Alton Towers Water Park

Mumto2

Hi,
We are planning to go at the weekend (2 adults, 8yr old, 7 yr old, 3yr old).
Has anyone that has been got any tips for survival?
I'm guessing you can't take your own food - can anyone confirm this and the types of prices inside.
Also whether it's best to do the big slides later in the day etc.
Many thanks

hamsterholly

Dont know when you were planning on going but looked on the website and saturday looks as if tickets are sold out. We always book online before we go just incase we are turned away when we get there.

The food is expensive. A hot dog is around £3.50. They dont seem to have alot of choice for the food in there. I have seen people sneak their own food in.

Mumto2

hamsterholly wrote: »

Dont know when you were planning on going but looked on the website and saturday looks as if tickets are sold out. We always book online before we go just incase we are turned away when we get there.

The food is expensive. A hot dog is around £3.50. They dont seem to have alot of choice for the food in there. I have seen people sneak their own food in.

Thanks -I went on earlier and noticed Sat was full, so have booked for Sun. We will be travelling hour and a half to get there, so would be devastated to be turned away with 3 disappointed kids!

I was wondering about trying to sneak drinks/snacks so we only have to pay for some lunch. Might give it a go.

Discount_Davina

Both Sat & Sun now sold out so it sounds like it's going to be busy. The one main queue is for master blaster and it's best to get this one done as soon as possible as the queues tend to just build all day. If you can get there as the waterpark opens, you will have a better chance of at least beating the queues in the morning. I have seen people taking their own food in the past and noone seems to mind. Have fun!

tashee26

sorry to butt in your thread but my lo's are 3 and 5 and have not taken them to alton towers before - if we were to go is it best to do it in 2 days ie 1 day for the theme park (when its open) and 1 day for the water park???

mumontherun

Haven't been for a while but they always used to turn a blind eye to people taking in own food.

Were there once and people were sat at the edge of the pool eating sarnies whilst the lifeguard walked back and forth past them and still said nothing.

I would aim to get there for opening time if you want to get a seat or deckchair.

Also for drinks might be worth seeing if they're doing the refillable drinks bottles - were around £6 and you can refill as often as you like. Can share to bring cost down but only downside is if the pool is busy you could have a very long queue to get your refill

Have fun

mumontherun

tashee - if I were you I would try and go in the week during term time even if it means missing a bit of school.

Can't find them on the website now but they were doing parent and toddler tickets for both water park and theme park. Much cheaper and quieter. (Was about £5 for waterpark and £12 for theme park for adult and toddler). Can't remember what the max age is on these but I've never found AT to check that closely. Hopefully they'll bring these back when the theme park reopens.

And yes you could easily spend a day in each - would prob be a bit tiring to try and do both same day.

For waterpark if they're not very confident in the water/don't like being splashed I would avoid weekends.

tashee26

mumontherun wrote: »

tashee - if I were you I would try and go in the week during term time even if it means missing a bit of school.

Can't find them on the website now but they were doing parent and toddler tickets for both water park and theme park. Much cheaper and quieter. (Was about £5 for waterpark and £12 for theme park for adult and toddler). Can't remember what the max age is on these but I've never found AT to check that closely. Hopefully they'll bring these back when the theme park reopens.

And yes you could easily spend a day in each - would prob be a bit tiring to try and do both same day.

For waterpark if they're not very confident in the water/don't like being splashed I would avoid weekends.

thanks did see the parents and toddler tickets before, will have a look at that x

bilty

Was there just before Christmas with 4yr and 18months old grandchildren. Stayed overnight at the hotel and got into the water park for when it opened, managed to get some deckchairs which helped when the little one didnt want to go in the water. Food was expensive and not much choice, we did take some drinks in with us We were short on space in the car and wished i had known that you can hire towels for £1 each. Didnt go on any of the big slides. We had a fantastic time and cannot wait to go back.

diddyangel

This weekend is the first weekend its open after closing for 2 weeks of maintenance so it could well be very busy. We have been and its good although it does get busy and both times we have been the slides, mainly the out door ones, shuts hours before closing time and this was worse in winter as it gets dark early. Its not like centre parcs where they are open until 10pm year round. So if you want to make the most of the slides my advic is definitely arrive early.

Mumto2

Had a great day today - thanks everyone for all your replies.
Although it was sold out earlier in the week, it didn't seem too busy inside.
The only major queue was for the mighty blaster slide - we waited absolutely ages. DD went down by herself, me and DS on a double, got to the bottom and DD was sobbing as she didn't enjoy it
Made up for it by going on everything else lots :j
Took all our own food, drink and snacks - so glad we did. I decided to go and get a cup of tea - came back empty handed as it was £2.05 :eek: My purse clammed up at the mere thought of it.
Overall, really impressed by the facilities - well worth a trip if your kids are old enough to go on slides etc. Our 2 year old ended up going out after 1 1/2 as he was shaking badly, lips blue and couldn't keep warm (fortunately hubby volunteered to take him out - but then was bored for nearly 3 hrs afterwards )