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Park Queue TimesPQT

Alton Towers cheat sheet

worked out from 56 days of our own wait data43 rides

Arrive for 10:00 and ride The Smiler, Rita and Wicker Man first. Leave TH13TEEN until after 8pm, when its queue drops to about 25 minutes. The park's queues peak around 17:00 at 24 minutes and are lowest around 10:00.

Before you go

When to go

The days and months this park's rides run quietest

Quietest weekday
Monday
Busiest weekday
Thursday
Quietest month
June
Busiest month
August

Each ride's own quietest and busiest day, tallied and weighted by how long its queue runs. For a dated answer use the crowd calendar, which scores every day of the year.

The shape of the day

Average queue across the park, hour by hour

  1. 10:0013mquietest
  2. 11:0017m
  3. 12:0019m
  4. 13:0018m
  5. 14:0018m
  6. 15:0017m
  7. 16:0021m
  8. 17:0024mpeak
  9. 18:0023m
  10. 19:0019m
  11. 20:0016m

Arrive for 10:00. Queues climb to their peak around 17:00 and fall back through the afternoon; the last hour or two is the quietest the headliners get all day.

Ride these first

The headliners: longest queues, worst by late morning

  1. 1The Smiler ~71 min typical · up to 82 at peak · worst around 2pm71m
  2. 2Rita ~69 min typical · up to 104 at peak · worst around 3pm69m
  3. 3Wicker Man ~69 min typical · up to 83 at peak · worst around 5pm69m

Straight to these from the gate, in this order. Every minute before the park fills is worth three later.

Leave these until later

Rides whose queues collapse late in the day

  1. 1TH13TEEN~52 min typical · about 25 min after 8pm25m
  2. 2Spinball Whizzer~48 min typical · about 24 min after 8pm24m
  3. 3Oblivion~35 min typical · about 16 min after 8pm16m
  4. 4Nemesis Sub-Terra~21 min typical · about 6 min after 8pm6m
  5. 5Hex - The Legend of the Towers~17 min typical · about 5 min after 8pm5m

Save them for the last two hours, when the coach parties have gone and the queue is a fraction of the afternoon's.

Fill the gaps with

Walk-ons at any hour, and the single-rider lines

Usually under 10 minutesThe Gardens5mSkyride to Towers St. (From Forbidden Valley)5mJoJo & Gran Gran At Home5mHey Duggee’s Big Adventure Badge5mBugbie-Go-Round5mThe Royal Carousel6mSharkbait Reef by SEA LIFE6mMonorail to Hotels & Car Parks7mSingle-rider lineThe SmilerTH13TEENGalacticaSpinball WhizzerOblivionToxicator

Watch-outs

Rides that spend the most of the day not running

  1. 1Ritarunning 42% of the park's open hours42%
  2. 2Skyride to Forbidden Valley (from Dark Forest)running 42% of the park's open hours42%
  3. 3Skyride to Forbidden Valley (from Towers St.)running 43% of the park's open hours43%
  4. 4Skyride to Dark Forest (From Forbidden Valley)running 43% of the park's open hours43%
  5. 5Edge of the Forestrunning 56% of the park's open hours56%

If one of these is the reason you came, ride it the first time you see it running rather than saving it. The full picture is on the reliability page.

On the day

Your day-of sheet

The same park, for one date: the forecast, the hours, and your ride order

With a free account you get this sheet for a date: the crowd forecast for the day, its published hours, a ride order worked out against that day's wait curve, and a printable version to take in.

Get the day-of sheet

An account gives you a ride order for your date, with the forecast and the hours, ready to print. Free, and no card needed.

Create a free accountor sign in

  • Your rides, in order

    Sequenced against the wait curve, so the headliners land in their quiet windows.

  • quiet till 111pm · 66m

    Your date, hour by hour

    How the wait climbs on the day you picked, and the window it stays low.

Everything above is each ride's own recorded queue over recent weeks, sampled every few minutes through the park's opening hours - not an opinion. A ride with too little history is left out.