I first went to alton towers quite a few years back I found it great. I went again a few weeks ago with my sister and we had a great time. Alton towers in a massive theme park in Staffordshire. it's a great family day out, but to be honest I think its rather expensive if you do take children as you obviously wont be able to go on any of the big rides unless you go in a large group. I saw a couple there with a baby and I thought to myself how pointless the day would have been for them as they would have to go on the rides on their own and as there is a lot of queuing they properly wouldn't have been able to go on many rides as they would have needed to go separate.

When we went we used the buy one get one free vouchers from the cereals. I think if you didn't have these it would be such an expensive day. It cost £35 per ticket which I think is ridiculous. Then again every time I have been they have had one of these vouchers floating about so Its properly not all that bad.

I hated the fact that the monorail was not working when we went. I asked and the man said that they only put it in use on a weekend now. This is bad as it takes forever to get to one zone to another so I really think this was a bad idea.

The rides are well worth the wait some included :-

* The oblivion- this ride scares me to death. You are sat in a long line of about 8 people on two rows and the ride starts and you go extremely slowly up a massive slope....I really hate the clink clink noise it makes while moving as this seems to make it worse. When you get to the top it stops for a couple of seconds (which seems like a lifetime) and then you hear the words "don't look down" you then fall vertically into a huge tunnel under the ground and come out the other end. Its absolutely terrifying.

* Rita- this is their newest ride. Its promoted as "the queen of speed" and oh my god it is very fast. I think it goes about 100 miles per hour. You sit there and you get a count down and then you go shooting around. This really hurt my head though and I came off with a rather bad head ache.

* Air- my personal favourite. This ride takes you round flat on your tum. It really is like you are flying though the air. At one point you go round a bend and you turn the other way and you are lying on you back. The ride is very smooth and my head didn't get bashed about. This is excellent.

* Nemesis- This is one of the older rides but I still like it. I don't think the ride lasts long enough though. You go upside down on this one and you have your legs dangling. I like all the effects this rides has as the scenery is great with the red running water that is meant to be like blood.

These are properly the main ones I have mentioned but a newer one for children has just opened. it's a Charlie and the chocolate factory ride and I really enjoyed it (I'm a big kid though) You first go on a boat ride and it tells you the story. I think you are meant to imagine yourself as Charlie. The whole ride is really realistic as I could actually smell chocolate. When the boat ride is finished you then get into an elevator which takes you for a ride around the factory and then out into the air. This was a really great effect as it was a large simulated environment. The whole escalator rocks and moves from side to side. Even the roof showed you the scenery outside. I really enjoyed this and I'm sure my daughter would too.

Alton towers is a great place to visit. Be prepared to wait in long queues especially in the holidays. I don't think they were that bad when we went though and the longest we were queuing for was about 20 mins.