Theme Park Tips

MILLYMOLLY · 29 May 2009 at 6:00PM

sprogs wrote: »

Yep - a fab deal, and don't forget 20% off if you have an annual pass making it £4.

We have just got back from two days there and as we were staying in a Travelodge )

Can I ask which Travelodge we're going to Alton Towers tomorrow and staying at Stafford Central Travelodge.
Also are they still doing the deal on the drinks bottle we're getting Merlin passes (Thanks Tesco).
Were the queues really long?
Sorry for all the questions

hanstar · 31 May 2009 at 4:32PM

hi, i was thinking of buying a set of the free adult (2 kid) passes of ebay that were given out with the sun. they all have 2 adult 2 childs@ £9.50, is it ok to just use the 2 free adult ones, and then my little boy should get in free anyway as he is only 18months (dont mind using the £9.50 ticket if he's not free) but is that ok? wasnt sure if you had to use the kids ones and if you dont do you have to pay anyway? does that make sense?

sprogs · 31 May 2009 at 10:05PM

MILLYMOLLY wrote: »

Can I ask which Travelodge we're going to Alton Towers tomorrow and staying at Stafford Central Travelodge.
Also are they still doing the deal on the drinks bottle we're getting Merlin passes (Thanks Tesco).
Were the queues really long?
Sorry for all the questions

Sorry - haven't been online for a couple of days. Hope you had a fab time though, we did.

We stayed a little way away at Stoke Talke which was about a 30 mins drive and was fine. The queues were OK, only my boys like rollercoasters and opted for the single rider queue for them which cut the time. Was a bit disappointed that the rides that opened early for passholders were limited and the same ones for three days in a row - would have been nice if they varied them - my boys liked Air best and that didn't open until 10. The skyride didn't open til 10 either so you had to walk/run everywhere for that first hour.

creased-leach · 31 May 2009 at 11:05PM

hanstar wrote: »

hi, i was thinking of buying a set of the free adult (2 kid) passes of ebay that were given out with the sun. they all have 2 adult 2 childs@ £9.50, is it ok to just use the 2 free adult ones, and then my little boy should get in free anyway as he is only 18months (dont mind using the £9.50 ticket if he's not free) but is that ok? wasnt sure if you had to use the kids ones and if you dont do you have to pay anyway? does that make sense?

Thats fine. If you're using kids ones, they have to be used with adult tickets, but not the other way around. Enjoy your day.

jellyhead · 2 June 2009 at 8:50AM

MILLYMOLLY wrote: »

Can I ask which Travelodge we're going to Alton Towers tomorrow and staying at Stafford Central Travelodge.
Also are they still doing the deal on the drinks bottle we're getting Merlin passes (Thanks Tesco).
Were the queues really long?
Sorry for all the questions

Alton Towers is about a 40 minute drive from Stafford unless you get stuck behind a tractor. I think stafford travelodge has pizza hut and KFC next door but am not sure if I'm thinking of the right one and not sure if either of them sell breakfast. Uttoxeter is about halfway there and there's a tesco, mcdonalds etc. there. We tend to buy breakfast on the way to a theme park because we get up early and are too tired to eat before leaving the house.

They always sell refillable drinks bottles, I've bought them for 3 years. They change the style every so often, maybe twice a year so you can use the same bottle a few times as long as you conceal it when you take it into the park. Thorpe park and chessington ask for your receipt each time you refill the bottle but alton don't, so you'll be able to use it on your second day.

kiosks don't give an annual pass discount but the main shop does, it's on the left as you go into alton towers. The restaurant next to it lets you refill your own cups which saves you queueing. you just wave your cup at one of the staff.

fifipat · 16 June 2009 at 12:24PM

Disneyland Fast Passes - this gives you an alocated half hour slot to queue separately and should cut down the time you wait. This is only valid on certain rides. The entrance ticket gives you one Fast Pass each and cannot be used again until the time has passes for the ride already chosen. Additional Fast Passes allow you to have a time slot for an additional ride active at the same time. I bought some last year and they were great. I was able to Fast Pass Buzz Lightyear and the Car thing as they were quite close to each other. Look up the list of rides first and see what you want to go on, it is well worth it if you want the bigger rides. The good thing is about Fast Passes purchased on ebay is that they don't go out of date and can be used on subsequent visits or resold on ebay if you don't intend going back.

fifipat · 9 July 2009 at 4:51PM

Just back from Legoland and visited 4 times. I was getting in free as a carer with a friend but I purchased 'free' child tickets from ebay which only required us to find adults paying full price to get us the free tickets. We managed this most of the time and twice I had to use the Walkers half price vouchers out of the box so in 4 trips I paid £27 entrance fee. In addition to this we found 3 Gold Badges which are worn by staff members on their clothing. You are meant to swap the badges that you get with a kids meal but in most cases staff will let you have it. There are only 20 badges available every day but it does entitle you to a free pass which is valid until the end of the season.

Additionally, Legoland had a powersurge about 3pm and most of the rides were off with some of them not being reopened that day. We complained to Guest services and were given vouchers valid for a year.

All in all a great holiday and we are looking forward to going to Legoland next year.

sdl811 · 16 July 2009 at 6:41PM

Any one know if I bought a drinks refill cup at Alton Towers could I use the same cup at Thorpe Park, Chessington & Legoland?

jellyhead · 16 July 2009 at 7:03PM

Probably not

I haven't been to legoland recently, but last year at thorpe park and chessington they were asking to see your receipt every time you wanted a refill. Alton don't ask for receipts.

We paid for an extra cup in Thorpe, and then took it in turns to use that receipt to fill our old cups all day. A friend bought one in Chessington so we shared the receipt again. Very naughty.

melt71 · 5 August 2009 at 6:32PM

Not sure if this has been said before but I thought I'd put my two penneth in! We've just been to Alton Towers and had a fantastic time but it was PACKED with coachloads of school kids despite the fact that it's the summer holidays. We made the mistake of joining the queue for Oblivion without realising that we were 2 hours from the ride!! you can't see the queue and it only tells you how far you have left when you get to about 35min away!

We went to the ticket booth and asked the guy which fast track tickets to buy - by this point some had already sold out but he advised us to get the family adventure one (log flume, runaway train etc) these were all brilliant family rides and we literally went to the front on the queue on each, saving at least an hour on both the water rides. The ticket cost £5 so great value for money and the runaway train was hilarious - one of the highlights of our day!

His tip is to save the main rides like Nemisis/Rita etc until late on - all the coaches start to leave by 3.30-4pm and it gets a lot quieter.
It worked. We got on everything that we wanted to get on.
Also, as long as you are in a queue before 6pm they will let you on the ride, even though the park 'closes at 6'.

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