Hi all,

I’m looking to take my 10 year old down to Alton Towers during the 3/4 weeks of July (very flexible on dates) – not concernedabout the recent accident.

Was thinking of having an entire day at the park – staying the night before, doing the park and driving back after a nights sleep.

Anyone any suggestions on where to stay (on park/outside) and the best days to go? Any other tips would be great.

Not been for decades so no idea!

Cheers,

Stuart

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Any other tips would be great.
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It’s very expensive. Some of the rides cost an arm and a leg…

Oh dear!

^^^ not very funny

It is easy to fill a day there so you’ll be fine. If you can squeeze in an extra half day there is Splash Landings there – a water park too which is supposed to be very good – i’ve not been but the wife has taken the kids there a few times during holidays and they love it. There is a hotel on site, which I imagine is not too cheap, but if you stay there you might get deals on entrance, which might make the total package cost affordable, and it might be the case that in order to entice people there after the recent unfortunate accident there could be some deals to be had. Worth checking out.

Also if you have any Tesco vouchers you can use them towards entrance tickets.

I think there is a campsite nearby too if that’s your bag.

During term time weekday’s are best, but obviously weekends and school holidays will be busy. You’re looking at 45 mins to an hour or maybe more queuing for the bigger rides.

I have stayed here, http://www.tollgate.co.uk/ ,with my family a few years back. Was pretty decent, not far from motorway and only about 30 minutes drive to the park from what I remember!

Went a month back on a school inset day for or kids. Thought we’d go to Alton Tower’s as it would be fairly quiet. Jesus Christ how wrong we were, it was busy. I only live an hour away and have really been put off going again. Think we got on about four proper rides in total. I’d hate to have driven from Scotland and been in the same position.

So if you do it I’d suggest midweek when it’s lashing it down.

It’s on the edge of the Peak District so if you want to make a trip of it you have all of that to play in, Manchester on the way there or back and the obvious delights of Stoke on Trent….

Hey I live in Stoke!
Try the holiday Inn express stoke on Trent, right on the A50 so 25 mins from towers. The splash landings hotel on site will have cheaper rooms than the main hotel and they usually give rooms away for £50 on late rooms nearer the time. If not try any hotel in Stoke.

To save money on entrance look on eBay. People sell the tickets they get with the sun. We got 2 tickets for £7.80, standard full price is £45.

If you’re after mtb routes I can suggest an absolute belter 2 mins from Alton Towers gate.

Then I’m sure you wouldn’t pop it on the map for it’s tourism value 😉

Don’t stay in the resort hotels unless you’re minted. Premier Inn in Uttoxeter is fine.

There are normally 2 for 1 deals on tickets floating about. Splash Landings is OK but better for younger kids really – not many really good slides for older ones.

We go a couple of times a year, always found Monday/Tuesday to be the quietest days. Remember that schools break up for summer around the 17th July so it will be chaos after them. As Jekkyl said Ebay is good for tickets, we never pay more than £10 a ticket

Though you will find the park mysteriously packed with out of control kids all through July – seems to be the thing for schools to have end of year jollies now.

My daughter is off there next week.