Alton Towers

As a birthday treat for my boyfriend we went to Alton Towers.

I've never been, but he'd been as a kid and was very very very excited. He woke up extra early and had a shower and was all dressed and ready to go before I'd even woken up.

We then drove all the way to Alton (in just under 3 hours from Shepherd's Bush with one petrol stop). We arrived at about 11am with the weather not looking too great, and it seemed like there were a lot of cars there already as we tumbled out of the car and got our waterproofs on.

We made our way to the monorail and hardly waited for one to roll us off to the main entrance. What is nice about the monorail is that it gives you views over parts of the park, like a preview of the rides you can later go on. What I found quite funny was that when we did get to the main entrance it was really not very far away from where we parked the car at all.

Here are my top tips for Alton Towers:

Go on a rainy-ish day mid-week during term time. It will keep the crowds away and drastically reduce your queuing time. The quite time for Oblivion was only 5 minutes at one point during the day!

Take a packed lunch. The food on offer is generally not great, mostly fast food, overpriced. There are some great spots to eat your packed lunch including the rather beautiful gardens.

The gardens and the towers themselves are what make Alton Towers something more than your average theme park. My housemate loves English History and was delighted by the fact that you can wander around the towers (which are currently being restored).

Make sure you go on Oblivion, Air and Hex. Just brilliantly designed rides.