Alton Towers Hotel

What an amazing park. The rides are incredibly as well as everything in between (gardens, lakes, meal areas). Although you might get some time to go into a ride, while you're queueing you are already "inside" the ride so anticipation is great. All the staff is friendly and helpful. Really hope I can come back.

First time going here. Will most definitely not be the last time. Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. The rides are fantastic and comparing them to universal or Disney, they come out just as exciting! Oblivion was jaw dropping, thirteen was unexpectedly amazing, wicker man being a wooden coaster thrashes you around. Tickets were 38 for each adult when booking in advance, and so was well worth it.

The turnstiles were a bit awkward as if you didn't get through in one rotation or it locks, you can't use your ticket again. A friendly member of staff will sort this out for you though. All in all, a thrilling and brilliant day, book in advance, don't bring bags with you if you can help it (I brought a coat with plenty of pockets), as they are not allowed on rides. Fast track would have helped as the queues on an off peak weekday were still upwards of 30 minutes, so essential on a holiday or weekend.

I enjoyed myself, but wish the rides lasted longer, because when you are waiting a good 20+ minutes and the rides last less than 2 minutes it does not feel good. Beautiful scenery though, and I did enjoy the rides regardless of the duration. My shoulders were a little sore for a day or two afterwards as I was strapped down tightly but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Staff were very polite and enthusiastic.

If anyone is not sure if they are going to have a great time at this resort, don't! Alton Towers is amazing for grown ups and kids alike. It s unique setting in the middle of an outstanding Castle and gardens make of Alton one of the most unique theme parks experiences in Europe and maybe the world. Super recommend!

Great park for grown ups. High adrenaline rides and fun activities. A day trip is too short time, to completely enjoy the park you will need couple of days as too many rides and too much of crowd. But if it's your second visit you know what you like and where to go.

Best to go mid week, Tuesday was lovely and quiet. Clean and safe with friendly staff. Using the app was a must for navigation and update on queue times as well as buying car parking. The fast passes meant we were able to go on all the fast pass rides in one day with a couple of extras, it also means the walk to get to each ride is a lot shorter - added up over every ride this distance made a big difference on our tired feet.

We went for two days and didn't need the fast passes for the second day as all fast pass rides were done in day one. If going again, we would only get Gold passes. By the time you do every ride (fast pass and non fast pass rides) once you can go first thing on any you want to repeat or end of the day (or pay for a one ride fast pass if you have a favourite).

Unless you'll repeat the same ride several times over days, only gold fast pass needed. Standard parking was fine, little point in paying extra. Take out food wasn't bad value or quality but the sit in food was incredibly overpriced and very average quality. Down side was that some rides advertised as fast pass were either closed for days or worse don't even exist anymore!

Not five stars as so much required extra money, the teens wanted the rides but to take the littler ones to Cbeebies was an additional cost, as was the dungeon show etc. Given it cost 00s to go for a family, this should be within the ticket cost for a repeat visit to be value for money.

Great day out, cheap deal on Merlin pass, otherwise very overpriced. Nice walks and attractions. Pays best off weekdays and out of holidays to avoid big queues. Visit of castle should be a must and lovely walks in gardens. Good food options.

Shame about the prices. Way too expensive when you actually think about it. Queues are horrendous unless you pay a fortune for fast pass. And if you are only taking your children and not really going on many rides even worst. But there are good things too. The castle is beautiful ( shame it hasn't been restored yet, if they ever will, it would be an amazing achievement) and the gardens are an incredible refuge from all the chaos around you.

Fun paths, quiet ones and almost secret ones. Up and down there's paths everywhere. When you reach the Chinese temple in the lower lake the noise is almost gone. I walked around there for hours while my kids were on the rides. It was so peaceful. Beautiful. The only other downside was that even though there were some security guards walking around once in a while there were still people smoking stuff they shouldn't around there. The smell really ruined it.

Great day out, but sometimes too much time spent in the queue. If you make it in the early morning you have more chances to do all the rides. If the weather is nice, is a good option for a day out. We always stay a night over.

Fantastic theme park with plenty of rides for thrill seekers as well as your little ones. If you're an adrenaline junkie I'd highly recommend doing the Big 7 (Oblivion, Smiler, Wicker Man, Th13teen, Rita, Nemesis and Galactica). Some of the food and drinks are ridiculously priced but then that is expected from such a location. Carry your own snacks and drinks if you want to save some.

The resort is absolutely humongous so be ready to walk to visit the various themed areas - I suggest taking the Sky Ride to make your life easier; great views too! However, be prepared to queue on busy days - up to 60-90 minutes on some of the popular rides!

An excellent place to take the kids. Plenty of rides to keep the little ones entertained all day while the teenagers enjoy the big rides. The queues normally aren't long, with around 30 minutes for the busiest attractions on a busy day.

Was fairly quiet. Got on all main rides with ease, one or two not working, can check with their app. Rides are great. Food is limited and expensive but plenty of places for a picnic if you take your own

Wasn't too busy as out of season and we got a brilliant deal. Lots of entertainment and staff were great. The gangster granny ride had my kids shocked at the end it was brilliant. Their sea life was brilliant too, kids loved it and was free. Bring masks

One of the best theme parks in Europe with some top class rides. The Nemesis! Beautiful grounds, very green and lots of space to walk around, doesn't appear overly commercialized, located middle of nowhere.

I come from the land of the Mouse, so I have "experience" with theme parks and what people have come to expect from "American Theme Parks" so I wanted to see what the UK had to offer. The Scotsman and I drove the 4+ hours down to Stoke and got a hotel room the night before so that we'd both be well rested, once we woke up we drove the last 30 minutes to the park and what a drive it was.

Apparently they've had some issues with Sat Nav's sending people through this one pass that's terribly narrow, so there are hand written signs on this route saying to avoid. Yes, our SatNav tried to send us through the pass. The scenery getting there was incredible, verdant fields and gambooling lambs. It's GREEN, and I do mean an incredible shade that I'll never forget and the quaint village outside is just beautiful. We're too young to have such beauty.

The park itself is beautiful, Alton Towers itself sits in the middle and is a beautiful structure, ever under reconstruction, it is an epic sight, one I won't soon forget. But it was to be one of our last stops. The first thing we hit on this cool morning after the brisk walk from the parking lot to the front gate (Seemed like a mile) was go to the aquarium.

It was well done and quite a large attraction for a theme park that's major function wasn't an aquarium. The next thing we hit was their new ride, The WickerMan. This ride is beyond beautiful. Yes, it's new, it's not even aged yet, so the wood beams are still pristine, but the runic theming, the sculpted tunnel, the lcd fire and cool mist that blows as the cars hurtle through is just damned amazing.

The pre-story is really well set up, great build up of the mythos. The next thing we hit was the zombie arcade style haunted house, what a fun take on the dark ride. I Loved it. We made our way over to Galactica but it was too busy, the park was only open until 4 and it was already noon. We took the sky ride over to Rita and rode that, it was fantastic.

From there, we went into the Towers and rode Hex. The theming on this is well done, VERY well done. It reminds me of the work done for Howl-O-Scream in Tampa for the haunt called Unearthed. Well the queue does. The ride itself is quite unique. I love the idea of a rotating swing ride. it's a great mind trip. From the exit I got to wander the tower's chapel and the grounds that were open. This. well, I could have done instead riding anything else.

The windows of the chapel, the turrets, it was all that I could ever imagine and more. Truly it was what I'd come for. I was in love. Yes, with the land there. Simply beautiful. After spending an hour taking photos of nearly every nook and cranny, the Scot and I made our way over to Oblivion, I only have one question, where's the rest? I was expecting the rest of Shiekra not just her drop.

It was fun but. c'mon. And the last ride was the Smiler, another well done, if cheaply done, themed ride. HAUNT themeing kept coming back to mind with all of this. They're perfectly done. I can't wait to come back and spend more time here.

Had a great day here last bank holiday monday. Got buy 1 get 1 free on adult tickets from Kelloggs which worked a treat. I had never been to Alton towers before but my partner had and he thought overall, the park looked quite tired and hadn't been updated for a while. We made the mistake of taking the monorail in- this took forever! The guy loading everyone just took the longest time to get 6 people in each carriage and then 6 more people to be waiting in the bays for the next train- its really not that hard!

My partner even tweeted Alton Towers to tell them to hurry it up and he didn't even get a simple sorry! Thirteen is a brilliant new ride really enjoyed it and overall in the day the queues were very short (mainly because of the dire weather we had that day!) However lots of rides were broken. We queued up for Rita for about 15 minutes and when we got to the front it had broken, this was the second time we tried to go on it and the first time the ride was closed completely!

I understand the park are probably taking rides a lot more seriously after what happened but still, we were a little disappointed. Hex, charlie and the chocolate factory and other small rides were also closed which was a shame as we could have done with a few more small rides in between the big ones. When we finally got to go on Rita it was fantastic and I did really enjoy being at the front! Galactica is the new 'air' ride where you get to wear a VR headset and pretend you are blasting off into space. Having never been on air I really loved this ride, I'm a bit of a wuss opening my eyes anyway so it was perfect for me to have a headset on!

My partner would have preferred air the way it was I think. Oblivion also very good ride with no queue whatsoever! Great. Enterprise is also a ridiculous ride which made me feel incredibly sick and screamed throughout! All the staff (apart from rude guys on the Asian grill) were really helpful and smiley and always asked how our day was going! Apart from quite a few hydration stations were out of gas which we thought was a bit of poor planning considering it was a bank holiday monday and in the Easter holidays!

I'm giving Alton Towers a 3 star purely because I think it's lost touch with the average person who they are there to serve. I've been going here since I was a kid and I always used to look forward to my trip for MONTHS in advance! It was a magical special place for me and an experience like no other. Well. going back again in Summer 2015, what can I say?

The whole place has just turned into a money spinning FAKE resort where it just feels like all they want is your money. Want a Coke? That will be FREE with your food. want a bottle of water? That will be 2 please? What? Sorry? Water 2, Coke FREE? How does that work? And don't even get me started on their 'thirst station'! - If I'm thirsty I drink water, seems common sense right?

Well no, not exactly. At Alton Towers their idea of quenching your thirst is with drinks from the Coca Cola company: Coke, Fanta, Sprite, etc. And what happened to all the water fountains? Oh, and "want a picture?" 'No thanks" - "you have to have one before you can enter XYZ" "No I don't, move out of my way!" It's just so wrong on so many levels - where are their ethics?

Big Corp has definitely took hold of this beautiful place that used to hold so many find memories for me. Not only that, but I keep hearing of safety concerns and next thing I know - BAM! Serious accident! No, Alton Towers has lost what it once had. The rides are fun and pretty extreme, so that's a good point, but overall, it's just not for me anymore and I definitely won't be taking my children in the future.

The one good thing they have going for them is that they've maintained the beautiful gardens, that really are STUNNING. You have to take a walk in them if you do end up at the park. I with I could give more stars but 3 it is. I actually feel it's more like a 2 star place due to their ethics, but I'm going with 3 because of the extreme rides and beautiful gardens.

Before I begin my review, I need to make a couple of things clear. One, I hate heights. Despise them. They pose a greater threat of generally going splat. Two, I hate being upside down. There's a reason our heads are on the top, facing up. And three, queuing really ain't my thing. I end up singing and bouncing about the place, people end up weirded out. It's not a good combo.

So you can imagine my sense of sheer glee when one of my former (and favourite) flat mates told me that his stag do was going to entail a visit to Alton Towers! The only thing that got me through the idea of it, was the fact we'd got him this amazing 70s disco outfit to wear for the day. The fact that it made him look like a weird Jimmy Saville clone, and we were gonna make him walk round a theme park full of kids did appeal to my slightly twisted sense of humour. Anyway, into the review.

Good things first - being mid October, and still in the shadow of a certain "incident" over the summer, the park was very quiet, so very little queuing. Strike 3 off my "reasons this place is gonna suck" list. We were able to get onto all the big rides, with minimal fuss, and do most several times too. I even managed way more than I thought, and enjoyed them a lot more too.

The only one that I steadfastly refused to entertain the idea of going on, was Oblivion. I've done it before, and being hung over a massive drop & let go, really didn't appeal to me. I did take great pleasure in watching the sheer look of terror on the faces of the rest of them, as they dangled over the precipice. I may have gotten a bit over-zealous after the River Rapids; namely the water guns you can shoot at people as they go past on the little floaty things.

I may have shot about 5 different people square in the face, and taken immense pleasure in doing so. In my defence however, they got me first, and deserved their soggy faced fate! Bad things - the entry fee. I mean come on, it's now over 50, which is frankly ridiculous. In fact, it's 50.40. FORTY BLOOY P! I really wanna find out off the Alton Towers powers that be what that 40p specifically gets me. Cos it ain't parking.

Which they whack you with another 6 charge for. I mean, it was a good day out, and I had a lot of fun. But I think I could get the same thrills, speed, and sense of danger by walking up Arthur's Seat & just running down one side of it at full pelt. I'd just not be able to shoot people in the face with a water gun. At least without police getting involved.

ROLLERCOASTERS! Maybe you've guessed I'm already a fan of what this park has to offer? Aside from the rollercoasters, there are pubs, gift shops, food restaurants and best of all, a mexican food restaurant - however, as it is a theme park, they do charge more than usual. The rides are quite far apart so prepare for a treck! And I would recommend to go on a weekday or out of peak season to avoid the queues! Halloween is a brilliant time to go but make sure to wrap up warm and prepare for the queues - oh, and dress up :

I have to post a special review for my favourite ride in the UK I ride coasters because I love airtime, which you get when coasters drop or go over hills. One of the most thrilling sensations is the 'drop sensation' when the coaster falls and the steeper the drop, the better Oblivion was the world's first vertical drop coaster when it opened and in my humble opinion, remains the best as far as that drop sensation goes The genius is the simplicity of the ride. Riders are seated abreast in 2 rows of 8 with the back row being slightly elevated to give a good view of the drop.

You then leave the station and are cranked up 3 storeys, where there is a nice view of the surrounding Staffordshire countryside but there isn't much time to enjoy the view A short travel round the track and you arrive at the vertical drop. The thing which makes the ride is as you tip over the edge, the car clicks and is held in a 70% pre-drop suspended postion, allowing the riders to feel the weight of the imminent drop and to look down into the big hole in the ground which is about to swallow them. An arrow is helpfully painted on the ground, pointing to the hole with the helpful advice 'Don't Look Down'.

A water spray creates a mist which obscures your view of what's inside the hole Then, the car releases and you plunge face down into the hole. If you have your hands up and don't hold on, you literally float out of your seat and it is like a parachute jump but you're completely safe. I've ridden other vertical drop coasters round the world like Sheikra at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida and none of them have the same 'weight' of drop that you experience with Oblivion - perhaps dropping into a hole gives that illusion as all elements of the other vertical drop coasters are all above ground Then, before you know it, you're zooming back out into the sunshine and the car has hit the brakes before the station.

You can tell the quality of a coaster by the reaction of the riders and people come off Oblivion laughing, crying, elated, buzzing, and incredulous amongst other emotions As the ride is short, it eats up the queues so I've never had to queue long for a ride. They also have a single rider queue and Fastrack option Best seats to aim for are in the front row on either end of the row, where you feel your arms are going to hit the side of the hole.

Trust me - don't hold on, put your arms up in the air and it really enhances that drop sensation. I've done a parachute jump and it feels just like when you exit the plane on a parachute jump Another nice feature of this coaster is that you can get an extreme close up view of the coaster and riders right at the base of the drop. You can literally see the faces of terror.

Trust me - your friends who don't dare to get on the coaster will definitely give you major kudos points after standing at the base of the drop Other good coasters in the UK for the drop sensation are Apocalypse at Drayton Manor Park and the Pepsi Max Big One at Blackpool Beach but Oblivion remains the best

I defy anybody not to have a day out here when it's such an easy place to get to from Manchester. Grab a train to Stafford and take advantage of one of the amazing mini-breaks on LastMinute.com which includes two days of attraction tickets and a four star hotel to sleep in between the merriment. It's something everyone HAS to do at one point.

Just as Wayne Campbell in the Wayne's World sequel states that everyone in the suburbs is issued with Frampton Comes Alive, so a visit to Alton Towers should be mandatory. This is a park that caters for pretty much any demographic, even if you're not interested in thrill rides. There's a water park, and there's even a heck of a lot of historical stuff to look at too including an old manor in which you can have some food.

I could spend hours listing the rides but I'd be spoiling it for you. Just be aware that the much-loved Corkscrew has been replaced with scary, concept rollercoaster Thi13een, and all the famous must-try coasters are still in residence - Nemesis, the dangly-legged nightmare, Oblivion, the vertical drop that everyone's been stuck on at some point, and so on, as well as a bunch of traditional rides like ghost trains and galleons and suchlike.

I love Alton Towers, I'm 26 as I type this and it always releases my inner child. I heart this park and always will. I really do hope my own children won't have thrill-ride phobia should I have them. I'll be forcing them here as soon as they're old enough.

Went with my boyfriend, cousin and her boyfriend. Went on a Sunday in November. Weather was great, and theme park was very quiet. No queue for any of the rides, and sometimes you could walk off and get straight on again. The 5 they charge you for car parking is a bit steep considering how much it costs you to get into the spa. Rides and attractions, cannot fault them.

Best theme park I have been to. My favourite is Rita the queen of speed. Food is not too bad a price as far as theme parks go, so long as you stick to the usual fast food joints such as McD's and pizza hut, which charge the same prices they do elsewhere. Highly recommended.

The only time I came to Alton Towers, the year was 1998, so this review might not be accurate. I came here when I was visiting my friend Dan, who was studying abroad in Lancaster. We came with a bunch of other Americans studying abroad, a local Brit, and a guy from Northern Ireland. (I asked him about the whole "the north of Ireland" thing, but he said that political discussion was too complex to have while riding roller coasters.) Overall, this place is kinda sad.

There are some really good rides, but whereas most American amusements parks don't seem to have enough room for all the attractions they have, Alton Towers has plenty of space but not so many rides. So you walk around and kind of enjoy the depressing weather. I would definitely come here again, but next time, I want to have that complex political discussion.

If you are into theme parks then Alton Towers is 'The One'. Allow at least a couple of days to get around here. This was the former seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury and the grounds contain a semi-ruined Gothic revival country house. Its first inception as a theme park was in 1980 with the installation of The Corkscrew roller coaster. It is rated 2nd most visited in UK and 11th in Europe but that is only visitors stats.

Ask anyone where the best rides in Europe are and you will generally always get the same answer, Alton Towers. I think part of the reason its visitor count is low is that it is damn difficult to find even though it sits in 500 acres (2 km) of prime English countryside. Just the trip out there is worth it through the beautiful wooded hills and valleys.

You park your car and take the 'Von Roll' monorail in to the main entrance. Interesting fact, the monorail system was acquired from Expo 86 which was held in Vancouver, British Columbia. The monorail transports you directly to the main entrance where you will be greeted at the ticket booths by Edvard Grieg's 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' which is Alton Towers theme music.

It really does set the atmosphere and get your nerves tingling. Get your day ticket and map and get going. Alton Towers has 125 major attractions including; 7 roller coasters. 4 water rides. Also on site are; The Skyride cable car system useful for traversing around the multiple themed areas. The Alton Towers Hotel. Splash Landings Hotel. Alton Towers Waterpark (Cariba Creek). Golf.

Conference Centre. Spa (in the Alton Towers Hotel). Beautiful formal Gardens whose landmarks include: Chinese Pagoda Fountain Corkscrew Fountain The Swiss Cottage Miniature 'Stonehenge' A Greek Choragic Monument Orangaries Ruins of the original stately home. Sometimes features a spooky maze during the Halloween period. Added for the 2000 season was the ride Hex - The Legend of the Towers within the ruins itself, an indoor haunted swing ride which made use of the history of the Towers.

The story for the ride is based on one of Staffordshire's great legends about a chained oak. The ruins are open to the public during most of the open season. Pick of the bunch in my opinion; Oblivion.the world's first vertical drop roller coaster. Air.the world's first B&M flying roller coaster. Rita. Queen of Speed, a launched roller coaster which accelerates to 100 km/h (60 mph) in approximately 2.5 seconds. Runaway Mine Train.or as I heard someone say whilst riding it, it's the "weely wicked wunaway twain" To help you decide where to target for your level of thrills the whole resort is divided into themed areas Towers Street. Ug Land. Mutiny Bay. Katanga Canyon. Forbidden Valley. Cred Street (aimed at youngsters). X-Sector (previously Fantasy World).

Adventure Land (aimed at ages 5 - 11). Old MacDonald's Farmyard (toddlers). I cannot stop going every chance I get. Best theme park in the Europe sans equal. Best time to go. when there are no school holidays, obviously, otherwise you will wait a lot longer to get on the more popular rides. My number one favourite is Nemesis (Europe's first inverted roller coaster) this ride is the most fun you can have whilst still fully clothed and its effect on you can vary dependent upon where you sit.

There is nothing beats the feeling of how this ride slowly pulls away and the automated floor opens up beneath your feet to leave your legs dangling and it then accelerates you away into an unbelievable series of loops and inversions! Cowabunga, I thought my trousers would never dry. Operating season for 2009 is Sunday 22nd March until Sunday 1st November. See you there.

Alton Towers is one of the only places that I get so excited about I nearly pee a little. It's where the magic never ends, people! I go every year (not on my own, that would be remarkably sad) and still behave like a child the entire time I'm there, and insist on arriving for 8am even though last time it didn't open til 10.30 - oops.

Definitely worth bargain hunting for coupons and vouchers prior to your trip though - I signed up for the Walkers Great British Days Out thingy but it ended up cheaper and much healthier to just buy a box of Capri Sun for 3 which had three 'buy one ticket get one free' vouchers on the side. We ended up paying 8 for one of those queue jumper ticket things for all the fast rides, which was well worth it.

We also gave the 'single rider' queue a go a couple of times but it didn't usually work out any quicker than the normal queues. I know it's all geared towards people spending money, and I did end up forking out a good thirty quid on top of my ticket for food, drinks, photos and passes, but as it's only one a year, I don't mind.

Alton Towers sits on the 550 acre land surrounding mansion. This means that the park is spread out a lot, and you will be walking quite abit if you plan to visit each themed area. For the speed/thrill junkies, there are 6-7 main rides which are a must to go on. But for those who don't like the big rollercoasters, there is a plethora of family rides and rides of varying thill/excitement.

The food/drink is expensive inside, so I suggest bringing your own food for the day, as this will save you money. Especially as a standard adult since costs around 36 per day. Make sure you look out for offers, such as Walkers Crisps 1/2 entry, or pre-bookling online through various agents and/or AltonTowers.co.uk If you don't like queuing, you can purchase fast track tickets which allow you to skip most of the queuing for each of the major rides.

But it will cost you. If you don't want to be on rides all day, there is a massive garden/park area filled with ponds, lakes, greenery and serene woodland/park views. Travelling to Alton Towers is okay, as its about 30 mins from the nearest junction on the motorway. But the roads from there, especially through Alton village and its surrounding area, are alittle pokey and can be hectic on a busy summer's day when everyone to going to/from the park.

Alton Towers is a theme park situated in Staffordhire, 3 hours away from London. I won't enumerate all the attractions that you can find there, I'll just give you my favourite ones: Runaway Mine Train Duel: shoot ghosts with your laser gun Corkscrew: rollercoaster (not too scary) The Flume: water ride in a bath tub;-) River Rapids: water ride on a boat UG Swingers: swingers suspended by chains Hex: ride and story about the Legend of the Tower The Gardens: walk through the beautiful gardens of the Park We staid in a hotel in Ashbourne called Quality Hotel (01335 346 666).

It is about 10 miles away from the park and is very nice. The food is fantastic. If you are brave enough, try a ride called Oblivion! I could not do it! Too scary. I have loads of fun. Meals are cheap if there are 4 of you. A lot of deals for 4 people. If you want to buy pictures of you on each ride, you'd rather buy a pass for 20 (5 or 6 pictures). It's much cheaper!

They can also take videos of you on certain rides. For that they give you a wristband at the entrance of the park which picks you when you are on the rides and they take a video of you. But to be honest, you can only see you at the start and at the end of the ride, so it's not really worth it.