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Tips for UK summer 2018 trip?


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Hey everyone!

 

A trip to the UK has been on my bucket list ever since I started coasters as a hobby, and now it’s finally time for me to start actually planning for it! The idea is to fly from Helsinki to Manchester, visit Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Alton Towers and Thorpe Park and take a flight back from Heathrow to Helsinki. I’m planning this trip for next summer as a graduation gift to myself (hoping that I will actually graduate ), and I’ll probably have a friend joining me. No dates or timetables are set yet, though. Knowing some of you are well experienced regarding UK parks, I have some questions I hope you can give advice for:

 

 

Which of these parks would be worth to spend two days in? At the moment I’m leaning towards spending two days in each park just to see everything and secure enough rides on the legendary rides as well as the new coasters (Icon and SW8) Let me know what you would suggest!

 

Accommodation: I know Alton and Thorpe have their own resorts, and with the bonuses they have (ERT most importantly) I’m probably choosing them. But for Blackpool I guess there are more choices to choose from, so if you have any good/bad experiences, I’m all ears!

 

Travelling from park to park: On my previous trips in mainland Europe I’ve used public transports, but for this I haven’t started searching for timetables yet. How easy/difficult it is to get into all these parks or would you suggest renting a car? I’ve never visited a country with left-side traffic before, but if it would save a lot of time/money/effort, I’ll certainly consider it!

 

 

Also if you have any tips for each parks about what to ride first and where to eat… that would also be cool (but no spoilers, please)! I’ll definitely utilize Q-bot in Blackpool and probably also fastpasses in Alton and Thorpe. I’ve been very lucky in my previous visits to other parks, but for this trip I’m ready to spend a little bit more just for those front/back row rides!

 

I’m so excited I’ll finally have a chance to ride both Nemesises, GalacticAir, Swarm, Big One, Stealth, Colossus, Smiler, Th13teen, Valhalla, Wild Mouse… there are so many legendary-tier rides for me!

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I can't comment on Thorpe Park as I've never been there, but both BPB and AT are probably worth two days as you've said. Depending on when you go, queues can seriously impact what you're doing.

 

Alton Towers is probably the easiest to make an initial comment on - I've never taken public transport there, but I believe it is a pain. The park is quite secluded. Ensure you plan that one well.

 

Blackpool Pleasure Beach should be easy to reach from just about anywhere in Blackpool, or the surrounding area. I'm an ex-local (born in Blackpool, lived in nearby Lytham for 18 years). Blackpool itself is absolutely awful - tacky, dirty... they used to have little machines on the front selling crotchless edible underwear. The Pleasure Beach does have its own train station - unsure if it's still in use, but if it is you could consider other places (Lytham or St Annes, if they both service it, shouldn't take long at all to get to/from).

 

With the Pleasure Beach, like most parks, go there early and plan on staying late. When we've gone, Big One, Grand Nash and Avalanche are the ones with the biggest queues, but you really need to do everything (I've done BPB a load of times, and AT only a few). The park has so much about it that is unique. Obviously there's the coasters (make sure to do the Nickelodeon Streak, which is basically the old Rollercoaster / Velvet Coaster with a paint job), but also the Ghost Train, Alice In Wonderland, and River Caves (shame about the Gold Mine, which has now been replaced by Wallace & Gromit) that should be essential riding.

 

For eating, there's a Burger King on site which is fair enough. I wouldn't rate anywhere else in the Pleasure Beach. There are numerous chippys outside it - we'd always go to Woodheads on Simpson Street afterwards. If you're looking at driving, we always use the giant car park on Yeadon Way, at the Blackpool South train station (another train station you can use) - the park is about a 10 - 15 minute walk from there.

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Hi ! I actually just did a very similar trip from the US this year, visiting Thorpe, Alton Towers, Blackpool and Drayton Manor, I did it entirely by train and bus. Maybe I can offer some help!

 

Firstly, I didn't see it mentioned but every one of these parks has Express/Fasttrack options available for riding the rides. Blackpool's is incredibly reasonable and if I hadn't been on such a slower day It would be well worth the purchase. Thorpe and Alton offer per-ride options too which I used for the Powered coaster at Alton (an hour wait the day I went) and Collossus at Thorpe.

 

About needing two days at any of them...I'd say no for Thorpe Park especially if you have Fasttrack. Alton Towers is a HUGE park but it's doable in one day (riding major coasters) or everything there with full/some Fasttrack. Blackpool is a possibility, I rode every coaster in the park/ open dark rides without any express but was rushing. (And don't you DARE miss Valhalla, most amazing water ride I've done). There's also some waterpark and pier parks I didn't get to, big arcades in the area/the Tower. It's certainly NOT the nicest town but there's more to do overall there for two days IMO. I did wish afterwards that I had had a bit more time than the single day.

 

As far as Busses and trains go: These two websites are EVERYTHING: http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx and https://www.thetrainline.com/

 

My experience was that buses are always cheaper for day-of reservations (which I had to do), but trains can go more places generally and are faster. In advance Trains can be inexpensive, and you may qualify for a cheap railpass. The transportation for Thorpe Park (Busses from nearest station) and Blackpool (Trains to either Blackpool North about 3 miles walking north of park or Directly near the park, Blackpool Pleasure Beach station) are reasonable.

 

The Transport to Alton is AWFUl. The Park's bus has nonsensical pickup and dropoff times, the Train will be about 20 miles from the park and an actual Taxi is the only way to get to/from (Uber is a no go). A car is easiest there. Hotel for Alton is also either going to be expensive (onsite) or further away near the train stations and must book well in advance.

 

For other Parks, Getting to Chessington, Drayton Manor and the major Piers is not hard by Public Transport. Getting to Oakwood in western Wales would be near impossible, and I believe Flamingoland is doable as well but I didn't look that far into it.

 

Everything public transport is cheaper if you book in advance. Inexpensive hotels that are decent will also book up. Car is probably going to be the more expensive option but with perfect convenience (driving anywhere outside of London center-city that is).

 

And...if you have any time in London, Westminister Abbey, The Tower of London, and the British Museum are all fantastic historical exhibitions and I would highly recommend. The Slide at the ArcelorMittal Orbit MUST be booked well in advance also.

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I didn't visit Manchester, but I imagine you can get from Manchester to Blackpool relatively easily. Blackpool is a major tourist stop so one of the major train lines (ex. Virgin) should have a route to Blackpool North or Blackpool South. As mentioned in the previous post, the trains can be cheap IF you book well in advance. If you book last minute, the prices are far higher for these trains. I strongly recommend them since they're fast and on-time.

 

Blackpool

 

Once you're in Blackpool, there's a trolley that runs the length of the Promenade or you can walk it. If it's during the day, it's a very nice walk past several touristy stops. At night, I'd recommend the shuttle since the families disappear in favor of a less than stellar crowd. As for hotels, I stayed at the Big Blue Hotel adjacent to Pleasure Beach. It was way more expensive than the other hotels, but it actually had good reviews and had a 24 hour front desk. The latter is something many Blackpool hotels were lacking and I needed it with my train's late arrival.

 

The Big Blue Hotel is owned by Pleasure Beach so you get some amenities. You get your own private entrance to the park; however, it's in the back of the park and the rides back there don't open until a half hour later. The only rides operating at opening are in the front by the standard entrance. You do get a half off Speedy Pass, so you can get an unlimited one for $12-20 which is an amazing deal.

 

Most rides were only 15-20 minute waits at most, but I did skip sizable waits at the Big One, Nickelodeon Streak, and Avalanche. I'd say Blackpool can easily be done in a day; however, the park has short hours so I struggled to get all the coasters and dark rides done in one day. If the hours are still 10-5 when you visit, I think two days could be helpful.

 

Also don't miss the nearby South Pier. If you like spinning rides, they have an insane Waltzer of death with a 10 minute cycle and spinning so intense that it causes airtime.

 

Alton Towers

 

If you are to spend 2 days at any park, I strongly recommend Alton. Like Pleasure Beach, this park often has short hours. But unlike Pleasure Beach, it's absolutely massive. I went on a day where everything was a walk-on and just barely got everything in (with rerides on the best coasters) because of how long it took to get around.

 

The Transport to Alton is AWFUl. The Park's bus has nonsensical pickup and dropoff times, the Train will be about 20 miles from the park and an actual Taxi is the only way to get to/from (Uber is a no go). A car is easiest there. Hotel for Alton is also either going to be expensive (onsite) or further away near the train stations and must book well in advance.

 

While Alton Towers is in a relatively remote area, it is possible to get darn close via public transit. The train system had 2 transfers (Blackpool North to Preston, Preston to Crewe, Crewe to Stoke-on-Trent) but I was able to get to Stoke-on-Trent, which is a half hour from the park. I was able to call an Uber from Stoke-on-Trent to Alton Towers; however, for the return leg I had to schedule a taxi with the front desk. Normally there won't be Ubers anywhere close to the park.

 

I strongly recommend staying onsite. I picked the Enchanted Village since it was the cheapest, but I really enjoyed that hotel. It had great theming and a fantastic breakfast. Staying on-site at Alton is key because of the park's location and ERT. You get an hour on the kiddie coaster, Nemesis, and Oblivion before the park opens. I strongly recommend using this time entirely at Nemesis since it's the park's star attraction and the morning is the best time to get the front row. In the morning, it's only a 1-2 train wait tops. During the day, it can be up to a 7-8 train wait.

 

Once the rest of the park opens, knock Galactica out immediately since it has VR and then I'd try to get to Rita relatively quickly. Rita seems to generate the worst line of the major coasters. One other major plus about Alton is that several of the major coasters have single rider lines. I believe Oblivion, Smiler, Spinball Whizzer, and Thirteen all had them.

 

Thorpe Park

Getting to London from anywhere in England is easy. You'll want to take a train from Stoke-on-Trent to London Euston. When I traveled to Thorpe, I traveled straight from the airport, but the key is to get to the 950 Thorpe Park Express Bus. That bus will take you from the park to a nearby town (Staines I believe).

 

I visited Thorpe on a rainy Saturday in September and every major attraction had an hour wait. Colossus has the worst capacity and slowest moving line of them all, so I strongly recommend going there immediately. I thought I had beaten the crowds there only to find a 45 minute wait just 5 minutes after opening. They do have Fast Track, but from what I saw the merge points are pretty far back on most attractions so you could still have a 20 minute wait on a few of them.

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There are trains out towards Blackpool quite regularly from Manchester Piccadilly or Manchester Victoria (used to have to head over that way for work quite a lot). Preston is also a good railway hub that is further towards Blackpool, and I think you should be able to get services to either Blackpool North or Blackpool South, plus nearby towns, quite easily from there. You'll have to research where you're staying nearby and what times trains are and, as others say, book in advance. Trains in the UK can be quite expensive if you need to travel last-minute.

 

(this is where I go into a rant about needing to travel for a meeting from Leeds to Godalming with only a few days notice, and being charged more than it cost me to fly to Paris, grab a TGV to Disneyland Paris and back, stay in a hotel, buses to and from the parks, return into Paris for a day, plus a bit left over)

 

If the train costs still seem a lot, have a look at Split Ticketing websites.

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