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ATANeed2Know › How to: Beat the Queues

If you want to minimise your queuing times at Alton Towers, there are a few methods of doing so.

Timing Is Key

Air

If you can get ERT, then it's a great time to get in lots of rides before the park opens to the other guests.

10:00am is usually a good time for most rides, as the majority open to guests at this time. If you want a ride on Rita, it's best to head there first thing, as the queue time can increase rapidly in the first hour.

Lunchtime is also a good time for rides, though not as quiet as in the mornings.

The last hour of park opening is also a good time, as many guests travelling long distances leave before the park is closed for the day.

Use SRQ

Nemesis' Single Rider Queue

If you don't mind riding roller coasters on your own, then you can use the Single Rider Queue (SRQ) on selected attractions.

The way SRQ works, is that once everybody from the main queue has been loaded onto a roller coaster, the assistants check for any empty seats on that train. If there are any, they then let through people from the SRQ. It's usually only one or two seats per train though, so even if an SRQ only has 20 people in it, if you're at the back of the line you could be waiting up to half an hour or even an hour in very extreme cases. However, even this can sometimes be shorter than the main queue time.

You are allowed to join an SRQ in a group, but you will not be allowed to sit next to anyone you know, even if there are two empty seats next to each other available.

SRQs are available on Nemesis, Air, Oblivion, Sonic Spinball and Rita.

Use Parent Q-Share

On busy days, parents and guardians with small children can pick up a free "Parent Q-Share" pass from Guest Services, which is valid on rides admitting guests 1.2m and taller. As one adult queues, the other can entertain the children elsewhere. When they've been on the ride, they can hand over the ticket and the other parent can go straight on the ride via the exit.

Buy Extra Tickets

Rita's Priority entrance

If you really want to jump the queues, then there is the option for you to purchase one or more extra tickets called Fastrack that allow you to join certain queues at their Priority entrances (you usually merge with the main queue with about 10 minutes left before you board the ride).

Priority Tickets Available
Ticket Rides Included Price
Fastrack Scream Air, Nemesis, Nemesis Sub-Terra £12
Fastrack Adrenaline Oblivion, Rita, Th13teen £12
Fastrack Adventurer The Flume, Runaway Mine Train, Th13teen, Sonic Spinball £12
Fastrack Young Explorer Charlie, Congo River Rapids, Runaway Mine Train £6
Fastrack Silver One ride on each of the following attractions:
Air, Nemesis, Oblivion, Rita, Th13teen
£21
Fastrack Gold One ride on each of the following attractions:
Air, Nemesis, Nemesis Sub-Terra, Oblivion, Rita, Th13teen, Sonic Spinball, Hex, Ripsaw, Duel, Charlie, Congo River Rapids, Runaway Mine Train, The Flume, Battle Galleons, Marauder's Mayhem, Heave Ho, Submission, Enterprise
£50
Fastrack Platinum The same as Fastrack Gold, but with unlimited riding all day. This ticket is only valid with a wristband. £90

These tickets can be purchased at any one of the Sales & Information booths around the park.

Plan Ahead

Your best way of minimising queuing times is to plan ahead, and visit on a quiet day.

  • Avoid visiting the park during school holidays if you can, as these tend to be busy days.
  • Weekdays during term time are quieter than the weekends.
  • Sundays are usually less busy than Saturdays.
  • Bank Holidays are sometimes quite quiet - ironically, everyone thinks the park will be packed on these days and don't bother going, so the park actually ends up being emptier than other days!

To see ATA's predicted busyness levels, go to our Opening Dates and Times page.