How to beat the queues at Alton Towers
Planning a trip to Alton Towers when it reopens? Discover the new entry rules which will impact anyone with young children, and five ways to beat the queues.
Alton Towers has announced new rules when it opens in March. While previously kids under the age of three could visit the theme park for free, now this has changed with the new rules allowing anyone underneath 90cm to enter for free instead.
To help you understand the rides your little ones will actually be able to experience, AttractionTickets.com have compiled a handy list. Children that meet the 90cm height will be able to ride nine rides including:
- Extraordinary Golf
- Haunted Hollow
- Hey Duggee’s Big Adventure Badge
- JoJo & Gran Gran at Home
- Justin’s House Pie-O-Matic Factory
- Monorail
- Sharkbait Reef by SEALIFE
- Something Special Sensory Garden
- The Alton Towers Dungeon
There are however 14 rides that children will need to be accompanied by an adult on and 15 rides they’re not tall enough to ride at all, including the highly anticipated reopening of Nemesis Reborn.
Five tips to help you beat the queues at Alton Towers
If you’re planning a trip on March 16 with your children, Oliver Brendon, CEO of AttractionTickets.com shares his top five most useful tips on how you can dodge the queues and enjoy the theme park to its fullest.
1) Be an early bird
While it may sound obvious, the quietest times to avoid ride queues are the first 60 to 90 minutes of the day. If you buy your tickets online and get there early, you’ll benefit from the extra time when the gates open. This way you can head to your favourite rides first or relax knowing you don’t have to rush through big crowds.
2) Download the My Disney Experience app to track the queues
Many theme parks now have their own apps available that allow visitors to track the queue times at each ride in real-time. Download the Alton Towers Resort App when you visit to view on the day queue times and live ride availability.
You can plan your schedule to fit the popularity and peak time of each ride. We’d recommend downloading the app a couple of days ahead of your arrival to start reviewing which rides look the busiest so you can plan ahead.
3) Flip your route
It’s natural for most people to start at the front of the park and work their way around. However, flipping your route and starting with the rides at the back of the park could mean you avoid those pesky queue times – especially if the park has only been open for a couple of hours says Oliver.
4) Experience the most popular rides during lunch hours
Every mouth eventually gets hungry and come lunch-time there’s likely to be a bigger queue for your food than there is for the rides. If you can plan an early lunch, or bring snacks and take a later break, this is the perfect time to head to some of the most popular rides which tend to have queues all day long.
5) Check height restrictions on rides
If you’re with the kids, it’s a good idea to check the height restrictions on rides. You can do this via the website, app, or at information booths so you know which rides they can definitely go on. This means you’ll be able to manage expectations of smaller children by letting them know in advance which rides they will be able to enjoy on the day.
AttractionTickets.com – formerly known as Attraction Tickets Direct – is Europe’s largest attraction ticket specialist selling over 1 million tickets each year.
The multi-award-winning company, founded in 2002, aims to Add Happiness® to holidays by making it easier, cheaper and faster to buy tickets to the world’s major attractions. Packages are sold with full financial protection from ABTOT.
