Alton Towers Resort Anmeldelser 

Been a few times recently. Rides closing all the time and they never run them at capacity. Normal queue lengths are awful. Letting too many people in and making you have to buy fast passes to get on more than one or two big rides.

⭐ 1/5

Extremely disappointing experience, both during the visit and with the way Alton Towers has handled the complaint afterwards.

We visited on 26 May 2026 and the day was badly affected by ride closures and repeated downtime. Rita was unavailable, while several other major rides were operating inconsistently, meaning we spent a large part of the day waiting, checking the app and trying to find something actually running.

I submitted a formal complaint on 27 May. After waiting weeks for a response, Alton Towers offered four FastTrack tickets but no park entry, meaning we would have to pay again just to use the compensation. I explained that this was not reasonable and requested either park tickets with the FastTracks or a refund.

They then asked for further booking details, which I supplied on 3 July. Since then, there has been no resolution and no meaningful response.

The poor ride availability was frustrating enough, but the complaint process has made the situation far worse. Replies take weeks, responsibility is passed around, and the compensation offered does not properly address the money and time lost.

For a major UK attraction charging premium prices, the customer service has been unacceptable. I would not recommend booking unless you are prepared for significant ride downtime and a very slow, unhelpful complaints process.

Pure greed from Alton towers as per usual, haven’t been for about 9 years but they’re still as money grabbing as ever. The park was absolutely ridiculous today, we paid £110 for 3 people to literally only be able to get on 3 rides, the fast track passes sold out. The park was crowded and the big coasters like smiler had up to 3 hours waiting time.
So essentially we paid £10 per ride and didn’t even get on a coaster. It was a nightmare! They don’t care about customers, just profit

Went to Alton Towers Monday 13th July, queued for hours just to have rides fail. Moved onto the next qué for another ride just for it to happen again. 6 rides all day started at 10am went home 6.30pm will not go again
Value for money really poor would not recommend

Honestly a disappointing experience . Wait time was often much longer than said. Only got on two rides for the six hours spent there . Ticket prices are also significantly high for what you experience . However rides were enjoyable once on .

I cannot believe in the week on a school day rides have 2 hour waits, why? They must have sold too many tickets into the park, profiteering with no regard to customers enjoyment. You go for the rides, no point if you can't get in many . My son's school trip today managed to get in 2 rides, not even the big thrill ones, what an absolute waste of £45. Not happy at all

Went to alton towers last week .
Parking was far away we had to get the monorail. Not happy felt i was being taken for a ride.
River rapids was shut .
Really dampened my day.
Lunchtime was the rollercoaster restaurant it wasn't great . A bit up and down.
Then there was the win a cuddly toy station.
My other halves daughter couldn't bear it.

It is plain to see they are more about making money than caring for their visitors. The amount of people they let in means you spend 3/4 of your day queuing. You are looking at 2-3hour queues and that was out of season.

I would not recommend.

Writing on behalf of my son's who like to go on rewards day (school trip)
They pay around £50 for trip then need money for food and drinks which are very expensive. To get on 2 rides that's if your lucky absolute joke they won't be going again.
As for fast pass think this very unfair especially in school trips as some kids can afford it and others can't.

Alton towers need to sort it out

There were some positive and some negative but I will start with the positive

Positive

Staying on the resort is great for getting to and from the theme park were you can get the monorail within a 5 min walk from the hotel which goes from 9.30 in the morning so you get there before the crowds start

Theme Park

Overall was excellent and great fun and we enjoyed it just a couple of things the food is very very expensive over £26 for a small lunch and we did purchase the fast track gold bands which great although on one roller coaster a group of boys came up the fast track without buying bands and the gentleman let them in he did say just this once they thought what a great guy he was so maybe worth trying this and save some money some others were not really bothered about checking whether you had purchased fast track or not

Alton Towers Resort Hotel

Ok firstly communication prior to arrival and been able to do online check in and book the restaurant for breakfast great the staff were friendly

Negative

The rooms could do with upgrading very tired looking in terms of how clean the room was it was ok but some areas in the bathroom could have been better but not so dirty that you would need to complain but could be better

They do entertainment in the evening not sure if they think everyone has a hearing issue as it is over the top loud

Restaurant Secret Garden

Would avoid at all costs we stayed for 2 nights and only did breakfast once as that was enough the buffet food is out and not the best they were out of coffee at lot so need to keep more of an eye we are vegetarian which I put in at time off booking they were aware as the waitress showed us to our table handed us a board with a QR code completed and got us to sign a form to say she had gone through all the allergy advice etc which means you need to scan the QR code and have read problem with this is if you do not have a phone or don’t know how to do this my mother would have no idea anyway after this she asked how many vegetarian sausages we would like we told her two each I asked how long the would take did say not an issue just before I went up for the rest of the cooked breakfast she said 2 mins if they are ready and 5 minutes if they needed to cook them…we are still waiting for these sausages to turn up never arrived never came back to tell us if they did not have any and on leaving she was at the front by the entrance saw us coming and turned away so overall very poor

My suggestion would be although the resort hotels are handy for the theme park they are overall a huge let down in addition we amongst a number of guest got take out food delivered as the restaurant was so bad there was a number of people that did this so as not my first visit to Alton Towers but first time staying on site I would and wished I stayed in Stoke as we did before the Holiday Inn in Stoke easy to get to not far away good restaurant next door and breakfast is very good and way cheaper so I would do that

I was excited to stay in one of the resort hotels the website makes it look exciting and was happy to pay the price but it was not up to standard and really disappointing

I worked at towers in hotel for 3 years just because I give tickets to my mates and some grassed of me for selling them, which I didn’t. So they treated me like a piece shit… very bad wouldn’t bother place again they lots trust in me now.. so just becarefully people, plus’s they treat shit, no wounder they get bad review too about place because of staff are so rude to you and have no clue at all

We attended the live shows CBeebies Land, and during the audience participation they invited children up on stage. We were sitting right at the front, and my daughter kept putting her hand up, making a real effort to be chosen. She was completely ignored every time.

She ended up crying and asking, "Why aren't they picking me?" It broke my heart. She was supposed to go to another show afterwards, but she said, "No, Mommy, no more shows."

At one point, the performer asked the children to get up and dance. My daughter went into the middle and danced enthusiastically, but she wasn't acknowledged or praised at all, while other children were.

I can't say for certain why my daughter wasn't chosen, but from our perspective it was incredibly upsetting. She made such a huge effort throughout the show, and we were sitting right at the front. Seeing her leave feeling excluded and in tears completely overshadowed what should have been a fun experience.

Worst of all it was her birthday today!

I love Alton towers rides, however Merlin’s greed is sickening. They cram as many people as health & safety allow to get as much cash as they can. I do get that theme parks are expensive to run, but it’s still greedy and excessive in my opinion. We spent 6 hours there yesterday and got on 3 rides and spent more time queuing in the blistering heat. If you let less people in you would get a lot more people wanting to come and giving better reviews. I somehow think Merlin don’t actually care, as people still come.

We encountered a rude member of staff (catelynn I think) on the food stand outside the curse of alton towers who rolled her eyes when I asked what flavour the doughnuts were (they weren’t all labelled). She also refused to let me take my Passholders discount for food/drink. She clearly didn’t want to be there so I suggest she find a job where she doesn’t have to deal with the public.

Merlin’s stance on single riders also grates. Lester left the single rider queue heaving on the toxicator and pretty much refused to let people on. The sun was blazing down and I had no hat, sun cream, phone or drink as they were with my son. He said he could only let single riders on if there were spaces. To be honest it felt like he was on a power trip, policy or no policy he can choose who he lets on. He could release a few single riders before he started counting from the main crowd as you do with fast passes.

Which takes me to my next point. Fast pass. It makes the park a two tier system and discriminates against people who cannot afford to buy the overpriced fast passes. Yet people in their droves buy them. We were at the park 26.06.26 and even the fast pass people had a massive queue for nemesis, at least the staff there were more thoughtful than the smiler staff and let the queue through fairly. At the smiler they only let a few ‘regular’ people through and crowds of fast pass people. It’s just elitist.

I try and plan visits when I think it will be quieter but you can never do that as it’s always heaving. It just takes the fun out of when you have a teenager to keep happy. The rides are great but the waiting times are a fair ratio for time/money spent.

We have a disabled child and we go to the waterpark quite regularly.we have a blue badge and the disabled car parking spaces always have people in them without a badge. I have reported this a few times and never had a reply so their customer care is shocking. Also 8 pounds for a car parking space is ridiculous.

Very poor visit in May for my son’s 10th birthday. The hotel was so quiet and hardly any guests but we didn’t find out till we got there that the restaurant wouldn’t be open. The staff member said we haven’t enough guests in so we have decided to close t- great start! I rang 5 weeks prior to order birthday package (which they don’t do now), so the lady I spoke to (who was very friendly and helpful) out a request for a birthday certificate ready in the room. We arrived and nothing in the room, so when I was told not many guests, I thought wow they can’t even do a small request. The bar area shut earlier again because lack of guests.
We booked the hotel so we are on site for park and splash landings- I did an email to complain and express my disappointment to which they offered a reduced priced ticket for the 4 of us( which I can get cheaper anyway due to blue light discount)

I loved alton towers when I was a kid, it’s such a shame it’s gone down hill.

there were rats at the food stalls and the place smelled

What has gone wrong with Alton Towers? Hardly any rides were open and because of this, the other rides had 90+min queues

Spent the day at Alton towers which was good but bought two hoodies from one of the shops & on arrival back at our hotel realised the security tags had not been removed. Emailed the park retail department to try and resolve the issue as I have now left the country but left the tops with a family member. No response. So £130 wasted.

Been here so many times, when is torrential rain they have always allowed you into the cafe to eat, bear in mind the park wasn’t busy as was pouring down and mid week when schools back, so the cafe wasn’t overflowing. And as say, previous years have always had the assurance that can use indoor cafe facilities in CBeebies land when is awful weather.

after we had been seated and ordered £20 worth of items, two hot drinks, a small cup with chips in and one corn on cob cut into 3 to make it look bigger 🙄 We got told by the girl who manager had clearly sent over that can’t take own food in, we told the girl that we had spent in the cafe feeling should this time and she said oh that’ll be ok then, I’ll just check, she didn’t come back so we assumed all was good and carried on. Bear in mind we had a cheese sandwich each.

Next thing their snotty attitude filled manager named ‘Ben’ (has blue hair tints) came over and nastily told us ‘I am going to have to ask you to immediately leave the premises as you are not allowed your own food in here’ this came as a shock as the girl had said would check and hadn’t returned, it had been fifteen minutes since then. His attitude to throw us out was ridiculous, nobody had asked us to put our food away, if they had we would have asked where the nearest covered eating area is and also cancelled the food.

I would like to ask Ben why his blatantly obviously friend was allowed to sit eating own food right where kitchen door entrance are, he was stood talking to them for quite some time and others were asked to put food away and only eat theirs, a few left, one couple stayed and clearly felt shamed to order, we were the only ones asked to leave, blatant targeting but made sure got their money first!!!

When I said to Ben that we’ve always come in here when raining and staff actively asked you in when bad, he said well that was previous years wasn’t it, this is this year, so leave, absolutely full of attitude, he frightened my 3 year old granddaughter who once outside started to cry and asked why can’t sit and if she had been naughty, completely unforgivable to FRIGHTEN A THREE YEAR OLD CHILD and make her feel she’d done something wrong, the only thing wrong was bens attitude.

Clearly inflated attitude as was sending the girls out who were clearly uncomfortable to ask others to pack up, note they got told to pack up not get out, was it because we brought up other years been ok as his explosion at that comment and attitude were ridiculous.

when we said but we have got hot drinks in proper cups he got some takeaway cups and slammed them down and said ‘there, now go’

I will never forgive your disgusting manager for upsetting my granddaughter, she still thinks she did something wrong and when asked if wants to go back she started crying and shaking her head, it’s been days, it has left a lasting mark, thanks for ruining her visit, she was so quiet the rest of our visit despite us telling her the only one doing wrong was Ben.

If changed the rules, put signs up or maybe not have the outside seats stacked so can’t be used?! Where do you expect us to eat, there is no proper covered area, we went to one near the wicker man but it’s exposed at sides and was blowing so bad she was shaking cold!!

She didn’t even want to walk back to the shop as was near the cafe, his attitude really frightened her, does Ben feel big, scaring a 3 year old.

A couple with an autistic son were not allowed in, despite explaining his autism and that they wanted to eat in there but he’d have to eat his packed food, they were absolutely soaked and turfed away, beyond a joke.

You are stating allergens but as someone who works in the food industry if you’re bothered about allergens then maybe try these….

Staff should have hairnets on, can’t risk a cheese sandwich which you sell anyway and we have wrapped but hairs in food no problem at all.

Aprons should be worn.

Non-slip footwear should be on.

Hand washing should happen between handling each and every ingredient, I watched this kitchen and this absolutely did not happen. So if you got a cheese potato that smelt like tuna, there’s a reason.

Wipe tables down, your friends table didn’t get wiped down so whatever ate was stuck to it, if you’re bothered about allergens maybe act like it.

There is no signs on the door to state own food isn’t allowed, I contacted the EHO and sent video in of zero hand washing and they said all need is clear signs saying in bad weather people can bring own food so be aware allergens may be present.

We were going to get annual passes am so glad this happened before wasted my money, go to sundown Adventureland guys, completely child friendly and have a massive indoor picnic area too, unlike here they care about comfort of their guests.

My grandpa was on a ride with some young vagabonds when he was jumped and robbed of all his shillings. I have bad intentions to feed their cattle with pure vibranium. Sadly my grandpa perished from severe PTSD from the mugging. today I shall take this hooligans to the court of law and show them who is really in charge.

Yesterday I went to my grandfather's funeral and paid my respects but I had to pay extra for morgue premium. Alton Towers should be completely accountable for allowing these rapscallions into their park. The staff are horrid. Please sack them. I will sue