The 'How busy will it be?' Topic

Been to an attraction recently? Planning a trip? Tell us about it here or get some hints and tips for your next visit.
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Burniel
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From my own personal experiences, I'll say this for visiting a Merlin park in the summer holidays:
  • The second half of the holidays is often slightly quieter as most people have already been
    If possible, visit on a day with light rain in the forecast
    Sunday mornings are often the quietest times of the week
    Water rides are far busier than usual
    The first weekends after school holidays end are usually very quiet
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Shane-llewellyn
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Is it going to be busy on sunday 24th of July do you think? Got 2 under 6s and worried that there going to bored waiting :/.
Thanks
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Jack
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It may be quite busy, but if you're doing the kids stuff I doubt you will be waiting more than 15 minutes for anything :)
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Is there any day in the next two weeks you think the park will be at its quietest. Thinking of going but can't decide when. I don't want to go when there's school trips in so thought of waiting till August when all schools are shut, but the park will be quite busy, but then I thought maybe going on the last school day of they year might not be too busy as schools normally do their end of year trips before that day? What do you all suggest? Thanks


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Count-Vonduel
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If I go to London Dungeon, Shrek, ect on Sunday 4th of sSeptember, how busy will it be compared to Monday 5th of Sept?
Also does anyone know if Bubbleworks at Chessington will be open ON the 6th, or would it have closed by then?
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Burniel
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Count-Vonduel wrote:If I go to London Dungeon, Shrek, ect on Sunday 4th of sSeptember, how busy will it be compared to Monday 5th of Sept?
Also does anyone know if Bubbleworks at Chessington will be open ON the 6th, or would it have closed by then?
Bubbleworks should be open on the 6th for its last day of operation.

Whilst I'm yet to do Shrek, Merlin's London are typically busier on weekends. However, what with them being in areas of high tourism, they're not exactly dead quiet on weekdays either. Also, the Monday is still summer holidays/INSET days for many children in the area. It should be possible to get everything done on the Sunday, but you might get a better experience on the Monday. :)
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Nickolai
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Do you think the days in between Scarefest at Alton Towers will be quiet?
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stealthsmiler wrote:Is there any day in the next two weeks you think the park will be at its quietest. Thinking of going but can't decide when. I don't want to go when there's school trips in so thought of waiting till August when all schools are shut, but the park will be quite busy, but then I thought maybe going on the last school day of they year might not be too busy as schools normally do their end of year trips before that day? What do you all suggest? Thanks


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Just been at AT for the past few days and it has been relatively busy but queues have barely exceeded half an hour; the only ride having a wait over half an hour being Th13teen. The busiest ride has been the Octonauts roller coaster (60 minute queues) but that's not a problem unless you're with kids. I would suggest to avoid weekends as well.
Sorry if this reply is a bit late
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TinkerGem
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Desperate to take my 2 year old to towers after a very successful trip to Thomas Land the other week. What are the cBeebies queue times like at the moment? Is a weekday better than weekend during the summer holidays?
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TinkerGem wrote:Desperate to take my 2 year old to towers after a very successful trip to Thomas Land the other week. What are the cBeebies queue times like at the moment? Is a weekday better than weekend during the summer holidays?
I went last Saturday, Octonauts 45 mins, all others from about 10-30 mins

if you can do early ride time, always quieter there in the morning!
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Hi there,

I'm planning on going to Scarefest this year.

I know it is a busy time obviously but when would be best to go? On a weekend (preferably on the Sunday) or during the October half term week (mid week like Wednesday)?

Thank you
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Deadjack5 wrote:Hi there,

I'm planning on going to Scarefest this year.

I know it is a busy time obviously but when would be best to go? On a weekend (preferably on the Sunday) or during the October half term week (mid week like Wednesday)?

Thank you
From going to Scarefest for the last few year (been going since very young!) the first Sunday is definitely the least busy sunday of the entire event. With queues between 45-120 mins, mazes all about 35/60 mins. During the half term pretty much every weekday (exept Friday) queues are large, and most queue extensions are open (Big 6, River Rapids & Mike Train) with some queues approaching 180 mins. Look out for a 'meh' weather report as that MAY put a few people off coming, so queues may be shortER. So the queues will pretty much be the same every week day. The last saturday and sunday are always the most busy, for the event. So id definitely recommend you avoided those two dates, with pretty much everything over 60 mins. When I went in 2014, on those two dates, all of the Smiler's queue was full (with all the extensions open) and was overflowing. Nemesis was on a 120 min wait all day. Rita and 13 both averaging around 140 mins. Even Duel at one point was on 60 mins (yes, its hard to believe. But we did wait that!). River Rapids and Mine Train both between 75-90 mins. Most paths were shoulder to shoulder. And people were parking on the overflow fiekds. You get the jist!!. Id 100% recommended fastrack, its worth it. Have a great time, even if its super busy, beacuse Nothing beats the scarefest ambience. Hope this helps


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Oh right. That's abit worrying. I've planned to go on the 23rd (Sunday) and the 26th (Wednesday). Hopefully the Sunday isn't too bad and the Wednesday not as heavy
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I'm going on 23rd and 24th and, from previous years, I'll expect no more than 30 min queue for anything on the Monday in the post crash period

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Hopefully it being the weekend before the Halloween weekend, it shouldn't be too bad. Mid week I expect a fair few queues.
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For your information on queues, The Smiler has only been open for half an hour and it already has a 60 minute queue!
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Has anybody got any ideas how busy it'll be for the Saturday of fireworks? Staying with the family in Ashbourne that weekend and I know nobody'll want to get up too early but the plan is for us all to go...
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vikkimoo wrote:Has anybody got any ideas how busy it'll be for the Saturday of fireworks? Staying with the family in Ashbourne that weekend and I know nobody'll want to get up too early but the plan is for us all to go...
Fireworks every year is very very busy, but the queue times are never really above 2 hours, your looking between 45 mins - 90 mins for all the major rides, with The Smiler, Rita and maybe Galactica exceeding 2 hours. The general fireworks arena fills up (good positions) about an 1 hours to 45 mins before the actually display. After the display the traffic is total chaos, so just stay in the park and have a go on some more rides in the dark, at fairly short queues (won't exceed 70 mins, but maybe the smiler on 2 hours). Hope this helps!
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Count-Vonduel
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How busy will the London attractions be on the 1st, 2nd and 7th on Jan?
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Count-Vonduel wrote:How busy will the London attractions be on the 1st, 2nd and 7th on Jan?
I'm guessing on the 1st and 2nd, 1st especially, to be very packed and busy. I'd also imagine on the 1st there will be lots of stuff going on in and around the cluster (due to NYE fireworks, e.g. saftey barriers being taken down etc.) Then the 7th I'd guess to be how the london cluster normally are!
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