The king of theme parks (Alton Towers (Staffordshire))

Member Name: lucy1989

Product:	Alton Towers (Staffordshire)
Date:	10/06/09 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good day out

Disadvantages: Expensive for what it is.

A few months ago there was an offer in the Sun newspaper where if you collected a number of tokens and sent them off they would send you two free adult tickets to Alton Towers. The catch was they would choose the date.

My boyfriend and I gave it a go and got Tuesday 9th of June. Excellent we thought, the kids weren't off school so hopefully it would be pretty quiet. How wrong were we!

LOCATION
Alton Towers is located near Stoke on Trent in a place called Alton surprisingly enough. It is between the M6 and M1.

GETTING THERE
We travelled down the M1 where you come off at Junction 28. After that every junction and roundabout is sign posted well. As you get closer the roads become more rural and narrower, a nightmare in the mid summer I would imagine.

TICKETS
As mentioned above we got our tickets free but you can regularly get 2 for 1 deals from things like tea bags offers and from Tesco. This is a must in my opinion as the £36 admission fee for each adult is an absolute rip off. You can however save 20% by buying tickets online but still it is a lot of money to spend the day queuing.

CAR PARKING
There is a massive area available for car parking. You are crammed in like sardines and told where to park by the stewards. What they fail to mention is the cost which is £5. A bit unfair in my opinion, if you are a family of four you are already giving them over £100 so parking should be free. There is also the option of parking closer to the park for £10.
We were in car park C which was a 2 minute walk to the toilets and to the mono rail into the park. It was a 20 minute walk I was told if you didn't get the mono rail in.

THE PARK
As you walk in there is a main street with a large green area which would be loverly for pic nics. There was loads of baby geese which were really cute. Staff everywhere, cleaners, security and those trying to sell you things.

There are loads of sign posts for those who have trouble attempting to read the cartoon map. They also have an electric board stating the queue times for all the big ones. A good idea I thought.

MAIN RIDES

RITA QUEEN OF SPEED
The newest ride where is catapults you to over 100km/h in under 2.5 seconds. I would have liked to go on this but the queues were over 45 minutes so we gave it a miss.

AIR
Went on this twice, as the name suggests it makes you feel like your flying. A good ride but not long enough. The queues were about 25 minutes each time.

OBLIVION
A vertical drop roller coaster, just watching it made your stomach go through your mouth. I wanted a go but my boyfriend was too scared. Can't comment on the queues cos I couldn't see the entrance!

NEMISIS
A massive, sickening looking roller-coaster with many loops and drops. Again I would have gone on this but the queues were horrendous. I'm not sure on the estimated time but there hundreds waiting for it.

GETTING AROUND
The park is massive and spread out over a huge area, it can be quite confusing to where you are. The best idea was the sky riders which are cable cars which take you across the big valley in the middle.

EATING AND DRINKING
There's a few places to eat a drink including Burger King and KFC. There was also a pizza and pasta hut we were tempted by, all you can eat for £7.95 each. A reasonable price I thought but we brought food with us so trekked back to the car.

POSITIVES
It was a good day out that effectively only cost us the car parking and petrol down there.
It's easy to find and the weather held out!
We had a good time and would go back although maybe not in June if we got a choice next time.

NEGATIVES
Queues, queues and more queues. Didn't go on as much as we'd hoped because of this and I wouldn't even contemplate going in the middle of summer!
Also the fairground type rides round the place, hassling you to have a go when you watch someone have their go. It was very expensive for what it was, £2 for one go!


Overall though we would definitely go back!

Summary: Would reccomend