We Have enjoyed a day out today at Alton Towers But we ate at Woodcutters Bar and Grill Big Mistake, My wife had a Woodcutters Burger the chicken was well over cooked/burnt Jacket potatoe cold (wich was replaced with a hot but over cooked potatoe. I had a Lumberjack Burger with chips wich was only just passable as it was not hot only warm. How ever we would visit again but would not make the mistake of eating in any of the food outlets we would take a picnic and visit one of the many local eateries.

Alton towers was great apart from nemesis sub terror which was f*cking sh*te

Alton Towers Resort is expensive to get in, if you pay at the gate.(Think of all the employees you see on the park, and the employees behind the scenes, how do you think they get paid?) You can buy your tickets online for a fraction of the cost. Also, if you need to draw money out, don't do it on the plaza before you go into the park, as the machine will charge you. There are free cash machines once you get inside the park. The fast track tickets are a bit expensive, but worth it if it is a very busy day, you can check online and find out when the most busiest days are. Think about it, the normal que is 1 hour and 60 mins (I have seen the que that big! and I have heard they can be bigger!) and fast track is like 40 mins (remember this is a very busy day) so fast track would be well worth it. However, if you don't want your day spolit by queing, simple, go when the park is quiet. You'll get to go on everything a number of times. The car park is now £6, if you don't want to pay that, look at alternative ways of getting to the park. As for the hotel and the 'travellers', go when they won't be there. They go when the races are on, for any other times ask Alton Towers Resort before you book, they should know, or have a good idea. I think they inform their employees about a 'travellers weekend' about a week in advance, however, I'm not certain about that.
I went to Alton Towers Resort for the P!nk concert and the fireworks. The P!nk concert was brilliant, except the leaving part. I didn't leave the carpark until 3am, however, that's not surprising. Alton Towers Resort had not done a concert of that scale for about 10 or more years, if I have my facts right. However, they say they have learnt from their mistakes. Lets leave the P!nk concert at that, and see how they do with the next big concert. As for the fireworks, they were amazing (I admit, I never saw the fireworks at Alton Towers Resort before, so this was my first). Leaving the park was not so different from when the park is at it's busiest time. So I had no complaints there. What you need to remember, is that Alton Towers Resort is a big theme park, far bigger than Thorpe Park. It also has trees it's not allowed to knock down, it has to maintain the castle and the gardens. It has a lot of respinsibility in regards to its gorunds, whereas Thorpe Park doesn't need to worry about anything but it's rides (in comparison). So when you go to Alton Towers Resort, don't just think about the rides, the que time, and how packed it is. (Go when it's quieter). Have a look at the castle, go walk in the gardens, see the place as more than just another theme park, as it offers so much more.

We went with free tickets courtsesy of the Sun so that was cool. Payed in advance for fast track on line, bought fastrack scream and adventurer. Purchased the fast track for RITA on the day. The fast track tickets were well worth it especially as we hadn't paid for entrance as the queues were all around an hour long. No fast track available for the new ride 13 so queued for an hour for that and I must say it wasn't all that good. Not a patch on SAW at Thorpe Park.
A.T is set in a lovely historic site with ruins and beautiful gardens.Its also great for younger kids here, much more geared towards families than some other theme parks. Water rides very well themed and park was clean and tidy. Had a lovely cold beer in the bar there as it was a hot day. Agree with the comments about paying £5 to park though - OUTRAGEOUS!! I mean its not like you have a choice to park anywhere else!!!!

There is 6 of us in our family with children ages ranging from 10-16years and as such Alton Towers was superb, as there were rides to suit all levels of confidence with some scary enough for the more confident and other more suited to my second youngest who was less willing to go on some of the main attractions, which basically meant everyone enjoyed themselves.

The biggest saving I have found with all of the parks Alton/Chessington/Lego/Thorpe is if you do not get sucked into buying food on site as this is unlikely to be much less than a minimum of £7 per head for a meal (yes you can buy cheaper on site, but the most basic meal would barely fill a mouse) and this is provided you do not buy ice creams or pay £6 for their all you can drink containers ( just think how many bottles of fizzy drink would have to consume to cover this, is it really worth it?) as such food and drink can be very expensive, so always take you own as they have lockers which will cost in the region of £3 for the whole day, so you do not have to lug it around with you once you have arrived and you can take it out and drop it back as many times as you want without any further charge, and it will make it a lot more affordable day out.

Most of these parks have a variety of water rides, therefore if you would prefer not to be walking around like a drowned rat remember to take a small fold away mac, the advantage here is that you do not get caught for their plastic macs or their all over body drier everytime you get off a wet ride, which would have been a lot knowing the amount of times one of my daughters made me go on them., and these macs can be left in the locker as well when finished.

Be prepared for queues which a fact of all theme parks and in fairness I do not think Merlin theme parks are any better or worse than any other, but it did annoy me you paid extra for a fast pass sometimes £4 for a single ride which entitled you jump the queues on the more popular rides, when in Disneyland Paris they managed to work out a system where they were not exploiting customers who had already paid the entrance fee, but still managed to offer fast passes.

IMPORTANT NOTICE IF YOU HAVE A MERLIN CARD OR SIMILAR ANNUAL PASS.

I am convinced they do not tell you that parking is free if you have a Merlin pass and I suspect this would also apply to annual pass holders

They also do not when purchasing items, ask if you have a Merlin pass which entitles you to discounts of between 10% and 20% off food or other non food items bought at Alton Towers or other Merlin attractions, and one would presume annual pass holders would also have this entitlement, as such I found both me and my wife paying full price because we did not always remember to tender our passes.

Also at Alton Towers we noticed that if you have a pass you can get into the park a full hour earlier than anyone without an annual pass (best check with them before arriving as to when they open to Merlin pass holders anyway), but this is major benefit which I was not aware of, with everyone also thinking lets get there for when it opens, and quite often non annual pass holders are there long before they can go in, so cues for rides can build up quite quickly once it officially opens.

Ok went today had a great day and my review will tell you how to as well.Firstly book your tickets online through 365 tickets £15 flat rate.Secondly With the money you saved buy scream fastpass +.Next be there for 9.15am latest.Take packed lunch the big rides have baggage storage.When you fastpass make sure you get into the que for the front seats most people don't it takes about 15mins longer but it makes the ride so much better.Buy carpark ticket on way in.today we went on airx3 nemsisx4 oblivionx5 ritax1 13x1 hex rapids flume and lastly go midweek.

We went yesterday, 17 Aug 2010. We got buy one get one free tickets for a fmaily of four, so entrance fee not too bad. The £5 to park was ridiculous tho. We arrived at 10am and were suprised to see that the large rides were not yet operating, despite the fact that the park promises folks who book online that they could enter the park at 9am...but for what? To queue for the big rides? A mystery to me, that one. I have to say, after growing up in the States and attending Six Flags Over Texas many many times ove rthe yeaaars, a bit of a queue does not upset me. it is just the nature of the beast really...but i did hear lots of moaning and wailing about queue times yesterday. We waited about 10 minutes to ride Rita. Hubby wanted to ride Nemesis, was in line for about 30 minutes when the ride broke. Ir was repaired shortly and was running yet again. When it was his turn, everyone got in their seats, got strapped in and the train moved a bit, when it shut down again. They left the passengers there for almost 20 minutes without telling them anything. He and the other passengers did get a priority pass for antoher ride, which he used on Air. What he discovered was that the single person queue is the way to go with the exception of the Sonic Spinball. He was in and out of the biggest rides in 10 minutes. The park is lovely, the gardens beautiful, the atmosphere relaxed and fun. The drive thru the village was also a nice surprise. All in all...a very satisfying day. We packed our own lunches, drinks and snacks as I know how expensive food and treats can be at these parks (seriously, £6 for cotton candy?)and had realistic views of wait times, etc...so not at all disappointed by any of those aspects.

I went to alton towers but i can't remember what day it was but it was great fun!!! I went on the marvellous nemesis, th13teen, hex, the flume, oblivion, and many more. I would definatley recomend alon towers to my friend since I invited one over to alton towers to go with me!! Haha!! Some people in the other reviews said that they had to wait for over an hour to get on a ride but i went on a Friday afternoon and it was very busy but i only had to wait 45 minutes for th13teen and it was very new so thumbs up!!! I had to wait 30 minutes for Nemesis and much less for other rides except oblivion which i had to wait 1 and 1/2 hours for since it had had an accident. If you go please enjoy.
xx

I feel Alton Towers is a great day out for the whole family. It has rides suited to younger children, such as "Squirrel Nutty" and "Old MacDonald's tractor ride," whilst also having their amazingly designed thrill rides, such as the almighty "Nemesis" and the amazing "Air."

Whilst queue times may be long, surely this is just a sign of a good theme park? Really, you must expect fairly long queues wherever you go, so it's not unusual. Also, if you go during term time, queues are significantly shorter so you'll get a lot more out of your visit.

However, I do feel the park entrance fees are a little on the high side, but it is a great day out. I would recommend taking your own food and drinks, as the prices are very high. Also, be sure to take a dispossable camera to capture all your memories. Plus, with ride photos being seven pounds each, they're not really worth the money.

So, all in all, whilst it is rather expensive, Alton Towers is a great day out and as a yearly treat, I think it is definitey worth the money.

Person from below again!
'Both of these were in school times which i would have imagined were busier.'
that should say - i would have imagined it to be less busy
'not sure if they are not the new 13'
also this should say 'not sure if they are now'
sorry about that!