Alton Towers Resort review: A theme park worth the journey

Alton Towers Resort is the largest theme park in the UK, spanning across 550 acres of land and features many eye-catching, beautiful landscapes and rides throughout.

I have only been to Alton Towers once – when I was 10 years old, and as scared as a rabbit in a wolf’s den, so I hardly went on any of the rides.

The Towers at Alton Towers Resort (Image: Alton Towers Resort)

As I have got older, I have grown into a (sort of) adrenaline junkie, and I thrive off living on the edge (within reason), so I was itching to go on every single one of the rides.

If you fancy facing your fears and you’re in London, the drive to Alton is just over three hours away – which isn’t that bad especially if you’re a theme park fanatic.

There are also accessible train and coach links nearby – my route was the one hour thirty minute train from London Euston to Stafford, and then my generous friend picked me up from the station and away we went.

We were raring to spend a full day here and wanted to make every minute count, so we arrived at the resort for 9.30am, ready for the gates to open at 10am.

As many theme park go-errs will know, visiting any theme park can feel like a military operation, as you have to time your visit as accurate as possible so you can go on as many rides as possible.

Our first ride was the latest addition to Alton Towers, the Curse of Alton Manor.

The haunting ride takes you on a journey through an abandoned manor, pact with twists and turns and uncovers the story of Emily Alton.

Alton Manor (Image: NQ)

It wasn’t my personal favourite, but I appreciated the jump scare gimmicks surrounding the attraction – if I was 10 years old, let’s just say that would have been my first and final ride of the day.

I was completely blown away by the size of the park – it really did remind me of a less busy, more cloudy kind of Disneyland (which fun fact, the park was initially inspired by).

During our visit, we rode all of the big thrill seeker rides, including Galactica, Oblivion, Thirteen, Rita and The Smiler.

The Smiler aka the word’s first 14 loop rollercoaster seemed to be taking over the entire park.

There were advertisements and gimmicks for the ride everywhere, including throughout the queues for the other rides.

My friend was the most nervous for The Smiler – but despite her fears (and almost panic attack) she hopped on with the rest of us and had her hands up in the air in no time.

As the big kids we are, we headed to the David Walliams world after lunch and rode Gangsta Grannie, which took me back home as the ride is centred around the late Queen and her jewels in London.

Later in the afternoon, we rode more frantic rides, including the Spinball Whizzer, Funk’n’fly, the Runaway Mine Train and the Congo River Rapids.

My absolute favourite ride of the day was The Wicker Man.

This immersive wooden rollercoaster featured special effects with wooden coaster technology – it was the first wooden rollercoaster built in the UK for more than 20 years.

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The Wicker Man was electrifying throughout, and I found the visuals to be fascinating – it was truly a unique experience that I recommend everyone to ride at least once.

Before the park closed at 5pm, we managed to get in another sneaky ride on Rita – the fasted ride in the park which takes you to 100kph in just 2.5 seconds.

After more than 15,000 steps and a day jam-packed with fun, we headed back to my friends home in Stafford and discussed our highs and lows of the day – and I can admit, there were no lows whatsoever.

Adrenaline junkies could easily spend more than one day in the park, especially in the summer months when queues may be a little longer.

Although it may seem like quite the journey, every moment was worth it – and I would return to Alton Towers Resort in a heartbeat.