Alton Towers Resort / VIP Packages

Ingah

I know - hardly money saving, right?

But due to the sentimental value (we met there), I'm thinking of taking my partner to Alton Towers. She'd really love staying in their hotel, and I can't stand long ride queues - so I was thinking of a package to make it special, for us both.

The only package I could see that offers both together (hotel/fast pass), is a Diamond VIP package FROM £275pppn, which is way more than I was expecting (it seems to include things like a VIP escort for the day, and I know that won't be something she'd like very much - she's pretty shy!)

Has anyone got any tips or can share any inspiration for prices achieved on this sort of thing? Thank you!

Sharon87

You can get fast track passes for the day, which may turn out to be cheaper. You can get them quite cheaply if you don't include the newest rides.

A lot of the hotel rooms are designed for 4 people so a bit more expensive than a general Premier Inn hotel.

The fast track bronze is £20 but sometimes they give off on it, I got it for £12 when I was at the park. They allow one fast track ride on 4 of the rides, RITA, Thirteen, Oblivion and Nemesis. There are other fast track passes as well but obviously cost more.

daytona0

You can also possibly queue up for one popular ride as soon as the park opens, saving some money on the fast track for that particular ride.

Additionally, they have a bus from Alton Towers to Hanley (or you can drive) and there are a few hotels located in Hanley which may be a cheaper option.

So it depends really. You either have to pay the full whack (their hotel is *probably* going to be over-rated and over-priced!) or you have to make some compromises. I would be hopeful that your partner would just appreciate a free day out (queuing up isn't all that bad sometimes!) and also a free hotel room for good times (I would hope!). Doesn't have to be too fancy, surely?

takman

I went there in April using the Sun "free" tickets on a Monday. I got there as soon as it opened and it was so quiet that I had been on all the main rides in less than two hours because there was basically no queues. So it all depends on when your planning on going if you need fast track or not.

I also checked this website: http://ridetimes.co.uk to see the queue time at different times. I noticed that Galtica had the longest queues so I went on that first and only had a few minutes wait to get on.

divadee

I have done just what you wanted and paid £600 for two people for two nights in the enchanted lodges, all park tickets for 2 days, and platinum fast passes for one of the days.

Try and price it up separately. That's what I did.

Lavendyr

Do you really want to stay in one of their hotels? When we go to Alton Towers we always stay at Chained Oak B&B, about 5-10 mins walk away - it's lovely, very peaceful, beautiful rooms, full cooked breakfast and £75 a night for a double. I'd choose that plus a fast-track package personally.

http://www.chainedoak.com/

Ingah

Lavendyr wrote: »

Do you really want to stay in one of their hotels? When we go to Alton Towers we always stay at Chained Oak B&B, about 5-10 mins walk away - it's lovely, very peaceful, beautiful rooms, full cooked breakfast and £75 a night for a double. I'd choose that plus a fast-track package personally.

http://www.chainedoak.com/

Thank you to everyone who responded, the replies have been very helpful and there's some great tips here.

I've decided that no, I don't want to pay out the extra few hundred pounds for a night in Merlin's hotel, so i'm going with the above suggestion (well sold!), and expect to buy fastpass tickets separately, as divadee also suggested. I'll probably end up buying the park tickets up front too as there's no way in hell we're happy running the risk of them running out of park entrance tickets after we've pre-paid for fastpass!

Lavendyr

Sorry for the delayed reply - hope you have a lovely time! We've really enjoyed it when we stay there :-)