Alton towers & drayton manor crowd callender

[RudeDogg1]

Does anyone know what the crowds are like at Alton and Drayton the first week of October? I'm hoping its quiet then

 

[Vickyrowe]

Mid week should be quiet , Walk on , max 20 min queues, except Smiler as it's new.
Most people tend till wait till mid Oct for Scarefest to start.

Weekends much the same , we went on the first Saturday of Scarfest last year and we had ERT as we are pass holders , Managed 4 rides on nemesis and a snack break before the park opened and then did Air twice as soon as it hit 10am so we beat most of the queues.

Water rides will be dead as it's colder but we take water proofs and max the rides on them.

Rita Always has a queue, don't be tempted by the single rider queue , it hardly moves normal queue should be fine , it has a slow throughput so might be best left till the end of the day .

Towers will be closed to set up the Scare mazes ,( but not many people go for the history) Hex still open but generally will use and alternate exit.


Sorry for the essay

Bit of a Alton geek , if you need anymore advice try Towersstreet.com . It's a great forum for Alton and other Merlin Parks , so they may help with Drayton too

Vicky

 

[RudeDogg1]

Mid week should be quiet , Walk on , max 20 min queues, except Smiler as it's new.
Most people tend till wait till mid Oct for Scarefest to start.

Weekends much the same , we went on the first Saturday of Scarfest last year and we had ERT as we are pass holders , Managed 4 rides on nemesis and a snack break before the park opened and then did Air twice as soon as it hit 10am so we beat most of the queues.

Water rides will be dead as it's colder but we take water proofs and max the rides on them.

Rita Always has a queue, don't be tempted by the single rider queue , it hardly moves normal queue should be fine , it has a slow throughput so might be best left till the end of the day .

Towers will be closed to set up the Scare mazes ,( but not many people go for the history) Hex still open but generally will use and alternate exit.

Sorry for the essay

Bit of a Alton geek , if you need anymore advice try Towersstreet.com . It's a great forum for Alton and other Merlin Parks , so they may help with Drayton too

Vicky

Me to I've been more than 10 times but this time I'm taking my son who has aspbergers for the first time he doesn't like stuff to crowded

 

[Vickyrowe]

You should be fine , never been too crowded, I get really stressed , to the verge of a panic attack if places are too busy ( strangley I'm fine in Disney, but was really worried) And I've always been fine.

Make sure you pop along to Guest Services on Towers street and get your wristbands it will allow you to go through the exit on most rides and skip the main queue , that may be useful for you even if it is a bit busier.

Vicky

 

[RudeDogg1]

Oh how do u manage to blag them

 

[Vickyrowe]

You'll need a doctors note to explain about your son , and that he would possibly find it hard to queue in crowds etc and it could cause him distress,

Then he would get a red ( if i remember) band and the rest of your group will get blue ones. Depending on the ride and number of people in your family you generally will all be allowed in the exit to board the ride.

If there is a large queue they may ask you to return later , but that has never happened to us .

My DH has Cerebral Palsy is Quadreplegic so he need to use entrances without stairs.

 

[Vickyrowe]

I haven't used one for a couple of years as DH can no longer ride anything due to his condition , but they were great for us .

I'm 99% sure it's still the same system as i saw the band when i went last

 

[RudeDogg1]

Cheers for the help, any idea abit Drayton?

Rudi

 

[Vickyrowe]

they have a slightly more limited system i believe, the service user gets a wrist band and the accompanying carers/ family have a card which is stamped at the ride entrance, it allows you to ride up to 10 rides/attractions, ( 2 rides on one attraction will use 2 stamps)

so it might be worth saving it for the busier / bigger rides and using the normal queue if it is quiet on some of the smaller attractions.

Never been to Drayton myself yet , but it's on my list .

Again it's free so worth taking 5 mins to pick it up even if it is quiet , just in case things become a bit too much for him

Vicky

 

[RudeDogg1]

Thanks I'm hoping to take him Florida in 2015 so this will be kinda a test lol