The 'How busy will it be?' Topic

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iamradam
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Due to it's abysmal throughput I'd go for Colossus first, and then to Saw if it's open. I'd say never head to Stealth or Swarm at the start of the day. Stealth is usually closed in the early morning and Swarm usually has good queues all day. Nemesis Inferno for me always seems to get busy around midday. The Lost City flats seem to get busier at the end of the day if I remember correctly. Samurai always seems to get quieter to the end of the day. Most other rides I feel have stable queues all day. I'm intrigued as to which order others ride the rides.


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Burniel
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Adam.W wrote:Not so much how busy the park will be on a particular day, but what order to do the rides in.
From everyone else's experiences, what's the best route around the park, with rerides and shortest possible queues? Obviously this depends on the day and a lot of it is down to chance so there isn't really a set best route, but I just want to see from everyone else's experience :)
On an average-weathered May/June weekend, my order is generally (arriving 9:30am):
  • Stealth - On a quiet day you can almost walk straight on the front row!
    Nemesis Inferno
    Saw & Colossus (either way around)
    Rush
    Vortex
    Zodiac (if the queue's reasonable)
    Quantum
    The Swarm (it's dead at lunchtime)
    X
    Anything in Angry Birds Land that's on a low queue (cinema & Detonator usually)
    Rerides on anything on a low queue, especially NI and Stealth (if I have time)
Then in the last couple of hours or so:
  • Slammer
    Samurai
    I'm a Celebrity if I can be bothered
    Rumba Rapids (sometimes)
    Stealth rerides if it's quiet
    The Swarm rerides
    Tidal Wave
I know this is not completely perfect. For example, Nemesis Inferno is probably not the best ride to do second, but it's on the path between Stealth and Saw and it'd be rude not to when the queue's usually in the station. Riding water rides at the end of the day is really dependant, I'd advise against Tidal Wave at 5pm in March/November.
Burniel | Great at theme park knowledge, not so great at designing signatures.
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Adam.W
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In all honesty, I was talking about AT - I forgot to mention that in my post :lol
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Biolizade
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Hey guys, thinking of heading to the park with my family later this week.

We were thinking Monday, but one of us can't get the day off work. So would Sunday be much more busy? I was thinking Monday as all the schools haven't finished yet and it won't be too busy, I thought Sunday would be much more busy. Could anyone let me know what kind of queue times we'd be looking at on each day? Just an estimate of course.

Thanks!
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DeadJack5
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I went on a Sunday a few weeks back and the park was much quieter than expected, this was the Sunday after the mid week may holidays for schools. Max ride time was 30 minutes we queued for bit i imagine will be abit more busy this Sunday.
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Lemonjello
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Heya guys I'm visiting the park tomorrow 24/6/16 coming all the way from Cornwall! Desperately hoping I can manage all of the park in one day? Staying at hotel tonight splash landings.. I need to know roughly how busy the park will likely be, any feedback greatly appreciated! Also how shall I tackle the park to get maximum out of my trip!
Xx
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Robert.H
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I would like to know how busy it will be on the 22nd of July. I'm going with my school and would like to know if it is worth trying to get a disabled ride access pass as I have asthma.
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lewis97
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For most schools it seems 22nd July is the last day of term, although what this means for how busy the park is I'm not too sure. I'm used to spending the last day of term in school rather than on a trip, but given that you're visiting it's apparent that's not the case everywhere. All things considered, I don't think it'll be overwhelmingly busy though, with other days probably being somewhat busier with school trips in comparison.

If you are going to look at getting a RAP you'll need to ensure that you take the appropriate documentation, as explained on this page.
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vikkimoo wrote:I know it's a LONG way ahead, but how busy do we think it'll be for fireworks this year? Supposed to be going with my family on the Saturday...
I'm guessing it'll be pretty rammed considering last year it was pretty much capacity each night and this year there are only 2 displays not 3. Expect waits to be around 35 - 120 for main rides. But to die down during the evening. Avoid Spinball after fireworks end as its nearest to the fireworks arena and large queues form quickly. I'd recommend riding Galactica and Nemesis after fireworks as that side of the park will be empty (ish) with Galactica at probably 25 - 35 mins and Nemesis at probably 10 - 15 mins. Hope this helps, and be sure to let me know how your day goes.


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3Dimensions
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Thinking of going on 1st October. Literally the first day that I'll be able to make it up there. Are non-Scarefest weekends in October busy and do they still do the bus from Stoke?
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NeoXIII
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3Dimensions wrote:Thinking of going on 1st October. Literally the first day that I'll be able to make it up there. Are non-Scarefest weekends in October busy and do they still do the bus from Stoke?
Not sure about how busy it will be, but I imagine the weekends in October will get busier the closer they are to Halloween.
Bus still operates in Stoke, either directly from Stoke station or Hanley, make sure you check times here before you go:
https://www.firstgroup.com/potteries/more/alton-towers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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3Dimensions
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Hmm, seems to not have times for buses after 24th September. Odd, might have to wait until sometime next year (Thanks for that link, used that journey before but all the sites I found back then were really dated and broken).
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NeoXIII
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3Dimensions wrote:Hmm, seems to not have times for buses after 24th September. Odd, might have to wait until sometime next year (Thanks for that link, used that journey before but all the sites I found back then were really dated and broken).
Don't worry, they will update the times in time for Halloween/Fireworks. :)
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3Dimensions
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Turns out that I can go in the start of the week before now, should hopefully be a bit emptier. Went in April last year and managed to get on quite a bit.
ThemeCrafter264

Thorpe Park on 24th July (Sunday). How busy will it be?
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Morgan
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I would imagine it would be quite/very busy- Saturdays usually have an hour plus for each coaster, and this is at the start of the holidays :)
ThemeCrafter264

Any days after that you think will be any quieter?
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Morgan
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Nope, Thorpe won't get any quieter until weekdays in September.
ThemeCrafter264

Do you think for the summer holidays, this would be the quietest day?

I presume it would be the same for other Merlin parks
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Morgan
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I don't really know, all days will most likely be packed from now until September.
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