Alton Towers - too many punters?

Dave Herbal said:
Just got back from our annual trip to AT.
If you’re planning on going during these holidays, don’t.
I’ve never seen it so busy. I know every punter through the door is more money for the owners, but surely it must reach a point where people are no longer getting the product they are paying for?
For starters all the approach roads were gridlocked, we queued for half an hour just to get in the caravan park.
The queues were insane, over 2 hours for some rides. I heard one bloke kicking off saying he’d been there 9 hours and only got on 5 rides.
Even the queues for the kiddy rides and food stalls were long.
The fast track tickets were sold out (even for those willing to fork out £100 per head) so some people had no option but to queue.
Luckily we have a Ride Access Pass, which normally gets you straight onto any ride, but even with that we were still having to queue for up to 30 mins.
I can only assume the staycation summer has led to a massive spike in numbers, but you’d think the operators would have some sort of moral obligation to let people actually enjoy the rides they are paying for? Obviously their half million a day turnover must be increased by any means possible.
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Had the same experience back in June. The rides kept breaking down too.

I won't be going back.
Stormo said:
Slightly off topic but I see they aren’t reopening the Ultimate at Lightwater Valley. They say they want it as a child’s park so rides like that and what used to be the rat have just closed.
Had some great times as a kid but from what I hear it’s utter shite now.
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Shame. The Ultimate was a brilliant roller coaster. Pointless going if that's closed.
 
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Was there yesterday having woken up to this thread and expecting the worst but it was ok. Possibly because I was expecting worse.

Longest queue we had was around an hour. The rest were less than 40 mins. Someone gave us a fast pass for wicker man but still waited 40 mins even with that.

Got on all the main ones and a few of the others with the bairns. The app shows you which rides are busier than others which was helpful. Worst queue was smiler which seemed to be busy all day. Oblivion, nemesis, galactica were all less than half an hour
 
Noticed they're still churning out the 2-4-1 tickets for this place (and others) this year. Surprised they need to do that
 
The Beautiful Game said:
Was there yesterday having woken up to this thread and expecting the worst but it was ok. Possibly because I was expecting worse.

Longest queue we had was around an hour. The rest were less than 40 mins. Someone gave us a fast pass for wicker man but still waited 40 mins even with that.

Got on all the main ones and a few of the others with the bairns. The app shows you which rides are busier than others which was helpful. Worst queue was smiler which seemed to be busy all day. Oblivion, nemesis, galactica were all less than half an hour
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Got to say the app is good. Like you say it helps you plan as you’re going round.

That said, I didn’t go on any big stuff as it was for the kids who are 6 and 2.
PTR said:
Noticed they're still churning out the 2-4-1 tickets for this place (and others) this year. Surprised they need to do that
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Why do you think it’s so full. It’s like most things, people paying an admission isn’t what makes them their money, that’ll probably cover costs. It’s what the spend money on inside that counts. Face paints, hair braids, food, snacks and drinks, fairground games, gift shop junk etc. etc.
 
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Goat Eyes said:
Why do you think it’s so full. It’s like most things, people paying an admission isn’t what makes them their money, that’ll probably cover costs. It’s what the spend money on inside that counts. Face paints, hair braids, food, snacks and drinks, fairground games, gift shop junk etc. etc.
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They run 2-4-1 in normal years to get people in, but as has been mentioned, this is a special year and I'm surprised they need to do this. Especially since people are saying the place is absolutely packed out.
Its £40 a ticket isn't it? Not sure
a - They'd lose many customer anyway in this situation
b - People spend more than £40 each on average
 
PTR said:
They run 2-4-1 in normal years to get people in, but as has been mentioned, this is a special year and I'm surprised they need to do this. Especially since people are saying the place is absolutely packed out.
Its £40 a ticket isn't it? Not sure
a - They'd lose many customer anyway in this situation
b - People spend more than £40 each on average
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I don’t understand your points a and point b but they want to ram it full of people who are interested in the overall experience and spending money rather than have a few nerds who just want to do as many loop the loops as possible.
 
The Beautiful Game said:
Was there yesterday having woken up to this thread and expecting the worst but it was ok. Possibly because I was expecting worse.

Longest queue we had was around an hour. The rest were less than 40 mins. Someone gave us a fast pass for wicker man but still waited 40 mins even with that.

Got on all the main ones and a few of the others with the bairns. The app shows you which rides are busier than others which was helpful. Worst queue was smiler which seemed to be busy all day. Oblivion, nemesis, galactica were all less than half an hour
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I'm surprised at the wait with a fastrack ticket mind.

I was there a few weeks back and bought myself a silver ticket and waited in total less than 45 mins for the 6 rides that covers.

Wickerman was the only one not included in the silver ticket so went there first and waited around 15 mins in the normal queue.
PTR said:
Noticed they're still churning out the 2-4-1 tickets for this place (and others) this year. Surprised they need to do that
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The Sun were doing their yearly promotion too.

My wife and I took our daughters there a few weeks back on these tickets and all that we spent was the money for the ten separate papers.
 
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Looks like me and the kids will be standing around a lot this Bank Hol weekend then 😦😟
We've been the past few years and stayed there (my son is a roller coaster nut) and the queues have never been too bad. We've never had to wait for Oblivion at all - just walked straight on.
 
Surrey Mackem said:
Looks like me and the kids will be standing around a lot this Bank Hol weekend then 😦😟
We've been the past few years and stayed there (my son is a roller coaster nut) and the queues have never been too bad. We've never had to wait for Oblivion at all - just walked straight on.
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Did you go in the middle of the night or something? It currently says 60 minutes.
 
Stormo said:
Slightly off topic but I see they aren’t reopening the Ultimate at Lightwater Valley. They say they want it as a child’s park so rides like that and what used to be the rat have just closed.
Had some great times as a kid but from what I hear it’s utter shite now.
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It used to be more aimed at younger ones with farm animals to view, Fort William, pedal boats, train ride - that kind of thing. The scariest thing was probably the Hell Slide 😁
 
a1970man said:
Just checked the prices for a weekend at AT hotel for 2 adults and a child - £800

You can drop it to £400 if staying off site like.

What happened to a £50 family day ticket and a £29 Travel lodge for the night?
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Flew to Orlando from Manchester c2004 and had 10 days in a Radisson at Feb half term £1050 for three. Then got Orlando pass for Disney/Universal/Busch Gardens and Seaworld for about £150 each.

Same holiday today would be many thousands. It was $2 to £1 mind and eating out was almost free :lol:
 
Stormo said:
Slightly off topic but I see they aren’t reopening the Ultimate at Lightwater Valley. They say they want it as a child’s park so rides like that and what used to be the rat have just closed.
Had some great times as a kid but from what I hear it’s utter shite now.
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Is that 100% confirmed now? I know the youtube channel (theme park worldwide) that I follow, he mentioned it was looking like they wouldn't open it in 2021, but that it wasn't entirely confirmed that it was permanent - but the year before it was breaking down all the time.
Its a shame, as it was their biggest thrill ride. Actually, there's barely any thrill rides left now - its become an under 10's theme park - and historically, those have never survived.


Anyway, found his latest video on Lightwater - seems its just been sold. Shame, they were only bought out 2 years ago, seems they just can't fix the problems :(
 
maygo said:
You have to book ahead for the queue busters, even more so during the six weeks
We were there a fortnight ago, had QBs and had no issues apart from a fuckin monsoon midway through the day
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I think I was there that day! Not known rain like it. Had to take cover in the arcades. Flash floods.

Cleared up into canny day 2 hours later!
 
Harry Angstrom said:
Flew to Orlando from Manchester c2004 and had 10 days in a Radisson at Feb half term £1050 for three. Then got Orlando pass for Disney/Universal/Busch Gardens and Seaworld for about £150 each.

Same holiday today would be many thousands. It was $2 to £1 mind and eating out was almost free :lol:
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Ah man, don't!

Painful
The disney tickets alone are £300 now - so that's twice a much straight off the bat.
 

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