Alton Towers, Birmingham

...happened over the years at Alton to write it all down here. Plus there are some fabulous websites, which I shall add at the end where you can find out all about the history, legends and stories from days gone by. So I'll just quickly bring you up to date.

The Towers spent many years being passed down the Talbot family, who were all the Earls of Shrewsbury. 15th Earl of Shrewsbury, Charles saw huge potential in the estate and work began ...
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In 1924 Alton Towers was sold to local businessmen who started the initial development of the tourist attraction.

In the 1970's, Dennis Bagshaw the new owner restored parts of the house and reinforced and rebuilt certain ceilings and walls so that the floors would allow visitor access and restored the gardens. In 1975, the Alton Towers Ltd Company was passed onto son-in-law, John Broome. He concentrated his money on thrill ... more

**BEWARE** This is a long review. However I have divided it up so you can hopefully find the particular information that you are after if you don't fancy reading all the way through.

***HISTORY*** There is far to much that has happened over the years at Alton to write it all down here. Plus there are some fabulous websites, which I shall add at the end where you can find out all about the history, legends and stories from days gone by. So I'll just quickly bring you up to date.

The Towers spent many years being passed down the Talbot family, who were all the Earls of Shrewsbury. 15th Earl of Shrewsbury, Charles saw huge potential in the estate and work began immediately and lakes and pools were dug around the grounds. His vision was for the grounds of the house to become one of the best gardens in Britain. Charles died in 1827, but his work was continued and completed by his nephew John.

Earl John Talbot died in 1852 and the Towers were passed to Henry Talbot. But unlike previously it involved long and very costly legal battles between family members. This left the Earl with no money for the upkeep of the Towers and Gardens. So the grounds were opened to the public in order that money could be raised for further restoration to the Towers.

In 1924 Alton Towers was sold to local businessmen who started the initial development of the tourist attraction.

In the 1970's, Dennis Bagshaw the new owner restored parts of the house and reinforced and rebuilt certain ceilings and walls so that the floors would allow visitor access and restored the gardens. In 1975, the Alton Towers Ltd Company was passed onto son-in-law, John Broome. He concentrated his money on thrill rides, and in 1980 the Alton Towers with all that magic that we know and love today was created.

In 1990 the Tussauds group took over and they were bought out by another company last year, but the Tussauds name remains.

***GETTING THERE***Being such a popular place many coach companies organize trips to Alton towers, with both travel and entry included in the price. This will no doubt give you a discounted entry price along with avoiding parking charges. Trains also offer deals, again with travel and entry included, and also a bus or coach service from the local staions.
However, most people still prefer to come by car, as this gives a certain amount of freedom. Alton can be found off the A50 which runs between the M6 on the west side of the country and the M1 which runs up and down the middle.
From the M1 travelling South, take Junction 28, and Junction 24, if traveling North.
From the M6 travelling South, take Junction 16 and Junction 15, if traveling North.
Alton Towers is signposted from both motorways and also along the A50 and the A500 which runs through Stoke.

If coming up the M6 you will pass Birmingham. But do not be mistaken as you will not find it here whatever Ciao thinks!

***ACCOMODATION***The resort, as it now likes to be called, boasts two hotels; Alton Towers Hotel and Splash landings. Whilst Splash landings is themed around a Caribbean Village and water park, with 216 bedrooms in beach hut style with driftwood furniture, window shutters and exotic fabrics, Alton Towers Hotel has two types of bedrooms, 8 different Themed suites and 175 Discovery Bedrooms. The themed rooms vary according to the style. Choose from sleepover Suite, Arabian Nights, Chocolate Suite, Celebration suite, Imperial, Benjamin Bunny, Big Pyjama and the Peter Rabbit Burrow. The Discovery bedrooms, inspired from the travels of Sir Algenon Alton will sleep up to 2 adults and 2 children in a double bed and either bunk beds or two singles. There are a few larger family rooms sleeping up to 6.
Both Hotels have their own Restaurants and bars and an internal walkway means you can choose to go to either, regardless of which Hotel you are staying in.

Prices are not cheap, expect to pay around £50 pppn, for bed and breakfast and this does not always include entrance to the water park or Alton towers. It does however give you early entrance to the park and some rooms also include priority access on the major rides. Booking can be done online, and can save you some money, but I would say this would be for special occasions only.

More details about the hotels can be found on the Alton Towers website under the Hotel tab.

There are however lots of Guest Houses in the area. There are also a couple of Static caravan sites nearby.

And if you don't mind traveling a little there are plenty of travel style motels just off the motorways and within 30 minutes driving of the park.

I personally would recommend a lovely little guest House in the nearby village of Cheadle, called Park View. We have stayed there 3 times now and have always found them to be very competitive and the owners go out of their way to make you feel at home. You can get more information from my review on the Guest House or by visiting their website.

***CAR PARKING*** If not staying at the hotel, where parking is free, when you arrive by car you have two choices of Car Park. The 'Standard' Car Park, costing £4 or the 'Express' which costs £10. The Express is literally by the entrance so not much walking involved. The Standard is some distance. You can take the monorail, which is free, and drops you by the entrance. However this is not always running first thing and also is very busy at the end of the day and could be your longest queue to deal with.

Persons with Blue badges can park in the Express car Park for free provided they display their badge.

***PRICES*** The Current Prices for entry to the Park is:-
Adults £29.50
Children £19.00 (Children under 4 or 1m are free)
Disabled/Seniors/groups 10+ £14.75

These are the prices you will pay at the gates. Discount prices can be obtained by booking online. There are also lots of BOGOF offers about or vouchers for reduced price entrance.

We always use our Tesco Clubcard points to pay for entry, as that way it is basically free, after all, we have to eat! At the moment each ticket is £7.37 in Clubcard vouchers. As I get double points on my Clubcard I can build up the required amount fairly quickly.

Don't be tempted by Ticket Touts though who can be found on nearby roads or even in the Car Park. Their tickets will not be accepted at the gates, and you will have wasted your money.

***ACCESS ALL AREAS*** you are finally through the turnstiles and looking for some fun. Wahoo. The Park has eleven areas if you include the Gardens, and all are fun filled.

~~TOWERS STREET~~ This is the entrance to alton towers and is full of colourful buildings and various displays. Here you will find GUEST SERVICES, This was our first port of call. As we have two disabled children we were able to get wristbands that entitled us to priority access on some of the rides. I had not known this before and it made a huge difference. The day was much less stressful and we even managed to go on a few rides that we had had to leave out before due to the lengthy queues. Both boys were given a red band and the rest of us, the carers, had a blue one. Provided one of them was going on the ride we were able to jump the queues. I know that sounds bad, but if you have ever stood in a queue with two autistic children for about half an hour you would understand how much difference this can make. You are not allowed to keep returning and must wait the time of the queue before returning so it does not mean that you get on any more rides than others. The bands can only be used if the disabled person is going on the ride, so cannot be used on the major rides unless the person meets all the criteria regarding height etc. At guest services you can also hire a locker for the day, and get wristbands for the children that have your mobile number on them incase they get lost. You can also collect Q Sharer cards for families which entitle one parent to go on the ride with a child and then without having to queue the other parent can swap and go straight on.

Also in this street is a Coffee place and the Family restaurant. Plus the main park shop that sells everything to do with Alton Towers, from clothes to cuddly bears. You can also collect 'ride photos' from here which saves you carrying them around all day.

~~UG LAND~~ Originally a dinosaur theme it now has the addition of Thunder Rock valley theming. Since my mum was with us, and adamant she was going to get on a white knuckle ride, we headed straight for this area to go on RITA - QUEEN OF SPEED. Despite only being around 10.30am, The ride had already broken down which it seems to be doing a lot lately. But luckily as we turned up they announced it was back up and running. I think that is why everyone cheered, or it could just have been down to my appearing on the scene!! We joined the queue and 15 minutes later were being strapped in to our seats. The Rocket coaster launches you from 0 to 100kph in 2.5 seconds and then after a couple of twists and turns it promptly returns you back to the loading bay. It was certainly the ride to get our adrenalin going, and set us up for the day ahead. This area also contains the CORKSCREW, a double corkscrew coaster that carefully intertwines with Rita and the UG SWINGER. The children not being old enough for these rides we headed onto the next land after having purchased our souvenir ride photo for the princely sum of £4.99. You can choose to have any 5 photos for £20, saving you the price of one photo.

~~CRED STREET~~ This is probably the area that we spent most of our time during the day, as it suits the ages of our children. The first ride our children wanted to check out was the new DRIVING SCHOOL. After being briefed and having their photo taken by a speed camera, the children were let loose for a drive around the streets, complete with a funky zebra next to the crossing and the two hedgehogs from the highways agency television adverts. There is also a cartoon lollipop lady and a bubbly car wash. Our children loved waiting at the traffic lights and going round and round the roundabouts. The queue for the ride was only a couple of minutes and so they went on this ride several times during the day. They next moved on to the FROG HOPPER and then the GALLOPERS CAROUSEL. Both of these have been at the park for a few years and are firm favourites with my children. We had been hoping to go and see the BOB THE BUILDER show at the Cred Street theatre but this was only during school term and instead was showing a DRAW A TOONS show by Nickleodeon. Sensing that the children would not been too interested in this we moved on to the BOUNCING BUGS. Another favourite of the children due to the fact the children can alter the height of the cars above the ground using a lever stick whilst the cars rotate in a clockwise formation.

Having now had enough of watching, we headed for the other new ride CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. We had been looking forward to this and were glad that we had priority access when we saw the long queues. For priority access we had to enter via the exit. Here we were met by a member of staff who led us to a boat. We are not sure if they actually checked our wristbands or not, but we excitedly boarded the boat. The idea is that you go through the Willy Wonker Factory, seeing all the sights from the films and how each person came to their fateful end. I won't tell you all that happens as it will spoil it if visiting yourself. After a couple of minutes we reached an entrance to a tunnel lit up with lights, but at this point the boat stopped and we alighted. There was no member of staff here and we were unsure where to go but just followed the group in front. After going through a corridor with blank screen we then entered a room with rails around the side. There was nothing going on in here and we commented on the fact that anybody slightly obese would struggle to get round as the gap was no more than a foot wide. Double doors took you out of the room and into the outside world. At this point we stood blankly looking at each other and wondered what all the hype was about. We were also glad we had not had to wait in the long queue. I have since found out that whilst in the queue you enter a pre show room where you watch a film that features Willy Wonka. It is an introduction to the ride and apparently very good. The boat ride itself should have been accompanied by a commentary giving you a better idea of what you were looking at. Then when you leave the boat you stay in the first room to watch another film, but it will not start until there are enough people in the room. You then move onto the next room which is in fact the glass elevator. I'm not sure quite what happens here but I got the feeling that we should have been the other side of the rails.

Of course we are all so disappointed now that we missed out on what could have been a fabulous ride. Why no staff are placed at these points to guide visitors I do not know. Both those in front and behind us all walked through as we did. It may be that these parts weren't working, as I have read that this ride has had a number of problems since opening but it would still have been better to be informed.

This area also houses the indoor PLAYGROUND which we returned to later in the day. This we found to be another disappointment. The area is split into 3 areas according to height. My three boys all went into the middle area, but my daughter was a couple of centimeters too tall. Upset that she must now play alone she headed to the area designed for her height. This are is set out like a football pitch, and as expected only contained boys. She does like football and so tried to join in, but boys being boys, they booted her out. When I went with her to access the situation, and hopefully try and allow her to join in, their appeared to be a punch up going on so I couldn't blame her for not wanting to try again. I spoke to a member of staff who just said she could not alter the rules and my daughter could not join her brothers, which incidentally included her twin brother. The only suggestion the staff member had was for her to play with the hoops hanging up. Wahey…big fun… I think not!

~~X SECTOR~~ After the let down of Charlie we headed to this area for a bit more excitement. Three rides can be found here. ENTERPRISE, which I hate as I just slide about in it due to my height, or lack of, SUBMISSION, the latest white knuckle ride, which swings you back and forth before finally going full rotation and tipping you over, and OBLIVION. Ready for some more adrenalin rushing, my mum and I headed for the queue. It took about 10 minutes to climb to the top where the end of the queue was and within a minute or so we had reached the front. The idea of the ride is all about intimidation. All along the queue line are short films constantly reminding you that the ride could result in death and that this is your final chance to turn back. Then there is the slow climb up the hill lift just before being perched on top of a 200ft vertical drop. At this point you would also have been told to Not look down, but due to complaints from neighbours this part of the ride has had to be removed. Finally you are released and go plummeting down. As you reach the entrance to the hole you get a quick squirt of mist in your face, just to disorientate you a bit more before being flung back out and shot back round to the starting point.

All that adrenalin brought on hunger and it was off to the fast food for some grub.

~~ADVENTURE LAND~~ Full up and in need of something a little more sedate we headed for Adventure Land. Just two rides here to choose from. SPINBALL WHIZZER which catapults riders round like a ball in a pinball machine. The cars spin around depending on the weight and the number of people, so you get a different experience every ride. We had been contemplating this ride but at this point it decided to break down so we headed over to THE BEASTIE instead. This is a harmless children's rollercoaster, or at least that it was you are led to believe. We got straight on the ride as by now it was pouring with rain and most sensible people had taken cover. The ride starts off quite slow, climbing up to it's highest position, which in fact is not that high. But then all of a sudden you are whizzing down and turning some very tight corners. At this point I slid across the seat to my youngest and whacked my thigh on the metal pole in the middle of the car. The Baestie usually does two circuits so after shooting through the platform we were climbing once again. Before I knew it I was crashing back into the bar. I now have a lovely bruise emerging and by the looks of things will be around for a while.

~~STORYBOOK LAND and OLD MACDONALDS FARM~~ With spinball still out of action, we headed over to the Farm, stopping on the way to ride SQUIRREL NUTTY RIDE in Storybook land. The disabled lift was out of action so we just took the normal route but as it turned out no one was in the queue anyway. Plonking ourselves in the Acorn we sat back and enjoyed the view from this monorail designed for children. I think I preferred it in the days that it had pedals, as this allowed you to speed up a bit and gave a bit of excitement to the ride. But maybe there were too many accidents with Acorns bumping and so they have been sadly removed.

Venturing on we headed on to Macdonalds farm. This area is designed for the youngest of visitors and I have to say bores me silly. It hasn't really been updated for a while and is Ok on first visit but seeing the same things year after year gets a bit tedious. I guess normally you would only spend a couple of years here before your children grow and move on to bigger things but as my children don't seem to grow they are not tall enough to go on anything more thrilling. The most recent addition is the RIBENA BERRY BISH BASH, which was built in 2003. This fun house is full of foam balls which can be shot, catapulted, thrown or blasted from various contraptions around the place. The targets more often than not are the parents, and though they may be foam, those balls hurt. Other rides here are TRACTOR RIDE, self explanatory DOODLE DOO DERBY, an animal themed carousel, the SINGING BARN, which is just there to drive you crazy and the RIVERBANK EYE SPY. Here you ride along a water filled channel in a small boat, you have to try to guess the animals described as you go around and press the corresponding buttons in the boats which make that animals sound. All the children want to press the buttons and then they get a bit silly and over excited and just press as many buttons as they can. The ride used to have a few real animals to entertain you along the way but sadly these all went when Foot and Mouth took over.

The only thing in this area that I normally do enjoy is the shows from the Big Top. The shows are all set on ice and are very well choreographed. I was a bit mystified as I had seen no advertisements for the current show, and then even more when we found the area all boarded up. I have later found out this is again due to complaints from the neighbours about the level of noise coming from the park. Not the fault of Alton towers I know, but left me feeling a little unsatisfied as normally the day had contained two shows and yet now, neither were available.

~~MERRIE ENGLAND~~ This area has mainly been taken over by side shows, all of which cost so we didn't spend much time here. It is more of a walkthrough that anything but the children did have a quick spin on THE TEA CUPS and we later returned for them to go on THE FLUME. Already soaked I bowed out of this one, but the themeing of bath tubs and rubber ducks fits in really well and gives an extra special bit to the ride. The children were able to avoid the 50 minute queue by going to the exit and came back 15 minutes later completely soaked. Glad I missed that one.

The Lake comes under Merrie England, but the familiar Swans have now gone. Each Winter they were loaned to parks in the area for the children to play on, but each year less came back due to vandalism. I guess this is why they have now been replaced by the SPLASH KART CHALLENGE, where you race around in a speed boat. But along with this new ride came a price of £3 per person.

~~KATANGA CANYON~~ The theming here is an African settlement and is made to feel like you are exploring the wild. We headed straight for the RIVER RAPIDS, one I would normally miss because of the queues. After getting several funny look for walking up the exit the wrong way we got into the boats, and I frantically searched for a dry seat. Finding one I sat myself down and got comfy for the ride. We all commented that we thought the water was running faster than usual as we bobbed and bounced our way along. Whether this was the case or not I don't know, but it did add to the thrill of the ride. I clearly had chosen the wrong seat for it seemed with each bump of the rocks on the side the boat tipped and I got drenched. I also seemed to be the one that got a full soaking at the waterfalls. I came off thoroughly soaked, including underwear and wished that I had chosen some other type of clothing other than jeans to wear.

The other ride that can be found here is THE RUNAWAY MINE TRAIN. Due to an accident a couple of weeks back the ride is currently closed. Whilst understandable, was also slightly upsetting for my youngest two as they love this ride and it is the only 'thrill' ride that they are actually tall enough to go on. But safety must come first.

~~GLOOMY WOOD and THE TOWERS~~ Both these areas only contain one ride each. HEX can be found in the Towers and is inspired by the supposed legend of the chained oak that can be found nearby in the village. It is not for the faint hearted or for those who get easily freaked. This is really the only chance you will get to see anything of the Towers as the high cost of restoration has meant that the majority of the building is being left to go to ruin.

In Gloomy wood, can be found another chilling ride, DUEL. This was closed the day we went, but it scared the life out of my children last time so I don't think they were too bothered. I have not been in myself. It's more the dark that scares me than anything else, but from what I gather it is the same as the haunted house, which I did go in, but this time you get a laser to shoot the ghosts and ghoulies on the way round.

~~FORBIDDEN VALLEY~~ This was the last area we went to before returning to Cred Street for a well earned hot drink. This area is the one for thrill seekers as it contains four white knuckle rides. The first to arrive here was BLADE, a swinging boat ride. This was followed some years later by NEMESIS. On each occasion I have visited and someone has mentioned going on this ride it has been closed. But this time it was well and truly open, and though I was in no hurry to get on it, my mum, the adrenalin junkie, was in need of another fix. So off we headed yet again. This was the longest queue we endured all day, but still it was only around 20 minutes. Before I knew it I was being strapped in and whisked off once more. The idea of Nemesis is based around a legend thought up by the Tussauds marketing department, a monster which was disturbed during routine maintenance work has created a large whole in the Staffordshire landscape. The monster had to be pinned down with hundreds of tonnes of steel and that's how Nemesis came about. To be honest I had not taken much notice of the look of the ride and certainly once on it, I never had a chance to observe much but the back of the people in front. Nemesis is an inverted roller coaster, which means you board the ride underneath the track and your legs dangle freely, as you experience a zero g roll giving you 4 seconds of weightlessness.

The next to arrive was RIPSAW, which is themed as a piece of shrapnel which was thrown out of the Nemesis pit. This ride has 15 possible sequences so you never quite know what will happen, but you can guarantee you will get wet. That is though, when the fountains are running, and with water bans around the country these and are currently switched off. Finally came the addition of AIR in 2002. This ride made by the same people as Oblivion and Nemesis, allows people to feel as if they are really flying. Although as you place yourself in the 'crafts' you are sitting, as the ride begins the crafts are tilted 90 degrees, so you are now facing the floor. At the same time the lights change colour and a voice is heard to say '' Assume the position: Now fly''

~~THE GARDENS~~ By now I was thoroughly exhausted, and thankfully the SKYRIDE had finally opened. The Gardens are quite spectacular and a sight not to be missed. But I prefer to view them from above whilst enjoying a gentle ride in the gondolas. You can however choose to wander through the Gardens and enjoy them close up, but prepare for a long walk as they are bigger than they look from above, and prepare to get lost as there is no set route. Boarding the skyride we headed back to Cred Street for a final go on the rides before heading back to Towers Street to collect our photo from Rita.

***TOILETS and FIRST AID*** Of course with four children and an overactive senior citizen in tow we managed to fit in several toilet stops during the day. There are plenty dotted around the park, and each has a disabled toilet and a baby changing area. Between Merrie England and Towers Street there is a first Aid Station, but I am sure many of the operators have some sort of basic First Aid.

***EATING*** Another thing that can't be avoided. Each of the areas has a different theme and this includes the food. McDonalds, KFC, Fish and chips, pizza, kebabs and Nachos can all be found along with a few other delights. If plain old English is more your thing then head for the Family Restaurant. Prices are as expected for a tourist place, but Mc D, Pizza Hut and KFC are pretty much the same as in the high Street.
We opted for the latter in X-Sector, since we knew it was something the children would eat and also it is one of the few places with indoor seating. This is limited though and you might not be that lucky. With half of us going for KFC and half for pizza both myself and hubby took a queue each. I was served promptly, whilst hubby had a ten minute wait. However my order was wrong, how can you mix up Hawaiian with Pepperoni? But his was spot on. Despite the pepperoni the food was OK and filled a hole. I have heard bad reports about the McDonalds staff and their food so will probably stick with these two if we ever return. But might just shout my order, and get it confirmed.

All in all, a good day was had by all, even though we did feel it had lost some of that special magic. It had only cost us around £25 (£3.57 each when split between the 7 of us) which was the cost of the food. Of course we also paid for accommodation at the local Innkeepers Lodge, but I reckon that was a good deal and we managed to fit a few other things into the weekend too. Now all I have to do is start planning for next year and hopefully the children might actually do some growing this year.

***EXTRAS*** Throughout the year Extras are arranged. These include Haloween and the famous end of Season fireworks. Unfortunately some of these have been banned and others reduced due to problems with noise, and may even eventually get discontinued.

There is a Conference Centre at the park, just in case you fancy making your meeting that bit more memorable. But it is also available to hire for all those other special occasions.

Finally, as promised, the web addresses.

www.alton-towers.co.uk
www.towerstimes.co.uk
www.theparkviewguesthouse.co.uk

 

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