Alton Towers Resort Reviews 

I only got on 3 rides with ride access! A new stupid rule, 11/2 hours after a ride! Joke. stuck in the smiler queue for 40 mins because it broke down went up to the gate and it was shut on us finaly let us out of the queue and went to spin ball wizzer went to the queue and wouldn’t let us in due to the 1 and 30 mins rule and said it had to be crossed out by the person that did it who wasn’t there. You need to get your act together. When we entered the park half my schools passes didn’t even work. I usually love this park as I love roller coasters

Honeslty id love to ask who is actually managing this place and when will they move on to pass the place to a company or individual that actually cares about the park and most importantly guest experience? We only live 25 mins away from the resort and as such brought a season pass as we have done so for a few years now however I do question as to why we bother even more so after today's visit to the themepark (12th July). There's no magic around the place what so ever! You walk up to the main gates and your greated by tents of security which yes there needs to be some safety etc but when not implement built in metal detectors etc and should they activate may e conduct a bag search but this really is the start of the it.

The park used to be buzzing with interaction from the minute you entered the park, staff used to smile etc but that appears to be long gone. Staff appeared to be very unhappy granted it was a hot day but still leafing and joking with each other just not with guests. What happened to if you see a guest taking a photo offer to take it for them or something as basic as that like they used to? What happened to the entertainment? The park feels very dead and feels worse than a travelling fair that actually has more going on than Alton Towers did today.

This park used to be amazing but its very clear to see that its struggling and being run into the ground and its very much feels thats its a money grabbing exercise right now rather than a magical experience like it used to be.

I would like to also point out that we did experience some discrimination today from a host called George from the Smile ride team. The way in which he spoke to my 14 year old daughter as she attempted to join the queue with her RAP pass was appalling! My daughter has underlying neuro-diverse conditions and the way in which he spoke to her in front of other guests was triggering for her and very much upset her quite visibly. This is under no circumstances acceptable and clearly the ride staff need some training on disability and how to behave around those not so clear disabilities.

Honeslty Merlin / vice president this was by far my worst visit in recent years to the resort. No doubt no one will actually care but hey its worth sharing this. My advise to families is visit else where such as Blackpool Pleasure Beach who don't discriminate toward disability and they still have entertainment!

Customer service poor. Charged twice for a meal due to their card machine going down. No appolgy to begin with. Spent that evening and the next morning to try to resolve the issue. Promised their first transaction had not been charged and would fall off pending transactions. They then decided to issue a refund as a gesture of goodwill - to which has not went through and both charges for meal have now been full charged to my bank.
Terrible lasting impression of a holiday. I have emailed this morning to follow up to be told it will be up to 14 days for a reply. I'm frustrated that this business does not see it as a priority that your customers have been left out of pocket due to your systems and lack of team training - with no resolution and them having to waste more of their time pushing to get their well earned money back.

I go there 2–3 times a year and every time it is worse. We felt the staff had to make a fake crowd so it looked like many people were waiting. On rides they sent empty seats so we had to wait 110 minutes for our turn. The food was bad: £11 for hot dogs or dry burgers. Rides were closing and opening because of “problems” (people were still in line but you could not join). The place wants to get money for fast track more than give good fun. Sad, but maybe it is time to find another place for a family trip because it will only get worse here.

Utterly Disappointing Day Out, Poor Rides, Poor Service, Poor Resolution

I’m genuinely upset to be writing this review, but our recent visit to Alton Towers was an absolute shambles from start to finish and their “customer service” since has only made it worse.

We visited as a group of four adults, excited for a full day of fun. Instead, we got anything but. When we arrived, we discovered that Rita, Th13teen, and Wicker Man were all shut, with no clear explanation or apology. This alone severely limited what we could do.

In nearly six hours (10:30am–4:00pm) we managed to go on only three rides, one of which (The Smiler) we were forced to pay an extra £12 each for Fast Track tickets just to guarantee we could actually get on something. The queues for everything else were ridiculous and made worse by constant breakdowns.

For example, we queued for 70 minutes for Nemesis, then were told they were adding an extra cart to make it quicker, only to wait another 15–20 minutes to be told it was broken and shut altogether. To add insult to injury, we queued for Spinball Whizzer for 40+ minutes, got all the way to the very front, and then it was closed due to a fault. By this point, our day was completely ruined.

Basic facilities were also poor, we tried 4 or 5 vending machines on the way out and they were all broken. And just to top it off, the monorail wasn’t working either, so we left tired, angry, and completely disheartened.

When we raised a complaint, we received a generic apology and an offer for discounted tickets at £20 each to come back again. After explaining that this was completely inadequate (why would we want to pay more to gamble on another day being better?), they responded to say they would not amend this offer further.

So not only did we pay a lot for a wasted day out, but we’ve basically been told “take it or leave it” in terms of any kind of resolution. No meaningful gesture of goodwill, no real attempt to put things right, just more money they want from us.

Alton Towers markets itself as the UK’s top theme park, but sadly our experience was far from magical or memorable. I strongly urge anyone thinking about visiting to be aware that you could end up spending a small fortune to stand in queues for hours and get on next to nothing, and if you dare complain, don’t expect any real customer care afterwards.

We couldn’t be more disappointed. It is a shadow of its former glory. We certainly won’t be returning.

Amazing staff! Couldn’t have been more of a help i recently got a nimbus card and didn’t know I had to prebook the access pass and they were at full capacity… but after me explaining about my disability they were happy to oblige after checking with the manager …. I was given a access pass so I didn’t have to stand in the huge queue’s , then second problem I had 4 children with me but the pass only allows 3 other people to get on the access pass with you … which meant one child would have had to wait in the long line alone …. But again they as a one off let me have the pass for 5 of us … the lady Emily who helped us was amazing thank you and the beautiful girl with the blonde hair who helped was amazing to sorry I didn’t catch her name …. All in all they made my really hard day slightly better thank you very much …. I now have my id card which lasts for 3 years and will definitely be returning ! Only downfall the mobility scooters was a little steep £50 but you get 25 back at the end of the day which isn’t to bad .. but as I didn’t know about this hadn’t budgeted £50 so it was a real real hard day the place is huge the pass helped me on the rides but the walk to the rides has left me in tears unable to move ( not Alton towers fault) but will budget for it next time for sure! …. The rides: it was a little struggle as 2 children measured the 1.4m needed for the big rides and 2 was just and so to small , I felt a little bad as there wasn’t loads for the smaller ones ( that we managed to find ) so had arguments between the 2 pairs lol …. Prices of drinks and food was very VERY expensive £3.50 for a bottle of water 🙈 please try and lower prices even slightly on the bottles of water BUT there was water refill stations which is amazing we found them late in the day … all in all would definitely recommend Alton towers but take some snacks and drinks and jobs a goodun

We went yesterday and tbf i love all the big rides but the queues were just ridiculous 100 mins at some point and they kept breaking down ,
Prices,, well it's crazy over priced, £12 for parking, £10.30 for a dried up hot dog which at best is worth a £1 .
I love the rides i managed to get on but overall VERY DISAPPOINTED.

Firstly, there is no organisation at all when it comes to queuing and putting your bags away for example on Wicker-man. People just push each other to put their stuff away and the staff just shove as many people as you can into the room where the Wicker-man story is told. I waited 2 and a half hours for this ride, got to the front and then there was a delay it was an absolute waste of time!
Secondly, while queuing and when you get close to the ride it gets quite claustrophobic like in Thirteen and Wicker-man and the air feels suffocating. Staff just tell as many people as they can to get to the top but there is still a waiting time so they need to calm down.
I also think that they should limit the amount of people entering per day. This means that queues won’t be as long and you will get to enjoy the park. Waiting in the line for hours and then going on a 1 minute ride is absolutely ridiculous I mean at least make the ride go round a second time.
Also the fast track is a waste of money because the bronze fast track only allows you to go on 4 rides which is priced at £35 and it isn’t even the good rides aswell. The platinum fast track is priced at “only” £135 per person and both passes cost even more than a single ticket alone.
Alton towers should really consider their prices and the amount of people entering if they want customers to have an enjoyable experience

Worst funfair, they let too many people most good rides are 1 hour and 20 minutes standing in hot weather or closed wicket man and rita and oblivion closed today yet still paid full price . If I didnt have kids I would never ever go . I would never go again.

We stayed in the Alton Towers Resort Hotel, which was initially relatively cheap for four adults. On arrival, the first room was unsuitable with a small pull-out child’s bed under the single bed. We raised this with reception as we had booked a room with a double and bunk beds. The response was the booking showed a room that “you could have” and not necessarily what you will have. We paid an extra £13 to move to a room with bunks that fortunately also had aircon.

The hotel bar was filthy and pricey. The floors were very sticky, like 1980’s nightclub sticky-floor sticky, the glasses were filthy and cloudy, the tables were filthy. £8 for a pint, £13.50 for a cocktail (drinks were good, if pricey).

The hotel restaurant was a farce. Run by kids working their first jobs. Our drinks order was taken and the wrong drinks delivered. Our food order was taken and the wrong food delivered. Took 40 mins for one course to be delivered. Pricey food £20.50 for a bowl of pasta, £34 for a sirloin (extra £4 for peppercorn sauce and £5 for onion rings). The food was warm but not hot and below average. Desserts were delivered to the table, despite not ordering any. They all appeared on our bill though, which took a long time for the staff to correct! Very close to walking out.

Breakfast was cheap-hotel, left on the hot plate too long food. Tables dirty, cutlery dirty, floors filthy.

The hotel was tired needing a deep clean, some paint and some maintenance.

If we were planning this again, we’d eat before arrival and bring our own booze, some cards and entertain ourselves.

The park itself was very tired, everything needs a clean and some paint. Despite being out of school hols and a cold, rainy day, the queues were all 1hr +. More when broken rides were taken into account. Every major ride was closed at some point, some multiple times, a few when we were queuing for them. The rides were fun, just 5 hours plus queuing for 2.5 minutes total ride experience…

Food at the park, don’t get me started. £13.50 for a frankfurter hot dog with some cold crispy onions and a squirt of Tommy-K. The franfurters were microwaved, so inedible as they were then nuke-hot and dripping grease. They should be grilled as the display photos suggested. Disgusting. Water was £3.50 per bottle. Food and drinks from the machines, £4 for a bag of sweets, £3.60 for a 500ml bottle of coke.

Overall, with diesel from S Wales and food, the visit cost the four of us £660. We’ve done the full-on Florida Disney for a fortnight for £20k, which represents far better value.

Alton Towers used to be fun - it’s just not the value that it was in the past. Sadly, I won’t be back.

Alton towers is such a scam, I honestly don’t know how they get away with it, spent most of the day stood in queues managed to go on 2 big rides the entire day, the place was full of coach loads of school trip kids, it was just awful, really really awful, such a rip off never ever again

We recently stayed at the Alton Towers 22/06/2025 Hotel for one night and visited the theme park the following day. Unfortunately, while there were some highlights, our overall experience left us disappointed.

Starting with the Alton Towers Hotel, we want to sincerely commend the staff—they were absolutely amazing. From check-in to check-out, they were polite, welcoming, and couldn’t do enough to help. It’s a shame, however, that our room (Room 368) had a significant issue that negatively affected our stay. The air conditioning unit was leaking badly, soaking the carpet from the wall all the way past the bed by about three feet, making it nearly impossible to move around without getting our feet wet. The room also had a noticeable damp smell due to the soaked carpet.

We reported this to Guest Services, who said they would look into it and get back to us. While someone did come to inspect the issue, no one followed up, and we were not offered a room change or any solution—which we feel was due to the fact we were only staying one night. Regardless, that kind of response is not what anyone should expect from a resort like Alton Towers.

On a positive note, the restaurant at the hotel was lovely, and again, the staff were friendly and attentive, which we greatly appreciated.

Moving on to the Alton Towers Theme Park, this was unfortunately a letdown. A number of the main rides were either out of service due to maintenance or broke down during the day, which significantly impacted the experience. Even more concerning was the attitude of some of the staff at the park—many were rude, disinterested, and more focused on chatting among themselves than helping guests.

One particular incident on the Wicker Man ride stood out as deeply unpleasant. A young male staff member confronted me aggressively, wrongly accusing me of filming on the ride. I showed him my phone to prove otherwise, but the tone and manner in which he spoke to me bordered on verbal assault. It was humiliating and completely unnecessary, and it seriously affected how safe and welcome we felt in the park. If there were a way to give zero stars for that interaction, we would.

In summary, while the hotel staff were truly wonderful and the restaurant was enjoyable, the lack of follow-up on our room issue and the poor customer service in the park left a lasting negative impression. Sadly, we expected more from a resort of this reputation and price point. We did go back into the park to use the final day of our two day ticket but it was a massive disappointment the let down was complete. It had been 33 years since I was last there and I had cherished memories of my teenage years and I wished to give my 9 year old some the same experience but my god you have destroyed those memories for me although I managed to keep all this in for my child’s sake so he would still have an amazing time .

seriously
They want the school to complain
My 12 yrs old went on school trip
After visiting
He calls it Alton waiting a long time to see broken rides towers
Asked if we should visit he says had more fun stuck in M6 traffic on returning

Not worth the one star to be honest, quick to take your money on the outside that's because if you knew what was waiting you wouldn't have gone, well over half the rides were not running "nothing new there then".
My daughter has a disability but when we asked for the disability armband they said no because they were fully booked, strange because the disability car park was only half full when we left at 12-30.
So we were refused a disability armband but there was no limit to selling fast track tickets.
Alton towers you need to sort out the stopped for maintenance before someone is seriously injured. Anyway we did manage to go on two rides,ghost ride and hex, for this we paid £25 per ride.
You have been warned

Disappointing visit today by my daughter. She arrived around 10am this morning it is 15:25 and she has managed 1 ride in 5.5 hours. had to queue for 1.5 hours to ride this ride, queued over an hour for 2 different rides and whilst waiting to be told the rides have broken down. I understand this is out of human control however 1 ride in all this time is extremely poor.
The park admissions seem to out weigh the rides with too many people in the park at anyone time. This I understand generates more income, however my daughters visit has not been enjoyable to say the least. Her words to me just now were 'I can't wait to come home'. Not want you want to hear after a day at a Theme Park and the money spent on the ticket and in the park itself,
Would I recommend the Theme Park my answer would be 'No'

On 18 June 2025, during my visit to the customer/express car park, one team member—his name was Kev—displayed a shocking lack of customer service. His attitude was argumentative, demoralising, and downright rude. Instead of listening and helping, Kev chose to argue.

After that encounter, I almost decided never to return—his behaviour was truly the tipping point for me. I still have one more visit planned this year (fingers crossed he’s not working then), but honestly, he needs a serious retraining in empathy, positive language, and patience—three essential pillars of good customer service.

Setting Kev aside, the rest of our day was enjoyable. All the other staff were friendly and helpful—that’s the only reason I’m giving a 5-star rating overall, even though Kev’s conduct deserves a zero in my eyes.

Final thoughts, Please invest in customer care training—especially for Kev.

A great family day out. Service from the staff is always so friendly. A magical place

The food is so awful and you need a mortgage to pay for a meal not worth the money turn back as soon as possible

What a terrible theme park. You first book on the website, payment was taken before it even asks for details about where to send the tickets. Then next thing the screen pops up payment failed although the payment is taken so I have to wait 3-5 days for a refund. Secondly that park opens 10-4pm when the days are light until 9pm, you're paying a premium to spend such little time into the park. I'm only going to tick it off the list before it shuts it's doors due to incompetence

Review of Alton Towers Enchanted Lodge – Disappointing Handling of a Serious Security Breach

Our recent stay at the Alton Towers was unfortunately marred by a serious and unsettling incident that was poorly handled by guest management.

At approximately 11:30 PM, while my family and I were asleep, another guest mistakenly entered our room using a key card. We were understandably startled and disturbed by this intrusion. The guest quickly realised her error, apologised, and left. My husband followed her out to confirm what had happened, and she reiterated it was a mistake. While we were grateful that no harm was done, it was a deeply distressing experience — especially with a child in the room — and we were left concerned about the safety of our belongings for the rest of our stay.

The following morning, we reported the incident. Grace at reception was understanding and helpful — she apologised, issued new key cards, cleared the door’s entry history, and said she would personally check on the room and escalate the issue to management. Her initial response was professional and reassuring.

Unfortunately, the follow-up we received from guest relations was the opposite. I was sent an email with the results of the door lock read, which claimed that the other guest was never granted access and that the door was only opened by "our party." When I spoke directly with the team to clarify that the woman did, in fact, enter our room, they performed a second door reading. This time, they claimed the door had not opened at all — essentially denying both her entry and the fact that my husband spoke with her outside the room.

I provided specific details about the guest — details I would not have known unless I had seen and interacted with her. Yet despite this, another guest relations manager insisted the incident did not occur. When she came to speak with us, I remained calm and respectful, having not requested or been offered any form of compensation. She immediately referenced the computer readings and told me flatly that no one had entered the room, suggesting I must be mistaken. I found this extremely upsetting. Her tone and approach implied that we were lying, which was incredibly distressing and frankly offensive.

When I asked whether they had checked CCTV or contacted the guest involved, I was told the CCTV did not cover our room’s area and that the guest could not be reached. Nevertheless, they concluded that “no further action” would be taken based solely on what their system recorded — ignoring both the emotional toll this took on us and the glaring security concern it represents.

The experience ruined a significant part of our trip, which included our nine-year-old nephew's first visit to Alton Towers — something we had looked forward to for a long time. After several complaint emails, we eventually received an apology for how the issue was handled. However, we were never offered — nor did we receive — any form of goodwill gesture, refund, or compensation.

If you're considering staying at Alton Towers, I sincerely hope your stay goes smoothly — because if something does go wrong, this experience suggests they are neither prepared to take it seriously nor equipped to handle it with care or empathy. Sadly, this raised serious questions for us about how much they value guest safety and wellbeing.