Alton Towers Resort General Discussion

Kirsty25 · Wed Jun 26, 2013 10:20 pm

jpdalton wrote: Where do you get the fasttracks for the smiler from? Is it the resort box office or near the smiler?

Thanks
James

I believe it is from either the box office or the fast track huts around the park

Wed Jun 26, 2013 10:21 pm

Yes, I got mine in the resort information / box office just down from the entrance. Quite a few people had the same idea to go and buy fasttracks, so make sure you get there sooner the better to ensure you get a fast track as there are limited numbers available.

Thu Jun 27, 2013 1:46 pm

The Smiler has been officially added to the Gold and Platinum Fastrack tickets on the AT website: Alton Towers - Fastrack

Fri Jun 28, 2013 9:31 pm

Well I visited Alton Towers today, absolutely brilliant day, cannot fault a thing. A few tips for you guys thinking of going in the coming weeks:

1) it is busy. Not horrendous. But busy. If you plan to rise the smiler, get the fast pass for it. 7 quid and gets you an allocated time slot. We literally walked on whilst others queued for nearly 3 hours. Because of this we still managed to get on loads of other rides. Oh and ps, the smiler is absolutely amazing and by far the best ride in the park.

2) head to forbidden valley first, after buying your fast track. Most guests head to the smiler/x sector or that area of the park first. Today was busy but we headed over to nemesis at 10.10am and got on that, air, ripsaw and sub terra by 11. It was great. That is the best way to get a few of the big rides done and dusted and take some pressure off the rest of your day!

3) the smiler is awesome

4) buy the refillable bottles for 9 quid. A bottle of coke on its own is 2 quid. If with a partner, share a refillable? So much cheaper!

5) and finally, enjoy the day! Relax! The queues will be there but get into the atmosphere! I really cannot recommend the smiler fast track enough though! Get it early though as it will sell out! By early I mean as you buy your ticket. We got ours at 10.10am and they were already up to the 1.15pm time slot so I'm guessing they would sell out by 11am.

Hope this helps some people!

I had a brilliant day! Hope others will too!

Sun Jun 30, 2013 11:31 am

Wow that's not too bad selling out that late for the fast track Smiler tickets because not long ago they sold out by 9.45am.

Sun Jun 30, 2013 8:19 pm

Hello everyone!

Just been sat reading all the negative reviews on trip advisor, granted there weren't many, especially in comparison to the hundreds of positive ones!!!

It did get me wondering about my forthcoming trip on Thursday. The negative comments mostly consisted of people moaning about the prices of things, and how busy it was and that the queue lines were an hour plus for most rides and at the entrance and monorail!

Anyone who has been recently can you shed any light on this?? Are these reviews justified? I can't help but think if it is busy this is due to the late opening of the smiler?

I visit the towers every year, and honestly never have issues with queues! We tend to do a circle of the park starting with the flume ending on sonic spinball, which is exactly what we will do again on Thursday. However with people also mentioning it taking a good hour to do the last 15 miles of their journey to even get into the park I'm really worried we are going to be spending the majority of the day in queue lines!

I've never had an issue with queues before (including summer holiday visits) I just thought it would be helpful to have a heads up!!

Thanks everyone

Kirsty25 · Sun Jun 30, 2013 8:34 pm

linzimoo6 wrote: Hello everyone!

Just been sat reading all the negative reviews on trip advisor, granted there weren't many, especially in comparison to the hundreds of positive ones!!!

It did get me wondering about my forthcoming trip on Thursday. The negative comments mostly consisted of people moaning about the prices of things, and how busy it was and that the queue lines were an hour plus for most rides and at the entrance and monorail!

Anyone who has been recently can you shed any light on this?? Are these reviews justified? I can't help but think if it is busy this is due to the late opening of the smiler?

I visit the towers every year, and honestly never have issues with queues! We tend to do a circle of the park starting with the flume ending on sonic spinball, which is exactly what we will do again on Thursday. However with people also mentioning it taking a good hour to do the last 15 miles of their journey to even get into the park I'm really worried we are going to be spending the majority of the day in queue lines!

I've never had an issue with queues before (including summer holiday visits) I just thought it would be helpful to have a heads up!!

Thanks everyone

I would get to the park early - aim to be arriving about 8.50am to then be able to catch the monorail over to the entrance (which will be running). If you want I would go in the box office and get smiler fastracks for later in the day, then start with The Flume, Katanga Canyon , Forbidden Valley etc working around to get to the Smiler around 3.30-4pm.

Doing it that way round (ERT on Nemesis a couple of times) and the only major queues you will hit will be Th13teen and Rita, based on when I went. Naturally the park is a lot busier than usual due to the late opening of The Smiler and people having revalidated tickets.

Hope this helps!

Sun Jun 30, 2013 9:02 pm

Kirsty25 wrote: I would get to the park early - aim to be arriving about 8.50am to then be able to catch the monorail over to the entrance (which will be running). If you want I would go in the box office and get smiler fastracks for later in the day, then start with The Flume, Katanga Canyon , Forbidden Valley etc working around to get to the Smiler around 3.30-4pm.

You're suggesting starting with The Flume, which opens at 11am?

Sun Jun 30, 2013 9:06 pm

Kirsty25 wrote:
linzimoo6 wrote: Hello everyone!

Just been sat reading all the negative reviews on trip advisor, granted there weren't many, especially in comparison to the hundreds of positive ones!!!

It did get me wondering about my forthcoming trip on Thursday. The negative comments mostly consisted of people moaning about the prices of things, and how busy it was and that the queue lines were an hour plus for most rides and at the entrance and monorail!

Anyone who has been recently can you shed any light on this?? Are these reviews justified? I can't help but think if it is busy this is due to the late opening of the smiler?

I visit the towers every year, and honestly never have issues with queues! We tend to do a circle of the park starting with the flume ending on sonic spinball, which is exactly what we will do again on Thursday. However with people also mentioning it taking a good hour to do the last 15 miles of their journey to even get into the park I'm really worried we are going to be spending the majority of the day in queue lines!

I've never had an issue with queues before (including summer holiday visits) I just thought it would be helpful to have a heads up!!

Thanks everyone
I would get to the park early - aim to be arriving about 8.50am to then be able to catch the monorail over to the entrance (which will be running). If you want I would go in the box office and get smiler fastracks for later in the day, then start with The Flume, Katanga Canyon , Forbidden Valley etc working around to get to the Smiler around 3.30-4pm.

Doing it that way round (ERT on Nemesis a couple of times) and the only major queues you will hit will be Th13teen and Rita, based on when I went. Naturally the park is a lot busier than usual due to the late opening of The Smiler and people having revalidated tickets.

Hope this helps!

Yeah that's the order I tend to go in anyway and always aim to be there for 9ish.

Hopefully sticking to the old trusty "Alton towers tradition" when we visit it should be like every other year, only really having to queue for Rita and thirteen like you said! Think we will invest in fast track for the smiler though!!

Thanks again!

Kirsty25 · Sun Jun 30, 2013 9:48 pm

D4n wrote:
Kirsty25 wrote: I would get to the park early - aim to be arriving about 8.50am to then be able to catch the monorail over to the entrance (which will be running). If you want I would go in the box office and get smiler fastracks for later in the day, then start with The Flume, Katanga Canyon , Forbidden Valley etc working around to get to the Smiler around 3.30-4pm.
You're suggesting starting with The Flume, which opens at 11am?

I was suggesting starting at that side of the park - not specifically the flume or the rapids as neither actually opens until 11am....

Mon Jul 08, 2013 4:35 pm

I done this for myself and it may help others aswell! It's a little collage of the queue times for today as I'm going tomorrow for 2 nights, it shows when some rides are busier etc.
The smiler was only 60 minutes at 4:00!

http://s9.postimg.org/uz4wl1dhr/image.jpg

Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:52 pm

I'm going tommorrow with school and just as a heads up, Mr Pritchard (deputy head) said in assembly they were excpectin 28 thousand on park! I sat there thinking I highly dout it, that you get at scarfest!

Wed Jul 10, 2013 10:51 pm

ollboll9 wrote: I'm going tommorrow with school and just as a heads up, Mr Pritchard (deputy head) said in assembly they were excpectin 28 thousand on park! I sat there thinking I highly dout it, that you get at scarfest!

I don't see how this is impossible. An absolute ton of school trips will be going this week and next. Park is going to be at near full capacity.

Fri Jul 12, 2013 2:21 pm

28k is full to capacity for Towers I believe, but it'll be busy nonetheless.

Fri Jul 12, 2013 8:09 pm

We're getting an average of around 25'000 a day at the moment, so really busy!!

Fri Jul 12, 2013 10:37 pm

I think ride time boards need to be placed more frequently around the park, I think one is needed in x-sector and another in forbidden valley or haunted hollow. They're hard for me to find, never mind someone who isn't used to the park!
Also, the one in towers street had broken and been took down last time I was there, does any one know weather this has been put back in place?

Danny · Fri Jul 12, 2013 11:38 pm

I'm hoping they're going to replace each board one by one to match the styles of the new ones introduced at Thorpe.

Sat Jul 13, 2013 1:11 am

The Thorpe ones look amazing don't they, shame on every visit this year the information has been completely wrong.

For example Saw the Ride 90 mins, real time = walk on, there are many other example of queue times being way out. I don't mind the old style queue boards, but I just want accurate times. I doubt we will get new ones at the Towers this year as if they were going to introduce them, then the Smiler would have been fitted with them.

Sat Jul 13, 2013 9:24 am

Deirdre Barlow wrote: 28k is full to capacity for Towers I believe, but it'll be busy nonetheless.

On concert day, the park had upwards of 33k on. So it can get busier!

Sat Jul 13, 2013 5:56 pm

This has maybe been mentioned before, but how long has there been a pheasant hanging around underneath the Thirteen holding track? Just after exiting the reverse helix when you come to a halt, if you're sitting in the last row turn around and look in the ditch below the track. I only saw the one, but my friend said earlier he had seen little ones in there too. Just wondering if they're a permanent fixture of if they just hung around in there for a day unnoticed by staff.