Alton Towers August 2010

livEwirE

Hi all,

I'm planning a 3 day trip (Sun,Mon, Tues) to Alton Towers in the UK in August, 5 adults, no kids What is the best way to get there from Dublin? I do not want to do the 'coach' run from Dublin. Would prefer to fly to West Widlands/Birmingham/Manchester airport etc. and either get a train or drive. What is the best route to take? I believe the park is in the middle of nowhere so I think having a car might be the least amount of hassle, public transport to get there sounds a nightmare:eek: Can anyone recommend hotels close to the park please? One last one, where can I buy fast passes in advance and how much are they and are they worth getting?

All advice MUCH appreciated!

~livEwirE~

Paulj

hey, we did a similar trip earlier this year and it was awesome!! Best fun ever.... we flew to East Midlands and got a taxi to our accom near Alton. We stayed at an inn nearby.

We got taxi's to and from the park itself. It might make more sense to rent a car tbh. We didn't go for the fast track tickets but the weekend we were there was VERY wet so the rides weren't that busy. I imagine at this time of the year it might be worth your while. Even when we went (which was the first weekend of the season) some of the more popular rider would have 45 minute queues.

livEwirE

Hi Paulj,

Can you answer the following please?

How much/how long was the taxi from the airport to your accomodation and what was it's name please? Was it a b+b?

What was the cost of getting the taxis to the park?

Thanks for all your info, anyone else?

rossie1977

stoke is the nearest big town to alton towers (about 15miles), there are buses from the main railway station there every day to and from the park

stoke is easily accessible from birmingham airport

livEwirE

Hi rossie1977, is it possible to get a train from Birmingham airport to Stoke? We could stay in Stoke and then just get the bus to the park. Might be a good option alright:)

rossie1977

livEwirE wrote: »

Hi rossie1977, is it possible to get a train from Birmingham airport to Stoke? We could stay in Stoke and then just get the bus to the park. Might be a good option alright:)

yes there is a direct train from birmingham new street to stoke every 30mins approx (takes 45-50mins), trains leave from the airport to new street every 5-10mins and take 10mins so it only a case of getting off the train in new street and walking to the new platform

best to book in advance as fares are much cheaper that way, it will also be cheaper if you book from new street to stoke rather than the airport www.nationalrail.co.uk

Paulj

The taxi from the airport was about 40£ i think. If you get a bus taxi it'd work out fine. Don't know the name of the taxi company. The inn we stayed at was called Peak Stone. Google it and you'll find it. I think the taxi from the inn to Alton Towers was about 10£ or thereabouts.

livEwirE

Cheers for that train info rossie1977

livEwirE

Thanks for the pricing Paulj, it all helps to put together a package that will fit our budget I think a lot of Irish must travel to Alton towers, hopefully they'll share their experences here

livEwirE

We've booked the flights to Manchester airport and decided to hire a car. Can anyone recommend a car hire company from manchester airport please? I've never hired a car abroad, how long would it take to drive to Alton towers from the airport? Do they usually include sat navs?

fifib

livEwirE wrote: »

We've booked the flights to Manchester airport and decided to hire a car. Can anyone recommend a car hire company from manchester airport please? I've never hired a car abroad, how long would it take to drive to Alton towers from the airport? Do they usually include sat navs?

According to AA route planner AA route planner - Manchester Airport -> Alton Towers the journey is only about 1hr 15mins.
i would hire a GPS from the rental company if you can. makes life so much easier! Im sure their only a few pound per day (im in the middle of search for car in states and gps is about €6 a day to rent so im going on that!). or if you know anyone you could borrow one from?

Definately recommend buying the fast passes especially if your going at the weekend. dont think weekdays will be too busy yet as schools are still open over there but i guess there could be alot of school tours going there!

I also recommend checkingout thrifty.co.uk for hiring a car. friend of mine swears by them for being cheapest

livEwirE

Brilliant stuff fifib,one of the travellers is bringing their sat nav so we are covered there. Have been looking at the prices of the fast passes http://www.altontowers.com/tickets/ - seems a bit steep so will need to consider that

fifib

livEwirE wrote: »

Have been looking at the prices of the fast passes http://www.altontowers.com/tickets/ - seems a bit steep so will need to consider that

Yes £80 is alot but you do get to use it as many times as possible! But i wouldnt buy this either!
If you dont want to spend alot I would recommend either going with the Scream or Rita one. Rita is still pretty new there so its pretty much always busy. I queued for 3 hours for this ride in the blistering heat while it broke down every 10mins! they left the park open later cos people weren't budging til they got a go on it! tho I was tired and burnt going home it was so worth it!
Just remember to check the queue times before you use them. we found sometimes that the normal queues werent that bad so we held on to them til later in the day and then used the fastpass for another go. once the fastpass queue was longer than the normal queue. there are usually staff knocking around tho and they told us this so saved us wasting them and some time!
theres also single riders queue if ya dont mind be seperated

livEwirE

WOW, gotta admire your dedication in waiting for Rita, mate, no way I could last 3 hours queuing:eek:, fair play to you

Music to my ears - SINGLE RIDER QUEUES!!! I used them a lot in Disney and Universal this summer and they were great. Are they on all rides do you know? I don't think I'd really bother with the fastpass if the single ride queues are available

fifib

livEwirE wrote: »

Music to my ears - SINGLE RIDER QUEUES!!! I used them a lot in Disney and Universal this summer and they were great. Are they on all rides do you know? I don't think I'd really bother with the fastpass if the single ride queues are available

all of the big rides (Air, Nemisis, Rita etc) have the single riders queue. Dont think the water ones (Log Flume, river Rapids) have them but dont quote me on that. never much of a queue for these anyways as their hop on hop off style no waiting to be strapped in etc..

Good to know they have them in Universal too..thats where im headed next month

livEwirE

Thanks for confirming that, it will make a huge difference to us!!!! Enjoy Universal mate and don't miss The Simpson's Ride, Shrek 4D and Rockin Rollercoaster :D:D