Get Away
The super fast Rita rollercoaster at Alton Towers
Scream if you want to go faster !
For our new travel section Jamie Hill made the arduous journey up the M5 and M6 to Staffordshire to take his family to Alton Towers for a few days .
By Jamie Hill Let ’ s quickly gloss over the bad taste jokes that immediately greeted my decision to take the family to Alton Towers last half term .
Yes . It cost an arm and a leg . Very clever .
But it actually didn ’ t . Going to Alton Towers for a family of five for three days and two nights cost just under £ 650 ( excluding spending money ), which if you really think about it is a bargain if you compare it to the same amount of time away at most of our country ’ s holiday parks especially during half term , when we went .
And when you consider that this is a theme park , which are more expensive than M25 service stations and that we got two days entry to Splash Landings water park as part of that price as well - you might as well pack your bags and head there right now .
Okay , here ’ s a confession , we got
8 www . theocelot . co . uk three days in the park because we used our collected Tesco Clubcard points for one of the days and our youngest daughter was completely free as she ’ s barely out of nappies .
But for that price we got two nights in the wonderful Splash Landings Hotel at the resort , two days entry to the theme park and two days entry to the water park .
And it was great . There were three types of accommodation to choose from - Alton Towers Hotel itself , the Enchanted Village , which is made up of separate chalets and Splash Landings Hotel , where we opted to stay .
The food , although expensive , was pretty damn good and staying on the site really added an extra dimension to our thrill-seeking especially as we took full advantage of the evening ’ s kids entertainment .
The water park was great and with most of it undercover , it definitely is English weather proof .
Our favourite meal was in the Crooked Spoon in the Enchanted Village where the food was definitely top notch .
The park itself , only a quick monorail ride away , is the closest you will get to a Florida theme park this side of the Atlantic . With its mainstays of Nemesis and Oblivion still up there with the best of them and the newer rides like VR rollercoaster Galactica and screamer Rita leaving you completely breathless .
For the younger children C Beebies Land kept our littlest one amused and there were surprisingly quite a few rides that we could all go on as a family .
Just to warn you , it is exhausting though . You ’ ll want to sleep for a week when you get back . It ’ s a huge park and you end up walking miles trying to pack everything in . But , overall , this was definitely a family trip that was worth every penny .