Alton Towers Resort Quick Questions

[Nickolai]

Does anyone know where the speakers are located in the Hex Vault and the Subwoofers in the main queue line?

[Liam.W]

You mentioned about early entry... do you mean to the theme park? If so, because you aren't staying at one of the onsite hotels, you won't be able to do this. My recommendation is that you book a taxi a day in advance for about 9am to 9.30am as the park opens to day guests at 10am.

You can get into ERT with pre-booked tickets. ERT is available for annual pass holders, hotel guests, and people with pre-booked tickets.

Also. The theme park is open until 6pm that day

[Robert.W]

Thanks for correcting me. I never knew!

[SolidGold]

Thank you both for the response! I do plan to take full advantage of the hours from 9AM early admission to as late as possible as it may be years or a decade until I'll be back.

Another  Two Questions, as the website is unclear: I see there is WIfi in the Resort Center, however does this Wifi extend to the park? Any particularly strong/weak areas of Wifi if so? 

I will also be a single Rider and probably a Gold Fastrack, I'm thinking to power-ride Nemesis first since it's my #1 priority in all of the UK, then Galactica if it's reopened by then for the 10AM start. Good plan or go the other way instead for  Octonauts/Oblivion then Smiler? Priority would be hopefully at least 5 rides on Nemesis and 3-4 on Smiler, everything else 1 or 2 rides will do. For Single Rider are we looking at 15 minutes typically, or like 1 hour?

[Nickolai]

I know that at the park they have wifi called 'The Cloud' which is powered by SKY. I wouldn't know where the strong or weak areas are around the park, however, I received fairly good connections where I used it. For single rider, it depends how busy the day is. But from personal experiences the longest I have waited was 20 minutes for The Smiler and that queue was coming out of the projection room. You should personally expect anything from 5mins up to 30/40mins. This was on a busy school day three days ago where The Smiler peaked 95 minutes. I have found starting at Nemesis and working round in a clockwise direction usefull as in my experiences by the time I have reached The Smiler it has a smaller queue than at the start meaning a smaller single rider in my case.

 Hope this helps!

[Robert.W]

I would buy th fastrack at the beginning of th day as soon as you enter and then, I would actually try and do both Oblivion (first) and Nemesis (second) during the early ride time, without using the fastracks. In fact you could easily do two rides on each in a row. I would do perhaps two rides on Oblivion and then go to Nemesis and do as many as you want. Then by that time early rides time will have ended so you could go straight to Galactica and go for a few rides (of course it depends if it is actually open!) and after this take the Skyride to Dark Forest, where you can make your way to The Smiler where you could see the wait times and decide wether or not about using the fastrack for it. Also Dark Forest will be open by 11am, so if you are there sharpish, you might not need to use fastracks for those rides first time either, so you could easily come back at busier times and you would have had two rides on them. And one final tip, at the end of the day, just before the rides close the queues, choose the ride with the longest queue, as they won't kick you out as long as you're in it before the queues have closed. For this I would pick The Smiler. Hope this is of some help to you!

[S.J_O'Grady]

Anyone have (or know where I can find) a video of the full Rollercoaster Restaurant projection show, good quality?

[ColossusInferno]

First time I been to Alton Towers for over a year, and I noticed that you are only held on the holding chain for 1 SECOND on Oblivion! Why is it so short now? Not like there are any queus anymore. Anyone know the reason? Thanks!

[Dan]

First time I been to Alton Towers for over a year, and I noticed that you are only held on the holding chain for 1 SECOND on Oblivion! Why is it so short now? Not like there are any queus anymore. Anyone know the reason? Thanks!

The majority of the shuttles still hold you for 3 seconds. I believe at least one of them has some wear and tear on the mechanism that connects to the holding brake which is why it releases sooner than the rest of them.

[ColossusInferno]

Thanks Dan!

[Nickolai]

Is it possible to get film permits or something similar to be able to film on rides at Merlin parks? Because I have heard at places like Busch you can be directed to managers that can give you a special card that allows you to do so. Just wondering...

[Dan]

Is it possible to get film permits or something similar to be able to film on rides at Merlin parks? Because I have heard at places like Busch you can be directed to managers that can give you a special card that allows you to do so. Just wondering...

The website states that "due to the Health & Safety of all of our guests we do not permit filming on our rides and attractions"

[AltonOperator]

It is possible to film on rides but I believe it is for the purpose of shooting for TV shows and films.

http://www2.altontowers.com/press-centr ... otography/

"We are happy to consider requests to film on-board our rides but require at least 12 working days to arrange this. While we will endeavour to accommodate as many requests as possible, approval of on-board filming is subject to the Resort's Health & Safety procedures.
On-board filming is subject to a pre-site visit with a member of the Press Office, completion of our Health & Safety forms and submission of your public liability insurance, risk assessment and camera use method statement."

[Robert.W]

Sounds as if they are just trying to be difficult with that statement, possibly hoping they will just scare off anyone who does want to film on the rides...

[Ladyofthelake]

Sounds as if they are just trying to be difficult with that statement, possibly hoping they will just scare off anyone who does want to film on the rides... just wear a Go-Pro underneath a coat and after the vehicle has dispatched the station, unzip it so the ride can be filmed.   

Towers are not trying to be difficult at all. All parks have their rules on filming on rides and by purchasing a ticket and entering the park you agree to abide by those rules. It has been known for rides to be stopped as a result of people trying to conceal cameras so this should in no way be promoted or encouraged as a way of bypassing the rules of the park. Anyone who does breach the park's rules runs the risk of being asked to leave the park.

[Robert.W]

Just the statement from the website though makes it sound as if they are trying to make it not worth the bother for people applying to be able to film.

[Ladyofthelake]

Just the statement from the website though makes it sound as if they are trying to make it not worth the bother for people applying to be able to film. As long as you wear a thick enough coat, it should be virtually impossible for the ride operators to be able to tell there is even a camera there... it's just what I would do. For me it would be worth the risk...

This is something that should not even be attempted. As mentioned in my previous post, it is against the rules of entry for Alton Towers Resort and has resulted in ride stoppages in the past - the last thing the park needs right now is ride stoppages resulting in people attempting to break the rules.
Any further mention of ways to get around the park's rules on filming on rides in this, or any other thread from anyone will result in myself, or another member of the team being forced to take action against whoever makes such a post, which may include a temporary suspension of posting privileges. We can in no way condone or encourage any form of discussion regarding people breaking the rules the park put in place.

[Robert.W]

I do apologise.

[Adam.W]

To be completely honest though, I don't see why people have the urge to record on ride POVs themselves anyway, especially considering there are already much higher quality versions on youtube (not to mention the other disadvantages pointed out in previous posts).

[Robert.W]

It is possible to film on rides but I believe it is for the purpose of shooting for TV shows and films.

http://www2.altontowers.com/press-centr ... otography/

"We are happy to consider requests to film on-board our rides but require at least 12 working days to arrange this. While we will endeavour to accommodate as many requests as possible, approval of on-board filming is subject to the Resort's Health & Safety procedures.
On-board filming is subject to a pre-site visit with a member of the Press Office, completion of our Health & Safety forms and submission of your public liability insurance, risk assessment and camera use method statement."

The full PDF that Alton Towers have on ride photography was an interesting read... it seems very aimed at TV studios and professional companies who want to film in the park, and not just on the rides. Especially as they require a copy of your public liability insurance that has a minimum cover of £5000000! 
I don't suppose it would hurt to inquire if regular park guests are allowed to film onboard rides with the park's permission but it does seem unlikely it would be allowed.