RGDave
Money List Winner
I am a bit of a roller coaster fan.
"Not a lot of people know that". Peter Sellars impersonating Michael Caine.
So, I tend to visit Alton Towers once a year during the summer. Now, the last few visits have been a bit of a disaster. Long queues (like 90+ minutes for decent rides), folk with queue jumping tickets, general expense, all taking it's toll. So, I thought I was done for good.
BUT, with a child now big enough to ride even the most scary things, we decided to give it one last whirl. EXCEPT this time, I decided to get tooled up with every last "add-on" available. The day was a huge success and we got on lots of the best rides. Air, Nemesis, Rita, Oblivion etc....twice on most and on the front 4 times for Air and Nemesis.
I think my 11 y.o. enjoyed it!
So, in totally un-golf-related style, I pass on the advice to all of you with kids, or that are big kids with a penchant for thrill rides the following tips.
1) Don't EVER turn up, buy a ticket and expect to get on many rides, it'll never happen unless you find one of the rare days in the year when no-one bother to go.
2) Buy the MAIN ticket in advance (over the internet) or use a BOGOF from Tesco or whatever.
3) Book all the FASTRACK tickets you can reasonably spend the cash on. We bought 1 of each (Scream, Adventurer and pre-booked a time for Rita). If you really love the big rides and have no interest in the rest, maybe buy 2 lots of fastrack for those you want to do 2+ times.
Booking in advance saves money, enough to fastrack (in our case) everything and probably only pay a few quid more than the full "day-ticket" price. The advance booking gets you in an hour before, so go straight for the big stuff (until about 10.15) and get on as many as possible before the hoards arrive.
We got on about 20 rides (between 9 and 4 pm) and "rode the front" on rides where having no-one in front is a much better experience. 20 rides for £40.....£2 a ride. Can't be bad.
t.b.h. the front of air (especially when it stalled half way uo to lauch....not funny) is 3 times as good and a truly must-do-in-your-life type of thing.
There you have it. Don't try and do it on a bargain....pay the extras, get the rides and, importantly, DO IT BEFORE EVERYONE FINALLY WORKS OUT IT'S BETTER TO SPEND MORE TO GET MORE.
PS - off to Skeggy to ride the biggest and best in the UK sometime. Not as high as Blackpool, but probably better. (I rode the front of that too!!!)
"Not a lot of people know that". Peter Sellars impersonating Michael Caine.
So, I tend to visit Alton Towers once a year during the summer. Now, the last few visits have been a bit of a disaster. Long queues (like 90+ minutes for decent rides), folk with queue jumping tickets, general expense, all taking it's toll. So, I thought I was done for good.
BUT, with a child now big enough to ride even the most scary things, we decided to give it one last whirl. EXCEPT this time, I decided to get tooled up with every last "add-on" available. The day was a huge success and we got on lots of the best rides. Air, Nemesis, Rita, Oblivion etc....twice on most and on the front 4 times for Air and Nemesis.
I think my 11 y.o. enjoyed it!
So, in totally un-golf-related style, I pass on the advice to all of you with kids, or that are big kids with a penchant for thrill rides the following tips.
1) Don't EVER turn up, buy a ticket and expect to get on many rides, it'll never happen unless you find one of the rare days in the year when no-one bother to go.
2) Buy the MAIN ticket in advance (over the internet) or use a BOGOF from Tesco or whatever.
3) Book all the FASTRACK tickets you can reasonably spend the cash on. We bought 1 of each (Scream, Adventurer and pre-booked a time for Rita). If you really love the big rides and have no interest in the rest, maybe buy 2 lots of fastrack for those you want to do 2+ times.
Booking in advance saves money, enough to fastrack (in our case) everything and probably only pay a few quid more than the full "day-ticket" price. The advance booking gets you in an hour before, so go straight for the big stuff (until about 10.15) and get on as many as possible before the hoards arrive.
We got on about 20 rides (between 9 and 4 pm) and "rode the front" on rides where having no-one in front is a much better experience. 20 rides for £40.....£2 a ride. Can't be bad.
t.b.h. the front of air (especially when it stalled half way uo to lauch....not funny
) is 3 times as good and a truly must-do-in-your-life type of thing.There you have it. Don't try and do it on a bargain....pay the extras, get the rides and, importantly, DO IT BEFORE EVERYONE FINALLY WORKS OUT IT'S BETTER TO SPEND MORE TO GET MORE.
PS - off to Skeggy to ride the biggest and best in the UK sometime. Not as high as Blackpool, but probably better. (I rode the front of that too!!!)
