Alton Towers

nexuss

Alton towers is based in the worse place possible for a business like that.It is a remote country village basically.You can get buses from stoke rail station that go direct but they cost about £5 return.If you do not have many bags with you this would be the best option.

JCS1

The plan when they started charging for car parking was that the money would go towards a bypass - but the owners now seem to have changed their minds on that.

spuds_2

I don't think Alton Towers is good value for families. If you have younger kids Gulliver's World at Warrington is much better value.

Bunnie1982

Paying extra to queue jump?

Just use the single rider queues for free, as long as you don't have a problem with who you ride with it certainly cuts down the queue times.

nickyhutch

copier_guy wrote: »

I was surprised to pay for parking to be honest. You cannot park anywhere else really as the park is in a remote location.

But is is free parking if you buy an annual membership from them whilst at the park

so for my family of five, on the day is £180 plus £5 parking. plus food during the day plus you always end up buying a photo on the rides.

There's no reason on earth to pay full price for a day at AT. There are half price tickets all over the place, free tickets in the sun, and offers on places like lastminute.com. We've been 4 times this year and had free tickets for every visit, so haven't minded paying for fastrack tickets. If you don't want to pay for food, take a picnic, and NO, you don't HAVE to buy a ride photo :rolleyes:

advent1122

What she said ....
I must admit I have NEVER paid full price to go to Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Chessington etc.
Vouchers are everywhere if you are planning a visit.

chuckley

its not a con. if u dont wanna pay then go by bus.... im sure ull be jumping back in ur car after one bus trip... as its that awful!!!!

no point in comparing to other... alton towers can set whatever rules they want. if u dont like it, go elsewhere.

barvid

pompeyrich wrote: »

Thorpe Park, Chessington, Legoland, Paultons Park, Drayton Manor, Lightwater Valley and no doubt many more UK theme parks offer FREE parking to visitors who are probably going to spend at least £100 on passes food and drink etc.

Was at Thorpe Park in July and had to pay for parking.

marleyboy

I must confess I have NEVER been to any of the Theme parks in England, however I got spoilt when I was living in Florida, and visited all of them over there, I cannot imagine anything in England even remotely as spectacular.

I am confused about this Queue jumping thing, would this not eventually form another queue for all the queue jumpers? , before you know it, it would be quicker to join the original queue.

Shelldean

barvid wrote: »

Was at Thorpe Park in July and had to pay for parking.

As barvid states you do now have to pay to park at Thorpe Park too, unless you hold an annual pass, then it's free.

Thorpe is again a park with nowhere else to park. I reckon Legoland will be next to charge.!!!!