 60mins for the big rides.
How was my Husband and Younger Daughter doing
I was getting photos and videos from my husband of their time together. He was going on all the Cbeebies rides with her and getting treats from the shop. They were having a nice time together and getting on lots of the rides as most only had a 5-10min wait.
After Wicker Man, we went back to queue up for Spinball Wizard. We got on this time. My daughter again loved this ride. I was less keen on this one and had my eyes closed the majority of the time. It was a fantastic ride but my fear of heights definitely crept in. While in the queue we even spotted my husband and daughter on the Octonauts ride in the distance which was funny.
Next up for us was Th13teen. My daughter had read that this was a good ride to start on out of the bigger coasters.
It was run to queue up for Th13teen as you were stood under the track of Rita Queen of Speed. It was fascinating watching the super fast coaster go over our heads and made us super excited about Th13teen.
However, when my husband messaged to say, would like to swap daughters for a bit, it was great timing as he got a fun task of actually going on Rita with her. It was nice to swap and get some more chilled time with my littlest. We headed over to The World of David Walliams to go on Gangster Granny. She had already done with ride with her dad but wanted to show me and she had really enjoyed it.
After these rides we met back up and did some rides together as a family. These included Runaway Minetrain, The Marauders Mayhem and Blade. These are all good for under 1.4meter height children.
It started raining at 5pm which made the park suddenly empty. We checked our app as we stood next to Nemesis and saw that Galatica only had a 10 minute queue. So me and my older daughter ran across to join the queue. We got straight inside the waiting area with a view of the ride being loaded with people. Very excited for our first inversion ride of the day, i quickly secured my glasses and sat down in the Galatica seat. My daughter absolutely loved it. as we went zooming around the track all i could hear was her screaming in enjoyment and saying "Wow, i love this". To be fair it was one of my favourite rides of the day too. We got off the ride to find we missed the camera when it took our photo so we went straight back on in the aim to get a better photo. This time round we both liked it even more, know more confident and knowing what to expect. We even let go and had our hands up for the photo.
This was a great finish to our day. It had now started to rain even more and so we started the long walk back to the car, tired but having had a brilliant day.
Top tip
We got to the park at 10am but then realised it is a 20 min walk from the car park. After our visit i found out the park actually opens at 9am, so you can get parked up for 8.30am, walk into the park at 9am, grab and drink and have a casual walk to your favourite ride so you are then first in the queue for when it opens at 10am.
What my eldest and I managed to get on
Spinball wizard
Galatica x2
Rita
Thirteen
Wickerman
Blade
Marauders Mayhem
My little girl went on
Octonaughts
Go Jetters
Get, Set Go
Gangster Granny
Royal Carousel
Flavio's Fabulous Fandango
Runaway Minetrain
Blade
Marauders Mayhem
Heave Ho
Rides for Toddlers and Kids at Alton Towers
If you’re visiting Alton Towers with younger family members, here is a list of the best rides for them.
The main thing is the height of your child rather than their age. And also if they like rides and how confident they are at trying new and scarier rides.
On the app you can add the height of your child and see what rides they are allowed to ride.
Suitable for all ages and heights
Gangsta Granny the Ride
Get Set Go Tree Top Adventure
Peter Rabbit Hippity Hop
Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure
Postman Pat Parcel Post
Battle Galleons
Cuckoo Cars Driving School
For slightly taller and more adventurous kids.
Blade (1m)
Wicker Man (1.2m) This one is definitely for the brave
Spinball Whizzer (1.2m) This one is definitely for the brave
TH13TEEN (1.2m) This one is definitely for the brave
Marauders Mayhem (1.1m)
Congo River Rapids (1.1m)
Heave Ho (0.9m)
Runaway Mine Train (0.9m)
Haunted house style rides
These may be more scary for younger children, if they like scary films they are more likely to be ok with these rides. but this is going to be a personal decision
Hex (0.9m)
The Curse at Alton Manor (0.9m)
The Top Scary Rides at Alton Towers
Nemesis Reborn – 1.4m
Nemesis Sub-Terra – 1.4m
The Smiler – 1.4m
Oblivion – 1.4m
Galactica – 1.4m
Rita – 1.4m
Before our visit i asked people for their top tips and i found them really handy so I've created a list to help on your first visit.
Top Info
🎒 Take a back pack with lunch, snacks in
💧 Take a refillable water bottle as you can re fit throughout the day from the water fountains. Pack a travel squash.
🔑 You can leave you bag in lockers at certain areas.
🎒 Or leave your bag in a cabinet at each ride
🧍♀ Some of the rides have manned staff who swap your bag for a wrist band making it more secure.
📱 Mobile phones can be worn on most rides but only in a zip pocket and kept out of the way of the seat belts so a coat pocket is best.
🎒 On the big rides i would recommend leaving in your bag in the cabinet
👠 No flip flops or loose shoes.
🌧 Raincoat for if it starts raining and the water rides, and good for holding your phone if zip pocket
🚗 The car park is a good 20 min walk from entrance
🚗 Car park costs £10 and can be paid for on the app
⏰ Arrive early and stay late as quieter at start & end of day
🕑 Park opens at 9am, grab a coffee and get to your favourite ride for when it opens at 10am
❤ Take a card game like Top Trumps to play while in queue
🎢 Rides can break down quite often. Its worth staying in the queue for about 5-10 mins to see if its quickly sorted, especially if you have invested time in queueing.
Map
If you want a paper map you can collect one from guest services or print your own by clicking here
About the App
⏬ Download the App
🔋 It uses a bit more of your battery so don't leave the app open when not using it or pack a portable charger.
📏 Put in your height on the app and it will say what you can go on.
⏰ You can check queue times which are pretty accurate
🎢 The map uses gps so you can see where you are. Search or click on a ride you want to go to and it will show you the quickest way to walk to it.
📸 You can add your ride photos to app to see them all together and decide if you want to buy
⏰ Check events and show times on the app. These are normally in Cbeebies Land.
Make a Plan
If you want to make the most out of your day at Alton Towers, I highly recommend putting a plan together. Choose which rides you are most interested in riding.
Once you know which rides you want to do, you can then plan a route around the park. start by heading for the rides which are likely to have the longest queues first (usually the more extreme thrill rides), and tackling all the rides in the same area together to minimise walking times. Keep checking the app to keep an eye on ride closures and queue times.
Lockers
Since your bags and loose articles are not allowed to be taken on the majority of the rides, we recommend that you place all your loose items and valuables into one of our safe and secure lockers. These are available from many locations including:
Towers Street
X-Sector
Forbidden Valley
Dark Forest
Standard Car Parking
Standard car parking can be purchased through the app shop for £10 per car.
Express Car Parking
Express car parking can be purchased in advance for closer access to the Theme Park. For £20
Hotel guests staying overnight in the resort can park for Free in the designated hotel carpark, and then either enter the park from the hotel guest entrance (near the Galactica and Nemesis rides, and the Rollercoaster Restaurant) or take the monorail to the park entrance.
Alton Towers Tickets
The price for Alton Towers tickets (correct as of June 2024):
£29 – £39 for a 1-day pass for ages 3 and up (Normally £68 on the day) Book Here
£29 for a parent and toddler pass. Toddlers are defined as being under 5, and an additional under 5 can be added for £5. This pass is only available on weekdays outside of holiday periods. Click here for Parent & Toddler Deal
Free for those under 3 and carers
Press Visit June 2024
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