chloedickensonLast Updated on 13th May 2024
This post about a day trip to Alton Towers may contain affiliate links.
Every year for the past couple of years, I’ve taken my little sister to Flamingo Land for her birthday. As much as we love going to Flamingo Land, it can get a little boring when you’re going on the same rides year after year.
So it was an incredible surprise when I received an email about a collaboration with Peperami TV and Alton Towers. I knew straight away that I wanted to take my sister as neither of us had ever been to Alton Towers before, so it seemed like the perfect chance to visit for her birthday.
Since my first trip to Alton Towers, I’ve revisited the theme park on several more occasions, so I thought it would be a good idea to share my top tips and advice for planning the perfect day trip to Alton Towers theme park!
Read more: The Best Theme Parks In The UK – Flamingo Land, Lightwater Valley & More
The best rides and attractions at Alton Towers UK
There are so many incredible rides and attractions to enjoy on a day trip to Alton Towers; you can find some of my favourites below!
- Rita
- Wicker Man
- Oblivion
- The Smiler
- Nemesis
- Congo River Rapids
- Galactica
- TH13TEEN
- Enterprise
Some of the pictures aren’t the best quality but I don’t think they’re too bad considering my mum took them on her iPhone while we were whizzing past at 60mph on an enormous rollercoaster!
We began our day at Alton Towers with a ride on the Spinball Whizzer which was an excellent way to begin our thrilling day of exhilarating rides! The queue for this ride was pretty long so naturally, we used our fast-track tickets!
Next, we headed over to the scarier rides; Rita, Thi3teen and The Smiler. The Smiler was by far our favourite ride of the day as it was the longest and definitely most thrilling, with a record-breaking 14 loops! We even went on this one twice throughout the day as it was just incredible! The 180° ascent was pretty damn terrifying but so much fun; I think we screamed the entire way around the roller coaster!
Rita and Thi3teen were also firm favourites of ours; Rita propelled us forward at a speed of 100kph, through the dark forest and around a plethora of twists and turns! Thi3teen is the world’s first vertical free-fall drop roller coaster and my god, was it amazing! The drop was so unexpected and when plunged into darkness, you could totally understand the reason behind the name of this terrifying ride!
The main reason for our visit to Alton Towers, however (aside from the fact that it was my sister’s birthday…) was the fact that they had teamed up with Peperami TV to promote their newest ride; The Wicker Man. I was challenged to test out the newest addition to the theme park and see what I thought of it!
The Wicker Man is the UK’s first new wooden roller coaster in over 20 years and it’s certainly a spectacular feat. The wooden structure is far from tame and provides guests with an incredibly enthralling experience.
While the roller coaster hurtles towards the Wicker Man himself, he theatrically bursts into ‘flames’, giving the illusion that the whole thing is on fire! It’s an incredible ride with all the special features and effects that you’d want to make it as realistic and exciting as possible. We were both thoroughly impressed with the newest ride to the park and certainly wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone… If you’re brave enough!
Enterprise was our next ride of choice and while it wouldn’t be classed as scary, it certainly did make us feel unbelievably dizzy! The ride resembles a structure similar to the London Eye, but rest assured that it will give you an entirely different thrill! As it spins, its momentum gradually increases until it feels like you’re hurtling around the theme park with no sense of direction at all! It made us both feel incredibly dizzy and quite sick but it was definitely worth it.
Another favourite ride of ours was Galactica; a space travel machine replica that’s designed to take you on a journey through space. Its virtual reality technology provided through the use of VR headsets makes this ride truly one of a kind. You really do feel like you’re on a spaceship hurtling towards space and it’s such a fun ride!
Fast track passes
The queues for the rides at Alton Towers can often be several hours long, especially during the busy summer months, so it’s a good idea to purchase the fast-track tickets as an upgrade so that you can bypass the queues and enjoy as many rides as possible.
The upgrades don’t come cheap, at £10 per ride, but there are several fast-track ticket options available which mean that you can enjoy as many rides and attractions as possible for an additional £30, £50, £65 or £105 (depending on which fast-track package you buy).
Related posts:
- The Best Theme Parks In The UK – Flamingo Land, Lightwater Valley & More
- Center Parcs Whinfell Forest – Everything You Need To Know
- 5 Best Places To Visit In The South Of England
- Harry Potter Studio Tour London – The Ultimate Magical Experience
- The Best Castles In Northumberland – Top Historic Sites
Pin for later – day trip to Alton Towers
Have you ever been to Alton Towers? What’s your favourite theme park? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter at @imjustagirl_16.
I’ve never been to Alton Towers but I’m not a huge ride person! My boyfriend is, he’d go on absolutely anything so I wouldn’t be able to go with just him because the entire day would be him queuing on his own and me standing there on my own haha! I love the idea of the £60 fast pass. I think if you’re only attending once a year or for a special occasion that’s definitely worth it! I’d like to go on The Wicker Man and Rita would be okay. The Smiler though… Eeeeek I’ll sit that one out!
The fast track passes were definitely a a great idea! And I’m sure you’d love some of the rides haha! Xx
I can’t decide what my favourite park is! We’ve been to quite a lot though and Alton Towers is definitely up there! We went last Friday and finally got to experience Wickerman! Our thoughts after our first ride during the day were “meh, good but nothing special”, but the second ride in the dark was fantastic. Definitely a night-time ride! Operations were poor though and even worse on the Saturday I believe, some people were apparently queuing for 3-4 hours and only got on one ride all day! I was also brave enough this time to go on Oblivion (twice!) so I’m pretty chuffed haha!
Oh that’s not good at all! I love theme parks but it is incredibly frustrating when you have to queue for hours!