Alton Towers Pick-Up Point help please!!

Echo23

Hello,
Trying to cut a long story short but my 10 yr old daughter is going on a coach trip with school to Alton Towers on 27/6. My daughter is also appearing in a ballet performance in Leeds that evening. Unfortunately the coach leaves too late to get her home in time to make the performance so crazy Dance Mother here is going to drive 2 hrs from my home to Alton Towers to collect my daughter from the teaching staff and drive another 2hrs straight up to Leeds for the ballet. My insanity aside I need help with the lay-out of Alton Towers. I haven't been for 20 yrs! I have been advised to drive to the pick up/drop off point which I'm told is right near the theme park entrance and behind the monorail. Can I leave my husband in the car waiting and walk to the entrance to have my daughter handed over? Is the entrance also the exit??? I don't want to inconvenience the teaching staff too much by making them come out of the park but also don't want to have to pay to get in!!!! Does anyone who knows the layout well know what would be the best way to do this? Thanks in advance xxxx

balletshoes

the drop-off/pick-up point is just as you enter the park grounds - its a layby on your right as you come in by car -

http://www.altontowersguide.com/before-you-visit/drop-off-point/

you can leave your husband in the car while you nip to the park entrance to collect your daughter - the entrance and exit is the same place at Alton Towers, she can come to the entrance with a teacher and then she can walk through the exit turnstile, and you can collect her there, without having to pay to go into the park.

Echo23

Thank you so much for your reply. Really helps! Can I just double check that there is only one exit!!??? I don't want to arrange with the school to meet at the exit and be at different ones! LOL (just my luck!) x

k3lvc

This sounds like the sort of thing I'd do as a parent - only thing I'd say is that your chances of doing Alton Towers to Leeds in 2hrs on a Friday afternoon/evening are, to say the least, remote without a police escort.

balletshoes

Echo23 wrote: »

Thank you so much for your reply. Really helps! Can I just double check that there is only one exit!!??? I don't want to arrange with the school to meet at the exit and be at different ones! LOL (just my luck!) x

theres only one exit - if you want to be sure get the school to bring her to the exit/entrance and be waiting for her so she can see you (so for example, you be waiting at the left of the entrance/exit area, so she'll be looking for you on her right as she comes to the exit). You can see into the park from the turnstiles area outside the park, so you should see each other before she comes out if you're there waiting for her.

Echo23

Ha! Thank you! I have allowed myself 3 hrs just to be safe. Hoping that will be do-able!! :-/

duchy

As time is going to be horribly short can I suggest you exchange mobile numbers with the teacher just in case you miss each other or can't find each other.

As your daughter is appearing in the ballet I'm amazed they are allowing her to do this as the risk of a delay are not low. I think I'd have told her to choose one or the other as if the traffic is bad she'll have lost out on both as well as letting her fellow performers down.

Are you really sure this is a good idea ?

Echo23

No, I'm not entirely sure that it's a good idea. I haven't totally committed myself to the idea yet but wanted to work out if it would be do-able.

k3lvc

Echo23 wrote: »

Ha! Thank you! I have allowed myself 3 hrs just to be safe. Hoping that will be do-able!! :-/

My personal view is that 3hrs on a Friday evening with 30 miles of 50mph limits on the M1 (assuming that's the way you're planning) isn't likely to be achievable.

Echo23

Really? :-( I appreciate your advice, obviously it's not what I wanted to hear and means I may have to make my little girl very unhappy but saves me from making a big mistake and missing the ballet, which is, after all the most important of the two.

k3lvc

You really are in the lap of the gods and it depends where in Leeds you need to be and for what time.

All you need is a single issue in one of the roadworks sections and you could easily be there 30mins with no easy exit/alternative route

Before you commit then have a look this Friday at www.maps.google.com and see the times it's showing for the journey (although the next couple of Fridays might not be typical due to school/bank hols)